Running a dental practice is not a walk through the park. If you want to stay successful in the business, you have to consistently acquire new patients. At least, you should be able to get twenty new patients per month. The big question, however, is where do you get these patients from.
In recent times, the way we do things has been drastically changed by technology and science. The internet is now at the fingertips and the digital world keeps growing by the day. This is why one of the marketing strategies you have to consider for your dental practice is digital marketing.
Digital marketing involves reaching out to customers via the internet, social media, mobile devices, and other digital channels. You can read this post to learn more about digital marketing.
In this article, we will be discussing some digital marketing strategies that you need to try out for your dental practice.
1. Set up a Google My Business Page
Basically, a Google My Business (GMB) page is a platform where you can share verified details about your practice. Information that this page typically would include are hours, location, photos, and other important facts.
This page would then be threaded by Google into several searches. So, when potential patients make searches (like looking for a dentist close to them) your business may pop up. Setting up the account is not a difficult task as all you have to do is follow the instructions as you go.
If you own more than one location, then you need to set up different pages for each of your locations.
For this strategy to give you the required results, you would need to have your GMB page properly optimized. Doing this is important because the information you provide on the page will automatically get synced with Google’s Local Map Pack.
The map pack groups businesses that are similar by location. So, when a potential consumer makes a search, the dental hospitals that are close to where they are will rank among the highest.
2. Bring On Your Social Media A-Game
Over 3.5 billion people actively use social media. 54 percent of this figure make their products research on social media before they buy any product. You can leverage social media to bring massive publicity to your business.
Here are a couple of ways to get more customers via your social media platforms:
- Make it your duty to remind people on social media about dental benefits they pay for but don’t use. At least 25 percent of people that have dental insurance are unaware of the benefits they are meant to get from their insurance; this includes check-ups, x-rays, and cleaning. Reminding them of these benefits is a great way to get them to come to you.
- Create video content. The videos should highlight your procedures and the testimonials of your patients. This way you will be publicizing your experience, professionalism, reliability, and trustworthiness.
- Make social media posts from FAQs, team photos, and client reviews.
- Launch ads on social media.
- Post before/after videos and photos.
3. Create a Long-Term Local SEO Strategy
We believe you most likely must have heard of Search Engine Optimization. This marketing strategy has been used by many to generate massive visibility to businesses by making these businesses come up on the search engine results page (SERP).
Local SEO also works just like this. But, in the case of Local SEO, a business’ online presence gets optimized so it can attract internet users making related local searches. You can visit https://en.wikipedia.org/ to learn more about local SEO.
Narrowing your SEO strategy to your area is usually a great move. This is because, while people choose dentists online, they ideally will select those that are near them rather than choosing one far away.
You most likely will need an SEO expert if you want to optimize your business’ webpage enough to generate enough traffic and ultimately more patients.
4. Use Pay-Per-Click Ads
You can also use pay-per-click ads to make your business rank higher on SERPs. When PPC ads are used correctly, you can generate leads via your CTAs and content ranking high for some competitive keywords.
This way, you get to connect faster to your intended audience. Below is a brief rundown on how PCP ads work:
- Select keywords. These keywords are what your ads will rank for.
- Make your Google Ad and ensure they target the selected keywords.
- When users make searches for the selected keywords (or even related keywords), the PPC adverts will be shown high up on the result page.
- If the user clicks on the ad, you will have to pay Google money for the click.
Ads on Facebook also work in this same way. But instead of keywords, the target audience is reached on their newsfeed based on the behavioral and demographic information they share.
Pay-per-click ads are quite resourceful, yet, handling them yourself may not be the best of ideas. If you choose to use this Dental Marketing strategy, then we advise that you get a reliable marketing agency for the job.
The science and strategy behind this move are quite much and require expertise. Unless you have this expertise, doing it yourself may cause you to just waste money on the ads without getting great results.
Conclusion
Dental businesses just like every other business need customers (patients) to grow. But sometimes, getting these patients may not be so easy. However, when certain marketing strategies are done, it would only be a matter of time before your patients increase.
We have discussed some digital marketing strategies in this article that we believe when done properly will give your business the visibility that will take it to the next level.