Determine your practice goals, understand and know your current situation, review the dental competitors in your area, look at the demographic makeup of your target audience (and make sure you’re selecting the right target), find a great dental marketing partner (like Patient NEWS dental marketing), and work together to establish a strategy that works for you.

Successful marketing for dentists begins by understanding that it’s a local business. You’ll want your core listings sites to be accurate. You’ll want your website to have the keywords and content that your audience will search for. Your direct mail and paid ads should target only your core draw area, so you don’t waste marketing dollars.

Call conversion. How patient calls are handled when they come into a dental office is definitely one of the most critical elements of success. On average, new patients are worth double that of an active patient – you want all patients to have a very welcoming and knowledgeable experience when they finally pick up the phone, and in particular new patients. After tracking hundreds of thousands of dental patient calls, we can confirm that 50% of new patients are lost due to lack of telephone training and/or awareness of the value of each call. The top 10% of dental practices answer 90% of their inbound calls and convert over 70%. Do you know your call metrics? This metric can increase practice production without adding any more marketing dollars!

Great question! We’ve seen so many dental marketing campaigns fall short because the dentist wanted to target areas not primed to respond. We’ve been helping dentists stand out and grow since 1993, and our commitment is to help you be more successful. You can do that without reaching into areas that just won’t trek all the way to your practice. With our dental marketing software, Practice ZEBRA, we will help you identify your core draw neighborhoods, plus we’ll conduct a complete demographic and competitive analysis so you don’t have to waste any time or money targeting dental marketing campaigns into areas that just won’t respond. We’ll help you maximize your market area, differentiate your practice, and help you grow production.

When it comes to dental marketing success, positioning the BENEFITS of your features and services are your competitive advantages. Sometimes, you’re lucky, and you’re the only dental office in an area to offer a key service. Other times you may not have that unique proposition, but don’t worry. 100% of dental offices have competitive advantages. It could be offering a dedicated “new patient day,” offering an in-house membership plan, or merely having convenient extended hours. You’ll want to do your competitive research and understand what other dentists in your area are offering so that you can differentiate and stand out. Your team can probably list the top reasons patients choose your dental office. It’s the spin you put on those benefits that will become your unique competitive advantages that will contribute to a successful dental marketing campaign.