The very quiet dental clinic, part 2

In our last article we talked about what that new dental clinic could do to get prospects walking through their door almost immediately. In a further article we’ll have a look at other initiatives they could take within the shopping centre.

In the meantime, let’s think about getting to people who live within reach of the shopping centre, and the easiest way to reach them is through their letterbox.

Yes, I know you were thinking I’d be recommending state of the art social media initiatives but why would I do that when there is a much better, more effective way to go.

And that’s through their letter box. Why are we choosing to do that? Well its simple, it’s inexpensive and it works. That is providing you do it right!

There are two ways to get to prospects through the letter box. The first is by advertising in their local newspaper and the second by using so called “junk mail”.

Let’s talk about the first way, the local newspaper.

Despite what you hear about the decline of newspapers, local papers are still very effective within their communities because they are about local news and events of interest to local people.

So they get read! And so do good advertisements within them (the ones that use the tried and true AIDA formula).

I write advertisements that talk to the reader on a one-on-one basis, answering their typical questions and give meaningful specifics rather than meaningless generalities.

Below is the copy I’d write for a typical advertisement. I set it out roughly to give to the artist who will put the finishing touches on it based on the look I had in mind.

If the newspaper is a tabloid (which most are nowadays), my recommendation would be for quarter page vertical size, hopefully in the early general news section of the paper. I wouldn’t pay a premium for positioning though.

My recommendation would be that the advert run every two weeks for 4 insertions and the results assessed during that period. If it continues to generate enquiries I’d recommend keeping on running it. That, of course, pre-supposes whoever handles new prospects always asks, “How did you find out about us?” so the response is measured accurately.

You can see a version of an advert similar to this as finished art here.