Exceptional dental care is the cornerstone of any successful practice, but that alone is not enough to fill your schedule. Effective marketing combines strategies that attract new patients and nurture relationships with existing ones.
Having an optimized website is essential for a strong online presence. This includes keeping content fresh, having a fast load time (less than three seconds), and using relevant keywords. Keep reading the article below to learn more about Dental Internet Marketing.
Your dental office’s website is a critical component of your marketing strategy. It’s where trust is built or lost, and patients make their decision to choose your services. It’s important to optimize your site so it is mobile-friendly, reflects your practice, and showcases your services in a clear, informative way.
Dental Internet Marketing also involves creating content that speaks to your local audience. Whether that’s blogs about dental health tips, videos answering common questions, or other content, the goal is to position your practice as the expert that patients can trust. Adding your location to content increases the likelihood that it will appear in search results for people looking for the services you offer, giving your practice more visibility.
Display advertising is another great way to reach your ideal audience. This type of digital marketing focuses on targeting specific demographics and interests to deliver your message, such as “affordable family dentist in Miami”. By delivering your message to a targeted audience, you increase the likelihood of converting them into new patients.
In today’s crowded marketplace, standing out from the competition is key to attracting and maintaining a steady flow of patients. A robust marketing strategy promotes your services, connects with potential patients, builds trust, and sets your practice apart from the competition.
Having a well-optimized Google My Business (GMB) profile is one of the easiest and fastest ways to attract more new patients and stand out in your community. It ensures that your information is accurate, showcases photos and reviews, and makes it easy for people to call or visit you.
Dental marketing also encompasses promoting special offers and events, like dental camps, to build brand awareness and foster loyalty. It’s also a great way to engage with your community and show that you care. Lastly, engaging your employees in the marketing process can amplify your efforts by having them share content on their personal social media channels, spreading your message to their networks. The best dental marketing strategies are those that resonate authentically with your local audience, which helps you to build trust and achieve business growth.
Social Media
While a dentist’s website is an important tool for reaching new patients, dental social media marketing is equally effective for keeping your practice top-of-mind in local searches and leveraging existing patient referrals. Having your happy patients share their positive experience on their own profiles and social networks is one of the best ways to generate new business, as people trust their friends’ recommendations. To facilitate this, it’s important to provide a simple and convenient way for your patients to share their experience with your practice. By providing a free Social Sign at your office, which you can direct them to easily share on their pages, you can make it easier for your patients to recommend you to their network of friends and family.
In addition, social media is a powerful tool for building dental brand awareness, promoting your services and providing educational content. According to a recent survey of dental practitioners, social media is used for a wide variety of purposes, including marketing, peer communication, and access to clinical information [21].
Whether you’re looking to attract more millennials or simply strengthen your online presence, Instagram is an excellent platform for sharing before-and-after photos, behind-the-scenes videos, or even just a little glimpse into your day at the clinic. And with the ability to run ads on this popular platform, you can reach potential patients in your target audience, regardless of their location or interests.
Another way to build your digital profile is to optimize your Google Business Profile, which enables you to answer questions and promote specials in search results. Adding high-quality photos, regularly updating your listing, and replying to reviews can all improve visibility.
In our study, social media use was associated with age and sex, but not with other demographic variables or years of clinical practice. These findings are consistent with previous studies of dental professionals, which indicate that many users turn to social media for education and sourcing oral health information [22]. Future research is needed to examine the relationship between social media use and other traditional marketing methods in dentistry, such as print ads, community outreach, or patient referrals.
Google My Business
A well-optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) is a cornerstone of any dental marketing strategy, helping patients and potential customers find you and build trust. With a GBP account, your practice can manage its online presence across Google search and maps, including features like Google Posts, Questions & Answers, and Reviews. It also allows you to integrate online scheduling and allow patients to self-schedule appointments right from your profile, which improves convenience, efficiency, and patient experience.
When claiming and optimizing your GBP, make sure to add your correct name, address, and phone number, as these factors are critical for local SEO. Use a local phone number rather than a toll-free number to strengthen your brand and increase customer engagement. Additionally, include keywords in your business description to help Google better understand what you offer and improve search rankings. Incorporate keywords like “cosmetic dentistry,” “dental implants,” and “emergency dental service” into your business description to boost visibility in relevant searches.
The photos and videos you upload to your GBP are also important for establishing credibility and trust with potential patients. When selecting these, ensure they’re clear and high-quality. You can also use the GBP’s post feature to promote services, events, promotions, and other news. Just remember to keep these updates relevant to your practice and targeted towards the audience you’re trying to reach.
GBP accounts also enable you to list all of the dental services you provide, which will help your patients and potential customers determine if your practice is the right fit. Be sure to include the specific services you offer, including details such as treatment type, duration, and cost.
GBP allows you to select a primary and up to nine secondary categories for your practice. Choose the correct category for your specialty, such as “Cosmetic Dentistry,” “Dental Clinic,” or “Emergency Dental Service.” You can also customize the keywords displayed in these sections to target specific services, boosting search performance and attracting more qualified leads. Incorporate these terms into your business description, as well as in the services page of your website. It’s important to note that Google scans your business profile for the best possible match when displaying search results, so keeping your business listing accurate and up-to-date is key.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When someone chips a tooth or needs a filling, they’re likely to grab their smartphone and run a quick search. Effective marketing ensures that your dental practice shows up in those searches.
A strong dentist online marketing strategy includes SEO, which is the process of optimizing a website for search engines to increase its visibility and improve its ranking on search results pages. It’s a blend of technical and contextual principles that work together to achieve your business goals, including researching and targeting keywords, creating high-quality content, building a network of relevant links, and more.
Another form of dental internet marketing is search engine advertising, also known as PPC, which is the process of running paid ads on search engines to promote your website and attract new patients. The ads appear on the search results page above organic results and can be highly targeted to reach your ideal patients. Using advanced demographic and geographic targeting, you can even target people who have visited your website.
Display advertising is another great way to connect with potential patients. These ads can be shown on popular social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, as well as on Google’s Display Network. By showing these ads to a targeted audience, you can increase brand awareness and build trust in your dental practice.
Perhaps the most impactful form of dentist digital marketing is when your current patients recommend you to their friends and family. A strong referral strategy can help your dental practice grow and thrive, and it’s especially important in a niche industry like dentistry. To make this happen, you can encourage your existing patients to post about their experiences at your dental office on their social media pages. Then, their followers will see these posts and be more likely to visit your practice. You can encourage your patients to post about your dental services by having a Social Sign at your practice, or you can simply ask them to share their experience with your office on their social media profiles. You can even offer a referral bonus for those who do so!