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Are you a dentist? Perhaps you are thinking about starting your own practice, or maybe you already have a practice and want to know if there is a Dental Marketing strategy that will get you the most patients and make money for your practice? The key is to think about who is your target market. For example, a dentist would not be interested in targeting high school students, even though it could be a good practice area.
The best answer to that question is: talk to real dentists and not just marketers. Think about their experiences, they did that very quickly. Then they learned how to build their patient database so that they could find new patients almost instantly.
The problem with this approach is that most dentists have very little knowledge of advertising. When you visit their office to discuss insurance and dental plans, there is no advertising, and when you go to talk about marketing, the dentist is busy giving the x-rays or taking care of other patients. A marketing plan for a dentist may sound great, but in the hands of a dentist who doesn’t have a marketing background, it is probably not going to work out very well.
If your dental practice has a website, it may be a good place to start in terms of developing a marketing plan, but keep in mind that there are many different reasons for a website. The most common reason is to attract clients. They have the money to pay for the site, and they are looking for a dentist with the expertise they can trust. You can use that fact to create a relationship of trust with your patients. This will help you sell insurance, dental plans and all other services offered by your dental practice.
If your dental practice is small, or if you don’t have a lot of patients, it may not be possible to provide everything your customers need. That is why dental marketing is often used as a supplement to traditional marketing. When a patient walks into your office, he or she has many options. You can either tell them what you do, or you can ask them for their opinions and see what you get back. From those responses, you can use those to market yourself and your services.
A dental marketing program can also be used to build a good reputation for your practice. It can also show that your practice is professional and up-to-date on the latest technologies. When you advertise on your website, make sure you are offering top-notch products and services and stay current in order to show that you are an up-to-date dental practice. Remember that your website and advertising campaign need to be in your field to succeed.
In your online advertising campaign, mention your practice in your website, but don’t go overboard and put your dentist’s name on every other page. The people who are most likely to be interested in your dental products and services are those who are most likely to come back for more.
Dental marketing is not a one-time investment; it is an ongoing commitment, one that you should consider for many years, not only because it is a good way to market your practice, but also because it can show that you are a reputable and experienced practitioner. Once you see the results of it in the form of more patients, you may want to expand your scope even further and make sure that it works well for you.
One of the best ways to start dental marketing is by providing free information about your practice. If you don’t have any patients yet, there is still a way for you to offer this information to those who are willing to visit your site. You can have ads placed on dental websites, on bulletin boards in local community centers and schools, and you can post fliers about your practice in grocery stores. or on billboards that are found in tourist attractions.
If you can’t afford to spend much on your dental marketing campaign at this point, you can take advantage of one of the many affordable dental marketing programs available through online resources. These programs allow you to market your practice without spending any money whatsoever and have immediate results.
If you don’t know where to begin to promote your dental services, ask for recommendations from people you know, the people who work for you, or your customers. Don’t hesitate to look around until you find a good idea that you think will work well for you. You will see that dental marketing isn’t hard to do, but it does take a certain amount of time and effort on your part.
However, marketing your dental practice can be a tough task (it’s getting more competitive every new day). Sometimes your attention will get torn between acquiring new customers while catering to your already established clientele. Sometimes your marketing idea(s) bears no fruits.
Despite all these hardships, some dentists still thrive in their dental practices. And right below here, I’m about to expose to you 7 Top marketing secrets these dentists employ to reap big in such a saturated field.
Let’s get straight to the details…
Best Dental Marketing Ideas and Tips To Market Your Dental Practice
#1. Build Your Online Presence
Your journey to acquiring as many clients as possible (as well as repeat customers) in your dental practice starts with making your practice get found online.
Heck, we’re living in the information age, where people first search online before buying offline.
When potential customers look up for dental practices online in their area, you want to be among the lucky people that pop up in their search results.
So, how do you establish your online presence?
It’s simple.
Create a great website. Make sure it’s heightened with SEO content to help increase your visibility to your target customers.
Above all, ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. This is important because most people today search for local services- including dentists- on their smartphones and tablets.
#2. Actively Engage On Social Media
Social media also ranks among the topmost effective marketing methods for your dental practices. From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., the platforms offer you unique and engaging ways to interact with your target audience.
Facebook, being the most used social media today, will help you easily target the patients in your area matching your current clientele demographic.
