2021 is going to be a year of atypical marketing for dental practices that want to grow. It will be about reaching consumers through virtual means like your social, website, and online groups. Be a content expert in your community so people look to your practice for all things dental health. Below are some ideas to grow your dental practice while also becoming a trusted resource.
Create content around healthy teeth and gums
Create a video or blog post about what people be doing to keep their teeth and gums healthy while we are out of our normal routines. Anything related to nutrition, home care, lifestyle, and supplements tends to get good traction on social – even what you are doing to keep your own family healthy. And, make it specific to the events going on now or make it more generic so you can use it in the future. Here’s an example.
Explain to patients how to get safe dental care
Share with patients why it is safe to get routine dental care now in a video, blog, email, or as a social post. Or, if it isn’t, share how you can care for them via telemedicine. Explain how is the practice is protecting their team and their patients with extra PPE, staggered appointments, waiting in the car, etc. Also, share all the safety measures you’ve always taken even before COVID-19. Most consumers have no idea all the steps that are taken in a dental office to keep them safe.
Educate on critical dental symptoms
Educate patients on symptoms that they shouldn’t ignore and need to have evaluated right away. You can do this in your own practice and on social. Include options for treatment that will keep them as safe as possible from COVID-19.
Tactfully promote cosmetic dentistry
Consumers are spending lots of time researching and dreaming about how they want to treat themselves in 2021. This is a great time to be blogging about Invisalign, whitening, and other cosmetic dentistry topics. Fill your website with the content so that patients that are shopping find you. Stay away from pushing this hard on organic social right now. While lots of people are looking for it, lots of people are also suffering. So, it can appear insensitive to push out that content on social. However, paid social is fine because the user is “searching” for it.
Claim and update online profiles
Claim and update all of your online profiles so that patients find you when they are searching for a dentist. Build out content with the services you want to grow. This includes Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, Mapquest, Waze and any other place that patients search for you or that your practice shows up. Not sure where to start? Google your practice name. If you’ve been in business for more than a few months, you have profiles, whether you want them or not. Start with updating all the existing profiles.
Educate your community
Share educational content (nothing salesy) with local Chambers of Commerce, moms groups, and online communities. We’ve seen local providers giving health tips perform very well this way. This can be content from your social and website. It doesn’t need to be new or custom.
Evaluate your payors and cash prices
Evaluate joining additional dental plans for a broader reach. And, evaluate your cash prices to see if they are working for you to both be competitive and make it worth your time. Then, promote the cash prices.
Ask for testimonials
Ask happy patients for testimonials and share them. Even better, develop an automated system to send happy patients to Google, Facebook, and Yelp to write reviews.
Reach out to potential referral sources
If you see kids, reach out to the local Pediatricians and Family Practitioners. Parents will ask them when it’s time to see the dentist and if they recommend someone.