Need more patients for your dental practice? Marketing is the key to success. In fact, according to Patient News, “for a dental practice to grow, a single dentist should be seeing 24–50 new patients per month.” In addition to offering a competitive product at a competitive price with quality service, in order to attract new patients, a practice needs to have a dental marketing plan. We’ve compiled for you 5 simple marketing ideas from industry experts. Use them to start acquiring more patients today!
If you’re website isn’t fast, up-to-date, and patient-friendly, you’ve got serious problems in this day and age. The experts at Killer Shark recently explained in their article, 13 Proven Marketing Ideas to Get More New Dental & Orthodontic Patients to Your Practice:
“This isn’t 2011 when many companies were still ‘ironing the kinks’ out of their website. In 2016, your potential new patients expect your website to load extremely fast, and display perfectly regardless of what browser, device, or operating system they are using.
If your website isn’t there yet, you’re behind the times (Site speed and user-friendliness are actually now a major part of the ranking algorithms of popular search engine like Google & Bing).
If you’ve recently heard anything along the lines of ‘Your site doesn’t work. I can’t pull it up on my phone,’ then it’s time to get serious about improving the speed and performance of your current website . . . if your website isn’t where it needs to be, new patients will simply go somewhere else.”
There are three great things about Google’s Google My Business (GMB) listings, which are: 1) it’s super easy for businesses to use, 2) it’s free, and 3) it makes it easier to be found by potential new patients. Search Engine Strategist, Ameet Khabra, explains it best in Jason Rueger’s article, 25 Dental Marketing Ideas The Pros Use:
“If your business has a storefront, utilizing GMB is a must if you want to be found by . Ensure that all relevant information is stated on the page.
Also, ensure that you’re adding your geo-location on your content within your website. As a business owner and advertiser, we need to let Google know that we are a business and where we are located. This allows you to tell the potential what to expect of your business in terms of what your business may serve or sell. Not only will this allow you to be shown to potential more often but this also will show up for relevant searches by who have intent.”
Believe it or not, your target audience is most likely women. Take it from Patient News, who wrote in their article, Dental Marketing Ideas: How to Attract New Patients to Your Practice:
“Women make more than 90% of all dental buying decisions. They are powerhouse consumers who want to make informed decisions for their families. They want a service, not just a product, and in today’s market they have plenty of dental practices to choose from.
A great dental marketing idea that will entice more female household heads to contact your practice is to carefully review your overall marketing image, including your dental practice logo, and your existing collateral. According to Marti Barletta, the world’s foremost expert on marketing to women, ‘Women make purchasing decisions differently than men, in that they take a meandering approach.’
Women want information before they purchase to ensure they are finding the ‘perfect answer.’ So when creating marketing collateral for your dental practice, be sure to work with a provider that offers a ton of dental practice marketing ideas, can provide in-depth demographic targeting, and who understands how to market to women.”
What discounts do you currently offer your patients? According to expert Charles Crawford in 21 dental marketing ideas that will get you 147+ calls in 4 weeks:
“Discounts always attract patients, and this one has an added bonus in that patients will be more likely to keep an appointment if they’ve prepaid.”
Seems like a no-brainer, but really, how prepared is your front desk? As stated by expert Rhonda R. Savage, DDS in 12 Marketing Ideas that Don't Break the Bank:
“The front desk needs to be prepared for everything. Examples include: checking insurance benefits ahead of time, knowing whether a patient is covered for X-rays. Prior preparation says, ‘We're professional and you can trust us!’ It’s a marketing tool! Also, look into On Hold Messaging as a form of advertising.
Customer service is reflected in your recare/reactivation efforts. This is a front desk responsibility. Keep your front desk accountable for preparedness and organized systems.
Consider a white board to greet new patients and welcome back returning patients. Or place a picture board in the reception area to create instant connections.”
You’ve now got 5 simple marketing ideas that are sure to help you attract new patients; however, we must remember that strategy is just as important as tactics. As stated earlier, in order to attract new patients, a dental practice must have a dental marketing plan. The key word here is plan. When it comes to dental marketing:
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”— Sun Tzu
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So with these 5 simple marketing ideas, must come a comprehensive plan. Simply put by Andrew Klausner in Forbes article, Creating A Successful Marketing Strategy:
“Your marketing plan – the written description of your market strategy – should:
Now put this information into action and start acquiring more new patients today!
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