This 3-step Facebook advertising post will guide you on how to acquire new patients to your dental practice.
Twitter, the second largest social platform, gives you an opportunity to connect with your patients and alert them on the current trends in your practice.
Overall, social media networks are the surest paths to take you right where all your patients (and prospective patients) are.
#3. Promote Your Business Offline
So we’ve said that web presence and social media engagement work wonders for your dental practice. But marketing your business offline lets you reach even more prospects and reach your full potential.
You might be wondering where to start?
Well,
Here are some effective tips to get you going:
- Send postcards to your prospective patients. Design your cards with special incentives to get your new clients to call. If you distribute around 5,000 postcards targeting the neighborhoods near your practice location, trust me, you’ll receive up to 35 phone calls (which translates to an average of 7 new patients).
- Get involved in your community. There’s no doubt that your patients will feel more connected to you if they encounter you outside your office. With that in mind, try involving yourself with your community by doing things like- sponsoring local events, donating various items (remember to include your logo on them), setting up a booth, and so on.
There are much more ways to market your business presence offline.
#4. NEVER Underestimate The Power Of Video Advertising!
Although this is directly related to the first tip we discussed above, it’s best explained on its own (owing to its unbeatable effectiveness).
Let’s face the truth about videos- they’re more engaging and appealing than lines of plain text. And that means they’ll fetch you more clients.
Grab the opportunity!
Speak to your prospects by posting a well-prepared video on your website. It could feature a tour of your office- just think of any content worth sharing with your customers.
#5. Market The Results Not Services
The biggest mistake most dentists (particularly the beginners) are marking right now is selling just the dental practice services they offer, and then sitting back and waiting for customers to come looking for them.
Trust me; this is not taking your practice anywhere.
Not a single patient will get spurred into action when you tell them about cavity filling and teeth cleaning.
But if you promise them a whiter teeth, beautiful smile, healthy mouth, etc., their calls will come rolling right in.
How do you market your dental practice?
#6. Consider Creating Cross-referral Alliances
Yes, you can also win more patients by establishing cross-referral relationships with other dentists as well as businesses in your area.
In this article, you’ll learn six easy ways that you can with local business to promote your dental practice.
Word of Caution: While cross-promoting, ensure you do it with partners you’re comfortable sending people to. Otherwise, this idea might backfire.
Still Want More?
Of course, you do. I promised you 7 dental marketing tips. So far we’ve covered 6.
I reserved the BEST tip for #7:
#7. Read a Book about Dental Practicing Tips and Ideas
The experts who have done it before took their time to compile all the tricks and strategies that worked for them in a single book.
And by reading such a book, you’ll get to know all these tricks as well as the traps to avoid in this field.
Below, I’ll recommend you the four most-read books on Dental Practicing Tips and Ideas.
Books that will not only steer your business into the highway to success but also inspire you to greater heights.
Genius Dental Marketing Books to Grow Your Practice
1. Re-Inventing Dentistry: A New Vision for Building And Marketing Your Dental Practice Book Review:
- Ganatra, Dr. Rinesh (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 250 Pages - 02/02/2013 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent...
If you want a step-by-step guide that will help you build your dental practice, establish winning systems, and use online marketing to grow your practice to the level you’ve always wished for, this is the book for you!
After successfully implementing 3 state-of-the-art practices in the Orange County, California, the author of this book, Dr. Rinesh Ganatra, reveals how you too can build your practice and market it for the ultimate success.
In simpler terms, you’ll learn three major skills from this book:
- How you can build a dental practice from scratch; without prior experience.
- An incredibly easy-to-understand, step-by-step guide on how to create a winning system for your practice that helps you attract patients, plan treatments, and enjoy repeat clients.
- How to use your online presence- via your website, social media, and online video to win more customers and keep them coming back for more.
What’s most interesting about this book is how the author delivers his content in a systematic approach to ensure you get the most out of it.
Whether you’re a newbie dentist, right out of school, or you’ve been in the industry for long, this is a Must-Read book if you want to achieve extraordinary levels of success in your practice (and life!).
2. It All Starts with Marketing: 201 Marketing Tips for Growing a Dental Practice Book Review:
The author, Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca, -a Clinical Adjunct Professor of Orthodontics at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific- mainly touches on the practice management secrets.
