Having worked with dentists for the past 9 years, I’ve spoken about this many times. Dentistry is ultra-competitive. The ADA (American Dental Association) states for every 100,000 population there are 60-80 or more dentists. The dentists who are at the top are investing the most in marketing and advertising. But not just any marketing, but strategies and systems that are working to produce a 4:1 or greater ROI.
What we have found throughout our last 9 years working with dentists is what we refer to as a multi-channel approach. Long gone are the days of doing SEO and that’s it. We know SEO can take 6 months to a year, but when the dentist is at the top of the search, it comes back to them in spades every single month. It is really one of the best, long term investments for a dentist, just not a quick ROI.
But other channels that may be effective given your demographics is Facebook, Google PPC, Instagram, Youtube and yes dental postcard marketing. Utilizing more than one of these channels together will cast a bigger net and attract more of your ideal patients for the procedure you’re going after. This also requires a bigger monthly budget, but is truly the best approach in today’s competitive market.
Every city, town and even neighborhood is different. Could be young families, semi-retired, retired, established or new and growing. Really knowing your area and ideal patients will be the first step to any marketing campaign. From there marketing is all about testing and tweaking, which takes time. The average marketing campaign should run for 3 months. At a very minimum 30 days but that really isn’t long enough to have the data to make an educated decision.
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “be found everywhere your ideal patient hangs out”. As you can imagine every different business sector, and even dental procedure will bring you a different persona, and therefore a different demographic to target. This requires a different message to each audience. Different images to resonate, and different offers to get them to take action.
Another role of any marketing agency is getting your brand seen everywhere. This is another reason for the multi-channel strategy. Some of your ideal patients are on Facebook. Some may be on Instagram. Others will be searching google for a specific dental procedure they have a need for. You want to be there when they are looking. When you are, this is called domination. You will be a very successful dental practice business owner and your family will be very proud of you.
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