If you’re a dentist, or someone working in a dental practice, your primary goal should be to provide quality care to your patients. But, you also have a business to run! And marketing is key to business success. That’s why we want to give you some key marketing tips for dentists.
Traditional And Digital Marketing Strategy For Dentists
There are a few markets where there is more demand than supply for dentists, but that’s probably not the case for you if you’re reading this post. And even if it is, it’s wise to build a strong brand in case another practice moves in and tries to take your place!
Whether you’re looking for a traditional or digital marketing strategy for dentists, there are a lot of techniques that aren’t difficult to do, and they will put you ahead of the competition. We’ll cover those in this guide of marketing tips for dentists, as well as some actionable items to keep you growing.
Dental Marketing Tips
Even in such a specific industry, marketing always requires some foundational goals. These dental marketing tips focus on a few main areas:
- Know your customer
- Have a unique selling proposition
- Build an online presence
- Use many different channels
Let’s go over some more details of those.
Understanding Your Target Customers
Do you know who your target audience is? I mean, do you really?
Not only do you know you have to know who the decision maker is (spoiler alert: it’s not always the patient), but you also want a lot of details so you know how to speak to them:
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- What is their gender?
- What is their income?
Those are just a few demographic traits, but you also want psychographics, such as:
- Values
- Preferences
- Concerns
- Interests
This may sound like overkill, but this helps you put the right messaging in the right places.
Understand Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Shopify (a company that knows a thing or two about selling), defines a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as:
The one thing that makes your business better than the competition.
We would go so far as to say that it shouldn’t be limited to one thing only, but there should definitely be something. Here’s a foundational question: If a (potential) patient were to ask why not go to the other dentist down the street, what would you say?
Do you use the most modern techniques? The most transparent pricing? The most honest treatment?
Find at least one thing to make your selling point.
Build an Online Presence
It’s easy to think that a traditional profession like dentistry doesn’t need to focus on the bits and bytes of the digital world. For better or worse, that’s not true.
Having an informative and trustworthy website will get more people into your dentist’s chair. And having a solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy will make it so that more customers visit your site than the other local practices.
Use Many Different Marketing Channels
In our modern world, you want to get your name in many different places. Billboards and direct mail should be considered just as much as social media or digital content strategies. Your situation may require a different mixture than other dentists, but you should definitely consider all options.
Never just assume a marketing channel isn’t for you. You’d be surprised at some of the creative solutions we’ve leveraged for different companies.
Dental Marketing Ideas
If you’re looking for specific dental marketing ideas, here’s a much more actionable list for you.
Make Sure Your Website is User Friendly
Top of our list of marketing tips for dentists involves your website. A user-friendly website takes many forms. It should load fast and be organized logically. It should have appropriately-sized fonts and colors that offer strong enough contrast.
And, perhaps most importantly, you want to make sure it is responsive to different screen sizes. Some people read it on giant monitors, and others will be scrolling on tiny phones. Make sure it works for all of them.
Use Google My Business
Have you set up and optimized your Google My Business account? Google will hopefully find you anyway, but this is a powerful tool that allows you to control what and where you show up.
It’s great for “local” businesses.
Engage in Email Marketing
Ignore anyone who tells you email marketing is a thing of the past. It’s affordable, easy, and it gets results. It also allows you to build and maintain a community.
Think about offering reminders, discounts, education, and a lot more!
Use Digital Ads
Whether it’s Facebook, Google, or some other platform, digital ads are affordable and powerful. Plus, they’re great because you can measure which ones are successful, so they become even better over time.
Use Local Ads
Online is all the rage, but don’t forget about local sources. Especially any sort of newspaper, local sports team stadiums, and other things like that. You can get a good deal by advertising there, and many customers appreciate that you support the local economy.
Create a Referral Program
Word-of-mouth is almost always the most effective way to get new customers. Because of that, motivating your happy customers to refer their friends is a win all around. Think about offering discounts or other perks in exchange for referrals.
Create Educational Content
Whether online or offline, you can do very well for yourself by building a reputation as a caring expert. People may learn about you when they’re not even searching for a dentist!
Monitor Your Reputation Online
There are tons of places online where people post reviews, and unfortunately, unsatisfied customers are more likely to write them. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on these, and there are a lot of social listening tools that automate this for you.
When a customer does leave a bad review, it’s often a good idea to respond with more info (just be mature and don’t attack the person). Also, many platforms will remove reviews that violate their policies, and this is much more common than most people expect.
Marketing Help For Dentists
If you would like more marketing tips for dentists, don’t hesitate to get in touch! We’d be happy to talk through your specific situation and figure out the best direction for you.
