Marketing dental offices has changed significantly in the digital era, yet there are still numerous strategies that will bring in prospective patients.
Dentists need to emphasize their unique services and improve patient experiences in both online and offline marketing strategies. Many practices now provide text message reminders or appointment confirmations.
1. Social Media
Social media can be an excellent platform for dental marketing ideas, but its use requires planning and consistency. Create content that addresses common queries about oral health to build trust with potential patients – then share these posts across your social channels, website and emails.
Use paid ads to reach potential patients for your services. Popular platforms such as Google and Facebook provide targeted advertisements that can connect you with potential patients.
Remarketing is another powerful digital marketing tactic. Remarketing targets people who have visited your website (see some great dentist websites here) or practice and displays relevant ads on other platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram.
Distribute humanizing content via social media, such as photos and videos featuring your team doing everyday things, in order to help potential patients feel at ease before their first appointment. Just make sure not to violate HIPAA!
Social media can also be an excellent way to boost patient retention efforts through giveaways and special offers on social media platforms like Facebook. Many practices utilized by the professionals at Magnetic Marketing, for example, also use text message appointment reminders. This is great for saving staff members time while making it easy for patients to schedule appointments from their phones – this helps avoid no-shows and cancellations!
2. Business Cards
Dental office clinics usually feature welcoming reception areas that make patients feel at home and at ease, such as lounge-type areas with couches and entertainment options such as televisions or magazines. Many even feature play areas for children to keep them occupied while waiting for appointments.
Dental clinics operate under tight schedules, making efficiency and organization of the office essential. Hiring dental assistants, hygienists and receptionists who can ensure patients’ happiness while keeping operations running smoothly – while making sure appointments are seen on time – is vitally important to keeping patients satisfied and ensuring all appointments take place on schedule.
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to market your dental office is with business cards, which are inexpensive and straightforward to distribute. Give these out to existing customers, mailers and brochures, as well as Facebook ads targeted to reach potential ones who match certain demographics such as language, relationship status, employment status, income level or interests.
Reminders can also help bring in new patients. From phone calls and texts, to links and instructions for leaving reviews on Google – which carries more weight in search than Yelp – reminders can help ensure patients don’t forget their appointments and can boost your visibility online.
3. Joint Marketing with Other Businesses
Partnering with local businesses to develop marketing campaigns can help expand your reach. Being featured on their websites or social media accounts will expose new people to your office while simultaneously creating positive associations for it – this tactic can help dental offices expand quickly.
An effective online presence is crucial for any business, but especially important for dental practices. An attractive website, SEO-optimized (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-seo) and similar content like custom infographics, which will allow patients to easily locate your office online while setting up Google Analytics allows you to track its growth over time.
Before and after pictures can be an invaluable marketing asset for your dental office. Secure patient permission before taking photos to use in paid advertising campaigns as well as on your website.
Expand your reach by targeting specific demographics on social media platforms like Facebook. For instance, you could target women who are pregnant or men who are single; location and age filters allow for fine-tuning your ad targeting. It’s crucial that you understand who your target audience is before beginning any marketing campaigns – this data could save both time and money in the future!
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing can be an extremely effective marketing tool when personalized for each patient’s individual pain points and needs. Patients will likely respond more positively when messages address these specific elements directly; you can do this by including specific patient data such as their insurance carrier or employer in emails; adding images or videos can make emails more interesting and engaging as well.
As consumers receive over 280 billion emails daily, it’s crucial that yours stand out. People typically only open emails that benefit them, solve a problem, or answer their question; for dental practices this could mean sending appointment reminders with an opportunity for scheduling additional services or referrals.
Remarketing can also help businesses leverage email effectively. By uploading patient emails onto Google or Facebook ads, remarketing allows businesses to re-capture patients’ attention and encourage them to book an appointment with them again. Remarketing can be particularly useful when trying to increase customer lifetime value (LTV) via upselling and cross-selling; after providing cleaning or teeth whitening service for the first time, for instance, use this technique to send them offers for follow up appointments via remarketing.
5. Remarketing
Social media is an effective way of reaching new patients. Sharing engaging posts like photos, quotes, surveys, statistics or dental tips can increase word of mouth referrals and create more appointments. Facebook allows you to target ads at local people who may be interested in your services; additionally it can also be used for advertising events at your dental practice as well as fundraising purposes such as a community fundraiser.
To ensure you’re spending enough to attract new patients, it’s essential to understand your customer acquisition cost (CAC). This figure represents the average price paid in marketing efforts to bring one new patient through. With this number in hand, it allows you to optimize your budget appropriately.
Employ the help of your team members in developing a marketing strategy. Encourage them to share your blog posts and social media content, so everyone remains up-to-date on any recent changes at your practice. Weave can further streamline this process by centralizing all communications into one location.
