How to Build a Back-to-School Dental Marketing Campaign

As summer winds down, families are gearing up for the back-to-school rush. For some practices, this can be a slower season because your patients with families are focused on adjusting to a new school schedule and activities, so a dentist appointment might not be on their "back-to-school checklist." That's where you come in.

A back-to-school dental marketing campaign is a multi-channel outreach effort, typically email, text, direct mail, and social media, timed 6-8 weeks before the school year starts to re-engage families who've delayed routine cleanings or treatment over the summer. A well-run campaign uses 6-7 touchpoints across those channels to drive bookings before schedules fill up with fall activities.

School start dates vary widely by region. Some districts start in early August, others not until after Labor Day, so use your own local school calendar to set your campaign timeline rather than a fixed date. For example, if 4-6 weeks or 2-4 weeks makes more sense for your practice, then you can adjust your plans for that.

It's the ideal time to reach out and remind families to schedule their dental check-ups so they aren't delayed. Oral health has a huge impact on kids' academic performance. According to a 2024 CDC report, around 50% of kids aged 6 to 9 years have had cavities in their baby or permanent teeth. Also, 1 in 10 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years have at least one untreated cavity.

Here's how to build a successful back-to-school campaign that drives bookings for new and returning patients. Give it a try this school season and see how it does!

Step 1: Define Your Campaign Goals

Before launching your campaign, clearly outline what you want to achieve. Here are some ideas:

• Keep a full schedule: Encourage families with kids to schedule routine cleanings, restorative treatments, and/or orthodontics. ‍
• Attract new patients: Reach out to families who haven’t booked appointments for their kids yet. You can also encourage parents to refer their friends with kids and offer a discount to both parties.‍
• Educate on preventive care: Help patients understand the importance of regular cleanings and checkups to protect their oral health in the long run and encourage them to make an appointment if they’re overdue for one.  

Tip: Use SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to make them clear and attainable. For example, a campaign goal could be to drive 25 bookings by September 1 for existing patients 18 and under who haven’t been to the dentist in the past 6 months.

Step 2: Identify Your Patient Groups

Get clear on who you're trying to reach because this campaign isn’t applicable to everyone, and you don’t want to bombard all your patients with unnecessary communication. In a back-to-school dental marketing campaign, your audience will likely be:  

• Families with school-aged children who are due for their next routine cleaning or any upcoming treatment
• Parents or guardians of teenagers who may need a cleaning and/or orthodontic treatment
• College students who need a cleaning and/or restorative treatment

Tip: Use patient data from both your practice management software (PMS) and campaign filters in your patient engagement system to segment your audience. Some segmenting options include age group, zip code, insurance vs. no insurance, when they last visited to send, proposed services, recall status: soon to be due, etc.  

Step 3: Craft a Compelling Message

Your campaign’s message should resonate with your patients’ needs and motivations. Make the content easy to skim and be direct so they know what to do next.  

Here are some themes and ideas to incorporate into your campaign. You don’t have to include all these ideas in one campaign or a single communication. Pick one theme to start, develop your content and message from that theme, and use it throughout your campaign.  

Themes: ‍

• Health and wellness: Emphasize the connection between oral health and overall well-being. Avoid using scare tactics, and instead, keep it positive. Explain how good oral health plays a role in overall wellness. When you have a healthy mouth and teeth, your kids will be more focused and able to enjoy school and their afterschool activities.  ‍
• Confidence: Highlight how a healthy smile can boost self-esteem, something to foster in all school-aged children, but you can emphasize this message to segmented groups like teens and/or college-age people.   ‍
• Convenience: Offer flexible scheduling to accommodate busy back-to-school schedules. Kids will be busy with activities so try to offer different options for families, so they’re motivated to make and show up for the appointment. Do the same for college-aged students.  

Content and design: ‍

• Orthodontics: Promote back-to-school as an ideal time for braces or Invisalign® consultations. ‍
• Educational information: Provide helpful tips on maintaining dental health during the school year. This can include tips on brushing, flossing, mouth guards myths, retainer care tips, fluoride guide for kids based on age, and braces hygiene, healthy lunch snacks and drinks to reduce sugar and protect your enamel, and what to avoid, etc.  ‍
• Special offers: Offer discounts on cleanings, fluoride treatments, dental products, or orthodontic consultations specifically for the back-to-school season.
• ‍Testimonials: Share success stories from satisfied patients to build trust and credibility. This can be a quote or a video testimonial. Don’t forget to ask for permission before using a testimonial.‍

Tip: In your patient engagement system, you can take advantage of existing pre-built marketing templates so you’re not building them from scratch. Many patient engagement systems have templates for this type of campaign so you can edit the content to reflect your message and offer.

Step 4: Choose the Right Communication Channels

Selecting the appropriate channels ensures your message reaches the right patients effectively. Keep the marketing “rule of 7” concept in mind. It takes about 7 interactions with your practice before someone might act. This means you need to send multiple messages through different channels to drive bookings. Here are some channels you can use to promote your back-to-school dental marketing campaign:

• Email: Send personalized emails with special offers and reminders. You can also include the promo in your newsletters if a large portion of your audience who receives a newsletter are families with kids.  ‍
• Text: 98% of texts are opened so texting is an effective way to promote your back-to-school campaign.   ‍
• Direct mail: Don’t overlook snail mail. It’s still a popular channel so you can reach patients with postcards or flyers highlighting your back-to-school specials.  ‍
• Website updates: Feature a dedicated section on your website with campaign details and easy booking options. Put it in a banner ad or pop-up on your homepage or specific high-traffic website pages.  ‍
• Social media: Utilize platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to share engaging content and promotions. You don’t have to post on every channel. Post on the ones where your patients are most active and likely to engage.  

