What exactly is Dental Marketing? Every interaction with a client is a part of dental marketing. In other words, your dental office can’t be a dental marketing agency; it’s just a tool that allows you to sell your services. However, in more subtle but compelling ways, these various cues set up an image of your dental office in the minds of potential clients.
Let’s say that your office has recently renovated its front office. One of the first things that a new dental patient sees is the sign that welcomes them. If it’s done well and catches the patient’s attention immediately, there is a great dental marketing idea in place: free dental cleaning. This gives the impression that the office cares about the needs of the new patients as soon as they step through the door. It also offers a quick and easy way for the dental marketing idea to get out “awareness” to everyone who might run by the office looking for cleaning.
But how do you create this “outstanding” sign? The best thing to do is to use your local SEO strategy to optimize your front office sign. Many dental practices have their website copy modified to put a dent in the competition. This doesn’t do you much good if you don’t take advantage of some great dental marketing strategies.
I say that this is so critical because much of the new patient traffic at dental practices comes in after the dentist has already seen them. We call this “ad prospecting.” Basically, a dental marketing strategy that optimizes ad prospecting is a great way to get a new patient into your office before seeing anyone else. This way, you’ve already established a relationship with the new patient, and they may end up scheduling an appointment with you. Just the thought of that fact alone makes me salivate for the opportunity to offer those new treatments!
The most obvious method of utilizing dental marketing strategies is to use Facebook ads. There are many dentists online who have Facebook ads that are getting great ROI. In fact, some dentists are reporting an ROI of more than 90%. The key with Facebook ads is that you need to start with a quality ad and then continue to tweak the ad until it meets or exceeds the expectations of your clinic. Some dentists have found that creating custom Facebook ads is the best practice for optimizing those ads.
Another great way you can take advantage of the power of advertising like Facebook is by creating a flyer that you can hand out to your new patient list. Let’s face it; no one likes to receive a flyer when it comes to new patients. It’s either they throw it away, or they keep it and read it through several times before they remember what it says. However, by taking the time to make a flier or giving it to your new patient list, you are doing more than just marketing yourself. You are passing the word about your dental practice to potential new patients who will, in turn, tell their friends about you.
Many patients don’t know much about you and your practice until someone tells them about you. One great way of doing this is by reaching out to your patient base by sending out fliers or distributing coupons to those in your area who may not have dental practices. Another way is to offer a discount for services rendered by your office to your local schools. I’ve even seen dental practices send coupons to patients who bring their children to see you. All of these techniques will get you well on your way to growing your dental practices.
While Facebook and Twitter are great places to start, my favorite way to market has been PPC landing pages. I create a page for my dental practice, write up a flier with a link back to my website, and then I place multiple ads on the page for services rendered by my office. Many patients will come across my page and read about my practice while perusing my website, and some will decide to come and visit. The rest of my patients are then directed straight to my website to find out more about me and my practice.
