What are the dental marketing advantages of operating in a smaller market?
Several structural advantages that smart practices can exploit before competitors catch on. Smaller markets typically have a vacuum for direct response dental messages, because most local practices are running generic image advertising or no advertising at all. The first practice to apply DRM principles in such a market gains an early lead that can be difficult for later entrants to overcome. Smaller markets are also less fragmented in media consumption. Local newspaper, local radio, local television each tend to dominate their respective channels, so a practice can reach a high percentage of the target demographic through a small number of well-placed campaigns. Internet usage is ubiquitous in smaller markets too, and a practice that gets a direct-response website in place early can lock in a structural advantage. Media costs are dramatically lower than in larger markets, which means testing different headlines, offers, and channels costs a fraction of what it would in major cities. A small-market practice with discipline and DRM principles can effectively own one or more dental segments locally with budgets that would barely buy access to a major-market channel.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.
