Which Makes More Sense – Tangible or Digital Marketing?
by DentalPlanet on 08/04/10 at 12:34 pm
Rita Zamora
There’s no denying how important marketing on the web has become. However does that mean tangible forms of marketing should be ignored? Consider the fact that email marketing giants claim between 35% and 65% of emails are opened. The reach of email marketing is only as effective as the size of your list … What percentage of your patients do you have email addresses for?
While I’m a huge fan of email marketing, as well as social media marketing, there’s still a strong argument for tangible marketing. Newsletters, note cards, and even postcards, continue to play an important role. For example, hardcopy newsletters allow people to experience news in a much different way than e-communication. Paper newsletters allow for longer articles, more photos, and richer content than digital formats.
Likewise the handwritten note remains a strong relationship and trust building tool. Holding a notecard in your hands reaches a physical sense that e-mail cannot achieve. While email or text follow up continues to grow more popular, there’s a portion of the population that can be captured via postcards or hardcopy newsletters.
If you want your messages to reach a larger portion of your patient population, ensure your marketing communications are well balanced … A combination of both digital and hardcopy marketing tools still makes good sense.
Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices. Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.
