Marketing your dental practice effectively can be challenging, particularly when your attention is pulled towards multiple issues. Between attracting new patients and attending to your established clientele, effective marketing can fall low in your to-do list and your list of priorities. However, your dental care facility needs a well-thought-out marketing strategy. To get you started, here is a comprehensive dental marketing guide to growing your practice.
Use dental marketing to grow your practice without overspending
Just like all other aspects of your dental practice, you should focus your time, effort, and other relevant resources on marketing strategies that will deliver better results. Your patients, team, and your practice are counting on your successful implementation of a well-thought-out marketing plan to drive leads, increase the number of calls and foot traffic while optimizing the number of resources you spend on every lead.
Most dental facilities rely on traditional and ineffective marketing methods. That means their primary revenue source is returning patients, and they lack a reliable strategy to attract new patients. This can spell disaster for the facility owners as the economy fluctuates, and the competition continues to grow. The good news is that you can implement a highly effective marketing strategy to ensure your dental facility’s sustainable growth.
1. Dominate the competition through Google My Business (GMB)
GMB is a powerful weapon that most dentists rarely take advantage of. It is one of the best tools you must include in your marketing strategy, and it goes hand-in-hand with your local SEO strategy discussed earlier.
Creating and optimizing your dental facility’s GMB profile is a fast and easy way you can get from the marketing ideas discussed in this article. Ensuring that your GMB profile has the correct information about your business can significantly impact attracting new patients, outpacing your competition, and generating more leads.
Similar to local directories and local SEO, GMB utilizes information from different internet platforms to understand your dental practice. That means you need to pay attention to various pieces of information that you share on your GMB page. Some of these details include the name of your dental office, address, contact information, and more.
Once you add the essential information to your dental facility’s GMB page, you should add more images, relevant content, and create and post engaging GMB posts regularly. A recent study revealed that posting at least four GMB posts weekly can help keep your listing rank higher in Google maps. Unless you know how to set up a GMB profile and perform local SEO, it’s best to consult with an expert.
2. Geotargeted Google AdWords marketing campaigns
Google AdWords is a powerful online marketing strategy for dental practices because it’s easy to control what and where your target audience will see your advertising message. It is a proven piece of a dental marketing strategy because you can successfully optimize Google AdWords to show to the right audience at the right time. This can help drive more patients to your dental office.
Google offers you more control over these paid campaigns. This is because you will pay for each click, and you need to ensure that your ads are reaching the right people at the right time. For this reason, many dentists love this marketing strategy because they can choose the amount of money to spend, what they want to say, and the specific audience they intend to reach with every ad.
3. Claim local business listings and get your dental care facility on Google Maps
Your dental office is likely to be located at a specific location in your city. That means you can take advantage of local SEO to reach potential patients in your geographical area. This is a more targeted approach to dental SEO because your marketing dollars will only go towards getting your dental facility listed on local directories and Google maps.
The patients’ approach to finding a reliable local dentist has changed massively. Indeed, word of mouth is still an effective way to get new patients to your dental office. But one equally imperative aspect is having solid online visibility. Multiple surveys and studies have revealed that most consumers (or patients) first check a service provider’s online reputation before they can decide whether to retain their services.
One way to establish an online presence is to list your dental office on popular local directories and keep your profile updated with the correct information. This will make it easier for patients to know more about your clinic, where it is located, and get correct contact information. There are a dozen free business local directories that you can take advantage of. Some of these include Yelp, Google My Business, CitySearch, and more.
4. Implement a well-thought-out Facebook Ads strategy
Facebook is among the best online platforms to spend your online marketing budget because you can successfully target specific users based on their interests, location, and occupation. That means you can take full control over your marketing campaigns and take advantage of Facebook’s data for your marketing strategy.
Facebook ads are similar to Google AdWords, and you need to limit the geographic region where your ads should show. What makes Facebook ads more advantageous is that you can personalize your ads to speak directly to your target audience.
For instance, if you intend to reach patients seeking pediatric dental services, you can use specific ad targeting and create an ad that speaks directly to such patients. You can also use different ad types available on Facebook to reach the right people at the right time.
5. Create an accessible, easy to use, and engaging website for your dental office
Nearly all aspects of dental digital marketing strategy revolve around your dental office’s website. So, it’s best to work with a reputable digital marketing agency in Toronto to roll out an accessible, easy to use, and engaging website.
Keep in mind that new patients need to find information about your dental office and the services you offer as quickly as possible. For this reason, your website should be optimized in terms of accessibility, ease-of-use, and relevance. It should also have a welcoming layout and design as these aspects play a crucial role in how your target audience perceives your dental facility (brand).
Some of the essential elements that your dental care website should have included a services section, high-quality images, FAQ section, testimonials, and in-depth information that responds to your target audience’s pain points. Take the time to analyze your website and determine if your content answers the specific questions you target patients are asking.
6. Implement the right SEO strategy to outrank your competition
Search engine optimization is an ongoing practice of getting a website’s pages and posts to rank for specific keywords in search engine result pages (SERPs). You must consider many variables to ensure that your SEO strategy can work correctly and help your dental office outrank your competition. The good news is that dentists can focus on local search terms and emergency keywords to get quick wins with their SEO plan.
One way to ensure that your SEO strategy is strong is to rank for terms that include “near me,” “emergency,” and other services you provide. Keep in mind that a strong online presence can also help with branding and increase traffic to your dental office’s website.
Your SEO strategy is directly connected to your site performance. For this reason, you must ensure that your website loads quickly, provides the right information that patients are seeking, and integrates highly practical terms throughout its content to be indexed by search engines and rank higher in SERPs.
7. Create an effective content marketing strategy
Your dental care facility relies on being found online and establishing a lasting relationship with the target audience before they could trust you enough to book an appointment or call. This process takes some time from when a patient first finds your dental office online to when they decide to call or take your desired action. So, an effective content marketing strategy is the right way of getting found online.
Content marketing is all about providing valuable information to patients seeking dental services. This is a unique marketing approach and can help your website rank better in Google and other search engines. It’s also an effective way to build a strong relationship with potential clients because they will see you as the go-to for their oral care needs.
It’s important to emphasize that content marketing only works if you implement the right plan. So, unless you know how to create content that converts and optimizes your website for both users and search engines, it’s best to work with a reputable digital marketing agency.
Summary
There are numerous marketing campaigns that your dental office can run to retain your current patients and attract new ones. Some of the marketing tips discussed above are easy to implement, while others require you to hire a reputable digital marketing agency, like dnovogroup.com.
