One of the most common questions I hear when speaking to dentists about dental marketing is "How much should I budget?" It's not only a reasonable question, it's a highly responsible one. Practices who fail to develop a well thought out strategic marketing plan for the upcoming year often end up with surprise expenses and a finger wagging lecture from their accountant.
Budgeting Guidelines
How much to budget for your dental marketing each year depends on a number of factors, including market costs, competition, growth goals and more. The general guidelines for an average practice look like this:
- Aggressive Growth: 5-7% of collections
- Steady Growth: 3-5% of collections
- Brand Awareness: 1-3% of collections
Obviously, all of these factors have caveats behind them. A practice collecting $500,000 a year will get a lot more bang for the buck in rural Pennsylvania than they will in Manhattan or San Francisco, so you may need a more aggressive plan depending on where you live.
What to Budget For
When mapping out your strategic plan for the upcoming year, here are the budgeting categories to keep in mind:
- One Time Production: This category includes things like a new logo, a new website, an on-hold message and similar "one-time" products. These items won't necessarily directly contribute to your bottom line but they are often vital parts of your overall marketing strategy.
- Media: If your strategy includes any kind of advertising such as Facebook ads, Google Adwords, radio, tv, print or billboards, get your 2019 media plan and rates locked down now.
- Management Fees: Most dental marketing companies, local agencies and freelancers will charge a recurring monthly fee to manage your website's SEO, social media accounts, pay per click and similar ongoing campaigns. Fees are often updated every few years by these providers to keep up with market costs, so be sure to confirm your 2019 rates in writing.
- Software Subscriptions: Some practices choose to include appointment reminder software or review software in their marketing budget. Decide in advance what is marketing and what is simply practice management so you're including it in the right budget category.
- Local Sponsorships: As a local business, it's inevitable that patients will be seeking your support for the yearbook, little league uniforms, relay for life and more. While these things may not feel like "marketing" per se, your ability to support your community goes a long way towards your local reputation. I recommend you allow at least 5% of the budget just for these opportunities.
Creating the Annual Plan
Once you've mapped out your strategies for the upcoming year, it's smart to map these out on a monthly marketing calendar. Note when expenses will hit each month so there are no surprise months and review the monthly totals for your plan at the bottom of the calendar. If you use metrics software such as Smart Market Dental, run a month-by-month report for the past three years. See if there are any common slow months (Summer vacation? Suck-tember?) and allocate more of your media dollars for 1-2 months prior to ramp up demand. It will help even out those slow months and make your practice finances more predictable over time.
Commit to the Plan and Measure the ROI
A well thought out dental marketing plan isn't just a rough guideline, it should be a plan for growth. That means sticking to your budget and giving the plan time to work. When a local media rep (often a patient!) comes along with the deal of the century, you can easily tell them "thanks, but we have a strategic plan for this year and our budget is already committed. Feel free to reach out to me in the 4th quarter when we're planning for next year." You'll find that many of these "amazing" opportunities won't come knocking at your door again.
Most importantly, make sure you're measuring the ROI of the marketing you've invested in. Use dental call tracking and call screening services to see how many patient calls you've gotten from each marketing strategy and how many of those callers became patients. Advanced tracking software like Smart Market Dental can even measure the production, collections and real-time ROI of your marketing so you're making smarter decisions the next year.
Not sure where to start? Call Golden Proportions Marketing at 866-590-4476 and one of our experienced dental marketing strategists will be happy to talk you through the planning process. Still looking for more ideas? Download our free Creative Dental Marketing Ideas Guide to get started!
