Philanthropy and community outreach are hot nowadays. Recent consumer studies have shown that patients today, especially millennials between the ages of 27 - 42, value socially conscious companies and are willing to spend more money on products and services if those organizations release statements about their philanthropy.

But there is a delicate balance between philanthropy and promotion. On the one hand, you don't want to seem to be only in it for the PR. But on the other hand, if you focus purely on the charity work itself, you could miss out on the opportunity to show that your dental practice is committed to improving society.

With a bit of grace and planning, you can meet that delicate balance and see the benefits of dental marketing through philanthropy.

Why Get Involved in Charitable Dental Marketing?

By getting involved in philanthropy, you create a psychological phenomenon known as transference. Transference strengthens a patient's perceived value of your dental practice when your practice is involved in community outreach. Patients will notice that you're focused on making a difference, and they automatically assume other areas of excellence, such as the quality of your cosmetic dental services.

How To Get Involved in Charitable Dental Marketing

First, make sure that your practice mission includes a charitable component. Mission statements align your team and organization, which helps accomplish your vision. Here are a couple of examples of mission statements that involve philanthropy,

"We are committed to improving oral health for our region's people through education, quality service, and charitable giving."

"Our mission is to provide our community and at-risk populations access to cost-effective oral healthcare services with cutting-edge technology, an innovative approach, and a focus on doing good in the community through action-oriented charitable giving."

If you happen to participate in the AACD Charitable Foundation's Give Back a Smile (GBAS) program, here is a great mission statement:

Our practice mission is to develop life-long relationships with our patients and families. We pledge to provide the highest quality cosmetic dental services, maintain a relationship of transparency and trust, and to do good by supporting charitable foundations like GBAS.

Obviously, use these statements but use your tone and voice.   

Choose a Charity Marketing Partner

Identify a social problem you and your team are passionate about. It can be indirectly connected to oral health. Many dental practices have supported children's charities, breast cancer awareness, military troops, national organizations like Give Back A Smile, and pet rescue organizations. You could even support local schools by raising money for school supplies. Most importantly, your charity partner should be an organization you and your team are excited to support.

Your charity partner is the organization that will be the beneficiary of your donations. If you need help identifying a local charity partner, you don't have to look very far to find dental-related charity organizations that would love your help.

Allowing your charity partner to celebrate your efforts will be much easier to balance philanthropy and marketing benefits. It's always better to have someone other than yourself vaunt your good deeds, which allows you to avoid the appearance of self-flattery.

Charitable Dental Marketing Ideas

ONE-DAY CHARITY WHITENING EVENT

A One-Day Charity Whitening Event is a perfect way for your cosmetic practice to get involved in philanthropy. Choose any day of the year and block out your schedule for whitening patients. It can be a full-day, a half-day, or a non-production day. You can even run it with a reduced staff.

A one-day whitening campaign will also attract social media influencers who are a little bit like local celebrities. Influencers may share their whitening experience online with their trusted network, bringing valuable local awareness to your practice. Read this Influencer dental marketing article to learn about influencer marketing through a whitening campaign.

You can choose any charity partner you'd like, but we've made it easy to partner with Smiles For Life in the downloadable materials. This 501c3 charitable organization has raised 46 million dollars for children's charities. All proceeds are a tax write-off (consult your accountant). If you decide to work with them, 50% of the donations are given to national children's charity organizations. The other 50% is sent back to you to donate to your local charity partner.

The entire campaign, including posters, social media posts, a blog and email template, and instructions, are ready to go. All you have to do is follow the instructions.

GIVE BACK A SMILE

Since 1999 the AACD’s charity foundation GBAS has been an excellent way for cosmetic dentists to do good. The GBAS program has provided more than 17 million dollars in donated services It’s one of the top charitable foundations in the country.

The AACD reaches out to survivors of domestic abuse and connects the person with a participating cosmetic dentist. More than 1,800 people's lives have been changed for the better.

If you haven’t already, get involved in the GBAS program.

Don't Forget These Dental Marketing Opportunities

Local News and Publications

Local news and publication opportunities are extremely valuable yet often overlooked. Charitable giving is a copywriter's dream. Reach out to your local news stations and publications.

If you choose to run the charity whitening campaign use the blog template in the downloadable materials. Post the blog article to your dental website and send the link to local publications. Hopefully, they'll write an article about what you're up to and interview you, sending more of your local community to your practice.

Leveraging your Charity Partner

Your charity partner is a guaranteed way to reach more of your local audience. Have them write an article about your whitening event and post it to their website. Provide them with the handout materials in the download. They will likely be your best advocate of the event driving more people to your practice.

Lean on Your Team

Your team is connected to thousands of members in your community, especially online and through social media. Use the social signs in the one-day charity whitening download to capture photos with your team members. Post those photos to your social media accounts, and then ask your team members to post them to their personal accounts. Make sure to have them tag your practice and, when possible, link to your blog post about the event.

Update Your Website with a Community Outreach Page

Posting to social media about the event is great but it only lasts so long. Social media has a short life span. The best marketing strategy is to remember these events for much longer. The best way to do this is in your dental website design.

Call your website company and have them add a header tab titled “Community Outreach” or “Philanthropy.” On that page post the photos of your charitable giving with a short description of what you, your team, and your charity partner did. Make sure to give a shout-out to your patients that helped to promote the event.

Conclusion

Remember that philanthropy fuels practice growth. When your team is brought together under a common cause, it creates strength and unity. If you still need to do it, solidify your practice mission statement. Print, frame, and put it on your office wall.

About the Author: Adrian Lefler is a dental marketing expert, founder, and Chief Marketing Officer at My Social Practice. He lives in Draper, Utah, with four super snarky kids, a professional chef spouse, one awesome dog, and one dumb dog.