If you are a dental care provider then you know how important it is to have a constant stream of new patients in your chair if you want to be profitable. At Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, we offer a range of dentist internet marketing strategies that will help you attract new patients while staying in close communication with your existing ones. In today’s world, you need to be available to your audience at all times.
With tech-savvy millennials becoming the first generation who will be the primary decision-makers for their family’s dental care options, yellow pages are no longer enough to support your marketing efforts. As a dentist, it is imperative to understand how modern technology drives customers from their devices into your office. If you want to attract new patients, it is imperative to have a strong marketing and lead generation plan in place.
Software for Dentist Internet Marketing
The most powerful way to reach new patients online is to use practice management software to streamline your entire operations from administrative tasks to marketing and lead generation. If your goal is to reach more people, increase conversions, and drive revenue, you should consider giving PM software a try before implementing any standalone marketing strategies.
Social Patient Center Software
The Social Patient Center (SPC) from Crystal Clear Digital Marketing makes it easier than ever to balance your day-to-day operations with your marketing and lead generation efforts. Not only does SPC streamline tasks such as quoting, billing, and scheduling, but it also includes strategic marketing features such as referral tracking, email and text marketing, social media marketing, and more.
For example, SPC can automate survey requests and tracks responses so you can easily and efficiently improve your services and customer service departments. It can also make it easy to offer membership subscriptions and package deals, so you can always make sure you’re offering services that your patients want. By streamlining administrative tasks, you can dedicate more energy to promoting your marketing efforts. In fact, SPC can help you:
- Identify opportunities to cross- or upsell products and services
- Automate the majority of your patient communication
- Send targeted marketing campaigns directly to your patients based on their life cycle
- Send automated reviews and survey requests
- Manage your online presence
More Dentist Internet Marketing Strategies To Reach New Patients Online
Once you have streamlined your marketing and lead generation efforts with a program like SPC, you can begin to focus on even more ways to attract new patients online. Here are some of the top strategies that Crystal Clear Digital Marketing uses to help healthcare professionals reach more people.
High-End Websites
If you want to reach new patients online, it is crucial to have a single high-end website where prospective clients can learn more about your practice at any time of the day. Once upon a time, it was possible to attract new patients with a static website with nothing but your name, phone number, and a few pictures. Times have changed, and the world is moving into an information age.
Plus, with the introduction of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, a static website is no longer enough to grab attention from potential prospects. Many practices don’t realize that websites must now be designed to work across all devices; otherwise, you risk having traffic bounce from your site. Effective websites should also feature plenty of content, promotions, and real-time information that holds the attention of your visitors.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Since dental practices operate on a local scale, it’s never been more important to leverage SEO strategies to expand your reach. Most people search for providers using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. If your practice is not listed on any of these websites, you risk losing business to your competitors. SEO makes it possible for the search engines to rank your website based on keywords that prospective customers type into the search bar.
SEO is a fixed cost, long-term, organic strategy because it takes time for the search engines to rank you in the results. However, the end-results are evergreen and do not require multiple investments to yield profitable outcomes. If you need immediate results, you can also integrate search engine marketing into your organic SEO strategy.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing is different from search engine optimization because it is a form of ongoing paid advertising. With SEO, you don’t have to pay to have your website ranked, but you do have to wait for it to push up on the results pages.
With SEM, you can pay to have your website listed on the first page, where you can capture the most traffic. The goal of SEM is to generate inbound leads so your sales team can convert them into customers.
Content Marketing
Content marketing goes hand-in-hand with having a high-end website and search engine marketing strategies. Your website can look amazing, but without content, it won’t be easy to rank in search engines organically and keep eyeballs on your website.
If you aren’t providing prospective patients what they want to read about, they will move on to the next website that does. Content marketing can also help you differentiate your practice from your competitors by showing what makes yours unique.
Blogs and Landing Pages
Content marketing is essential because it can help you provide value to potential customers as they move through the buying process. Once a prospect is aware of your practice, he or she will perform research, which is where content such as blogs or customized service pages can communicate valuable information.
It also provides you with a chance to demonstrate your expertise and build trust. Without content on your website, it will be hard to convert prospects into patients.
Social Media Marketing
Just about everyone has a presence on social media, so if you want to reach new patients, your practice should, too! Some of the most fastest-growing sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Without a presence on any of these sites, you risk losing out on opportunities to get new patients. Additionally, social media marketing can assist with building brand awareness, fostering existing relationships, and building patient loyalty.
Most people have changed the way they communicate and interact with healthcare providers, and that includes engaging on social media. It’s a great way to find new patients. For instance, imagine that an existing patient leaves you a positive review on your Facebook page – there is now a chance that their friends and family will see it and consider becoming a patient themselves. Plus, any content you put on social media can drive traffic back to your website.
SPC & Social Media
If you’re not already leveraging your social media accounts to gain new clients, SPC can help you do so. This software can directly integrate with your social media accounts to effectively target your patients and provide you with real-time data that helps guide your marketing decisions.
SPC automates about 85% of the patient communication process, which means you will have more time to focus on providing in-person care and working on other communications.
Email Marketing
Email may seem outdated in a world of instant messaging, but it is still a preferred communication method among consumers, especially when dealing with businesses. If your practice communicates via email internally but not externally, you may be missing out on the opportunity to reach new patients.
Not only is email marketing less expensive than traditional marketing methods, but it is also automated, which means you can keep your focus on performing dental work and perfecting your marketing efforts.
Why Use Email Marketing?
Email marketing can help your practice maintain awareness and education among your new and current patients. You can also use it to follow up with existing patients, push current prospects through your pipeline, and grab the attention of patients you haven’t heard from in a while. It’s also a great way to send out newsletters, remind patients of upcoming appointments, and get referrals by asking existing patients to forward the emails to their contacts.
Paid Advertising (PPC)
Google Ads (pay per click advertising) is a great way to attract qualified leads who are ready to fork over their money to you. It works quickly and is great for staying competitive. With that being said, paid advertising is a complicated marketing process that should be handled by professionals.
Too many practices make the mistake of approaching it too aggressively for the sake of trying to get leads, only to end up overspending on ads that don’t produce results. Paid ads also require a careful tracking and reporting process to ensure you are getting a positive ROI.
PPC Best Practices
When it comes to paid advertising strategies, local practices should start with a small budget and a small market and work their way up until they have a clear picture of how much money to conversions they are getting. If you want profitable results with paid ads, it is also important to implement tracking methods into your forms and phone numbers to see which conversion techniques are working best.
SPC & Paid Ads
Since tracking your data is crucial if you want to make the most of your paid advertising strategy, SPC is designed to provide you with clear and extensive reports to help you make the perfect marketing and financial decisions.
This software allows you to set your parameters to understand where you are and where you need to go. Not only will you be able to view your leads and referrals right on the dashboard, but you will be able to tell exactly where your marketing budget is thriving and where you might consider making changes.
Start Building Your Patient Base Today!
Practice management software like SPC can help you organize and manage your entire operations, streamlining your marketing efforts and freeing up time for you to dedicate to implementing other internet marketing strategies and providing personalized care to your patients. If you are considering implementing any of the above digital marketing strategies to your practice, it is important to know that they are most powerful when used together.
If you are ready to start reaching more patients online, contact Crystal Clear Digital Marketing today to learn how you can do it in the most efficient way possible. Give us a call to schedule your SPC demo or to learn how our fully-integrated solutions can keep your appointment book filled. We look forward to helping you conquer your business with our dentist internet marketing strategies!
