To avoid patients ghosting you in October – or any month for that matter – you should first make sure you’re not making these scary (but common) dental marketing mistakes.
- Being too informal on social media. There’s a delicate balance of showing your personality and being transparent on social media while maintaining a level of professionalism. Create posts that resonate and engage with your patients in a conversational manner, but steer clear of rants, profanity, and anything that is overly opinionated.
- Having a non-responsive website. In today’s digital world, having a website that isn’t mobile-friendly is just as scary (and painful to patients) as getting a cavity filled sans Novocain. Most of your website visitors are likely checking it out on their smartphone – so make sure your website loads quickly, has enlarged text, simplified navigation, and thumb-friendly buttons. Otherwise, 8 in 10 people will stop engaging with content on your website.1
- All-to-frequent appointment reminders. While patients do want and need appointment reminders – there’s a fine line between being helpful vs. irritating. It’s important to reach patients in the right way at the right time – in the ways that they prefer. Look for a patient communications solution that helps you reach 100% of patients with timely and automated reminders including dental appointment reminder texts, emails and phone calls.
- You don’t have any reviews. This simply screams red flag. Today, 91% of people regularly read online reviews and 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.2 If there’s little to nothing about your practice from other patients – it leaves potential patients quieting wondering “why?” To combat this fear – ask happy patients to leave reviews on your Facebook, Yelp, Website, and/or Google My Business pages to put your best foot forward. Make sure to respond to all comments with gratitude to show patients and viewers you care!
- You try to DIY to save money with little to no experience. While it may sound like a good idea in theory, sometimes leaving it to the professionals in the space may deliver a greater return on investment for your practice than attempting to do it yourself. For example, running a pay-per-click campaign for your dental practice could be an extremely profitable strategy for your practice – when you know what you’re doing. There’s also the risk of overspending – or not using your budget wisely. Do your research before investing too much time or money into an effort on your own that you’re not familiar with. In the ever-changing world of Internet technology, it may behoove your practice to stick with an online marketing company.
To learn more about how to accelerate growth and avoid these scary dental marketing mistakes, call ProSites at (888) 932-3644 to talk with an Internet Marketing Advisor.
