The acquisition of new patients is essential for the long-term growth of a dental practice. However, patient retention and day-to-day operations often take precedence, making attracting new patients a secondary task. To compete effectively and maintain the long-term financial health of a clinic, continually attracting new patients and increasing visibility among potential patients is crucial.
Dental care is a very promising sector of the healthcare industry. The dental marketing tips are geared to attract new clients so that you can grow your practice further. So, let’s check out some easy dental marketing strategies you can try to market your dental practice.
Get Online ASAP
Dentist iQ predicted 64% of Americans will prefer to use online booking in 2019 to make healthcare appointments. We would say their prediction is right on course, with hundreds of patients booking online dental appointments across the world.
Visiting a dental office just to book an appointment is an overhead for customers. Doctors have fairly realized this. Most doctors, including dentists, have created their website with an online appointment portal. If you are not on that list, the first task is to build your website. Then do the following-
- Join social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and create your page.
- Create your Google My Business listing.
- List yourself dental directories.
Don’t leave any opportunities to establish an online presence. For this, dental websites are a must. Invest in SEO to make your website rank on the search engines. The idea is to make yourself as easy to find as possible on search results.
Target Local
Know the market. Reach out to your prospective patients.
Dentists are now putting their money in digital advertising to get more patients. You can invest in PPC ads, social media ads, mobile ads, and a number of ad formats. However, there is a secret for making the ads more effective.
As you might have already realized, dentistry is a local business. Most of your dental patients will be coming from, say, a 5 – 10-mile radius of your clinic. So, for your dental marketing ads to work, you need to target the potential patients in your local area.
Running Google ads and Facebook ads give you the opportunity to target based on location and proximity. It increases your chances of getting customers who actually make an appointment.
Get Involved in Your Community
Along with targeting local, make an effort to grow your popularity and reputation in the community. You have a number of strategies to achieve the task-
- Take part in community events
- Arrange workshops on dental health awareness
- Sponsor a sports match with local kids
- Share dental health tips at local schools and colleges
Engaging in your community helps you lay the foundation for improving patient flow in clinics. You can do some direct healthcare marketing and also boost your word of mouth campaigning.
Get Noticed
You need to get noticed to stand out from the rest of the dentists. Thankfully, you don’t have to hire newspaper spaces or arrange roadshows investing your money. There are free and digital ways that help you get noticed!
You can, for example, start a blog on your website. Slowly, you can build up an audience based on who is likely to become your customer through blog posts. Many dentists also depend on videos and create small shorts to upload on social media pages.
Videos work wonders and provide the best ROI, according to 51% of marketers. They also grow revenues a good 49% quicker with more business.
Surely, you would also like to increase your bottom line! So, start writing your blog to build your content marketing funnel and shoot your videos in your free time. You can even hire freelancers to do the job at affordable rates.
Track and Engage with All Leads
Dental leads come in through various channels today. Along with phone leads, your prospective clients can arrive via ads, social media, blogs, or other platforms. As a dental specialist, it’s crucial that you keep track of all leads to nurture them and convert them into paying customers.
Without technology, maintaining relationships with your patients can be tricky. You can use a HIPAA compliant healthcare CRM to collect contact information like (email address, phone, etc), sort, qualify, and manage leads from a single platform, for both online and offline channels. It helps you run email marketing campaigns, calls, texts, etc. all in a single platform. You can keep a complete track of your patient’s journey. Also, automation would take care of appointment booking and reminders.
This helps you to prevent any lead leakage and capitalize on every prospect. Using a CRM can help you convert more clients and earn more profit. You can also leverage CRM for sending automated appointment reminders to the patients.
Encourage Reviews and Ratings
Reviews are a great marketing idea to increase your popularity and prove your worth. Not only that, but reviews are also important to get new customers.
According to a survey, 95% of Americans find reviews of doctors available online reliable. 70% of them choose a doctor based on reviews and ratings.
You can see how important reviews are for growing your business. Ask your existing patients to leave reviews on your website, Google, and dental directories. You can forward them links to leave reviews on their mobiles.
If you provide quality services, you can always expect high ratings and positive reviews. However, bad reviews are unavoidable. In case you get a negative review, respond immediately, and sort out the issue. If you have made a mistake, acknowledge it and say sorry.
Treating negative reviews tactfully can improve customer satisfaction and make them your loyal patients.
Mail Offers and Deals
Because your customers are local, you can take advantage of snail mail to woo your customers. Mail them a postcard with an offer or discount on teeth whitening. Send a few deals during Christmas and special occasions. It’s a classic dental marketing campaign to build a meaningful relationship with your customers.
Physical mail is a nice way to strengthen the personal connection with your patients. You can also enjoy the extra business that comes in.
Final Thoughts
You can increase your leads and convert more patients with healthcare CRM. LeadSquared is the best Dental CRM to manage your practice, market dental services, and increase revenues. You can enjoy advanced features and even automate your marketing, appointment booking, and reminders to focus on delivering great customer experience. Request a demo to discover how LeadSquared can help your dental business grow.
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