Data base marketing is information management in its purest form. Companies use it all the time to target you for products or services they believe you will buy.  For example have you ever noticed that once you buy from a catalog you immediately receive some similar catalogs or direct mail solicitations? That’s because you have exhibited a buying pattern that other companies want to cash in on.

Businesses use database marketing to target you in many ways. For example they can segment the population into groups by age, sex, locale, occupation, prior buying habits and hundreds of other categories. The needs, wants and buying habits of each group are analyzed and they are offered products or services they are likely to buy. This is a good thing. It limits the solicitations you get to things you might actually be interested in and it save businesses money by targeting likely buyers.

Once you have been using a good practice management program for a while you will have accumulated a database on your patients, which you can use in similar ways. Data base marketing combines word processing with data from the management system. To use it well you need to understand the practice data base and the merge functions of Word and e-mail.

Once you have been using a good practice management program (Like Dentrix or PracticeWorks) for a while you will have accumulated a database on your patients, which you can use to create marketing material. Data base marketing combines word processing with data from the management system. To use it well you need to understand the practice data base and the merge functions of Word.

For Example: A simple example of data base marketing would be to sort your recall lists by age. Then send a recall card to each age group designed to appeal to their interests. Older adults would get one kind, children would get another, young adults could get a third and everybody else get yet another. Each group sees the office as tuned in to and appealing to them because you present an image, even in something as simple as a recall card, which appeals to them.

Motivators: A more advanced example would be to segment patients based on psychological or motivational factors. For example you could designate the prime motivator for people as one of four factors: money, appearance, health or fear. Then address that person’s primary motivator with marketing information. For instance recalls could be customized for each group in the following ways:

Money: Dear Mr. Patient, In order to keep the cost of dental treatment low and reduce the likelihood of expensive treatment in the future regular check ups are required.

Appearance: Dear Mr. Patient, In order to keep your teeth looking and feeling their best with a bright and pretty smile regular check ups are required.

Health: Dear Mr. Patient, In order to keep your mouth healthy and reduce the change of cavities or gum disease developing regular check ups are required.

Fear: Dear Mr. Patient, In order to keep dental treatments quick and easy with a minimum of discomfort regular check ups are required.