At the end of the year, you reflect on what has happened over the last 12 months. Your practice has had some success and growth, but you would like to see more in 2020. Once the patients come to your office, they have a positive experience and continue to visit, but how do you get more patients to actually make it into the treatment chair? Rather than earning additional certifications or spending overtime in the practice, it sounds like you need to have a stronger dental marketing plan. In this blog post, you’ll learn some suggestions that can put your goals for the coming year within your reach.
Optimize Your Site
Bringing more patients to your practice is difficult if they aren’t able to find you. Most people don’t look very far beyond the first page of Google search results, which means that you need to optimize your site as much as possible. How do you do that? Search engine optimization (SEO) can be tricky, but it includes integrating search keywords onto your site that patients would use. In the case of dental practices, these terms are often “dentist [city],” “emergency dentist [city],” and so forth. The more you can use SEO principles to your advantage, the more likely patients will see your website and potentially come in for dental work.
Use a Direct Mail Marketing Campaign
Even with so much technology and many online resources at people’s fingertips, direct mail still has the highest response rate compared to other marketing methods, believe it or not. It is estimated that eight out of ten people still ready the mail they receive daily. A well planned direct mail marketing campaign can reach the right audience in your target area and draw a lucrative response, helping you get more new patients.
Follow Up
Although it can be tempting to save money by reaching out to your intended audience once and hope that you get enough interested patients, a one-and-done strategy often proves unsuccessful. Or rather, not as successful as a strategy that follows up with the prospective patients. Instead, you can use two rounds of mailers or combine mailers with SEO improvement to keep your practice fresh in your target audience’s minds. Then, when they think about their dental care, they’ll think of you and be more likely to set up an appointment.
Use Your Online Reviews
It is estimated that around 92 percent of people read online reviews when considering local businesses. At first glance, you may think that you don’t have control over your review results, but you do! As much as possible, invite and ask your current patients to leave reviews, especially positive ones, on Google, Facebook, and other popular platforms. That way, other prospects can read useful feedback and want to visit your practice.
As you enter the new year, it’s worth putting more time, effort, and money into an aggressive marketing plan. When you implement these proven tactics into your marketing strategy, you’ll be more likely to attract more patients and see your practice grow in the future.
About Strategic Marketing Solutions
Strategic Marketing Solutions is an all-inclusive marketing company that focuses on helping local businesses grow. With turn-key services including direct mail campaigns, organic SEO, and full-service printing, dental practices can customize their marketing plan to fit their needs. If you have questions about direct or online marketing for your dental practice, you can contact Strategic Marketing Solutions.