3 Steps to Finding the Right Dental Marketing List

Joy Gendusa

About Author

In marketing, your advertisements themselves are actually not the most important element of the process. The person reading the advertisement is far more important.

Put even a mediocre ad in the hands of the right prospect, and you have a good chance of success. Put the best ad in the world in the hands of the wrong prospect, and you still have no chance of conversion.

That’s why the mailing list is the most important aspect of a direct mail campaign.
If you want to get more patients for your dental practice, all you need to do is put a decent marketing postcard in the hands of the right prospects. But first you need to get that mailing list. Here are three steps that will guide you through the process.

1) Identify Your Ideal Prospects

It is normal to think about marketing as “convincing,” but that actually isn’t the case. At least, it shouldn’t be your main concern. A better way to think about marketing is “identifying.” An effective marketing campaign does little more than identify a group of people who already desire your product and present them with a clear, compelling offer.

Targeting prospects who are predisposed to want what you sell gives you an advantage right from the start. Consider these hypothetical examples:

1. A local pediatric dental practice wants to boost the number of new patients they see every month. They decide to mail a postcard to their local community. The postcard goes to every residence in their surrounding ZIP code.
2. A rival practice in the area has the same goal, and also decides to mail postcards. Their campaign only goes to households with at least one child under 10 years of age. Instead of just one ZIP code, they mail to three ZIP codes in the area, including the one the other practice mailed to.

Which practice do you think creates more new patients? The answer is the second practice. By targeting their audience they are able to reach a lot more qualified prospects with their message while Practice #1 wastes postcards on homes that have no need for their services. This is the power of the right mailing list.

So the first thing you must do is identify who is most likely to respond positively to your offer. Maybe it is everyone in the community. Maybe it is seniors. Maybe it is young professionals with a respectable annual income. It depends on your practice, and you know your practice better than I do.

2) Identify the Right List Type

There are essentially 5 types of mailing lists:

1. House List: This is a list that you build by collecting contact information from current patients, past patients, and anyone that has contacted your practice. House lists are usually very effective and should be used regularly. The down side is it takes time and effort to build them. You generally cannot just start out mailing to your house list alone.
2. Response List: Response lists are made up of individuals who have responded to other businesses with similar products/services to yours. These are available from magazines, private list companies, direct mail providers, etc. Even though these prospects haven’t contacted your practice specifically, they have already expressed interest in dental services, hygiene, care, etc., which makes them qualified leads.
3. Demographic List: Demo lists target prospects by common physical demographics such as age, gender, geographic location, and number of children in the home. They allow you to get fairly specific about who you want to target. In the hypothetical above, Practice #2 would likely have purchased a demo list.
4. Opt-In List: Opt-in lists are useful because the people on them ASK to be there. In other words, they at some point checked a box saying something like “I would like more information about dental services.” Opt-ins can tend to be a more expensive option, but shouldn’t be rejected out of hand due to the incredible ROI (Return On Investment) they can generate.
5. Segmented List: A segmented list is similar to a demo list – but even more specific. Segmented lists target using ultra specific data such as spending and saving habits, reading preferences, vacation/travel patterns, and more. Additionally, the segmentation technology used to build the lists can be used to analyze your current patient base, as well. This shows you the similarities in your patients and lets you build a list based on those common traits.

NOTE: Not all list providers offer segmented lists. My company does. The price can range from “expensive” to “reasonable,” so it is worth checking out.

3) Ask Questions to Find a Reputable List Company

When you decide what kind of list you want to mail to (a reputable company can also help you decide), you need to make sure you buy from a list provider who will take care of you. Here are three questions to ask before buying:

1. Do you guarantee deliverability? – They should offer at least 90% deliverability.
2. Do you update your lists monthly? – People move; and this messes up the quality of your mailing list. To be sure your postcards go to the people you actually want to target, your list provider needs to update the lists often – at least every month.
3. Can I use this list more than once? – Some list providers sell lists for one time use only. And since repetition is one of the keys to successful direct mail campaigns, this is not ideal. Before purchasing, ask if they have an unlimited use option and what it costs. Generally the price will be 2 to 3 times more than the single use cost, but it pays for itself in the end because you can mail to the list as many times as you want for one year.

Hopefully this has given you more perspective on the importance of mailing lists, and how to find a good one. I know the process can get confusing, but obtaining a well-targeted mailing list is key to your success, so don’t give up.