Running a dental practice will present a number of different challenges. Bringing in new patients is a common challenge that most dentists face. Keeping clients coming back is on the team of hygienists, front desk staff, and the dentist. Patient retention can make it quite easy to grow a practice as the need for new patients is not as high. Digital marketing can bring in new patients monthly that you can rely on for cleanings, procedures, and anything else you can imagine. The following are tips for handling digital marketing for a dental practice.
Online Reviews Matter
Patients are going to flock to online review websites before going to a dentist. Responding to reviews regardless of their content is important. The unfortunate truth is that rival practices might have staff leave negative reviews. Most reviews will be given by current patients so encouraging this is imperative. Giving a small discount for a cleaning can help incentivize patients to leave these reviews. Responding to negative reviews can also help salvage a relationship with an upset patient. Making sure that your website is easily accessible is essential to this step.
Make It Easy To Set Appointments On The Website
Setting appointments is going to help continually maximize revenue from current patients. The website should make it as easy as possible for current patients to set appointments. You will not want to open this up to patients that are not current due to the possibility of missed appointments. The website should have a way to set appointments so take advantage of this. Not all patients will want to call for an appointment although confirmation should be done via telephone.
Search Engine Rankings Should be a Priority
Search engine rankings are immensely important when it comes to attracting new patients. The top of the search engines is going to bring in the most organic leads. Patients might incorrectly think that a practice is the best one in the area due to the ranking on search engines like Google or Bing. Take the time to look into SEO as it can be worth the investment by quite a bit. There are so many things that are associated with search engine rankings it can be difficult to handle them at once. Figuring out how to choose your SEO agency can be tough without a marketing background.
The truth is that everything from your practice’s website speed to content marketing makes a difference. For example, a recent study by Relevance.com a premier SEO and digital marketing agency revealed that websites that work well on mobile devices rank much better on Google and other search engines. Technical SEO can be done on a website to update it to make it easier to crawl for search engines. Google also takes user experience into consideration when ranking sites as they want searchers to have the best browsing experience possible. Without a background in digital marketing, a number of the terms used in SEO might seem like a foreign language.
Blog content is going to be very important when it comes to keyword rankings. Informative content can drive quite a bit of traffic although generic content isn’t going to convert. Other businesses might rely heavily on blog content but you should do this to close the keyword gap between competitors. You might even have someone on the staff that can generate this content in-house. There will not be enough work for a full-time writer which is something to keep in mind. Hiring a freelancer is another option if your current staff does not have any experience in copywriting.
Sourcing Digital Marketing To An Agency
Digital marketing can easily be sourced to an agency that could be a huge help. Dental practice digital marketing is very important and ROI needs to be tracked. Spending a few thousand dollars for patients that will stay for years is important. Digital marketing agencies might already have contacts with websites that can help drive leads. The agency can manage everything from the website, online reviews, and social media accounts. Asking for previous results is going to be very important as you want an agency that has worked with dental practices in the past.
Social Media
Social media profiles are going to show up quite high on search engines for branded terms. Promoting a practice on social media can be important as this can be the perfect place to promote content that was created. Make sure to track ROI on the time and investment on certain platforms. Social media likely doesn’t need to be outsourced as schedule a month of posts only takes a few hours. Promoting events that a practice is sponsoring can also generate leads for potential patients.
The stress of running any business requires balance in your life. Digital marketing can be a full-time job even if you have digital marketing experience. People constantly search for dental offices online when moving to a new area. Getting an entire family as patients can lead to years of loyal service. Most people are not going to change their dentist unless they move or are given a reason to do so.