These include marketing, treatment coordination, customer service, teamwork, human resource management, and management systems.
If you want to build a unique brand by actively involving yourself in your community events but don’t know where to start, you need to read this book ASAP.
If you’re stuck on how to build professional dental or medical relationships that will help bring in more patients (remember the cross-referral tip we discussed earlier), this book will guide you through.
Having participated as a marketing speaker at the 2011- 2012 AAO (American Association of Orthodontists) Annual Sessions, you can trust the author of this book to guide you in the right direction.
3. How To Build The Dental Practice Of Your Dreams: (Without Killing Yourself!) In Less Than 60 Days Book Review:
With dental practice experience extending to over 32 years, Moffet has written this incredibly simple to follow, effective, and practical book to help you bring into reality the dental practice you’ve always been dreaming of.
He’ll teach you how to increase the number of patients who pay you a visit, the amount of money you should charge, and even the percentage of big case revenues your clients will happily agree to.
The author recommends using the UPE (The Ultimate Patience Experience) – a unique, low-cost system offering unique patient engagement.
The same system has allowed him to:
- Sell his dental practice for a whopping @2.75 million (80% cash, and 20% in stock).
- Consistently raise his prices (up to an average of 10.55% per year) without losing his clients
- Double his cold calls conversion rates.
- Inside the pages of these books, you’ll get to know exactly how Dr. David Moffet accomplished all the above things and so much more (and learn how you too can do it).
4. How to Get New Dental Patients with the Power of the Web Book Review:
You too can hit the mark with the powerful internet marketing tips for your dental practice outlined in this book. Unlike the other books we’ve discussed above, this on focusses on helping you promote your web presence.
Written in collaboration with dental professionals and expert digital marketers, the book ranks among the most effective step-by-step guides on how to establish your dental practice on the web.
You’ll learn the exact steps you ought to follow to put an online presence into place, acquire the necessary skills for social media engagement, and use the highly rewarding paid search marketing power.
Without a single doubt, these skills will help your practice gain more leads, retain your patients, and the best part- increase your income tenfold or even more!
Grab your copy this fascinating book today and get ready to turn your practice into a 6-figure empire!
Final Thoughts
Just like any other business, nothing can take the power of marketing in your dental practice. Given the high competition in this field, however, you might encounter challenges while trying to market your new or existing practice.
But with the top dental marketing secrets we’ve shared above, be ready to build the practice of your dreams. The tips and ideas shared above are what the successful dentists have been using to survive and thrive in this highly competitive industry.
Start by building your web presence. Then engaging actively on social media, actively involve yourself with the community, utilize video adverting, and cross-referral strategy.
Be sure to read at least one of the books I’ve recommended to you above.
They’re a Must-read if you’re really serious about taking your practice to the highest level possible. They’ll not only show you how to market your practice effectively, but they’ll also motivate, re-ignite you to keep going.
And most importantly: Always remember to market to market results- not your services.
Community engagement and sponsorships for dental practices
As a dental practice owner, you may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of community engagement and sponsorships. However, taking part in these activities can be incredibly beneficial for your business. Engaging with local organizations and donating to events can help increase awareness of your practice among potential clients. Additionally, it can help create a positive image for your practice within your community.
One way to engage with your community is to participate in charity events. These events can be anything from a charity walk or run to a silent auction. By doing this, you not only help raise awareness for your practice, but you also give back to the community. When choosing which charity event to participate in, consider what causes resonate with you and your team. This will help make the experience more meaningful and genuine for everyone involved.
Another way to engage with your community is through sponsorships. Sponsorships can take many different forms, such as sponsoring a local sports team or a cultural event. By doing this, you not only support your community but also gain exposure for your practice. This type of exposure can help generate new clients and increase revenue.
Furthermore, sponsoring events or teams can help create a positive image for your practice in the minds of potential clients. By associating your practice with a positive impression, you can help overcome any reservations that potential clients may have about visiting a dentist. This can lead to increased trust in your practice and therefore increased revenue.
Overall, community engagement and sponsorships can be highly beneficial for your dental practice. They can help increase exposure, generate new clients, and create a positive image for your practice in the minds of potential clients. By taking part in these activities, you not only help support your community but also increase the success of your business.
