Hooked on Classics by Angela Weber

In a postpandemic era, traditional marketing options are seeing renewed interest

by Angela Weber

Orthodontists love bouncing ideas off each other, but it’s important to keep in mind that a peer’s “tried and true” media mix and budget isn’t necessarily your recipe for success. In other words, what works in Tulsa doesn’t necessarily work in Tampa. Seems obvious, but there are quite a few orthodontists swapping notes and unintentionally wasting each other’s money.

A question that is coming up more frequently: Should I focus all of my marketing on digital and skip traditional media channels?.

Before anyone can answer appropriately, a few things need to happen.

First is a deep dive into the data you have within your own practice management software system. Pull a referral report from the past 12 months and compare it to the previous period. What marketing efforts are yielding the most new patient consults? What trends are appearing? More importantly, is your team even tracking this information? The data is only as good as what is entered into the system. Also, pull a ZIP code report for the same time periods. Is there a shift in where your patients are coming from? Is there a new growth opportunity or drive market to penetrate?

Second, do a market analysis. Online demographic and psychographic research helps you identify who will buy your services and why. Psychographics research helps uncover a target’s buying styles, motivations and attitudes. It also provides insight on a consumer segment’s media preferences such as radio, print and email. Having this type of data helps a practice develop marketing plans with media channels that are proven to work for their core consumer groups. Also, take a moment to meet with your current patients to do a little first-hand research and learn more about why they chose your practice, what stands out to them, etc.

Once you have that information, you’ll have a better idea of what’s needed for your practice’s marketing mix.

can tell you that digital marketing is an important part of all practice marketing plans; sometimes it’s the lion’s share of the budget, sometimes it’s not. The most important thing for a practice to do is to create a marketing plan that focuses on three things: brand awareness, engagement and lead generation. A plan that accomplishes all of these things well typically includes traditional media tactics..

Traditional media isn’t dead, but it is going through a bit of a recalibration phase. Recent data says consumers— especially those in large cities—are experiencing “digital fatigue” because of the pandemic, so don’t count out nondigital options for marketing your practice.

Keep reading to learn specific facts about the five most popular traditional marketing options in the industry.