Five Dental Marketing Tips And Tricks You Need To Know

If you’re reading this, you’re on the right track to ramping up your dental marketing in 2019!

That’s great news! Because it will give those fence-sitters – undecided or apprehensive patients – the nudge they need to pick up the phone and call your practice first, ahead of your competitors.

Did you know the percentage of 19-64-year-olds who saw a dentist dropped from 41% in 2003 to 35.5% in 2013?

And because of the way insurance companies have communicated dental fee coverage to their policyholders and lack of consumer education, most people view dentists as being the same?

You can quickly see that it is important to differentiate your practice with an effective dental marketing strategy.

But first, you need to know where to start – what will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Don’t just hand out your hard-earned dollars on spray-and-pray marketing. In this article, we’ll offer you some tips and tricks so that you can put your best foot forward.

1. What’s your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)? If you haven’t answered this question before, now’s the time to get out a pen and paper. Your UVP is what sets you apart from your competition. It’s what makes your services stand out and appeal to patients in your community. If you can answer these questions, you’re on the right track…
   • What is the profile of your ideal patient?
   • What are your ideal patients’ service preferences (convenience, access, niche services, insurances, etc.)? Do you provide it? If not, can you?
   • What do you provide that your competition doesn’t?
   • What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities (including your 3-5 top competitive advantages & their benefits), and threats? This SWOT Analysis can be an eye-opener!
   • What do your existing patients love most about your practice? What do patients love about your competition? Better yet – what do they dislike?
     
2. Make sure your team is on the same page. Your team must be able to consistently reinforce practice differentiation during every client or prospect interaction. Make sure they know what your UVP is and reinforce it regularly.
   
3. Research your target market. To get the best possible new patients in your chair, you need to gather information on the household demographics in your area. You need to know who you’re selling to so you can identify which dental services you should offer and tailor your offerings to them. A thorough market area analysis of demographic, geographic, and psychographic factors is essential. To identify who your ideal patients truly are, also examine all key points in your neighborhood, such as physical barriers (e.g. a major highway between you and your potential patients), major employers, and your competition.

4. Understand the patient journey. Are you aware of all the steps someone may take before they end up joining your practice? It all begins with awareness. First, the patient needs to recognize they have a dental need. Then they need to prioritize that need. And then they need to be able to find your practice. Once they do, they will conduct their own research, which includes…
   • reading any marketing materials (e.g. direct mail, postcards, brochures, etc.) that you send them
   • viewing your website
   • reading your online reviews on multiple sites
   • and asking their friends and family about your practice.
     
5. Check out your competition. Look at their website, go to their social media pages, and read their reviews. Uncover what people don’t like about the competition so you can capitalize in these areas – especially if you’re already excelling in them.

There’s more to dental marketing than meets the eye … we can help you see the full picture with 20/20 vision!

By partnering with a trusted, results-driven dental marketing company like Patient NEWS, you’ll save time and get a custom-made plan that engages new patients and gets them hooked on your practice.

We’ll work closely with you to find out where you stand, where you want to go, and then present the perfect blend of print and digital marketing solutions to achieve your goals.

A well-thought-out and effective marketing strategy will help you STAND OUT and secure your practice’s future! We’ll start with a 100% free, no-obligation demo. Call today!