Oral Appliance Marketing Tips

Introducing and marketing oral appliance therapy in your dental practice is a different model than your traditional dental marketing. You will need a different marketing strategy to sell sleep and address five questions:

1. Will the phones ring with new patients seeking treatment?
2. Will the people who call be the right kind of patients?
3. Where will these new patients come from?
4. Will you be able to schedule an appointment and close the sale?
5. Will insurance be a roadblock in closing the sale or an opportunity for you to show your patients why you are the provider of choice because you go the extra mile?

Here are Ten Marketing Tips you can use in your practice NOW for Oral Appliance Therapy as an alternative to CPAP therapy.

1. Create a Strategic Marketing Action Plan – BE THE FIRST IN YOUR MARKET TO ADVERTISE THIS PRODUCT - Hertz will always be number 1 in top of mind awareness with consumers because they were the first to advertise.

2. K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Sweetie - People respond to messages that are easy to understand and speak to them where they are - unhappy with a cpap machine. That is the focus of what will get them to call and come in for that first evaluation appointment. Remember that marketing is a means to an end, not an end in itself. You, your staff and everyone who comes into contact with the patient must K.I.S.S. the patient!

3. Commit to Marketing – Success requires accountability and a financial commitment. Who is responsible for marketing? What percentage of your budget are you willing to commit to marketing? Every market has a different situation on how to market and how much to spend. Spend wisely and consistently for the best overall results. Be in it for the long run, one ad is not going to create a new revenue stream in your practice.

4. Know Your Existing Customers –HARVEST YOUR EXISTING CLIENTS - use internal marketing like signage, conversation starter buttons, and brochures on this new product, screen every client for sleep apnea with an Epworth and ASK THEM IF THEY OR SOMEONE THEY KNOW HAS SLEEP APNEA?

5. Use Your Office and Operatories as Marketing Tools– Your entire business is a reflection of your brand and the values of your business. Does your outside perception match your inside reality? Do you need an Extreme Makeover? How is the phone answered? How are new patients treated? How are existing patients treated? Perhaps utilize a "secret shopper" program to get an unbiased opinion.

6. Your Staff is Your Marketing Team – Everyone must be on the same page and speak the same language. Your staff can promote your services passively with pins that ask questions like "Do You Have Sleep Apnea?". Provide training and education to help them sell! Make sure everyone has a name tag. Create incentives to build customer traffic - offer a free evaluation to see if the potential patient is a candidate for oral appliance therapy. Everyone in your business benefits from business development - tell them to think of it as job security.

7. Your Customers are your best Outside Sales People - with email, facebook, twitter, smart phones and other technology so easily accessible and instantly utilized, customer testimonials are the most powerful way to spread the word about this new treatment therapy for sleep apnea. What was the last movie you saw? Did a friend recommend it or did you just decide to go see it?

8. Online – Build a website specifically for sleep and optimize it. Use e-newsletters with facts and information on this FDA approved treatment alternative for sleep apnea.

9. Own Oral Appliance Therapy in Your Market – Be THE expert. Have special events, speak at local sleep organizations and support groups. Tell everyone what you are doing!

10. DO IT! - If you don't do something today one of your local colleagues will. Make it a marketing ACTION plan. And don’t leave money on the table - 80% of all leads are never followed up on or pursued.