Digital marketing is an essential part of any business or service, no matter your industry, including dental.
For example, with dental marketing, you convince people that they need to have regular dental checkups and inquire about available procedures that will improve their oral health and smile quality.
You promote your services so that people would visit your dental office. The main objective is always to provide the best service and improve the chances of continuity of dental care. Unfortunately, with so much competition, it’s easy for a disgruntled client to change tack and visit another dental office in the same city. In the end, it’s just another day for your small business digital marketing efforts.
With the pandemic affecting all businesses and the new normal shifting content marketing trends this year, especially those involving close contact, it is beneficial for dentists to have a well-thought-out dental marketing campaign that will reassure patients that they are safe and in good hands.
Many businesses have sought ways to market their services online, and dental services are no exception. However, it would help if you kept up with the trend to be more competitive.
It would help if you kept in mind some things when marketing your dental services.
Know Your Practice
You must ensure that you know your services and what competitors offer too. If you want to compare your services, you must do it with a dental clinic the same size as yours.
Knowing the services other dental clinic offers and what kind of marketing tactics they practice will give you an idea of how to improve yours and come up with new and unique ones.
Doing this is more accessible now with the digital age, where you can research and review almost everything online. Checking out your competition regularly means you will have access to their strategies. While not every system can work for your dental office, some will. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel—you must make yours move more smoothly despite the competition. The easiest way to take stock of what your competitors are doing is by checking out their social media channels.
The Community and its Demographics
Marketing to nearby patients is a practical approach to dental marketing. Everyone likes convenience. A patient who can get something done by driving half a mile will avoid going to a dental office three miles farther.
Marketing your dental services to people from a different state or city may not create the same effect since people would often look for dental or healthcare providers closer to where they live.
Emergencies will also push people to search for dentists locally. Immediate treatment means getting to the dental office in the shortest period possible.
With health restrictions in the US easing, you may want to begin reintegrating your dental office into the community by joining events and being visible however way possible. Offline and online marketing go hand in hand. Physical events will bolster your inbound marketing efforts online.
How can you reach out to your community better?
Sponsoring small, community-based programs always help in boosting brand identity. In addition, customers now gravitate toward businesses that support causes, so if you haven’t made your reasons public, it’s a good time to do it.
Everyone is in a health-conscious mode because of the pandemic, and if they see your dental office promoting positive dental practices in the ways you know-how, they are going to consider visiting.
Ask your patients to fill out forms as usual but use the data you gather to identify essential demographics. These demographics will help you create a customer avatar for digital marketing efforts. Of course, you can’t appeal to everyone, but using customer data allows you to appeal to many relevant groups. Conceptualizing your dental marketing strategies with data and always going to be on the right track.
Shifting Trends in Digital Marketing
With the restrictions and limits to physical interactions, people worldwide have become more inclined to use gadgets and do things online.
Being able to conduct digital marketing efficiently will help you reach more patients faster. For example, an average person will spend about 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media in 2020.
With the existing demographics and patient profile, you can formulate ideal content formats. In addition, social media tools can help automate distribution and create schedules that work best.
For example, the audience from an older age range would want to know more about dentures and treatment for xerostomia. Make sure your content marketing efforts always include CTAs and links going back to your leading site where people can learn about your dental services thoroughly.
Having social media content, no CTAs, and no way to locate the correct information is a wrong move. These CTAs and links also facilitate first-time interactions between potential patients and your dental practice.
Consider connecting with social media influencers or even micro-influencers who are relevant to your market or location. These influencers can increase brand awareness, bridge the engagement gap, and help your business reach more people in a shorter time.
We highly recommend making explainer videos focusing on the procedures and dental wellness in general and including these videos in your digital marketing plan. Then, upload your videos to the proper social channels. Determine which channels work best before investing any effort. People use search engines to know about everything, so aim to be on the top of their list and include tags aligned with your industry and service. And lastly, don’t forget to work with a professional SEO copywriter so you don’t have to do over the site content on your website, basically, you’ll get it right the first time.
Online Reviews, Ratings… And Emails
Providing comfortable and quality dental care does not mark the end of your dental marketing efforts.
Traditional feedback and suggestion boxes still work when the patients finally visit you, but there will be patients who do not have the motivation or time to provide written feedback. Again, you can use digital forms to catch up with these patients. Every feedback counts.
Consider sending emails to old customers to get reviews or feedback. You can also provide coupons or other perks for referrals via email. Dental email marketing is still a valid form of marketing for this industry vertical.
Making innovations will help you maintain current patients and have them market your services by word of mouth to their relatives, friends, and colleagues. Another way to keep in touch with existing and potential patients is by being active on social media and encouraging them to provide ratings and reviews about your services.
If you don’t know how to add a poll or survey to your website, you may want to work with professional WordPress design services.
How do ratings and reviews affect your dental practice?
Ratings and first-hand testimonials from actual patients have more convincing power overall. Customers typically look for reviews and ratings first before trying a new business. Be sure to deal with negative reviews quickly and ask for positive reviews immediately after procedures and consultations.
You may post content formats like before-and-after images of satisfied patients on Google My Business and other social channels.
Effective digital marketing also involves good customer service, so you must make sure to attend to their inquiries and maintain a professional identity on your social media pages as well.
Positive feedback is just as valuable as constructive comments! Thanks to this information, web designers will see if they’re on the right path. As a project manager, it’s essential to respond to your web designer’s requests for input in a clear, balanced, and well-thought-out way.
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