Grow Your Practice with These 5 Dental Marketing Ideas
Growth is the lifeblood of any business, including your dental practice. When you’re working in a saturated market, however, it can be challenging to bring new patients in the door.
That’s becoming a bigger concern for the dental industry. According to the American Dental Association, the number of dentists is expected to grow over the next two decades.
If you’re in a busy metropolitan city, that could be scary news.
There’s no need to fret, however. By using some solid marketing practices, you can grow your patient base and stake out a bigger share of your local market.
Read on for 5 dental marketing ideas to grow your practice.
5 Dental Marketing Ideas for Your Business
1. Dominate Local SEO
If you want to draw more patients in the door, you need to make sure they know you exist. That’s where SEO comes in.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a marketing strategy that improves your online visibility for your prospective patients. By making SEO work for you, you can improve your chances of snagging new customers and meeting your sales goals.
So how do you harness the power of SEO? Here are a few quick tips.
- Create quality content your customers will want to read
- Use the right number well-researched keywords
- Build a bigger social following and share everything you post
- Include internal links to other pages on your site
- Work with other websites to increase your number of backlinks
- Eliminate broken links and 404 pages
- Make sure everything loads quickly
It’s important to remember that good SEO requires research. You’ll need to set aside enough time to figure out the best tactics to use for your practice.
If you don’t have the time to devote to that, consider hiring a professional marketing agency to help.
2. Combine Print and Digital Marketing
It’s easy to get distracted by digital dental marketing ideas, but print marketing can still pack a punch.
Consider using targeted print campaigns to reach potential patients you know won’t be online.
The best results will require a little footwork on your part. You’ll need to do some research to find out which segments of your city or region don’t seem to be searching for your site. Learn as much about them as possible. How old are they? Do they have children? What’s their income level?
Next, create a series of printed marketing materials that speak directly to their needs. Try posters, ads, and printed mailers that offer them a distinct reason to come visit your practice. A coupon or promo code will likely draw in more visitors.
If you use high-quality materials and innovative design, you’ll get more eyes on your message.
3. Invest in Your Online Reputation
When it comes to in-person services like dentistry, your online reputation has the power to bring more patients through the door—or leave them running for the nearest exit.
That’s why it’s essential for you to manage your online reputation.
If you’re new to the world of digital marketing, your online reputation is simply how consumers view your brand online. Several different aspects play into it, including your social presence, site design and functionality, and—maybe most importantly—your online reviews.
If you’ve had a lot of happy patients, their five-star reviews can be the deciding factor for potential new patients considering your practice. If you’ve got some negative reviews—or no reviews at all—prospective patients are more likely to choose another practice for their dentistry needs.
Growing your positive reviews is a long process, but it can be done.
To start, make sure you have claimed your business’s page. Verify that your hours, address, and any other information are correct and current.
Next, try soliciting more reviews from your existing patients. Add a visible link to your site, your email footer, and social media channels. You might even consider offering a promo deal for patients who leave you a review online.
Remember to keep up with your reviews as they come in. You’ll need to respond to any questions posted and give your answers to any negative reviews from former patients.
4. Inspire Trust in Your Consumer Base
Trust is an essential component of sales, especially in the medical field. One of the best ways to draw new patients to your practice is to appear more trustworthy.
A lot of things impact how trustworthy a business appears, especially online. The look and feel of your website, for instance, can play a big part in how willing people are to let you look in their mouths.
That’s why it’s essential that your site looks high quality and functions well. That means a clean layout, an uncluttered design, and a user-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate.
Every page should load quickly without errors and your site’s security certificate should be up to date.
5. Stay Agile and Data-Driven
Data is a marketer’s best friend. As you implement these new ideas, it’s important to pay attention to their results.
Invest in an analytics tool to help you grab user data from your site’s visitors. Be sure to ask each new client in person how they heard about your practice.
With time, you’ll be able to see which efforts are working and which ones aren’t paying off. Then it’s up to you to decide whether it’s time to tweak some of your dental marketing ideas or replace them with new strategies altogether.
Bonus Idea: Consult the Professionals to Help You Grow Your Dental Practice
Sometimes the best way to drum up business for your practice is to hire a professional marketing agency.
A professional agency can use time-tested strategies to bring your practice to the forefront of prospective customers’ minds. An agency that specializes in dental marketing is particularly well-suited to help you reach your sales goals.
At Creativedge Marketing, we specialize in generating fresh dental marketing ideas that will help your practice grow its client base. We can help you build your patient referrals, increase your sales, and manage your online visibility.
Check out our long list of marketing resources and start watching your numbers rise.