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5 Marketing Ideas for Dentists: Navigating the Digital Landscape

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
5 Digital Marketing Ideas for Dentists Our Town America

Dentistry Today — As technological advancements continue to reshape the digital landscape, dental practices grapple with the need to distinguish themselves amidst a sea of online competitors. With more patients now relying on the internet to discover and vet dental professionals, a dynamic online marketing approach is essential. According to a survey of 500 dentistry professionals conducted by NexHealth, at least 80% of dental offices are using social media to promote their practices. They utilize online marketing to keep existing patients up to date on dental visits and attract new patients with online reviews and active social media accounts. Here are five marketing ideas for dentists to ensure their online marketing efforts convert potential patients into loyal ones: Integrate Direct Mail With Digital Marketing: Traditional marketing methods, like direct mail, still hold significant value. However, when combined with digital strategies, their impact multiplies. Our Town America’s approach integrates direct mail marketing with effective online channels to ensure consistent brand visibility. By supplementing mailings with digital ads, dental practices can increase conversions, serve ads to their target market, and retarget website visitors on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google. This multi-channel approach ensures that potential patients encounter your brand multiple times, increasing the likelihood they’ll choose your practice. Leverage Social Media: A staggering 72% of people access social media to interact, and at least 70% use Facebook daily, as reported by Pew Research. Ensure your ads reach potential patients on their favorite platforms before and during your mailing campaigns. By strategically placing ads on newsfeeds, you can significantly increase conversion rates. Social media isn’t just about ads. It’s also a platform to share patient testimonials, provide dental care tips, and showcase your practice’s culture, further establishing trust and rapport with potential patients. Implement Data Match Technology: Understanding your audience is crucial. Data match technology allows dental practices to receive a list of visitors to their website. This enables more effective campaign tracking and allows practices to retarget more of their website visitors, ensuring potential patients receive consistent messaging and reminders about the services you offer. Track ROI: To understand the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, it’s essential to track return on investment (ROI). Tracking tools, such as call tracking and QR codes, can help you gather information. They also provide insights into how patients are interacting with your ads and mailings, allowing you to gauge the success of your campaigns and adjust your strategies accordingly. Optimize for Local Search: Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for dental practices. When potential patients search for dental services, they often include local terms, such as “dentist near me” or “dental clinic in [city name].” To optimize your website and online listings, ensure your Google My Business listing is updated and encourage patient reviews. Be responsive to online reviews to ensure your reputation is top-notch. According to ReviewTrackers, customers do not trust businesses with less than four stars. It’s also essential to regularly update your website with content relevant to your local community, such as blog posts on local events your practice is involved in, dental health tips tailored to local events or seasons, or even highlighting patient success stories from the community. New Mover Marketing: Turning New Residents into Loyal Patients One of the most effective ways to grow your patient base is to target new residents in your area. New movers are actively seeking essential services, including dental care. By reaching out to new residents with a compelling message and offer, you can establish a relationship before they form loyalties with another practice. If opted-in by the client, Our Town America’s digital ads play an important role in new mover marketing. When new residents use the internet, they’ll continue to see your ads on other websites they visit, thanks to online follow-up. This repetition ensures that your practice stays top-of-mind, increasing the chances that they’ll choose you for their dental care needs. Dental practices must employ a multi-faceted approach to online marketing. By integrating traditional methods like direct mail with modern digital strategies, dental practices can ensure they reach potential patients at multiple touchpoints, increasing brand awareness and conversions. With the right tools and strategies, dental practices can navigate the digital landscape with confidence, turning potential patients into loyal ones. Source: Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Offer a Free Dental Cleaning to Attract New Movers

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Offer a Free Cleaning to New Movers Our Town America Marketing

Dentistry Today Magazine — New movers can be a huge asset to dentists. Welcoming them to the neighborhood by offering a free cleaning as part of a new mover marketing program can help get them in the door and introduce them to your practice. Competing with the hefty marketing budgets of large dental chains can be challenging for local practices. Small dental offices can capitalize on new movers to tap into a potential customer base in transition. In the United States, more than 27.1 million people move each year. The top three reasons people pack up and make a move are to improve their quality of life, lower cost of living, and live in a larger home, according to a survey conducted by Home Bay, an online moving and real estate resource. In fact, 25% of Americans who relocated in 2022 left city life and moved to the suburbs. BENEFITS OF A FREE GIFT The hallmark of a new mover marketing program is offering free gifts. Providing new movers with a free cleaning can go a long way to endearing you to potential patients. Remember the last time you got a gift in the mail or a surprise flower delivery? Receiving a gift makes people feel good, and the thoughtfulness of the gesture is appreciated. A free gift offers many perks and pays for itself in the long run. Let’s explore some of the benefits of a free gift. Increase patient satisfaction. At least 48% of people dread going to the dentist, and only 5% of people go to the dentist each year. Receiving a free dental cleaning can spur people to schedule an appointment they’ve been putting off. As you’re aware, avoiding the dentist can lead to gum disease and increase the chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Securing your preferred dental office shortly after a move will ensure cleanings remain on schedule. A free gift can engage customers and make them regular visitors. Once you attract them to your business by offering a free gift, turn them into loyal customers by providing a positive customer service experience. Raise brand awareness. Raising brand awareness builds trust and is a necessary step to building a loyal customer base. Ramping up brand awareness is particularly important for dental practices as they do not typically have overly-pronounced street signage or television advertising. A free gift can help showcase your brand’s philosophy and is a useful tool to welcome new patients to your practice. Differentiate your brand. A free cleaning can help differentiate your brand and enable you to stand out from the competition. As the amount of chain dental practices grows, local establishments need to double down on marketing to continue to add new patients. Generate positive reviews. Positive word-of-mouth references are also an important tool. Positive reviews help generate new business. At least 9 out of 10 customers read online reviews, and others get recommendations from family and friends before visiting a new business. Word-of-mouth marketing can increase sales and build a loyal customer base. Valuable reminder. Many customers put off scheduling a dental appointment because they are concerned about cost. A free cleaning shows that you appreciate your prospective customer’s time, and serves as a trial run for your business. USE FREE GIFTS TO TARGET NEW CUSTOMERS New residents need to build routines and establish a relationship with businesses in their new community, including finding doctors and dentists. Moving is pricey, and many new homeowners are searching for ways to cut costs as they fork out cash to turn their houses into homes. One in three Americans went over budget on their move, Home Bay reports. Treating new residents to a free cleaning can be a welcome relief and be the motivation that prompts them to pick up the phone and schedule a cleaning. New mover marketing offers a tangible, tactile tool for treating new residents to a free cleaning; it adds a personal touch that is useful. Our Town America has introduced new residents to businesses in their local community for more than 50 years. Our new mover direct mail marketing programs rely on carefully curated, up-to-date lists to make sure your message reaches potential customers. Our program starts by sending a first-class Welcome Package to new residents before they form loyalties with your competitors. The proven offers are free gifts, not discounts. Once a person redeems a free cleaning, our technology can automatically trigger a ‘thank you’ offer to keep your practice top-of-mind. The TruTrak® app lets you easily keep track of redemptions at the point of sale or at your convenience on a mobile device. You also have the option to run a supplemental digital marketing campaign to both the new movers in your list, as well as additional consumers in your desired geographical region. Targeting new residents with a free cleaning is a cost-effective marketing strategy with a high return on investment. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Why Dentists Need a Marketing Plan

