The beauty of this marketing strategy is that producing a CD can be extremely cost effective. For example, while Dena Lanier, owner of The Lab 2000, Columbus, Georgia, paid a professional videographer $5,000 to produce her first CD, she realized it would be relatively easy and economical to create additional CDs in-house. She now uses a camcorder and digital camera to capture footage and images, then uses PowerPoint and other software to create the final product; overall, the CDs cost the lab just 25 cents each. Last year, the lab distributed about 125 copies and Lanier says the response from dentists has been positive.

For Jim Emmons, owner of Spectrafire/The Esthetic Edge in Dallas, production costs were also minimal: because he already had the PC, software and digital camera, he paid only $300 for a professional voiceover but did the rest himself.

Den Gray, CDT, owner of Dentures by Den, Riverside, California, took a different money-saving approach: he hired a college student to produce his audio CD at the bargain rate of $300.

In addition to being easy on the pocket, creating CDs in-house allows you to more easily keep the content fresh. For instance, lab owner Tom Zaleske continually updates his casework photo portfolio and burns a new CD every six months, complete with a unique graphic design on the CD cover. He has also recently been experimenting with DVDs and digital technology that allows him to show morph transitions—“before” photos that gradually change into the “after” photos.

“Once you start making CDs and realize the capabilities of the software, you want to keep making them better,” says Zaleske, who owns Matrix Dental Laboratory, Bensenville, Illinois.