Marketing to patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) can be tricky, as it requires a deep understanding of the condition and the needs of those who are affected by it.
It also poses a unique challenge, given that many people who struggle with this condition don’t even know they have it! (If they sleep alone, that is).
If you’re considering adding sleep apnea therapy to your dental repertoire, you need to have a good understanding of the following marketing techniques required to effectively reach this audience.
1. Educate patients about the importance of treatment
Education is an advanced form of marketing.
By increasing awareness about the risks associated with OSA and the benefits of treatment, you can motivate potential patients to seek help. There are many ways to go about this, including social media, blog posts, emails, and posters or brochures in your office.
2. Determine your target demographic
What zip codes are you looking to attract?
What does your ideal patient look like?
Are there any particular socioeconomic factors that could impact the success of your advertising campaigns?
Nailing down this information ahead of time can help you create content and messages that are tailored specifically to the individuals you want to see in your office.
3. Decipher the available opportunity
Another potential lead source to tap is the internal demographics within your existing practice–aka your current dental patients.
They already trust you, making extending that trust to help with sleep concerns much easier. It could be as simple as creating educational prompts and visual cues, strategically placing them around your office.
This is more than just brochures, however. If you really want to push your sleep apnea services, you need to incorporate it into your waiting room TVs and other electronic devices as well–sharing it in every possible way.
This information needs to be presented in such a way that it casts a net over all potential patients, including those unaware of any sleep issues (consider offering a free screening), patients who are noncompliant with their CPAP machine or use it but don’t travel with it, those bothered by snoring–whether their own or their partner’s, and patients who are compliant with their CPAP machines.
4. Craft a clear and concise message
Did you know that it typically takes 5 or 6 times for patients to hear or see a message before they take action?
With that in mind, you need to make sure that your message is clear and concise. Keep it simple and focus on your offer, trimming the fat where necessary in order to lessen the number of times your patients need to see it before taking action.
You should also consider creating multiple messages targeting different groups of people–each one tailored with the right words, images, and graphics for its intended audience.
5. Determine your target KPIs
How will you know that what you’re doing is working?
Before launching your campaigns, you need to decide on the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
This could include return on investment, total number of new patients, percentage of existing patients that transition into sleep apnea services, increase in patient visits for follow-up care, overall service satisfaction ratings, or any combination of the above.
Marketing to patients with OSA requires a combination of education, storytelling, and targeted advertising to be effective. By using these strategies, you can effectively reach this audience and help to raise awareness about the importance of seeking treatment for OSA.
Spend your time and money on tactics that are proven to be effective, like the OPTICS™ Framework. When you implement our proven framework, you’ll be running on our structured and successful strategy, building a high-performing marketing and business development team that understands and executes your vision with precision. Schedule a free strategy call with Bizzuka today to learn more about how we can help you grow your sleep medicine practice!