4 Marketing Tips To Attract More Patients To Your Dental Practice

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According to the Levin Group Data Center, 75 per cent of dental practices have experienced production declines, with the ADA also noting in its “A Profession in Transition” report that a decreasing number of adults have been seeking dental care since the early 2000s.

In an attempt to grow their practices and attract new patients, dentists require cutting edge marketing tactics. Direct mail in the form of brochures and flyers may no longer be enough, with practices enlisting the help of internet marketing to increase marketing results.

The rise of mobile device usage also means that digital marketing is more important than ever. In this blog post, we share our top marketing tips for attracting more patients to your dental practice, thereby increasing results and return on investment.

Ask Patients For Online Reviews And Testimonials

One of the best ways to build the trust of patients and attract new clients to your dental practice is asking your existing patients to leave reviews about their visit. When running a successful dental practice, the ultimate goal is for customers to leave your dental practice feeling so satisfied with their experience that they can’t wait to spread the word.

Asking them to leave reviews on your Google+ and Yelp listings will encourage other customers to visit your practice. As a financial incentive, some practices offer clients gift cards or a discount off their next visit, or alternatively you could ask customers for written testimonials which you can then include on your website.

Be Active On Multiple Social Media Platforms

Social media marketing is an extremely effective digital marketing technique if done properly and it’s no longer adequate to simply schedule automated Facebook posts once a week.

When creating social media accounts, whether on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, make an effort to actually post on them and optimize each page with the use of keywords, images and links.

Ensure images on social platforms are high-quality and appropriately sized, and ensure your profile image displays you (if you’re an independent dentist), or your brand logo.

When coming up with content, repurpose and reuse existing content, such as blog posts, videos or statistics, for each platform, making it appropriate for each audience as well as capturing more traffic.

Focus On Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

As a general rule, Google tends to display local results higher in mobile browsers. Since the majority of web browsers are now using mobile devices, dental practices are far more likely to attract new patients by focusing on local SEO strategies, i.e. strategies which help optimize your business for a specific geographic location.

The best way to optimize your content for SEO is to ensure you can be easily found on all the main online platforms, including Google My Business, Yelp and TripAdvisor, as well as including the same name, business address and phone number across all platforms. Another great technique is to acquire inbound links from local sites back to your website.

Track Your Marketing Results Using Google Analytics

If you’re going to invest time on digital marketing tactics, ensure you are tracking results in order to see which has the highest response rate.

Google Analytics is generally the best choice for analyzing your metrics, with features such as the Acquisitions Report which conveniently indicates which of your marketing efforts are offering the biggest returns.

By analyzing metrics such as your website traffic, you can better assess the effectiveness of your current marketing strategy which so you know whether it’s time to try something else.

Give your dental patients the ability to book appointments online, allowing you to drive repeat visits to your practice and reduce no-shows.

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5 Responses

  1. I really like your suggestion that dentists should be active on social media. I’m not a dentist, but I really appreciate it when I can interact with the dental practice without being there. Social media interaction is great for marketing, but it’s also good for building trust with existing customers.

  2. You made a good point when you mentioned asking your patients to leave testimonials and online reviews regarding their experience as one way to attract more patients to visit your clinic. Creating a website that has all the information about you and your staff would also be helpful as it would serve as a guide to new patients. Who knows, your current patients may just refer their friends and family to your clinic. In return, you may want to offer them a discount the next time they visit the clinic for a check-up. If I were a dentist, I would make sure to take this into consideration. Thanks.

  3. All marketing tips above listed are all essential to attract more patients. As a whole, your local business itself offers quality Dental services. Competition is huge, many rely on reviews online from previous clients before booking appointment. To be top of the competition, all necessary strategy should be implemented.

  4. I totally agree with these tips. I have a friend who owns a practice in Sugarland, TX that was able to increase the number of new patients she’s gotten since opening a few years ago because of marketing tips like these. Great article!

  5. I think being active in social media platforms play a vital role in to your business. I always find time to optimize my posts in order to be found in search engines using the targeted keywords and also grow my following to increase my rank. I will keep these helpful tips in mind. Thanks!