As a dentist, your goal is to help people show off their biggest and brightest smiles by keeping their teeth healthy and white. What about you? What makes a dentist beam from ear to ear? Flocks of new patients walking through your clinic door, that’s what! And we’re here to help make that happen!
The number of dental practices continues to grow rapidly, which means more competition for you. You may hear about a new dental clinic opening in your city, and another one popping up the following week. Both are promising potential patients a wide range of unique dental services and hot deals. Obviously, the next thing you do is to find ways to up your game. You don’t want your would-be new patients coming to them instead. Plus, you have to stick to the “at least twenty-five new patients per month” rule. So, what should you do to reel these folks in?
In today’s digital age, traditional dental marketing strategies don’t work anymore. Patients are now depending on the internet to look for local healthcare services and providers. 77% start their doctor shopping at a search engine like Google, while 71% use online reviews when deciding to book an appointment. This can only mean one thing for you: dental digital marketing.
While there are some old- school marketing tactics that still work, like radio ads or billboards, everyone seems to prefer doing it the digital way these days. That’s why you’ll benefit a lot from this post, and we mean, a lot.
Without further ado, here are marketing tips and tricks that can definitely help you attract new dental patients to your practice from A to Z:
If you haven’t already, that is. If you already have one, it’s time you give it a makeover, especially if it looks bland and generic. First impressions matter, and if prospective dental patients see a website that looks like it’s all over the place, then consider your chances of converting them gone. Your website is all about attracting new patients, so you better make it as interactive and engaging as possible.
What’s more, it reflects who you are as a dentist. If people see how disorganized it is, they might say the same thing about you. If properly done, your website can be an excellent marketing tool for you, as long as it has these features:
Putting these features into your web design will take you a step further into attract new dental patients to your practice. However, you should also pay attention to a few technical aspects of your site, such as the following:
Internet users have zero patience when it comes to loading time. 40% of them abandon a website that takes over three seconds to load!
80% of new patients use their smartphones when searching for a new healthcare facility. That’s why your website should provide them a good mobile experience. Scrolling through a complicated page will only drive them away to another dental website.
This one’s a no-brainer. Websites with poor security can lead to leaked private information of their patients. That’s the last thing any dental practitioners want to happen.
No matter how super informative and well-designed your website is, it won’t be able to help you attract new dental patients if it’s not properly coded for SEO. Optimized websites get found more easily in search engines, which brings us to the next tip…..
You might be wondering what SEO is after encountering that term just seconds ago. SEO, or search engine optimization, is basically the process of improving one’s website to increase its ranking on search pages. Since an SEO- optimized dental website will show up higher in the search results, you’ll be generating more new patient leads. You might ask, “How does Google read a website?”
Well, they have these “spiders” crawling through your website data. These spiders look at your pages, checking for data that’s significant and relevant, and then they index them. While using the right keywords plays a major role in website optimization, there’s still a lot to do to get your dental website to the top.
Here’s the reality: Unless you’re in a small town with little competition, the odds of your dental website ranking high are slim. You need a well-thought-out SEO strategy to drive visitors to your site, and eventually turn them into new patients.
Focus on local SEO. Your goal here is to get new patients within your area, and a local SEO campaign will help you do just that. People nowadays want local results, as they see them as being more relevant - and that’s according to Google. After looking for local businesses on the search engine, 72% of consumers will visit a store that’s five miles away.
Google My Business (GMB) will put your dental practice on the map - literally. Or Google Maps, at least. GMB allows you to manage your online presence by linking your dental business to Google Search and Maps. You’ll be asked to provide information about your practice, including your address, business hours, services, website, and reviews. That way, interested patients won’t have trouble reaching you.
With a Google My Business listing, you can be discovered easily by nearby Google users who are looking for a dentist. It’s actually one of the best local SEO strategies there is.
Make sure you update your details when necessary, and more importantly, create strong content. Oh, and before we forget to mention, it’s completely free!
Having an online personality that stands out is a surefire way to get extra eyeballs on your dental website. Social media is one of the best channels to promote your dental practice for free. However, don’t be like those businesses that set automatic posts without making an effort to engage with their readers. Nobody wants that!
Social media isn’t just about advertising your business, it has to be more than that. Your audience will want to see substance and personality, so give them those. You can post before and after smile comparison photos of your patients (get their permission first!), a video of you demonstrating proper oral hygiene tips, or some highlights of a volunteer event you attended with your dental team.
There’s a lot more you can do to grow your social media following. Gotta get those creative juices flowing! After seeing how relatable you and your staff are, coupled with your expertise, your followers will come knocking at your office door.
Directory listings are one of the least complicated ways to attract new dental patients to your practice. Obviously, you’d want to target people who search for dental offices in an online directory. Either they’re new in town or are looking to switch.
To determine if the directory you’re listing on is really of good quality, look it up on the Moz metrics and check its Domain Authority (DA) and Spam Score. Go for directories with a DA of 30+ and a spam score higher than nine percent. Be sure you have your dental listing on popular directories like Yelp, Vitals, Angie’s List, and Better Business Bureau. As for niche dentist directories, here’s a couple of them:
See to it that your listings are completely consistent. If Google sees that your name, address, and phone number differ on each directory site, your dental website will rank lower.
Before choosing you as their dentist, potential patients want to learn more about your work. Where do they turn to? That’s right, online reviews!
Online reviews, ratings, and testimonials are the new word of mouth. A survey conducted by DentaVox found that 86% of dental patients checked online reviews first before scheduling an appointment. After reading reviews with positive feedback, 60% of them visited the dental clinic in person, while 32% of those who read negative feedback looked for more reviews for confirmation.
To attract more patients to your dental practice, posting positive reviews is a huge must. The moment they see great reviews flooding your page, they won’t hesitate to contact your clinic right away. New patients want the reassurance that a competent dentist will be taking care of their teeth. Reviews give them that peace of mind.
Google Reviews, Yelp, and Facebook are the most popular sites for people to write and look for reviews. You can email your long-time patients asking them to leave a review on any of those platforms, or you can just tell them after their appointments. You might also want to consider using a review system to make things easier for you.
Dental video marketing has been helping to attract new dental patients ever since, which makes perfect sense that you’d want to hop on the bandwagon. If you haven’t done anything like this before, this is your perfect opportunity! Here are some ideas:
Let’s be honest, attracting new patients to your dental practice can be overwhelming, considering that you’re always busy tending to your existing patients. After all, they should be your top priority. That’s why we at Digital Resource would love nothing more than to apply these dental marketing strategies ourselves. Our job here is to ensure that you shine online and bring in more patients while you do your thing. Let our experts handle all the heavy lifting for you. Connect with us today.