Are you looking for new ideas for your dental practice marketing strategies? A dentist’s role in the community is to promote oral health in the local community, and the best way to fulfill that responsibility is to market effectively. Marketing isn’t just about driving revenue and obtaining new patients; it’s also about building your reputation, earning the trust of the community, and building upon relationships with current patients. These are all ways that will help you to grow your practice. So where do you begin?
As a dental practice, it pays to take a multichannel approach, leveraging a website, email marketing, social media, and other marketing channels to achieve maximum results. As an agency that has marketed for many dental professionals before, we’ve seen the kind of dentist marketing that works and doesn’t work, and here we share some of the best dental practice marketing strategies we’ve devised and executed.
Eight Dental Practice Marketing Strategy Tips
#1: Optimize your dental website for local search terms
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to help people seeking dental treatments in your area to find you more easily. If you’re located in Austin, Texas, tune your website so it ranks for terms such as “best dentist in Austin” — a much easier ranking to achieve than more general terms like “best dentist.” These local search terms not only build up your local patient base, but they’ll also make it easier for artificial intelligence to find you when people in your area use voice command searches to schedule dental appointments using their location.
#2: Use email marketing to share news, reminders, and promotions about your dental practice
According to Forbes, the average person checks their email inbox 15 times per day. This makes email an excellent tool for offering promotions, such as referral bonuses, sharing a monthly newsletter, sending appointment reminders, and more. Email marketing is an effective way to make sure your patients (past, present, and prospective) are seeing what you have to say — especially if the email has an alluring subject line.
The subject line determines whether or not someone opens the message. You can make sure people open it by making it personal, prompting action, and offering incentives with time constraints. For example, “[Name], get 15% off your exam this month when you refer a friend!”
#3: Take advantage of PPC Google Ads campaigns
Pay-per-click (PPC) allows you to pay to have your ads featured at the top of the search results on Google when a person enters certain search terms. This positions you to be seen before other dental practices and increases the likelihood that a prospective patient chooses your practice. You can make a free account on Google AdWords today and immediately start testing which local search terms drive the most traffic to your website. Start getting results no matter how large or small your PPC budget!
#4: Increase your social media presence to strengthen your patient and follower base
Social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others are excellent tools for increasing local awareness of your business and finding new patients. These platforms are free Facebook ads, for example, allow you to target very specific audiences so you can display your ads to only the people who are likely to give you their business.
You can also use social media to highlight your involvement in the community. Post photos or stories of how your practice sponsored a local event, donated to a charity, attended a festival or job fair, or whatever else it has been doing within the area. Not only does this humanize your office, but it also engenders positive feelings toward your staff.
#5: Manage your online dental reputation on Google and Yelp
Google is one of the first (if not THE first) places that people turn when seeking dental care. With that being the case, make sure your Google My Business listing is accurate and up to date. You should also see what people are saying about your office in Yelp and Google reviews; prospective patients often read reviews before choosing a dentist to make sure they will receive the best care. You can bolster the positive reviews by running PR campaigns or by using email and social media marketing to offer incentives for leaving a review after an appointment.
#6: Use traditional media to supplement your online content
Not all of your patients are online, especially if you commonly serve an older demographic — but they are local. Many dentists see success from sending out mail offers, birthday postcards, and annual checkup reminders. Some dentists even mail informational packets on cosmetic dentistry to wealthy areas to draw in new business who can afford to spend a little more on their appearance.
#7: Perfect your dental office website
You have a very small window of time to keep a person on your website once they land on it. These people are either seeking information or looking to schedule an appointment, and your website needs to be easy to use and well designed so that this information is readily available. You should position a strong call to action toward the top of the home page and also have your contact information in a visible and obvious place. Consider also creating a content hub on your website where people can go to find information about different dental procedures. This adds value to your site and establishes you as the expert in your industry.
#8: Invest in video ads and other visual media
A lot of people don’t have the time or the desire to do a lot of reading when they stumble upon your website or social platforms. You can capture these peoples’ attention using video ads, infographics, explainer videos, and more, which are a great way to introduce your staff and office and humanize your brand.
Use Our Full-Service Agency to Grow Your Practice
Now that you know what to market as a dental practice and how to do it, team up with a full-service marketing agency to determine what combination of these marketing mediums you should focus on to maximize your results. Avalaunch Media is well-versed in omnichannel marketing, and we have skilled professionals ready to help you accomplish your marketing goals. Contact us today for a free quote. We look forward to helping you grow your practice.