Holiday Dental Campaigns: How to Keep Patients Engaged and Fill Schedules

And just like that, the holiday season is almost here! And whether you observe certain holidays or not, it’s a busy time for everyone. Despite that, leaning into the festive spirit is a way to connect with patients and get more appointments so you end the work year on a high note and start off strong going into the new year.  

Here’s 8 holiday dental marketing campaign ideas and tactics to stay engaged with patients and maintain a fuller schedule.  

1. Send Expiring Benefits Reminders.

The end of the year means patients with insurance benefits are running out of time to use them. Ideally, it’s good to start sending expiring benefits reminder messages at the end of Q3 or early Q4, but it’s not too late to send a few communications. Consider targeting patients who haven’t completed all their covered cleanings and/or have pending or incomplete treatment plans that can be covered or partially covered. Be sure to bake this campaign into your upcoming year’s campaign plans!

What to do: ‍

• Email campaign: Some patient engagement systems have a campaigns template library that includes an expiring benefits campaign. If your system has it, then why not take advantage of it? Simply tweak the copy and the images and you’re good to go.  ‍
• Texts: For those who prefer texts, send short, impactful reminders like "Use your insurance benefits before December 31st!" Include a link for them to schedule an appointment online and include your practice number to call to make an appointment.  ‍
• Social media posts: Publish posts explaining the importance of maximizing insurance benefits or they’ll lose them. No need to post on all your social media channels. Leverage the channels where you get the most engagement from your audience.

2. Promote Elective Treatments as Gifts to Themselves.

People want to look their best during the holiday season, and this includes having a confident and radiant smile. You can do a campaign for elective treatments such as teeth whitening or other cosmetic treatments that patients may want to invest in before holiday parties or family gatherings. You can also position it as the perfect holiday gift for their loved ones or themselves. Remember, the goal of this type of campaign should be supportive and uplifting, not to guilt them into questioning how their smile appears.‍

What to do:

• Newsletter: If your practice sends a newsletter, this is a great spot to highlight this campaign idea. Make it a holiday-themed newsletter that also includes helpful tips to maintain a beautiful, healthy smile and what foods and drinks to avoid or enjoy in moderation during holiday season.
• In-office flyers: Place flyers around your office that promote these cosmetic treatments. Some of your patients do pay attention to signage in your practice. You can even include a QR code for them to scan to learn more about the promo and schedule an online consultation or appointment.
• Waiting room TV: If it’s doable, use your waiting room TV as a place to promote elective procedures. This is a more subtle way to market your services without feeling invasive.

3. Offer Holiday-Themed Contests.

Contests are an underrated way to drive engagement and if your practice hasn’t experimented with them, then use the holiday season as a time to test it out. Make these contents timebound to drive urgency.

What to do:

• Referral contests: It’s possible some of your patients found you based on a trusted recommendation by a friend, loved one, or an online community. It’s potentially an untapped place to get more new patients on your schedule. For every referral a patient makes during the holiday season, they get entered into a raffle for a grand prize. Based on how this performs, you can look into setting up a more formal referral program in the future.  
• Social media giveaway: Run a contest where patients post-holiday selfies and tag your practice. Offer a prize to encourage participation, like a free electric toothbrush or a water flosser.  ‍
• In-practice raffle: You can pair a drawing with an event. For example, if your practice stays open until the early evening, you can host a small social hour offering healthy apps, cider, or other holiday-type beverages for the patients who have end-of-day appointments.  

4. Partner With a Local Business.

If your team is active in your community, you can partner with a local business to do some cross-promoting of each other’s businesses and services. It’s another way to increase your practice’s exposure and bring in new patients. For example, if your practice offers cosmetic treatments, you can work with a local spa to do an event.

What to do:

• Newsletter: You can include this event in your newsletter and include a discount for your service to those who RSVP and show up.
• Website: You can highlight this event on a banner or on your homepage temporarily to drive more bookings.
• In-office flyer: Make a flyer and post it at your front desk. You can use this event as a talking point, particularly for patients who have a strong interest in cosmetic treatments, but they haven’t scheduled an appointment yet. ‍

5. Focus on Family Appointments.

With kids on break and families together during the holidays, it's the perfect time to encourage family appointments. Promote family dental checkups that help everyone start the new year on the right foot. If possible, try to offer appointment times that work for all the family members so you can get them in at once and save them from making multiple trips to your practice.

What to do:‍

• Email and text campaign: Offer holiday family specials where patients can schedule appointments for the whole family on the same day.
• Website: You can highlight this event on a banner or on your homepage temporarily to drive more bookings.

6. Encourage Last-Minute Appointments.

For patients who wait until the last minute, send out campaigns encouraging them to schedule appointments before the major holidays that your patients likely observe. For example, you can target the ones who haven’t done their routine cleaning in the last 6 months.

What to do:

• Email and text campaign: Send reminders about available appointment slots. Use urgent messaging like “Limited appointments left before the holiday break – book now!”

7. Run a New Year’s Resolution Campaign.

Some people set health-related resolutions in the new year, and you can use this mindset to motivate patients to prioritize their oral health. Encourage them to get an appointment sooner in the year rather than waiting. Use messaging like “Start the new year with a healthy smile – schedule your January appointment today!”

What to do:

• Email: Send emails to patients who haven’t scheduled their second cleaning of the year.  
• Social media: Send New Year’s-themed emails focusing on how regular dental care can help patients achieve their health goals. Many patient engagement systems have ready-made social media templates that you can use to schedule posts directly from the system. This cuts down on some of the extra work that comes with posting regularly on social media.  

8. Leverage Paid Advertising for High-Value Treatments.

If you want to target patients looking for high-value procedures, like implants or veneers, consider running holiday-themed paid search ads to increase exposure and drive revenue. For it to be effective, it takes a mix of geo-targeting to reach local patients, bidding on the right keywords, drafting the appropriate ad and landing page copy.  

What to do:

• Pay-per-click (PPC): Target search terms like “best cosmetic dentist” or “holiday teeth whitening offers” to attract patients looking for specific treatments.
• Paid social ads: Use visuals that tie into the holiday theme, promoting your practice’s services as a perfect end-of-year gift.

Depending on your practice’s goals, budget, and capacity, this is a strategy that would be worth partnering with an agency on. They can help you implement and monitor the results.  

Many companies use the holiday season to get more business, and your practice should do the same. Even as healthcare professionals, you have to operate like a business in many ways if you want to engage with patients and fill your schedules.  

Keep in mind that some of your patients might fall into more than one of these campaign buckets so think carefully about how you’ll segment your patients for each campaign and to suppress them from other campaigns. You don’t want to bombard them with communications. And no, you certainly don’t have to do all of these. Pick a few to start with. Give them a try, and don’t forget to monitor their engagement so you know what to do and not to do in the upcoming year.  

Next recommended read: How to Build Dental Marketing Campaigns That Retain Patients