10 creative dental marketing ideas for success in 2022
Dental marketing is not just about attracting new clients and ensuring existing ones return. It is also about increasing the exposure of your practice to the local community and improving your reputation.
This list of creative dental marketing ideas includes 10 tips that will help your practice grow.
Table of contents
- Review what your patient needs
- Customize your website with a video
- Ask for testimonials from patients
- Optimize your content for local SEO
- Utilize social media
- Get active in the community
- Start a referral rewards program
- Mobile-friendly websites
- Social media marketing
- Don’t forget email marketing
Dental marketing essentials
Technology is changing the way we work, interact, and live, and this includes the way we approach dentist marketing strategies. In today’s world there are a plethora of ways you can help to advertise your practice and get it known in your local area, so it’s helpful to learn as much as possible about the best options available to you. The following are some dental marketing ideas that you can use in your dental clinic.
1) Review what your patient needs
First, find out what type of services your patients need. For instance, if you have many patients who need cosmetic dentistry, then you may want to advertise on local television or radio stations. You can also advertise in the newspaper or online. If you offer orthodontics, then you may want to put up a website where patients can get more information about the services that you offer.
You can also consider offering free consultations to potential patients. Many dental marketing ideas include providing free consultations so that people will be attracted to your practice and will return there when they have a problem with their teeth or gums. You can also provide free consultations if you have an emergency, such as if a patient’s tooth breaks and needs treatment right away.
2) Customize your website with a video
Videos are very popular these days, and you can use this as an opportunity to get your message out there. Create a short video that will be displayed on your website to let potential patients know about your services and what you can do for them.
This will show them that you are a professional dentist and help them feel more comfortable when they come in for an appointment.
It might be worth speaking with a video production company and discussing all of your needs. You can go through the feel you want to create and your budget. Working with a professional video company will ensure that the video you put on your website – or use for your marketing- will be high-quality and convey the message you want to get across.
The great thing about a high-quality video is that often they are evergreen, so once you have one created, you can use it for years to come – making it one of the best investments.
3) Optimize your content for local SEO
Dental SEO is the process of optimizing your website and local listings to appear in search results when patients are searching for dental practices or specific services in their area.
According to research, 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else. Since many people are using Google and other search engines to find dental practices, it’s crucial that you optimize your content for local SEO.
4) Use social media
Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are a great way for you to share your dental practice with the world. With the help of these sites, you can post updates on new cosmetic procedures, or advertise any special deals that you may be running at the time.
You can also use these sites to create a blog or an online forum that your patients can participate in. You can allow your patients to ask questions about their oral health and answer them as well.
5) Ask for testimonials from patients
If you are doing any marketing at all (whether it’s social media, email, direct mail, etc.), you need to ask for testimonials from your patients.
Why? Testimonials make your marketing efforts more effective.
Think about it: if you are a prospective patient doing research on dentists and one dentist has a hundred 5-star Google reviews and the other has none, which one would you choose? If a dentist’s office is raving about how great they are without any third-party validation, their claims may seem suspect.
It’s always been that way, but now with the internet and social media making information more readily available and more trusted by people than ever before when they are searching for a product or service.
It doesn’t matter how great your dental practice is if no one knows about it!
6) Get active in the community
A big part of any dental marketing strategy is to get active in the community. This is how you build a relationship with potential patients and get your name out there.
Find an organization that aligns with your values. Consider groups that focus on children or seniors as well as local charities. This can be a great way to show patients and potential patients what you care about. Pitch in at local events and festivals. Sponsor booths and events related to fun runs, parades, food festivals and more. You might even want to host an event of your own.
7) Start a referral rewards program
Referral marketing is one of the most powerful tools in your dental marketing toolbox. For example, according to a study by Nielsen, 92% of consumers said they trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising.
That’s why you should start implementing a referral rewards program – but you don’t have to do it alone. If you run a dental practice, chances are you already use some form of software to manage your day-to-day operations. And if that software has referral management tools, then you’ll be able to deliver custom referral rewards with ease.
8) Mobile-friendly websites for dentists are essential for online marketing
A mobile-friendly website is a must for dentists who want to stay competitive. Mobile searches account for over half of all web traffic. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you’re missing out on potential clients.
9) Social media marketing is key to attracting new patients
Social media is a great way to connect with current and potential patients. It’s also an excellent tool for building a loyal following of customers who will refer friends and family members to your practice.
10) Email marketing is an effective way to keep in touch with current and past patients
Email marketing allows you to keep in touch with current and past patients, as well as prospective ones who may not have scheduled an appointment yet but are interested in doing so at some point in the future. Whether it’s a newsletter or a special offer on services like teeth whitening or veneers, email campaigns
Dentists need to embrace new ways of marketing
Today’s dental marketing will become tomorrow’s normal. Dentists need to embrace new ways of communicating with patients. Traditional forms still work, but dentists must diversify their communication strategies and not depend on the same forms of outreach, especially because these methods don’t have the long-term value that some might think that they do.
It’s important for all types of businesses, including dental practices, to understand how to reach potential buyers and give them a reason to visit your website or office.
