Five inexpensive, effective ways to market your dental practice

By | February 15, 2016

Building a successful dental practice requires passion, quality service and most importantly, successful marketing. Skilled medical professionals can no longer open a business and expect potential patients to find them. They need to differentiate themselves from competitors and strive to reach people in creative and convenient ways. Effective marketing can help dental practices build and expand their patient base.

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Dr. Thompson

Most dental practices are small businesses with small budgets. This typically means the marketing portion of their budget is minimal compared to other operating costs. The good news, however, is that dental professionals do not need to spend thousands of dollars to start reaching potential patients. Sometimes, the best marketing techniques require creativity and effort.

Whether you are a new business owner or a recent graduate entering the dental field at an established practice, there are several inexpensive and effective marketing techniques you can use to promote your dental business. Some of the techniques you could do include:

1. Utilize Search Engine Optimization Techniques

A business’ online presence begins with its website, and utilizing search engine optimization, or SEO, techniques can help potential patients find your dental practice online. These techniques help your website appear more often in search results and appear higher when people search for keywords relevant to your business. Basic SEO strategies can help your business go further.

When creating website content, you should place appropriate keywords throughout every portion of your site. This includes your titles, the body content on each page, URLs and even image names. Determine these keywords based on how someone looking for your services would search for it. For example, if your dental practice is located in New Orleans, be sure to use the phrase “New Orleans dentist” in your text, as well as local neighborhood locations. There are dozens of keywords you can use, but too many could be considered keyword stuffing.

Additionally, you should make sure your website has internal links that link back to your site. For instance, if you have a Web page explaining the services you offer, you should have links to the individual services, such as teeth whitening or tooth extraction. These internal links make it easier for users to navigate your site and it is an easy way to boost traffic to individual pages.

2. Implement a Facebook Marketing Campaign

Many businesses these days have a Facebook page, but to successfully market to potential patients and customers, businesses need to be creating and sharing valuable content. Your business should be consistent in what it shares and should give followers an inside look at what you do. You could share valuable news related to the dental industry, behind-the-scenes photos of your practice (of course, excluding items with protected health information such as study models and computer screens), links to blog posts and information about your business and services.

Dental practices also could utilize Facebook Insights, the social media site’s free data tracking system that allows the business page moderators to see how users respond to the content posted and to the page itself. This tool can help your dental practice improve your appeal among potential patients and the way you reach and interact with current followers.

Facebook Insights lets users see how many Facebook users have “liked” or “followed” the business page, the change in “likes” over a period of time and how those users interact with the content. This can help dental practices determine what type of content works best and what gets people most involved.

If your dental practice is able to spend a little money, you could use Facebook advertisements, which can be relatively inexpensive depending on the campaign you choose. These ads can be customized and can help you target people geographically close to your business. Ads can start at $5, and the budget can be adjusted any time. You are always in control of your spending.

3. Request Patient Reviews

Asking patients to leave reviews about your dental practice can be a risky way to market your business, but if done correctly it can be incredibly rewarding. Experience-based reviews can have a significant impact on other users. According to a Zendesk survey, 90 percent of participants claimed positive online reviews influenced their buying decision, and 86 percent said their decision was influenced by negative reviews.

The best way to encourage patients to leave reviews is to make the process incredibly simple. The average patient will not go out of his or her way to leave a review, unless the experience was negative. So, to combat this with positive reviews, your business could send email reminders, text reminders or offer incentives, such as a drawing for a small prize (to avoid anti-kickback statutes violations). Just be sure to explain the incentive is for a review, not necessarily a positive one.

If your dental practice receives glowing reviews, but they are scattered across the Internet on sites like Facebook, Google and Yelp, you could compile the information into a single testimonials page on your website. This allows visitors to read the positive things that have been written about your business without the hassle of searching. Links to the original posts could help to show authenticity.

4. Create Accurate Online Map Listings

Online map listings and directories are an important part of getting people to your business, but business owners sometimes forget how they can affect their company. Creating and claiming listings on sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages and Angie’s List can help your business build a stronger online presence and it can make it easier for customers to find important contact information, like your address and phone number.

One of the most important map listings is your Google Maps location. This is the address that will be connected to the business through the search engine and will appear when people search for your business online. To create this, dental practices must create a Google business page and list the address on the profile. The address then must be “claimed” to ensure it is accurate. Google will send a postcard with a code to the business owner, then he or she must input the code online. Once this is complete, the address will be accurate and will appear in search results.

5. Shoot Google Indoor Street View Photos

Another unique marketing tool dental practices can use is Google’s indoor Street View feature. This allows online users to see the interior of a business without ever having to walk inside. The photos, which are shot by a Google trusted photographer, and a 360 degree tour of the business appear on the company’s Google Plus profile and alongside search results and the address. This shows users exactly what they can expect when entering a business, which can be comforting to potential patients.

Potential patients could use the tour to determine if your office provides the environment they want, if your office is clean and organized and if your equipment is new and updated. This visibility could have a positive impact on the way people perceive your office and could indirectly affect the way search engines present your business to potential patients. Additionally, the photos can be shared on your website and social media.

This option, unlike the others above, may cost a little more. One benefit is that you can select the certified photographer and choose which rooms and areas you want to include, giving you some leeway on the price. Depending on the photographer you choose and the square footage photographers, the cost could be hundreds of dollars. This option, despite its upfront costs, could be something for dental businesses to consider long term.

