Marketing During an Economic Recession

The economy has always been, and will always be, a bit of a dynamic beast. Being prepared for recessions is key to maintaining and even growing your business. When downturns hit, some business owners are very tempted to limit, or cut back their marketing budget, which can act to only serve as a short-term defense of profits. Doing this may even result in the business coming out of the economic downturn in a weaker state, making much less profit. Think about this as well; if competitors are slashing their marketing budgets, it only follows that you'll probably see an even bigger, and long-term, return with your own promotion and marketing endeavors.

Part of preparing for an economic recession is having a solid handle on your Promotion and Marketing strategy. Pouring on the coals, and augmenting your marketing budget (which is the opposite of what people usually do!), and keeping the line of new clients/patients moving in is key. Promoting your business, and marketing your services is how this is done, and it works in any economic situation.  Do more, not less.

No matter what the current situation is (and this one just happens to be centered around a health emergency), people still need oral health care - and they need businesses that will deliver the services necessary to provide this care.

• Promote! - Use your social media platforms to let people know you're still here to service them. Use posting on Facebook, Google My Business, etc., and continue to promote yourselves.
• Use "buy nows" to drive them in the door. - Come up with a clever special offer that is available for a limited time and promote this.
• Start a call campaign for recall appointments. - Start calling patients that haven't been in for their recall appointments.
  
• Insurance just renewed for many. - For many, insurance benefits renew yearly. Use this to your advantage. Send out a newsletter or internal email blast to existing patients bringing this fact up, and letting them know that if they've been putting off any services due to not having insurance benefits, they can come in to take advantage of it now.
• Write hand-written reactivation letters to patients that haven't been in for a while. - Hand-written letters have a very high open rate and are generally well regarded. Writing out reactivation letters to patients that haven't come in for their recall appointments is a great thing to do to get them back in the door.
• Add photos to your Google My Business profile, and further optimize your listing. - Updating your GMB listings with photos, testimonial videos, practice descriptions, areas of service, Q&A, etc., and responding to reviews, are all great ways to increase your profile's visibility, and drive in more people to contact your office.
• Bolster up or start a campaign for referrals. - Asking happy patients for referrals will often bring in the friends and family of those patients. A lot of patients already come into contact with people asking them for recommendations for dentists or oral healthcare providers, reminding them that you'd be happy to have them can be all that's needed for them to recommend your office.
• Get reviews and testimonials. - Reviews and testimonials are great for social proof. Acquiring them and promoting them helps to make your office, and your business listing stand out more, and as a result, will drive more people into your practice.

1. Increase your promotion and marketing budget.
2. Dig in and find what your target audience's recession behavior is. Align your services to be a solution for this.
3. Track all of your marketing actions, and analyze them.
4. Focus on existing patients.
5. Increase conversion rates from your marketing efforts by testing, seeing what was successful and what was not, implementing the successful actions, and repeating.

Maintaining your online, and real-world presence in your community and for people searching for the services you provide is exactly what you should be doing during these times. Reaching out to as many existing, and potential new patients is what will make them aware of you, and make them more likely to come through your door. Not promoting and marketing will make your small business needlessly shrink in activity and profits.

As always, we are here to help make more people aware of you and your services, and get them in - no matter the economic situation. Let us know what help you need, and we'd be happy to deliver it!

We have many servicesavailable to promote and market your business, that don't cost an arm and a leg. Here's a few:

Every Door Direct Mail - EDDM: This is a great way to spread awareness of your practice to a lot of people. Adding specials will help them make the decision to call and to come in.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising - PPC: AdWords is great for gaining visibility for keywords that people are searching for pertaining to the services you deliver.

Newsletters: Retaining and reactivating your existing patients is a very cost-effective method of increasing your production and income - and newsletters are a great way to help reactivate and retain your existing patients. These newsletters can also double as articles to go on your website, increasing traffic there as well.

Let us know how we can help! Contact us today!