There are many informative e-books and guides that provide information that you can use to market your dental practice but very few supported by real experience. This is why we rolled up our sleeves and decided to share 8 Health Marketing ideas that really work to improve dental communication and the relationship with your patients using the tools made available by digital.
Let’s see them together:
- Improve your SEO to help people find your dental office in the search engines
- Healthcare Marketing on paid search engines
- Add your business on popular websites
- Get more reviews from patients
- Manage your presence on Social Media
- Increase traffic to your website by targeting new patients with paid social media advertising campaigns
- Increase appointment bookings with email marketing
- Use the blog to create value for your potential patients
Improve your SEO to help people find your dental office in the search engines
Most people who are looking for a dentist start with a simple Google search or any search engine. If you appear in the top positions of the Google SERP, a user is more likely to visit your company website and make an appointment. There are two front-end and back-end ways to optimize your website to improve ranking on Google .
You must first help Google read and understand your website via on-page SEO . This could involve updating the website, texts and titles, then move on to the monthly maintenance of SEO which involves off-page tactics , such as increasing the links external links to your website and the publication of relevant content on Social Media that link to your website and its updated content.
In the dental marketing sector, where patients regularly use search engines to search for remedies, search engine optimization is extremely important. If you can grow your dental office higher in search engines through well-planned SEO, you can count on a large free traffic to your website that will lead to a long-term economic return in terms of scheduled appointments .
Healthcare Marketing on paid search engines
A successful SEO implementation can take 6-12 months and one way to start getting traffic immediately from Google so as not to run out of new appointments is to use Google Ads. It allows you to identify what your potential patients are looking for online and then target them with your ads.
The search ads , also known as paid search on search engines ( SEM , Search Engine Marketing), online ads are displayed on search engine results on platforms such as Google AdWords or Bing Ads . SEM (or SEA) is therefore the set of Internet Marketing activities, which are carried out in order to channel as many users interested in the contents offered on their website as they browse on search engines.
So whenever a person uses a search engine to search for a particular service, the phrase or product search ads are what will appear in the main areas of Google or Bing search precisely.These advertisements can be targeted to specific cities, postal codes or areas where the dental office is located .
Competition is very high in Google Ads for dentists. And as the competition increases, the costs of advertising on Google Ads are also increasing. But it is still one of the best and most effective solutions to position yourself in search engines and be easily found by users.
Add your business on popular websites
It is true that word of mouth is still important to bring new patients to your dental office but another equally important aspect is online visibility.
The study found that HealthGrades.com, Vitals.com, Yelp.com, YP.com, RevolutionHealth.com, RateMD.com, Angieslist.com, Checkbook.org, Kudzu.com, ZocDoc.com, Google My Business and Citysearch they are the most popular platforms among doctor’s evaluation websites; It is vitally important to maintain the profiles on these websites to improve your health communication and consequently also manage the online reputation of your dental practice.
Get more reviews from patients
Reviews are another great way to attract and convert potential patients. New patients are very skeptical of dentists. So it is better that you make a great first impression, which will influence their decision to book an appointment with you.
The 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a medical facility , and 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Positive reviews, satisfied quotes and happy patients make free advertising very effective.
A recommendation: resist the temptation to self create positive reviews for your business ; fake reviews are not only fundamentally immoral, but review websites often search for inauthentic submissions. If a review on your page is marked as fraudulent, your practice will quickly develop a negative reputation. Instead, try to involve your patients with promotional projects such as free cleaning at certain times of the year or photographic contests on social networks to share the most beautiful smile after a dental hygiene session so that they spontaneously leave positive reviews on your dental office .
Manage your presence on Social Media
The S ocial Media is a multi-faceted tool, they can be used to find new patients, engage existing ones and improve your reputation online. Maintain a presence on Social Media that provides useful information, updates on your practice and helpful and respectful answers to patients’ questions and even thought leadership.
Today, 31% of healthcare professionals have already turned to Social Media for professional networking. Over 40% of patients report that Social Media influences their choice in a provider and healthcare facility .
Patients don’t look at reviews, they also look at your social channels. They could take a look at your Facebook and Instagram page to find out more about the experience they might encounter in your studio. But how to manage your social pages? You can provide advice on the importance of regularly used dental floss or on foods to avoid to maintain a dazzling smile.
Examples o: Why not set up a photo booth for patients in your dental clinic? After each session in your facility, you can invite them to take a photo and share it on their Social pages with an excellent return in terms of viewing your performances.
Increase traffic to your website by targeting new patients with paid social media advertising campaigns
In addition to creating your presence on Social Media, you can also publish advertising campaigns to drive traffic to your website.
Paid social advertisements are advertisements that appear on Social Media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to promote a dental practice through enhanced posts, offers and promotions. The video ads have become one of the best ways to grow a business health because people are constantly hungry for content. Videos offer them engaging content that you can use to directly market services and performance concisely.
Social advertisements help you target potential patients through personal, professional, demographic and behavioral parameters that allow you to reach the people who are most relevant.
With paid social ads, you can use effective targeting , call-to-action buttons, tracking and analytics to help you see quick results on the relevant platforms that everyone uses on a daily basis.
Increase appointment bookings with email marketing
How can you maintain relationships with your patients over time by periodically updating them without spending a fortune? Email marketing is a Health Marketing tool that allows you to send a certain type of email aimed at a list of purchased leads or a list of customers. These emails can be newsletters, email promotions or simply an effective way to share medical results with patients.
Email marketing is the cheapest form of communication in healthcare marketing for dentists. All you usually have to pay for is some sort of email marketing service like MailChimp, Hubspot or autopilot.
Example : Create a series of weekly or monthly newsletters to send to a specific audience to encourage them to book an appointment with your dental office.
Use the blog to create value for your potential patients
Last but not least in this list of Healthcare Marketing tools to be used to increase the number of appointments to your office but also to retain new customers, is the blog. Blogging has a primary purpose for your dental practice: to increase traffic and website involvement .
At this point, only the content question remains open: what do I publish on the blog? Industry news, information on the treatments you offer in the study, events that you have planned. In short, everything that could interest your client or potential person! The blog needs to be updated frequently (at least a couple of times a month) and it is there that the people who come to your site find the news and are updated on your life and the dental practice.
It can be a very effective tool to be found on search engines, which is why it is essential that the texts of the blog, but also your website, are SEO optimized , to which you must add a good editorial plan and annex publication calendar.
For example , you could implement your blog on the most common causes or symptoms related to gingivitis or other diseases of the oral cavity. Anyone searching the Internet for content like this and coming across your own blog will most likely need a dentist.
Check Also: Dental Website Design
Implementing topics like these can definitely help you get more visibility and traffic to your website. And in the end, get you to have multiple appointments.
+1 8588791912 (USA),