TAKING YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Successful Formulas For Digital Dental Marketing

By Josh Gindea, DDS, Exec. Vice President of DoctorsInternet.com

In a competitive dental marketplace, most prospective patients have multiple choices in care. For this reason, it’s essential for practices to have a well-planned marketing strategy that successfully reaches and captures the attention of their target audience.

Today, it’s more challenging than ever to keep up with emerging developments in the ever-changing internet marketing landscape. Focusing on patient care while also trying to promote your practice can feel overwhelming. It’s best to develop a trusting partnership with marketing professionals who understand dentistry, offer the solutions to catalyze practice growth and will do the legwork for you.

Here’s some helpful advice and valuable marketing strategies to reach your target audience and bring new patients to your door:

It’s Essential to Have a Plan and a Budget.

While this step requires the most thought, there are recommendations for new and existing practices that provide clarity. The latest studies state that 3-5% of your gross profits should be spent to market your practice. One effective marketing tool is digital and most of your marketing budget should be spent in that arena.

l Develop your brand

Define your practice and present a consistent message that resonates with your target audience. Identifying what’s unique about your practice, what makes it special and the key services you want to highlight is essential. Be consistent with your mission and your story across all marketing platforms.

l Establish a robust online presence l Employ effective Organic SEO strategies l Be active across popular social media platforms.

With a growing number of patients looking to online searches for care, it’s vital to have an attractive and engaging website that functions as well on a mobile device as on a PC. It must also provide the best possible user experience, be easy to navigate, quick to load, be search engine optimized, Americans with Disabilities Act accessible, secure and HIPAA compliant.

Whenever a prospective patient in your area is looking for information or care, it’s critical that your practice is one of the first results to appear. With nearly 80% of consumers using search engines to find local information, it’s essential to get to page one in searches.

In addition to building authority with Google and other major search engines with relevant, authoritative and engaging content, other less visible or unseen aspects of your website must also be designed to meet search engine requirements for optimal ranking.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube effectively connect your practice with the larger audiences you want to reach! Beyond providing an ongoing and inexpensive way to get your practice noticed by more potential patients, a strong and engaging social media presence also offers additional points of entry to drive traffic to your website.

l Invest in Pay-Per-Click ads and other types of paid search

While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to achieving top placement in organic search engine results, it’s a process. The best way to supplement organic SEO traffic and see immediate results in terms of online visibility and page-one rankings is with targeted Pay-Per-Click ads. With Pay-PerClick campaigns, you can optimize your advertising budget and achieve quick and guaranteed page-one results. In addition to Google ads, you may also participate in ad retargeting or other highly effective paid search options, such as Facebook ads.

l Generate positive online reviews and patient testimonials

Today, online reviews are the new “word of mouth.” In an age when more than 75% of new patients select health care professionals based on online reviews, what your patients say and how they rate their experiences can affect practice growth. Establishing an online reputation that reflects the professional, compassionate and high-quality experience your practice provides is essential.

Positive reviews, glowing testimonials and five-star ratings offer prospective patients valuable “social proof” that choosing your practice is a wise decision. Establishing a simple system that can provide a continuous flow of positive reviews for your practice is essential.

Periodically review and assess your marketing strategies. Effective marketing strategies depend upon ongoing supervision and periodic review. You need to determine if your efforts demonstrate results and if any areas require improvement. Adapting your strategies to marketplace changes, demographic shifts, competition and other factors that can influence practice growth is essential.

l Select the right internet marketing partner

Your primary focus is providing excellent patient care! You need to gain the expertise and time to dedicate to your marketing efforts. It is, therefore, essential to choose the right internet marketing company. It should be operated by a team that knows dentistry and the everyday issues your practice encounters. It should be a company that reflects the latest health care marketing trends and can reach your target audience. It should be dedicated to growing your practice and creating efficiencies that can lead to revenue growth.

Dr. Gindea earned his dental degree from the New York University College of Dentistry. He is the co-founder of DoctorsInternet. Dr. Gindea has a private practice in New York, N.Y.

Dr. Gindea will offer “2023: The Internal and External Marketing Tools You Must Incorporate to Grow Your Practice in Economically Challenging Times” – Friday, June 30, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Learn more about Dr. Gindea’s course being offered at the 2023 Florida Dental Convention at floridadentalconvention.com.