Dentists often get a bad rep, and dental marketing is one way to wash away those fears and prove yourself as an appealing business. The trouble is that, often, efforts like these fall flat. To help your marketing avoid the same fate, we’re going to consider what the secrets to success here, and how you can use them to boost your efforts.
#1 Wonderful word of mouth
As dentists, we’re no strangers to mouths. Despite that, many dental practices fail to use word of mouth marketing. That’s a shame considering that it brings benefits including:
- Inexpensive marketing opportunities
- Effective personal recommendations
- Targeted leads
But how exactly can you get people talking about your practice?
For the most part, this is as simple as offering friendly and efficient service at all times. It may also pay to provide discount codes for friends that give existing customers an incentive to spread the word. Once they’ve recommended a few friends, you may find that the word of mouth spiral starts to spread of its own accord.
#2 Going deeper with Google
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a marketing technique everyone knows about, but did you know that Google is good for more than just SEO?
In reality, Google offers a variety of services that can benefit dental practices. Search engine aside, they can also help your practice with additional services such as;
- Google places to secure your practice’s position online
- Google reviews to increase custom
- Google Ads to be found in more searches and to Grow Your Business (Google Paid Advertising)
Even if your searches are serving right now, then, going deeper with Google could more than double your efforts here.
#3 Finding an audience on Facebook
Social media is as well known in the marketing world as SEO, but did you know that Facebook efforts could lead you to new and relevant audiences?
Thanks to their highly targeted advertising, Facebook can help guarantee your marketing efforts always hit the mark. All you need to do is make sure you’re creating targeted and relevant engagement with both interactions and advertising. Before you know, the Facebook algorithms will make sure you reach the right people every time.
#4 Delving into Instagram
Facebook isn’t the only social platform that can lead to dental marketing success. Many practices are also finding that Instagram works wonders. This is especially useful because it provides both visual connections and verifiable proof of your excellent work.
Your best option here would be to post pictures of your team, or snaps of the finished product (with patient consent, of course.) Make sure, too, to use hashtags to spread your efforts and increase engagement. You can also use Instagram’s advanced reporting tools to judge what content patients respond to best. Then, you’ll know where to focus your marketing efforts moving forward.
#5 Power in playing with emotions
Around 85% of the decisions we make are emotion-based. Often, dental patients won’t respond to claims like ‘the best in (Your location)’. They certainly won’t sign up on the back of qualifications from your team. Instead, dental practices see the best rewards when they recognise the need for emotionally-targeted marketing. We’re talking Instagram snaps of your team behind the scenes, and sob stories for your best work. Efforts like these create emotional connections that make it far more likely your potential patients will say ‘yes’ to your dental services.
#6 The personal touch in their inbox
Email marketing in itself is a vital marketing tool that your dental practice should be making use of. A newsletter or regular email offers is one of the best ways to improve patient engagement as it sends your products straight to them. But, generalised marketing emails don’t always bring the best conversion rates.
If you want your dental practice emails to always lead to results, you instead need to consider the personal touch. By segmenting your marketing efforts here, you can make sure that customers only ever receive emails that are 100% relevant to them. This can both improve interactions and make for more targeted and successful marketing campaigns. Whether you automate emails based on past treatments or send emails on a customer’s birthday, then, the personal touch is the best way to go.
#7 The fan effect
More often than not, the dentist-patient relationship is a reluctant one on the part of the latter. Even good dentists often struggle to stop that long-held dental dread. But, you could do just that by treating your patients like fans instead of transactions.
Instead of merely offering a service, you should work hard to get even nervous patients onside. Something as simple as offering a glass of water or hot drink in the waiting room can work here, as can a focus on personal relationships and individual needs. Rather than just offering a standard blanket service, think about how you can go the extra mile to turn your patients into super-fans forever. If you achieve this goal, you could soon start enjoying the word of mouth marketing we spoke about.
#8 The power of online portals
In an age where we search for dentists online first, it’s also vital you’re mentioned on as many online portals as possible. Far from just creating your own website, then, you should work to spread those online wings.
Review sites like Google reviews, Trust pilot and Glassdoor are always fantastic for this. And, review sites aren’t your only option. Other online portals that can connect you with convertible leads include :
- Yahoo Local
- Google maps
- Healthgrades
- Yelp
- Yell
- Bing Places
- And other local directories
For a small fee, portals like these will typically list your services, location, and rating. That means customers searching for dentists in your area are a lot more likely to come across you.
As you can see, the secret to secret marketing methods is that they’re often surprisingly easy to achieve. All you need to do is turn your attention to each of these to enjoy dental marketing success in no time.