Marketing your dental practice is always a good idea, whether your focus is keeping current patients engaged, attracting new ones, or both. But, it isn’t always easy to decide which marketing strategies are best for your practice.
Whether you’re looking to stay top-of-mind for current patients or increase your visibility to potential new patients, here are 25 ideas that every dentist should be doing:
1. Have a dedicated website – Your website is the foundation of your online presence and gives prospective patients their first impression of your practice. Make sure they see you as a professional!
2. Carry business cards – You never know when you’ll run into someone who’s looking for a new dentist so be prepared.
3. Create a Google My Business page – Doing so ensures people see the correct address and contact information for your practice, and enables patients to leave positive reviews.
4. Create a Twitter page – Send frequent updates to your current and prospective patients, quick tips and more.
5. Create a Facebook business page – Increase referrals and share information about your practice such as holiday office hours, promotions, and events.
6. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly – With more Internet searchers using mobile devices over traditional desktops, having a mobile-friendly website for your on-the-go patients is a must.
7. Send appointment reminders – Cut down on no-shows and last minute cancellations by sending appointment reminders to ensure you’re on patients’ radar.
8. Create an Instagram profile – A great place to showcase before and after photos (with your patient’s permission of course) and the aesthetics of your office.
9. Use Google AdWords – Pay-per-click advertising is one of the quickest ways to get your practice noticed at the top of search results. Plus, you only pay when someone clicks your ad!
10. Gather patient reviews – Over 88% of online users trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. The more positive reviews you have on your website and third party sites, the better!
11. Include an “About” page on your website – The majority of people today do online research before contacting your practice for an appointment. Make your office as transparent as possible and have a page dedicated to teaching visitors about you, your expertise and education, and your staff.
12. Start a blog – Showcase your expertise on dental topics with a blog (this also helps your website rankings on search engines). To gain more exposure, share your blog articles on your website and social media pages.
13. Send your patients a thank you post card – Stay top-of-mind and leave a lasting impression by letting patients know they are appreciated!
14. Ask patients for referrals – Provide a referral program to thank patients for their vote of trust!
15. Review competitors to see what’s working and what’s not – Use the Internet to your advantage and see what patients enjoy and dislike about their experiences with your competitors.
16. Use social media to provide customer service – Have someone actively monitor your social media pages to answer any questions people post and respond to any reviews (positive or negative).
17. Send an eNewsletter – Reach out to your patients once a month with tips, office updates, and information on new procedures to ensure you stay top-of-mind.
18. Have office managers ask patients how they heard about you – This helps you understand which new patients are coming from your website or other marketing campaigns.
19. Offer a discounted special on one of your services – Everyone loves a great offer. Perhaps offer a year-end special on teeth whitening or a free consultation around Halloween.
20. Network on LinkedIn – Reconnect with former colleagues, stay in touch with industry leaders after CE events and conferences, and increase referrals!
21. Write a press release – If your practice participates in a local event, sponsors a scholarship, or takes part in other noteworthy activities make sure people know about it! Publish a press release and share the news on your website and social media.
22. Attend a community event – Show your patients that you care about being involved in the community.
23. Share before and after photos – A picture is worth a thousand words! Showcase your work (with your patient’s permission) on your website and social media pages.
24. Listen to your patients – Look to social media and the Internet to see what questions they’re asking (and write a blog post about it), consider their feedback from reviews, and adjust your practice’s procedures as necessary.
25. Provide value every day – In the end, if you’re making your patients feel comfortable, educated, and valued, they’ll continue to come back.
What other ideas do you have to market your practice online? Share your feedback on social media using #dentalpracticetips, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