Tip: Be sure your patients’ communication preferences are up to date in your patient engagement system and PMS so you’re sending campaigns through the channels they prefer and will likely respond to. For example, if you don’t have a patients’ email on file, but they’ve indicated they like to be contacted by email. You can send an email request campaign to collect their information so you have it.  

Step 5: Schedule and Automate Your Campaign

Timing makes a difference in the impact of your back-to-school campaign, but we know this isn’t the only task on your plate. Automation can help so it runs in the background, and you’re not responsible for sending out each communication manually. Use your patient engagement system to automate email and texts and schedule social media posts.

Here’s a campaign example you can use based on your team capacity and tools available to you:

• Message Number 1 - Email (6-8 weeks out):  Remind families of openings in your schedule for back-to-school visits and highlight any relevant special offers.  ‍‍
• ‍Message Number 2 - Postcard (6 weeks out): Include a photo of a young patient beaming with a new, fresh smile, copy, and a clear call-to-action (CTA), and a phone number and/or QR code for them to make an appointment. For example, it can be something like “Beat the summer rush. Schedule a back-to-school visit now.” The CTA can be “Book an appointment.”
• ‍Message Number 3 - Newsletter (5 weeks out):  In your newsletter, you can include oral health tips to help kids back into the school-year routine. Emphasize the need for families to get their dental visits scheduled before school starts or in the early weeks of school before schedules get packed.  ‍
• Message Number 4 - Social Media (4 weeks out):  Share eye-catching images of wide-smiled young patients in school and remind your followers of your openings for back-to-school visits. Highlight any special offers that are applicable to your back-to-school campaign. You can also do a post about oral health tips similar to the content you used in your newsletter. ‍
• Message Number 5 - Email (3 weeks out): Remind families of openings in your schedule for back-to-school visits and highlight any special offers. ‍
• Message Number 6 - Text (2 weeks out):  Message parents about current openings and drive urgency by encouraging them to take advantage of them before they’re filled.  ‍
• Message Number 7 - Email or Text (1 week out): Send a follow up reminding patients about current openings and include a mention about the special offer expiring, if applicable.  ‍

Tip: A back-to-school campaign may not be the only campaign you’re running so use a content campaign calendar to stay organized and ensure timely delivery of all materials. Your calendar can include things like themes, send dates, communication channels, what kind of communications, etc. It can be as detailed or as high-level as you want.

Step 6: Monitor and Analyze Results

Tracking your dental marketing campaign performance allows you to measure success and identify areas for improvement for future campaigns. Here are some ways to do that:

• Key metrics: Monitor appointment bookings, website traffic, email open rates, and social media engagement. You can find some of these metrics in your campaign analytics tool, social media analytics, or a more advanced analytics tool that’s part of your patient engagement system.  ‍
• Patient feedback: Collect feedback through email campaign or text surveys and/or in-person to understand if this campaign was helpful.  

By measuring these metrics, you’ll gain useful insights into what worked and what didn’t, so you can fine tune it.  

Tip: If this is your first time doing this type of campaign, use the campaign performance metrics as a baseline for your next back-to-school campaign. For example, if your practice was able to get 25 new bookings from this entire campaign, then you can aim to get 30 bookings from your next one. Set incremental, but realistic goals that set everyone up for success.  

Even though a back-to-school dental marketing campaign is seasonal, that doesn’t mean it has to end once Fall starts. You can continue to nurture your patient relationships by going the extra mile with thank you notes to new and/or returning patients who booked an appointment through a campaign, offer a discount on a future visit or product (if this is in your budget), and of course, maintain ongoing communication so they stay informed about upcoming promotions, new services, and oral health tips. Taking these steps helps to build loyalty and retention over time.

If you’re new to creating campaigns, check out this 12-month content calendar to give you more ideas for the rest of the year. You’ll get a breakdown of each channel and what content to post, and which audience to target. Use it as a guide for this campaign or your next one!  

Frequently Asked Questions About Back-to-School Dental Campaigns

When should I start a back-to-school dental marketing campaign?

‍Start planning 6–8 weeks before your target appointment window. Your first patient-facing message should go out about 6–8 weeks before school starts, with follow-up touchpoints continuing through the first few weeks of the school year.

How many messages should a back-to-school campaign include?

‍Most effective campaigns use 6–7 touchpoints across multiple channels, based on the marketing "rule of 7." It's the idea that it typically takes about 7 interactions before a patient takes action.

What channels work best for a back-to-school dental campaign?

‍Email, text, direct mail, website updates, and social media all play a role. Text messages have especially high open rates, and direct mail remains effective for reaching families who may not engage as often digitally.

Who is the target audience for a back-to-school dental campaign?

‍Families with school-aged children due for a cleaning or treatment, parents of teens who may need orthodontic care, and college students due for a cleaning or restorative treatment.

How do I measure the success of a back-to-school dental campaign?

‍Track appointment bookings, website traffic, email open rates, and social media engagement, then use those numbers as a baseline to set incremental goals for your next seasonal campaign.

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