To-date this fiscal year, national CAP ads have appeared online in Wisconsin specifically over 9 million times, and reached over 2 million unique Wisconsin residents (about 1/3 of WI’s population).
Additionally, the CAP Matching Grant Program Wisconsin has engaged for this fiscal year has reached an additional 450,000 residents and appeared an additional 2.5 million times across social media.
Overall as a result of this fiscal year’s efforts, we’ve seen a 1,666% lift year-over-year in consumers/patients from Wisconsin visiting the AAO consumer website to learn more and find AAO orthodontists near them via the locator.
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AAO Social Media Presentation
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The Consumer Awareness Program (CAP) is designed to make the public more aware that the orthodontic specialist is the most educationally qualified person to make the best decisions when providing comprehensive orthodontic care. Many consumers do not know the difference between an orthodontist and a general dentist when it comes to aligning teeth. Just last month the AAO released a "Consumer Alert" regarding certain direct-to-consumer orthodontic companies which were marginalizing the importance of seeing an orthodontist during treatment.
Recently, the AAO House of Delegates approved continuing the Consumer Awareness Program (CAP) at the national level for the next four years. Here in Wisconsin, the WSO applied for a matching grant of $12,500. We have $5000.00 remaining to spend on the CAP program and will receive an additional $2500.00 from the initial grant if the WSO matches this. That would give us $10,000 total to spend by May 31, 2019.
At our last WSO business meeting, I reported that the AAO had gone in a new direction in marketing. Instead of using the more traditional media (radio, television, etc...), the AAO decided to focus mainly on a digital approach. Research shows that 85% of consumers use online research before making any decision.
The CAP's new all-digital approach for 2017-18 garnered a 6,100 percent increase in monthly visits to the consumer website, aaoinfo.org. A recent Google study (March 2018) showed that consumers who had seen a CAP ad were 615 percent more likely to search for an AAO orthodontist than those who had not. More information regarding the numbers are on the AAO and the WSO websites. The WSO website also includes numbers pertinent to the state of Wisconsin.
Since social media is becoming a larger and larger means of communication in this digital age, the board strongly suggests making sure your website is up to date and the information that the AAO has about your practice is correct. Social media provides your office with a unique opportunity to market your practice by developing relationships with current and prospective patients.
The AAO website is loaded with free consumer awareness educational materials that every office should use. Also located on their website is a guide - "Making Social Media For You" - to help promote your practice. Please use the AAO-created social media posts for consumers on your practice social media outlets. "Like" the AAO's consumer Facebook page and/or follow the AAO's consumer Twitter feed to easily share Facebook content or to re-tweet a post. Read "Legal Issues and Social Media", written for orthodontic offices. Also listen to Episode 9 of the Business of Orthodontics podcast for pertinent advice. Our local marketing campaign will only be successful if every office participates.
Since the CAP will be continuing at the national level for at least the next four years, the WSO board would like to gather feedback from the membership regarding the CAP.
Your participation is vital as this information will be taken into consideration when making future decisions about the CAP budget.
Please fill out the CAP survey.
