Have you ever noticed that you have all sorts of great marketing and promotional ideas that you just never seem to put into action?
Do you realize during a staff meeting that those brilliant ideas that captured everyone’s attention and agreement in the previous meeting haven’t even been thought of again until just now?
Have you ever come to the end of a month and realized only then that you didn’t get around to doing much marketing or promotion at all? If so, you’re not alone!
While the specific reasons for failure to successfully carry out promotional actions vary from one practice to another, the most common cause is simply the failure to write them down on a marketing calendar designed to pinpoint what actions will be taken…and when.
A Promotion and Marketing Calendar is a potent, yet uncomplicated, tool.
It designates and specifies those agreed-upon activities which, when performed by the staff, will bolster the flow of new patients/clients into the practice.
By logging an idea on the calendar when it is conceived, it becomes concrete, agreed-upon, predicted, planned for, etc. The calendar helps to maintain control and structure in the Promotion Department and acts as a communication tool for the rest of the staff, as it is there in writing for all to see.
The Director of Promotion (if you don’t have one, get one) would be in charge of seeing to it that all pertinent information is entered on the promotion calendar. He would bring it to the staff meeting each week and review those activities and events that are either in progress or being planned.
The promotion and marketing of the practice is an ongoing activity.
The marketing calendar should be kept full of activities for at least 6 months ahead so that the practice always has some type of promotional actions occurring.
The items on the marketing calendar could include, but would not be limited to, such things as:
- Open Houses
- Client/Patient Appreciation Day (Week or Month)
- Direct Mail Out projects
- Newsletter preparation and distribution
- Special days and PR functions for that day (e.g. Valentine’s Day, Grandparents Day, Secretaries’ Day, etc.)
- Dental Health Month (and associated plans, projects)
- National Pet Month
- Educational Letter Series production and distribution schedule
- Reminders to the staff to stimulate referrals
- Staff games for activities such as prospecting and referrals