Do you want to start bringing in more customers to your dental office? Here are some dental marketing techniques you need to try to get better conversions.
Patients and pearly whites are your passion. Unfortunately, nine times out of 10, they won’t waltz into your dental practice on their own. You need to master dental marketing if you want to bring in patients and grow your practice.
The question is, though, where do you start? Admittedly, marketing is a complicated animal — especially in today’s high-tech landscape. And time is money, so you don’t want to spend your time — or your money for that matter — on marketing techniques that simply don’t work.
Here are some dental marketing techniques you need to try to get better conversions this year.
Let’s jump in!
1. Use Google Adwords for Effective Dental Marketing
First, take full advantage of Google Adwords to target dental patients in your local area.
You’ll want to target a relatively small radius — say, five miles — around your dental office.
Then, you can develop ads that focus on patients “near me” Google queries — for instance, “dental office near me.” You can also purchase similar ads on Facebook.
Using click-to-call advertisements and then your tracking incoming calls by using a call tracking service may be the most effective method for attracting patients.
When you use a call tracking service, you’ll advertise a phone number that will forward a prospective patient to your office’s main number.
This is the perfect setup because it’ll allow you to determine which channels — Facebook ads or Google ads — are sending you the most prospective clients interested in booking appointments.
In this way, you can allocate your practice’s marketing budget in the most effective way possible.
Also, try to run your ads when your office is open, as that’s when you have an employee available to respond to a phone call.
You’ll likely find that patient phone calls convert much better than patient form submissions do, so this is a perfect place to begin your dental marketing efforts.
2. Track Your Practice’s Sources
To have a successful dental practice, you no doubt must be extremely visible on the World Wide Web. So, be sure that your dental practice shows up on today’s most prominent review sites, including Yelp and Healthgrades.
But that’s not all.
You’ll also want to encourage each patient of yours to rate you on these sites. The more positive ratings you have, the more potential patients may show interest in your dental services.
3. Send Out Postcards
Of course, you can’t forget to include good-ole-fashioned snail mail as part of your dental marketing efforts.
Postcards are an excellent way of reaching brand-new clients, reminding your existing clients about their appointments, and introducing new procedures or services.
4. Build an Email Marketing List
This is another extremely important step in buttressing your dental marketing efforts.
You can build your practice’s email marketing list by first creating a white paper about how to get whiter teeth, for example, and then making it available on your website in exchange for a potential client’s email address.
Once the prospective client downloads your white paper, you can simply follow up by sending him or her an email featuring a coupon for whitening services.
Using software that automates your email marketing process, such as Infusionsoft, can be particularly useful for promoting your practice and returning a large return on your marketing investment.
5. Put Together an Office Photo Booth
This is a fun way to get your dental practice on the map in the world of social media — specifically Instagram.
All you have to do is put together a large Instagram frame where satisfied dental clients may pose with a smile. Then, get their permission to share their photos of your office’s handiwork on your practice’s Instagram page.
Popular hashtags to use with these pictures include #teethwhitening, #teeth, #dentalwork and #dental.
You can also share these posts on your office’s Facebook page and tag your patients in them so that their individual lists of friends will see them as well.
6. Create Informational Videos
Your dental marketing efforts can really lead to more conversions if you apply basic principles of content marketing. One of these involves creating “how-to” video content or videos on certain dental topics that patients want to learn more about.
By creating informational videos and posting them on your website or on social media, including YouTube, you build a solid communication channel with your clients. And with that, you also build trust and patient loyalty. Your loyal clients will then recommend your office faithfully to others.
7. Use Video Testimonials
While we’re on the subject of video, we need to emphasize that you’re not the only person that needs to do the talking in your practice’s videos. Allow your happy patients to share their positive experiences with you in video testimonials as well.
And don’t worry — you don’t need costly camera equipment to get the job done. A simple webcam, tablet or smartphone video will do.
Of course, be sure to film your patient in a place featuring plenty of light and no noise. And keep the video relatively short to avoid boring your audience — no more than a minute.
8. Keep an Active Blog
This is another smart content marketing move that it makes sense to adopt in your practice.
You can use your website blog to produce posts on new technologies, emerging trends and dental tips that will benefit your patients.
For instance, a leading Beverly Hills dentistry service provider publishes blogs on the benefits of dental implants, veneers and how to select the best cosmetic dentist. These types of posts add immense value to patients’ lives.
9. Use Facebook and Twitter
We’ve already mentioned social media a couple of times, but we can’t hammer this point home enough. You absolutely have to be active on social media today to be viewed as a legitimate dental service provider.
For instance, for Facebook, why not snap a picture of your smiling staff and then post regular messages about your services on your Facebook page? This will give your marketing both authenticity and authority — and at no cost to you.
You can’t beat that.
You can also use Twitter to share information about your office and connect with your clients.
10. Hold a Social Media Contest
This is a fun way to convert more Internet users to patients. Holding a quiz competition on Facebook that leads to a prize, such as $1,000 worth of free dental products, is a great way to gain a strong social following and generate leads.
Keep Learning
We offer top-of-the-line advice for small businesses. Explore our blog to find out more about how you can take your dental marketing efforts to the next level.
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