When it comes to marketing, every practice is different.
It’s necessary to evaluate what your office is looking to accomplish. More new patients, more community involvement, etc.
I like to look at a few things to determine a starting point. Then I meet with the doctor(s) and team members that will be assisting or organizing the marketing.
Using someone in your office will provide you with the most personable marketing. Not stock photos or verbiage.
This may not work in all offices, but I have found many practices have someone that would like a few extra hours a week or that already works part-time.
Usually, once I mention an internal marketing member, most doctors or office managers already have someone in mind.
I’d like to share some tips that I recommend to the offices I work with.
Keep in mind, these are only pointers and you may need to change certain specifications based on your area and practice.
Where to start with dental marketing
Review your current marketing and data:
- Google
- Websites/SEO
- Social Media and Reviews
- Advertisement and Community Outreach
1. Google
If you’re wanting more new patients,
your reviews must support the type of practice you want people to see.
Does Google have your office listed as the top-rated search for finding a provider?
Does your office have a high rating?
Or, did you find it was difficult to locate your office business and that there were little to no reviews or a low rating?
Although you cannot remove reviews, you can wash them out with good ones:
- Pick and choose who you ask for a review.
- Ask them personally.
- Ask consistently, not only 1 week or 2, etc.
- Try to get them to do it in the office (but not on your Wi-Fi!)
- Most patients will be more inclined to leave a review if there is an incentive (drawing, gift card, toothbrush, whitening, etc.). Be careful in regard to state laws and do not advertise this perk; most search engines do not like you to reward people for reviews.
- Get new patients via referral or word of mouth. These individuals will be better patients, more
accepting to treatment, and less expensive to achieve.
A high rating is great if you have several reviews. On average, most consumers will go for a slightly lower review if the company has a significantly higher amount of Google reviews.
2. Websites/SEO
When was your last website update?
How does it look?
Can you find the address or phone number of your practice within the first 10 seconds?
The goal is to be in the top three spots on Google without paying for an advertisement. This does not include the ads on Google - these are overpriced and tend to involve a pay per click.
Check the background data of the website to see if the office is easy to find. The page source data tags are keywords that help someone find you with a search engine.
With the doctors, pick 10-15 keywords (dentist Jacksonville, dentist, etc.), use your zip code as well, and reverse the words to help.
A site can be very professional and beautiful but underneath, there is no page source data to get patients to your website.
Meta and data tags get them to your site by area, and keywords will help find your site by words (implants, dentures, extractions, etc.). There are also websites to help you find tags with certain keywords.
Once you come up with your data, contact the company that assists with your website and ask them to add this information for you. Some companies will not add it if you do not ask.
3. Social media and reviews
Do you use RevenueWell or someone to assist you with marketing?
RevenueWell is a great way to not only conduct internal marketing but to organize and assist with social media. If you do not prefer RevenueWell, you can go directly through social media by being added as a page administrator.
For me personally, I love that I can take 3-4 hours one day per month and create all my social media marketing that will go out automatically on whatever day and time I choose.
Check Facebook for ratings; remember to respond to good and bad reviews.
Do you post regularly (2-4 times a week)?
Are you posting things that make your followers see your office (real team members, real patients?)
Ask patients to “check-in” on social media; it’s awesome for referrals, as their friends will see it.
Do you use Instagram or Twitter?
Make sure to use hashtags.
Do you know what and when to post?
Use Watermarks when you can.
I also like to use national calendar days to fill in the void and add some fun (I mean who doesn’t like to celebrate National Chips and Dip Day!?! Bring the chips and dip to the office and take a photo of the team enjoying their snack).
4. Advertisement marketing
Local and community marketing takes more time, less money (i.e. cookies, pens, seasonal goodies.)
Identify local businesses within a 5-15 minute walk/drive and bring them goodies every 2-3 months to remind them you’re right around the corner.
Outsourcing takes less time, but more money (flyers, postcards, etc.).
Give these dental marketing tips a try!
These are just a few marketing ideas that I’ve found to work over the years, but there are numerous possibilities!
Just remember that any marketing you do, tracking it is the best way to find out if (and how well) it’s working.
Meet the Author
Sandy McGrew, FAADOM, is a busy dental practice manager, wife, and mom.
She serves as the office manager at
Podvia and Stanford Family Dentistry... This text opens a new tab to the Podvia and Stanford Family Dentistry website... in Florida. She began her career working for Aetna Dental Insurance and is also a Certified Dental Assistant.
Today, Sandy works with 40+ practices throughout Florida and Georgia, helping staff through education related to insurance, marketing, and more.
In her free time, she stays busy by shuffling kids to soccer, dance, and swim meets. Otherwise, you'll be sure to find her at the pool or beach!
