Strategies for Community Growth and Engagement

Practice Talk

In this episode of Practice Talk, the Marketing Director of Lupi Orthodontics, Heather Hamm, divulges her office’s strategies for orchestrating prosperous community events. She highlights the diverse range of events they've organized, noting that those centered around health and wellness consistently draw the largest crowds. Heather emphasizes the effectiveness of distributing branded swag, particularly citing ChapStick as a highly appreciated giveaway item — after all, who doesn't need ChapStick? Tune in for invaluable insights and practical advice from Heather's wealth of experience.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [01:53] Heather explains that the most beneficial events have been health and wellness expos
• [6:03] There are a variety of ways to measure the success of an event
• [8:39] Discussion of how a private practice can stand out in the community
• [10:23] A listener asks how to get her team excited about marketing events, and Heather discusses the swag they use
• [17:22] How to build strong relationships within the schools and home-schooling communities
• [24:25] Lacie invites listeners to send in their recommendations of guests and topics

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Engagement in the community is essential because it says that you care and are willing to invest in people
• Theme-based swag is a great idea to tie everything together and show you have put a lot of thought into the event
• Getting staff excited about doing events is a process. Asking them to assist in creating the event is an excellent way to get their involvement, and in large practices, it can be a condition of employment

RESOURCE LINKS:

People + Practice - Website

Practice Talk Podcast - Free Downloads

Heather Hamm - LinkedIn

Lupi Orthodontics - Facebook

QUOTES:

“One advantage of Lupi Orthodontics is that we celebrate 30 years in the community. The doctor’s reputation alone speaks for itself. We’re starting to see the children of the patients he first treated coming to our practice, which is always fun and gets us excited.” - Heather Hamm

“I love swag. One of the most important things is making sure that it's quality, not necessarily expensive, but something that they're not just going to throw away. For example, on their way out of the event, our most popular in-office swag is chapstick. Everybody loves Dr. Lupi's chapstick. We give those to the patients after a procedure or hand them out at events. One thing I like to do with the swag is align it around the event.” - Heather Hamm