Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

21Practice ManagementMarch 14-20, 2011United Kingdom Edition Everything you need. 68 EYN2 0111 DPAS focus on delivering a high quality and cost-effective practice-branded plan administration service, providing you with everything you need to implement and promote your plan effectively. So if you’d prefer an experienced plan provider that cuts to the chase, rather than a multipurpose provider that dilutes its focus with unnecessary extras, contact DPAS on 01747 870910. 01747 870910 www.dpas.co.uk Nothing you don’t. DPAS-EYN2-Knife-A4 Junior.indd 1 31/1/11 17:14:28 if they f e e l i n - formed a n d involved touch with what’s going on and gener- ally have closer contact. Also, they will probably chose, and stay with, a practice that extends a hand to communicate with them, as opposed to one that assumes a distant, hands off approach. P a t i e n t n e w s l e t - ters not only s t r e n g t h e n the patient/ practice con- nection, but also act as a gentle reminder of the benefits of creating and maintaining a healthy, beauti- ful smile. Delegate the task Writing your own newsletter probably feels like one of those tasks you will just never find the ‘spare’ time for. Or maybe you will manage one but not pro- duce them regularly – which is almost worse than not doing one at all. A customised patient newsletter lifts this burden and means you save precious time and get your practice noticed with the minimum of effort. Accurate, informa- tive and patient-friendly features are written for you. When branded with your logo (which will be distinc- tive and expertly designed if you followed the advice I gave last month), contact de- tails, and personalised with, say, 200 words of news about your practice, it will appear to- tally bespoke. The perfect size I recommend double-sided A4 as the best format and the newsletter should be stylishly designed and beautifully print- ed on high quality coated pa- per. Ideally, newsletters should be distributed twice a year – in spring and autumn. This means they have a good chance of triggering those cosmetic den- tistry appointments ahead of special occasions. Each newsletter, and past issues, can be uploaded for viewing on your practice website thus potentially at- tracting new patients as well as keeping you in touch with existing ones. If you are a busy dentist with little or no spare time and want to attract more patient enquires as soon as possible, a customised patient newsletter is the perfect solution. DT About the author Cathy Johnson specialises in de- sign for dentists and will design your practice im- age, stationery, welcome packs, referral packs, ex- ternal signage and website to raise the profile of your practice and at- tract the patients you are looking for. She also writes and produces a biannual patient newslet- ter, branded for you to send to your patients. Cathy’s success is built on more than 25 years of experience as a graphic designer combined with in-depth understanding of the needs of the dental profession. She and her team are based in London and work with practices across the UK and abroad. Working with single practi- tioners through to large dental groups, all services are tailor-made to suit each individual practice. Tel: 020 7289 1215 Email: cathy@cathyjohnsondesign. com / www.cathyjohnsondesign.com