 

Dr. Precious Thompson is a New Dentist Now guest blogger and a 2010 graduate from the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston. She is a board-certified dentist who provides comprehensive general and cosmetic dentistry and the founder of Thousand Oaks Dental, a San Antonio-based dental practice. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

The views expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author and are not intended to reflect the views, positions or policies of the ADA or the New Dentist Committee. This article is not intended to provide either legal or professional advice. Dentists are urged to consult directly with a properly qualified professional or with an attorney admitted to practice in their jurisdiction for appropriate legal or professional advice.

48 thoughts on “Five inexpensive, effective ways to market your dental practice

  1. Susan

    Great information and advice on how to efficiently and effectively run your practice. Thanks for the post.

    Reply
  2. Chris Barnard

    Great tips!

    I’d add making sure your website is mobile-friendly to the list.

    It’s super inexpensive, gives prospective patients a better experience, & leads to improved search results (especially mobile/local searches like, “dentist nearby” or “emergency dentist”…etc.)

    Reply
  3. Sangram KS

    This is a great article and very well elaborate also justify the article title. dental website for doctors use.

    Reply
  4. Dr Andrea

    These are definitely pretty good dental marketing tips. You however left out a couple that we have been using effectively: Pinterest and Video Marketing.

    Personally, these provide better value for money because they are easy to do. For Pinterest, all it takes is posting images of before and after teeth whitening results, dental implants and all other procedures- with the patients’ permission of course.

    As for video, create informative/educational videos and upload them to Youtube, Dailymotion and other video websites. The good news is you don’t really need an expensive video equipment for video. Your phone and a few other editing tools will do the job.

    Reply
  5. Pingback: Five inexpensive, effective ways to market your dental practice

  6. Orthodontic laboratory

    Great article, SEO is so important and the Benifits that social media can have on it is significant, thank you for the great read.

    Reply
  7. Fernando Gomez

    I totally agree with this article. Traditional marketing will require a big bag of cash, but right utilization of online platform will save you from this. Sure there is a lot of digital marketers that can offer you help but choosing the right one and the expert in dental marketing will keep you on track. http://www.spargoconnect.com

    Reply
  8. Dentysta Myślenice

    Superb article! Nowadays, the visibility of our dental practice on the Internet is particularly important, if we want to to gain new patients.

    Reply
  9. Jakob Boman

    Yes, NPS is a great tool to gain new clients as it is empirically proven that an increase in your NPS score will improve your business. With SEO you should remember that once you have earned traffic, you will have it every month going forward. It is so much better than paid marketing!

    Reply
  10. Kevin Tighe

    Our web site now has a page with complimentary downloads (no email address required) including a step by step Internal Marketing program. Just click on my name to access the web site. Good luck!  

    Reply
  11. JB

    Wow, great post. Thank for sharing on how to market dental practice. I’ll take your advice.

    Reply
  12. Emergency Dental Repair

    Great advice on the different ways to effectively market for your practice that is inexpensive. We use a lot of what you outlined above for our emergency dental repair offices.

    Reply
  13. 365 DDS

    These are great marketing tips. Few others that we recommend are setting up business listings across all the sites, this helps 1) be found on those properties 2) help with citation building. It’s really important that every listings created is exactly the same.

    Reply
  14. Pingback: 20 Dental Marketing Blogs You Should Be Reading | UpCity Blog

  15. Do Dentistry

    Great list. This is what i need.Thanks for sharing high-pr-informative blog site. Thank you. It will help a lot for ranking in search engine. Keep it up. Thanks again, Take Care.

    Reply
  16. Dental Internet Marketing

    These are some really great ideas! I trust in a local Houston digital marketing agency for all of my dental internet marketing needs, they take care of my website, SEO, social media and even online reputation. I’m not sure what I’d do without them, I definitely do not have the time to run my dental practice and try to handle marketing.

    Reply
  17. Dental clinic Oklahoma City OK

    A very well written article. This is some really good information about how to take care of your dental implants. Thanks for the advice about reading the patient testimonials to find a good dentist that would fit you.
    Dental clinic Oklahoma City OK

    Reply
  18. Vishnu Burla

    A tip for SEO, u just have to be on the first page of google. Google common method is search for your own keywords and check what dentists pop up. Look at their title and meta data (the grey description). Use that structure and this will help you to rack up with them. You will not beat them because their website has been there for longer but u can certainty be right next to them competing and hopefully u are branded to compete (hours or in-offie insurance to capture patients the top sharks don’t appeal to).

    Reply
  19. Joy Butler

    Thanks for the tips on how to market my dental practice more. I never thought to ask my patients for reviews. I will have to do that to improve my online presence.

    Reply
  20. Steffany Mohan

    Thanks for sharing.
    I am also using this general practice to be on the list.
    1. Publishing the right content to user needs.
    2. Running Paid Listing
    3. Running Paid Ads
    4. Optimizing Google My Business
    5. Blog Comment I will suggest.

    Reply
  21. Robert Keller

    A new trend of marketing is to get your business known through social media. SEO is there to help to make sure that the site ranks high in the search engines for relevant keywords and phrases. This is a good article, most especially for the one that is new to business and I’d like to say that they’re good for other business too. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  22. Aysha

    Thanks for tips on how to market my dental practice more.Appreciate all of the detailed insight. this can help a business grow. though i would like to add that mobile friendliness should be added to the list.

    Reply

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