Medical Office Sign Contest Winners: Digital Messages Make It a Tie

We have two winners in the Healthcare Success medical office sign contest. Our thanks goes out to all the subscribers who submitted photo entries. Picking a single winner was tough. In fact, we had to name two practices with marketing-effective outdoor signage as our winners. Here they are, in random order. Our congratulations to:

• Allergy, Ear, Nose & Throat Institute, located on SW Lee Boulevard in Lawton, OK; offices of Dale B. Smith, DO, George Katsantonis, MD, and Lonnie Scholl PA-C.  [There’s more about these providers and their team of professionals at the Institute’s website.] Entry submitted by Megan Roloff, Marketing Director.

• Exceptional Dentistry, located on Asbury Road, Dubuque, IA; offices of Ted Murray, DDS and Kristen Berning, DDS. [Click through here to the Exceptional Dentistry website.] Entry submitted by Carol Murray.

Our winning practice signs are over 800 miles apart, but their signs share similar design criteria that make them effective in attracting new patients. As you can see in the photos below, in addition to other marketing-smart characteristics, both medical office signs are:

• large monument style, consistent with office architecture;
• prominently located adjacent to the main street entrance;
• highly visible to active vehicular traffic; and both
• incorporate an illuminated changing message area.

Admittedly, a digital or LED “reader board” section adds to the cost of a medical office sign, but the investment has a rapid payback. (Good exterior signage delivers one of the highest Returns-on-Investment (ROI), typically your first and best healthcare marketing tool.)

The Exceptional Dentistry sign, for example, displays changing messages that include their phone number, website, Facebook address, as well as identifying services such as sedation dentistry, whitening and Invisalign.

Regarding ROI, their new patient tracking credits patient referrals as their top source, “the highest compliment our awesome patients give to the two great dentists and our amazing team members.” (OK, that’s a really good source too.) They say the office building with the LED sign is their second best source of new patients, and no doubt a strong one also.

Our “best office sign” winning practices have been awarded a tuition-free seat to attend a 2013 Healthcare Success Advanced Marketing Strategies seminar (a $1,295 value). (Our next seminar, by the way, will be in Chicago on May 17-18.)

Again, our congratulations to our winning practices, and thanks to everyone who submitted an entry. And for more about how to make your practice sign recruit new patients, read our previous article: Seven Strategies for Maximum-Effective Office Signs.

Stewart Gandolf, MBA