As in most businesses, the business card is an underutilized marketing and advertising tool. It is no different with dental business cards. I will discuss five elements you must include in your business card to make it a marketing and advertising powerhouse.
1.) The basic information that should be present on all cards is: Name of the practice, Doctor’s name, address of the practice, phone number, email address, web address, hours and finance options. It is amazing to me, how many dental business cards I see that do not have this information completed.
2.) Logo or brand identifier: The dental marketing logo is a blog post in itself. The main things to keep in mind are to use a logo that is easily recognizable to what it is you do and to be easily remembered. This process is called branding. In the eyes of the patient, they want identifiers to simplify their life and buying decisions. Hard to understand logos or changing logos can be confusing and make the process of patronizing your practice less effective.
Shapes, colors and taglines all play an important part in the overall impression the dental business cards convey. Since many patients are apprehensive of the dentist, you want to evoke a calm, comfortable, and caring emotion with your dental business cards to put people at ease. For more details on this topic, please access a blog I wrote on this topic last month at http://www.redstarmarketing.com/dental-marketing-blog/Dental-marketing-ideas/bid/291851/5-elements-of-quality-dental-logo-design
3.) It is better to be different than it is to be better. This old advertising adage still rings true today, so as you strategize about your practice, keep in mind what you do differently that is valued by your patients. The best way to get this information is to ask your patients… please see last week’s blog post for key steps that you can incorporate: http://www.redstarmarketing.com/dental-marketing-blog/Dental-marketing-ideas/bid/303607/Effective-dental-advertising-starts-with-a-patient-survey.
Once you have determined your difference, use this for your tagline on your dental business cards to attract more patients who believe in the same thing. This tagline should be used beneath the company name to further describe the practice and separate you from other practices.
Think in terms of the patients you serve well. Maybe convenience is a value your patients like & appreciate, so, you might use a tagline: “We are the no wait practice” or “Wait 5 minutes and your cleanings is on us.” If timing isn’t your strength, look for other things patients value. For example, taking the time to explain procedures, being pampered and made to feel comfortable, or to always refer certain procedures to other specialists when seeing a specialist is in the patient’s best interest.
4.) Make sure your card stock and design is a reflection of your practice. If you are a discount dentist you may actually benefit from getting your dental business cards printed at Vistaprint, a discount online printer, even though the card stock is very flimsy and your card make look the same as the practice across the street.
If you do high end cosmetic dentistry for a well-to-do patient clientele you want to use a heavy stock, with possibly embossed or raised lettering or an interesting di-cut, or gilded ink to appeal to this market base.
5.) Make your dental business cards work for you. Include a valuable download from your website, an appointment reminder on the back or as a referral tool.
You might ask patients or prospects to go to your website and download a white paper, e.g. “5 things you absolutely must do before you start whitening your teeth.” Once on the website, capture their name and email in exchange for their email so you can nurture them by sending them additional information about whitening and eventually win them over as a new patient.
You may use the back of your dental business cards, often wasted space, to handout after each appointment as a schedule reminder date for their next appointment.
You can also use the back of your dental business cards as a referral tool that patients can sign and give to family members, friends or co-workers for a reward e.g. movie tickets or a Starbucks gift card when it is returned by the new patient.
To help you get better design from your graphic artist for your dental business cards download my “Creative Brief” form at:
