The average solo dental practice needs more than 20 new patients per month (at a minimum) in order to grow and succeed. Whether it’s finding a nearby dentist on Google, learning more about a provider from a friend or relative on social media, or evaluating their quality of service and reputation on review sites, the internet plays an important role in every patient’s search for a dentist. With the impact of digital media on patients’ decision-making, the need of online marketing for dentists and dental care practices has never been more necessary. With the implementation of online marketing, your dental practice can take charge of how your business appears on the internet, and make it easier for patients to select your practice over your competitors. In this blog, we’ll talk about different online marketing solutions for growing your dental care business. Before that, let’s understand why exactly you need online marketing for your dental practice.
Why digital marketing should be every dentist’s priority?
- Digital marketing allows dentists to connect with patients on search engines, social media, email, and their dental practice websites.
- Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day, according to Internet Live Stats.
- No doubt people searching for a dentist in your local area are included in this number.
- Relying solely on traditional marketing methods such as direct mail and radio spots is keeping you from reaching current and prospective patients.
Fact Check
Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day, according to Internet Live Stats.
Benefits of digital marketing for dental practices
- Inbound marketing is more effective than outbound marketing
- Consumers prefer contact via email over direct mail
- Online marketing is less expensive
- Success rates are easy to measure
- Adjust your campaign with real-time results
- Single out your target market
Digital Marketing Strategies for Dentists: Attract New Patients
In the past, dentists relied solely on referrals and reputation to build a thriving practice. Times have changed, though, and in order to succeed today, dentists must adapt by getting comfortable with digital marketing. A quality, robust digital marketing campaign is the key to attracting new dental patients and retaining the ones you already have.
Create Valuable Content
- Creating a website and simply hoping to show up in search results isn’t enough. You need to make the most of the brief moment a person may spend on your website, landing page, or ad.
- Value-based content, high-quality images, informative copy, and overall functionality are all musts if you want to convert website visitors into dental patients.
- Content that focuses on the needs of visitors, as opposed to your credentials, will have the most impact.
- It’s also important to incorporate clear calls-to-action such as “request a consultation,” “call today,” or “schedule an appointment.”
Get Found More Easily with SEO & PPC
- Businesses optimize their content for search engines (SEO) and complement that with a properly targeted pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.
- Ranking is key, the best way to increase your search engine ranking is to first audit your existing site to see how it’s currently performing.
- An SEO strategy takes time and attention for it to properly work.
- Starting a PPC campaign to accompany this strategy will allow you to cast a wide net and find new patients quickly.
- Together, SEO and PPC can provide you with an immediate boost in positioning and increased traffic to your website.
Location-Based Marketing (Local SEO)
- Dental practice marketing must include optimization for local searches.
- To get the best results, make sure you have an accurate listing across multiple online directories, use local keywords in your SEO strategy.
- Encourage current patients to leave positive reviews on sites such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook.
Optimize for Mobile
Today, mobile usage continues to rise, which means that in addition to location-based marketing, you’ll need to make sure you optimize your website for the mobile user. Here are the ways in which mobile design and SEO differ from desktop:
- Mobile users have less screen space, so you’ll want to limit boxes of lengthy text.
- Design your website with easily accessible icons or buttons that make it easy for site visitors to call or request an appointment instantly.
- Mobile users respond well to video, so your website and social media pages should have relevant and engaging video content to increase views.
- Optimizing for mobile is one of the most important aspects of a successful digital marketing strategy for dentists.
Stay Engaged with Social Media
- Social Media is a great way to give your practice an individual voice.
- It allows you to provide followers with up-to-date, relevant information such as tips, interesting statistics on oral health.
- You can provide images of your practice and employee culture so they feel as if they know you.
- The key is to build a relationship with potential patients by offering complementary information. This builds brand awareness, establishes trust.
Reputation Management
- The majority of prospective patients base their decision to schedule an appointment on a positive online reputation.
- Online reputation is most commonly represented by reviews on Yelp, Google, and social media platforms.
Email Marketing Campaign
- Delivering content right to your patients’ inboxes allows you to provide them with complimentary educational articles on maintaining dental health, access to local health resources, seasonal promotions, and even billing information.
- Email marketing is one of the building blocks of a long-lasting relationship between your patients and your dental practice.
Stay Human
- One of the most important aspects of any digital marketing campaign for dentists, digital or otherwise, is the ability to remain human and empathetic.
- People want to give their business to companies with a conscience.
- Try to participate in community events and offer free or low-cost services to those who are underprivileged or underinsured.
Video Ads
- Visuals, particularly videos, are the key to marketing success in today’s world.
- Best ways to grow a practice because people are consistently hungry for content.
- Videos give them engaging content that you can use to directly market to your potential patients in a concise way.
Remarketing
- Remarketing has become one of the most digital marketing for dentists tools because it helps people move towards scheduling an appointment with your practice.
- Remarketing allows you to track users who have visited your website—without a purchase or action—and shares your ads on other websites. Think of this as the ultimate digital stalking, businesses will stay on your mind and follow you!
Marketing Analysis
- Tracking is one of the biggest perks of digital marketing.
- You should track how ads are performing and where their traffic is coming from.
- Using marketing analytics, you can examine your audience demographics, impressions, click through rates, cost per conversion and many other trends over a set of time.
Update and Optimize Your Google My Business Page
- Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) page is a small dental marketing idea that packs a HUGE punch—by optimizing your GMB page you can almost immediately attract more patients.
- The Local Pack listing alone accounts for approximately 44 percent of clicks by users of Google, primarily with traffic to the business name and the website link.
Fact Check
Local Pack listing alone accounts for approximately 44% of clicks by users of Google
Start a Dental Blog
- Need to have content on your website that catches curious patients.
- To get more traffic on your website, need to add blog content which provides correct information to the patients which they need.
Focus on Both Current and Past Patients
- Create a system to monitor each patient appointment. The system should be able to flag patients that you haven’t seen for a while and send them reminders.
- Try out a “We Miss You” email campaign to engage such patients again. You may be able to successfully convince them to revisit your office with a few small, well-timed gestures.
Ask for patient testimonials
- Asking your patients of record to post positive reviews of their experiences at your office on Google or Facebook is a smart way to encourage new patients to visit you.
- Use dental patient satisfaction surveys to find out what your existing patients think of the services they receive, and the experiences they have dealing with your staff.
Use Team marketing
- Don’t rely on just one person to get the word out, use your whole team.
- You will always able to get new ideas and ways of funneling into your marketing strategy.
- More people contribute ideas, more content.
Launch a Scholarship
- Scholarship is a great way for your dental practice to gain community notoriety.
- Opportunity to have it advertised on various university websites.
Share original photographs and videos
- Always show off your actual well-lit, welcoming office spaces or cutting-edge equipment through stunning pictures posted to your websites.
- Even better if you post photos of your friendly staff, as well as of their patients (with permission, of course) flaunting the results of your successful procedures.
Digital marketing for dentists can lead to improved business growth at a surprisingly affordable cost. So, instead of spending money on marketing tactics of the past, why not get a leg up on the things of the future which can show the hard results you desire? Dive in, setup a digital marketing plan, get creative, build meaningful relationships, and enjoy the digital marketing of today! The opportunities and level for success are endless!
Vijay Sood is a seasoned digital marketer with a passion for driving online growth and innovation. With a robust background in developing and executing comprehensive digital strategies, Vijay excels in leveraging SEO, content marketing, and social media to boost brand visibility and engagement. His expertise lies in transforming data-driven insights into actionable marketing campaigns, helping businesses achieve their digital objectives.