In order to reach patients in a community, you need to market yourself online. In the age of digital communication, more and more people are switching from searching for physical locations on their maps to performing searches within Internet directories like Google Maps or even looking up businesses through Facebook pages before making purchasing decisions. For this reason, it’s important to ensure that your name and information are up-to-date and correct across all of these different directories.
Engage Marketing Professionals
If you’re a novice, marketing companies may be able to help you establish marketing systems that will allow you to manage your practice effortlessly. Some of these agencies provide marketing help for Orthodontists in a way that gives you the time and resources necessary to grow as quickly as possible. These professionals will take your marketing into their own hands.
In addition, marketing companies can assist you in marketing your practice on review sites, generating positive reviews, and even marketing to patients who have already been seen by a doctor in your practice. By marketing for you, marketing companies will make sure that all of your marketing dollars are going toward effective strategies instead of wasting money on ineffective ones.
Having a presence online, however, isn’t just about ensuring that you’re appearing on the Internet. You need to also work on establishing yourself as an authority in your field with web traffic, building credibility and trust with consumers, and staying connected with your existing patients. Since you are already in the dental business, it’s likely that many of your patients come to you through word-of-mouth referrals, which means they may also be more likely to search for services in their local area on social media platforms or review sites.
Take Advantage Of Your Location On Google Maps
Your business address is automatically listed in Google Maps when you set up your page, but it’s still worth checking to ensure that the location pin is accurate. Furthermore, if another company has taken over your building or another type of business is occupying your space, you may also want to consider relocating the location pin to where your practice is actually located.
Having accurate business hours listed on Google Maps will ensure that potential patients are able to easily find out if you are open when they want to come in. Furthermore, the Open Now feature allows people looking for a business to check if you are available before they head out of their homes. Just keep in mind that both these features only work when the page is accurate and up-to-date, so be sure to check your listing frequently for any changes.
Take Advantage Of Social Media
Social media marketing is an excellent way to gain local exposure for your practice. Sharing reviews, videos, and images on social profiles will let people know that you exist and give them a peek into what it’s like to be your patient. Plus, marketing on sites like Facebook gives you the opportunity to interact with your existing patients by responding to reviews and reaching out to those who have posted pictures of themselves with you or your staff.
In addition, it’s also important that any marketing strategies you implement on social media platforms are consistent throughout every account you maintain. A Facebook post template can be helpful in maintaining this consistent brand message. Having a national marketing strategy is fine as long as it will not turn away potential local patients, such as if the marketing is in a different language.
Optimize Your Website
As people become more Internet-savvy, search engines have become a primary source of information for consumers. If you really want to capture new patients in your area, it’s important that you create a marketing strategy focused on search engine optimization (SEO) and local marketing. By optimizing your website to rank high on Google, Bing, and Yahoo! for terms such as “Orthodontist near me,” marketers will be able to connect with potential patients close by.
If you’re not marketing savvy, hiring an Internet marketing company with experience in SEO and marketing for dental professionals will give you peace of mind that your marketing strategy is comprehensive and cohesive. Plus, since marketing online can be quite costly, marketing companies may have staff members that are both talented marketers and knowledgeable about dental marketing.
Be Active On Review Sites
While marketing your dental practice online through social media will help you gain customers in your local area, marketing strategies such as these can also benefit from review marketing. Websites like Yelp and Google Places give consumers a place to voice their opinions about businesses. Therefore, if you’re trying to attract new patients to your practice, it’s important that you respond to Yelp reviews, as well as ask your existing patients for reviews through marketing emails sent through a marketing company.
The best way to ensure that review marketing is positive for your practice is by marketing online with a technology-driven marketing agency. This will allow you to take advantage of the latest marketing strategies since many marketing companies are marketing online already.
Utilize Email Marketing
Email marketing has become an effective marketing strategy for dental practices since it allows marketers to reach specific audiences in a targeted way. Furthermore, marketing emails can be used to introduce potential patients to your practice and allow you to announce deals or promotions that will entice them into coming in for care.
Since marketing emails are sent out to people who already know about your practice, marketing companies can be used to build an email marketing list for marketing purposes. Even if you only have a few potential patients in the area, marketing companies will help you design marketing emails that can build your brand and generate patient leads without costing too much money.
Track And Optimize Marketing Efforts With Marketing Analytics
While developing a marketing strategy is important, it’s also important that you track how well your strategies are performing so that you can understand the ROI of the work being put forth at each stage. Marketing companies may be able to provide you with analytic software for this purpose so that you know what areas need improvement and which ones are doing well.
As long as you keep these marketing tips in mind, you should be able to find success in marketing your practice online. If you’re marketing a dental practice, keep these marketing tips in mind to help attract new patients. If you do decide to market your practice on your own, marketing companies may be able to provide some helpful marketing resources as well.
