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When Should I Start Marketing My Dental Practice?

Brand Development

Wondering when you should start marketing your dental practice?

The answer is NOW!  

Whether you just acquired a practice, have been in the business for decades, or are about to open a dental clinic in a new location, getting started today is the best time to fast-track your success.

Aside from timing, there are a bunch of other things you need to consider like your marketing goals, what type of dental marketing you should use, and how you can successfully transition online.  

But don’t fret. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about setting your dental marketing up for success.  

Marketing After Acquiring a Dental Practice

Wile many dentists choose to buy an established dental practice for their existing client base, it’s still important to continue bringing in new patients for your business growth.  

This is where dental marketing comes in.  

Dental marketing uses various paid and organic strategies, such as blogging and pay-per-click advertising, to attract new patients, keep your existing ones engaged, and convert new visitors to your practice into long-time patients.  

It’s important to market your acquisition because, following a dental practice sale, it’s expected that you will lose some of the practice’s existing patients.  

Through dental marketing, you can raise brand awareness and tell people who you are, what you aim to do, and what you believe in. Marketing allows you to introduce yourself and make patients feel that they’re in good hands even if management has changed.  

It’s crucial to establish trust with existing and new patients, especially after an acquisition. You also want to create and maintain a positive reputation.  

This is what’s going to attract potential patients and keep the existing ones loyal to your practice.  

10 Kinds of Marketing to Use to Promote Your Acquired Practice

Kinds of dental marketing to use for promotion.

Below are the different kinds of dental marketing tactics you should use to propel your newly acquired practice forward.  

  • Advanced SEO – Continue attracting new patients in your target location through SEO.
  • Blogging – Provide your prospects and existing patients with valuable information. This helps build trust and establishes your credibility.  
  • Social Media Marketing – Increase your business by building more connections with patients and creating awareness about your offerings on social media.
  • Facebook Ads – Drive patients to your website and max out your appointment schedule by investing in Facebook Ads.  
  • Google Ads – Reach new, high-quality patients who are looking for the products and services you offer online.  
  • Managed Live Chat – Provide your prospects and existing patients with immediate answers through live chat. When a patient knows that they can connect to a human representative in real-time, they feel safer and connected in choosing their practice.  
  • Directory Listing Management Improve your practice’s ranking on search engines by enlisting your business on various business directories online.  
  • Multimedia Dental Marketing – Expand your practice’s reach and generate more traffic to your site by promoting your practice through multiple advertising mediums.  
  • Reputation Management - Control how people perceive your dental practice by curating your communication with patients and the things you post on social media.  
  • Internal Practice Marketing – Build strong relationships with your current patients to promote positive word of mouth and reduce your practice’s external dental marketing expenses.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Plotting Out A Marketing Strategy for Your Acquired Online Presence

To make the right marketing decisions for your acquired online presence and transition smoothly, ask yourself the following questions:

  • How many new patients does your practice see per month?
  • How much do you want to increase this number?
  • How do new patients usually find your dental practice?
  • How much is a new patient worth to your business, and how much does it cost for you to acquire one?
  • What communication software does your practice use?
  • What kind of patient experience do you wish to provide?

These questions will help define your dental marketing goals and guide you on how to go about them in the most efficient way possible.  

Internet Marketing Timeline for Acquired Dental Practices

Timeline dental practice acquisition.
  1. 2 Months Before Acquisition – You want to start rebranding by creating a new logo and upgrading your website design.  
  1. Once the Practice Is Acquired – Now is the best time to launch your new website and slowly introduce people to your new branding. You can achieve this by posting an official announcement on social media, submitting or managing your practice’s information across online directories (e.g., Google My Business).  
  1. As Soon As You Need Patients – Let the practice's existing patients know about the changes that have been happening within the company through Internal Practice Communication and target new patients through Digital Advertising.  

Marketing A Newly Opened Dental Practice

If marketing a newly acquired dental practice is centered around building trust, marketing a newly opened dental clinic is all about making a great first impression and building brand awareness.  

The first step towards putting your dental brand in front of potential patients and impressing them is creating a well-designed, SEO-optimized website.  

Qualities of a Dental Website that Attracts Leads

Leads for dental marketing that lead to appointments.

A great dental website puts its patients at the center of it all. Think about what kind of information your ideal patients are usually looking for, the kind of discovery experience they want, and what sections they’re likely to visit frequently.  

With this in mind, you want to create a website that helps visitors find what they’re looking for. This is the key to attracting and converting your visitors into patients.  

Here are some tips on how to create a dental website that makes a great impression and converts!

  • Create an intuitive website design. Make it easy for potential and existing patients to easily access the information they need. How? Create a dedicated page for answering FAQs. You should also design your site in a way that aims to answer all questions your visitors may or may not ask about how to reach you, what your services are, who your dentists are, and more.  
  • Optimize your website for mobile users. More and more people are using their phones to access the web. Make sure your dental site renders well across various devices to boost accessibility and ensure you can cater to more people.  
  • Feature testimonials, before and after photos, and reviews to encourage patients to make an appointment.
  • Add an ‘appointment’ button to create an easier booking experience.  

8 Kinds of Marketing to Use to Promote Your New Practice

Did you know that you can expect a 6-8x return on your invested marketing dollars by having the right marketing strategy? Here are the eight kinds of marketing tactics to consider:

  • Advanced SEO – An effective SEO strategy can help boost brand awareness, drive organic traffic to your site, and attract more patients.  
  • Blogging – Provide your ideal patients with helpful information. This helps build trust and confidence in your business, making it easier to choose you over your competitors.  
  • Social Media Marketing – Connect with potential patients on social media and boost brand awareness by being active. It’s also a great way to humanize your dental brand and resonate with the right patients.  
  • Facebook Ads for DentistsReach new patients and convert them into lifelong patients with Facebook Ads’ hyper-targeting powers.  
  • Google Ads – Direct people who are searching for dentists or dental services to your site where they can call you, request an appointment online, fill out a form, or make a purchase.  
  • Directory Listing Management – 97% of people conduct local searches to know about businesses and service providers near them. Make sure that the information about your practice is available and accurate for patients to search anywhere online.  
  • Managed Live Chat – Help facilitate the process of answering queries and scheduling appointments.  
  • Multimedia Marketing – Expand your reach through a multimedia marketing strategy that uses various advertising mediums, such as re-marketing, branded content, digital advertising, dental marketing, and more.  
  • Reputation Management – Control how people perceive your dental clinic by curating your posts on social media, your marketing message, and your communications.  

If you’re overwhelmed with all the choices, don’t be afraid to only choose what you need to grow. Ask the experts from Digital Resource to guide you!

Dental Marketing Timeline for Your Newly Opened Practice

  1. Decided to Open a Practice – Start designing your logo and branding. Decide who you want your practice to be known for and how you want to differentiate yourself.  
  1. 4-6 Months Before Opening – Start building your website and optimize it for SEO.  
  1. 2 Months Before Opening – Start social media marketing, directory listing management, multimedia marketing, and SEO marketing.  
  1. 1 Month Before Opening – Start introducing your practice to potential patients through Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Managed Live Chat.  
  1. Opening Day – Go live on social media and start building relationships with new patients to foster positive worth of mouth.

Dental Marketing is The Key to Growing Your Dental Practice!

Whether you’re planning to acquire a dental practice or thinking about opening a new one, it’s important to have a robust dental marketing strategy in place to effectively promote your business and attract patients for your practice.  

At Digital Resource, our digital marketing experts will work with you to create a custom marketing plan that will put your practice ahead of your competitors and help you achieve growth in no time!

Contact us today to know how we can make it possible for your business.  

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