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By now, everyone has experienced a massive shift in their day-to-day lives. The spread of the coronavirus has disrupted the world as we know it.
Dental practices are being hit hard based on current restrictions – accepting only emergency-related patient visits. It’s impossible to ignore this crisis when it’s affecting your patients and your business operations so directly.
So how do you, not only follow all the guidelines set out to keep both your staff and your patients safe during this pandemic, but also keep your patients informed and strengthen their trust in you during this crazy time?
Our suggestion? Email marketing!
Using these quick tips can help your dental practice stay engaged with your patients and stay strategic with your email marketing communication:
1. Be Concise
Email communication has skyrocketed since the beginning of this outbreak, but your patients don’t have time to read every single email that pops into their inbox. People are busy – and your patients are no different.
They are likely juggling kids who are now home from school, figuring out the logistics of working from home and scouring the internet for more toilet paper – among other COVID-19-related things.
If you want to stand out, offer content that is quick and easy to consume. Be concise, considerate, and intentional. Leave the reader with the impact you intended.
- Subject line – keep it short and compelling, focus on your reasons why
- Body – inform your patients about crucial information and offer helpful resources
- Fight the urge to write too much – a well-written 100-word email can be just as effective, if not more so, than a 300-word email
2. Share Event Updates and Resources
With in-person events and appointments being canceled for the unforeseeable future, offering virtual events and offers is a great way to stay connected and in front of your audience. Share Facebook Live events or pre-recorded video content, even discounted membership offers that your patients will gladly take advantage of during our current situation.
Other valuable resources you might want to consider sharing, that your patients will find helpful, include educational and informative content (ie. good oral health habits, tips for healthy teeth, home remedies for toothaches.)
3. Offer Updates on COVID-19
Your patients and community will be interested in information about COVID-19, and how your office is handling the current crisis to support their safety and health.
Ask yourself the following questions to address in your email marketing:
- How are you cleaning your workplace? How has this changed since the
- spread of the coronavirus began?
- How are you protecting your customers and staff?
- Have your hours or business operations changed?
- Where can your patients get the latest updates and information on your business in relation to the current crisis?
- What is the best way for your patients to contact you?
- What does a patient do if they have an emergency?
Email is the easiest way to keep your patients up to date, and a good way to keep your brand in front of your audience. With all of this in mind, don’t joke or make light of the situation in your emails. Understand the gravity of the situation and reassure your patients that you are here for them.
It’s not appropriate to use this pandemic for your personal marketing gain, and you want to be sure that isn’t how your emails come across. You’ve seen this kind of messaging out there already, I’m sure, and it just doesn’t sit well. Putting profit over people will cause your audience to lose trust, and you don’t want to come across as salesy or insensitive during this crisis. This is a time to connect with your patients, to show that you are here to help. They will see from your actions that you have their best interests at heart and that you will be there for them once we are on the other side of this pandemic.
So instead, bring a smile to their faces (that smile you worked so hard to make!). Let them know we are in this together, and we will get through this.
