Whether a recent dental school graduate or a seasoned dentists who have relocated, all new practices face the challenge of attracting patients to their practice. Standing out among the local competition and developing a steady client base is a consistent challenge.
Patients4you, experts in dental website design and digital marketing for dentists, have identified five dental marketing ideas that succesful dentists are using to kickstart their practices.
Offering Patient Referral Bonuses
This works more for established practices, but if a dentist already has some existing patients happy with their services, they can be encouraged to refer others to the clinic by offering a referral bonus program.
Most referral bonus programs work like this: an existing patient recommends the clinic to a friend. The new patient schedules an appointment and mentions their referrer. Then, the referrer gets a reward, such as a discount on their next treatment or complimentary teeth whitening.
Referral programs have a double benefit: they help a dentist reach new patients organically and strengthen the existing patients’ loyalty. In time, such a program can snowball and become all the marketing a practice needs.
Checking the Local Market
When a new dental clinic is established, it will almost always need to compete against existing dental practices in the area. Studying the local competitors to see what dental marketing ideas work for them is always an effective strategy
For example, if a competitor offers composite dental fillings for $99, the new practice can try pricing them a little lower. Or they can offer a new patient bonus, such as a complimentary dental cleaning.
A dental clinic can also stand out in ways other than low pricing. Patients often find it challenging to fit dental treatment into a busy day. If a practice is willing to accommodate the patients’ schedules with evening, early morning, or weekend appointments they will have a much easier time acquiring new patients.
Cultivating An Online Presence
Often, people visit a dental clinic’s website looking for information on a product or service long before they’re ready to schedule an appointment. They may need an answer to a specific question, such as “Who is a good candidate for Invisalign treatment?”
Regularly publishing readable, relevant, and informative content will help a new clinic establish itself as a local dental authority. In addition, blog posts, a YouTube channel, and social media activity are all extremely useful for connecting with potential clients.
Email marketing emerges as another promotion channel that a new office may want to explore. Encouraging patients to sign up for a newsletter with updates about discounted dental packages, new service announcements, or oral care tips is a great way to build an audience. Dentists should ensure their newsletter offers genuine value and does not flood patients’ emails with annoying hard-salesy messages.
Minding the Reviews
Potential new clients will likely browse a clinic’s Google reviews before they schedule an appointment. A new practice can sustain untold damage from a review that says, “Terrible, unprofessional service! I will never visit this clinic again.”
Any dental clinic can encounter a disgruntled patient now and then. The practice's management needs to answer every review in a polite, professional way and use it as an opportunity to improve the quality of the service provided.
A negative review now and then won’t harm a clinic's reputation if they also amass positive online testimonies by satisfied clients. A practice should encourage patients to review the clinic at the end of each appointment and staff should thank the reviewers personally.
Investing in Emergency Dental Marketing
Emergency cases provide a fantastic opportunity to gain new patients for a dental practice. In dental emergencies, people are often in much pain and will likely choose whatever dental clinic that can schedule an appointment earliest.
New practices should consider these emergency dental marketing strategies for building a trusting relationship with patients:
· Being kind, compassionate, and reassuring during emergency calls and appointments
· Scheduling a same-day appointment whenever possible
· Doing everything possible to help the patient reduce pain and stress before and during the appointment
In many cases, emergency patients have long-neglected dental issues which a clinic may help them address. If a dentist follows up with a patient after emergency treatment and suggest a comprehensive oral health plan on convenient terms, they will likely gain a loyal client.
Patients4you: Dental Service & Dental Emergency Marketing Leaders
For 13 years, Patients4you has been helping dentists grow their practices. They provide strategies to attract new patients by designing attractive, easy-to-use website, SEO strategies that help a site rank in Google search results, and Facebook ads that capture the right target audience.