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Why Dentists Need a Marketing Plan Our Town America

Marketing for dentists is best executed when a multigenerational approach is taken to appeal to the unique needs of people in the local community. Learn how dental practices can use new technology and techniques to retain patients and drive new business. Dentistry Trends Competing with the rising number of dental chains poses a challenge for many independent dental practices. These high-volume, low-fee models attract patients by offering competitive prices and extended appointment hours. Aspen Dental opened its first office in 1998 and now has more than 1,000 locations. Heartland Dental supports more than 1,600 practices across the country and has plans to roll out 103 new sites this year. Only 73% of United States dentists own private practices, down from 84.7% in 2005, according to the American Dental Association. The drop in the number of private practices comes as overall spending on dentistry services is down. National dental spending dipped 1.8% to $142.4 billion in 2020, the ADA reported. Spending shortfalls can partially be attributed to fallout from the outbreak of COVID-19, but private practice appointment bookings are still not back to pre-pandemic levels. Take a Fresh Approach Unless you are a pediatric dentist, your practice serves the entire community, and marketing for dentists needs to take this into account. Digital efforts will help attract younger generations, but baby boomers may prefer traditional marketing tactics like direct mail. To ramp up business, private practices need a solid marketing approach covering a wide variety of platforms. In addition to traditional advertising and social media marketing, here are a few new marketing techniques to help your practice shine. Tell your story. Your dental practice is not the only game in town. Separate yourself from the competition by telling your unique story and humanizing your practice. Providing a personal approach will amplify what sets your practice apart and help capture new patients. Ditch the glossy stock photos on your website and instead feature pictures of your staff, patients, and, most importantly, you. Highlight what makes your practice unique. Whether it’s offering same-day service, dental sleep medicine, or treatment for TMJ, make sure to maximize your unique selling proposition in your marketing efforts. New Mover Marketing. Direct mail postcards are great for blanketing a neighborhood with your practice’s message, but a targeted approach can yield a better result. Our Town America has more than 50 years of experience helping dental practices add new patients before they form loyalties with the competition. We send a Welcome Package filled with proven offers to new residents to entice them to give your practice a test drive. To get the best results, we compile lists of individuals who have filed some sort of address change in the past 30 days. We filter out the duplicates to increase your return on investment. Lights, camera, action! Did you know that adults are forecast to watch 80 minutes of digital video per day in 2023? Meet patients where they spend their time by posting videos to your social media feeds. Adding video can increase engagement and help give your practice a personal touch. Consider filming interviews with your employees to help people get to know your staff or make a welcome video. Promote oral health by filming a video outlining the importance of proper cleaning techniques or showcase positive patient testimonials. The options are limitless. Rely on referrals. Launch a patient referral program. Word-of-mouth marketing remains one of the best ways to build a practice. People trust recommendations more than advertising — it’s one of the reasons Google reviews are so popular. A patient referral program provides an incentive for current patients who recommend your practice to another community member. Letting your existing patients do the legwork is a no-hassle approach to adding new clients. Throw a party. Let’s face it. Visiting the dentist can be a drag. Experts speculate dental fear or anxiety impacts 36% of the population. You can help alleviate some anxiety associated with a six-month checkup by making your practice a warm, welcoming environment. Host an open house with free snacks or a barbecue in the parking lot. Make sure your party appeals to your target customer demographic. Employee appreciation. The backbone of any successful dental practice is its employees. Your dental hygienists form relationships with customers, and people appreciate familiarity. Make team building and appreciation part of your marketing budget. Showing your employees you are grateful for their hard work will help improve staff retention and create a welcoming environment for patients. Welcome New Movers Learn more about marketing for dentists and how Our Town America’s new mover marketing and direct mail services can help your practice appeal to residents of all ages in the local community. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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