A Topline Marketing Plan for a Dentist to Get New Patients.
Helping my mother with marketing her dental practice has helped me realize how competitive it is to be a dentist right now. Competition is super high in the category with a ton of other good dentists in town and then you have the mega-chains that pour millions of marketing dollars for awareness. It’s a tough business where you gotta go out there and go for business if you want to be successful financially.
Maybe I am partial but I think my mom is a really good dentist, but she isn’t a salesperson and doesn’t have a clue about marketing. She doesn’t want to do what other dentists do to go after business like tell the whole neighborhood or actively get involved in her church, or spend much on advertising....to add a little bit more context my mother is originally from Mexico and earned her dental degree there before moving to the US and getting another dental degree from NYU. In Mexico at least when my mother was there the dental business was different. It was more like opening a dental office and doing good work would get you, customers. That clearly isn’t enough in the good ole USA to get patients.
So I am going to share how I am trying to help my mother get new patients. Let me preface this by saying this isn’t a sales pitch, but more just sharing information. As any dentist or anyone in the medical field knows you get calls from lots of Salespeople telling you they “know how to get you patient’s” by either doing Social Media or SEO or using some exclusive high priced software that can get you more leads. What all general dentists need to understand is there isn’t going to be one product that is the “silver bullet” for getting new patients...but rather a combination of things. So really there are two big questions a dentist needs to ask before developing their marketing plan.
How Do New Patients Find Out About My Dental Practice?
What are the different Marketing Tactics I can use to have patients consider going to my dental practice?
How Do New Patients Find Out About Your Dental Practice?
Well, like I tell my mother it really comes down to three things….and this is how most people find things these days from restaurants, clothes to cars - Referrals, Search and Discovery. Below is a simple way to categorize how each of these helps new patients find out about you.
Referrals - Most Trustworthy - When someone wants to get an answer from a source they trust (i.e. Friends, Family, Coworkers, Neighbors, Insurance Providers). This one is obviously the best but is hard unless you already have a steady stream of patients already coming in. Example: Someone new is moving to town, and they ask a coworker if they know a good dentist….or that new person hits up a neighborhood mom’s Facebook group looking for a new dentist.
Search - Help Them Solve a Problem - This is when customers go online and generally know what they are looking for, and are seeking an answer. Example: Someone vacationing has just broken their tooth on their trip, and needs a dentist quickly...they might type “Emergency Dentist” near me.
Discovery - Give Them a Nudge - Where YOU Want to be visible when they’re NOT looking for you. Going to a Dentist might be the farthest thing from their mind. Examples: This might be something like an ad in a local newspaper, a Direct Mailer, or a Facebook ad. Or it can be you yourself as a dentist getting the word out in your community telling your neighbors and church you are a dentist. It's just like realtors do in your neighborhood, they make sure everyone in the community knows they sell houses
How can I categorize my different Marketing Initiatives as a Dentist?
There are really a billion different Marketing Tactics to get new patients and you will have hundreds of salespeople try to sell them to you during your time as a Dentist.
The easiest way to look at Marketing Tactics is to first understand how they are categorized. There are really three types of “Media” that all the Marketing Tactics fall under: Owned Media, Paid Media & Earned Media.
Owned Media (Media You OWN) - Should be your cheapest marketing expense. Nothing here should cost you too much money, but some of the tasks can take some time like managing your own social media accounts or writing blogs. Examples: Website, Social Media Accounts like Facebook and Instagram, Email, Office Signage
Paid Media (Stuff you Pay for - Ads) - Will likely be your most expensive cost, but will likely be your least labor-intensive. It can help with potential new patients quickly. Examples: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Direct Mail, Waze Ads, Newspaper Ads (online & print)
Earned Media (Think of this as Public Relations) - Will be time intensive and may not always yield you, patients, from day one. It’s more of a long term play. Examples: News/Press from local online newspapers, Reviews from Customers, Doing local stuff in your community
What are the different Marketing Tactics to Get New Dental Patients?
Here are a handful of marketing tactics you can try, these are the ones I am currently trying for my mother’s dental practice. Again these are just a few suggestions to give you ideas. You are going to have to see what works for you...and what you have time for. Also, most everything (outside of the Earned Media) I am suggesting here is digital marketing tactics. It’s going to be the most targeted and cost-efficient if you are on a tight budget.
Owned Media Marketing Tactics:
Website - Write 1-2 Blogs a Month = Focus on one topic that gets decent search volume like “Dental Implants” or “Teeth Whitening”. Write it like you are talking to a patient. Try to avoid big medical words. Keep it simple.
Social Media (i.e. Instagram and Facebook) - Start posting Facebook and Instagram about 2-3 per week. Follow local businesses in the area that have a local presence like Gyms, restaurants, bars, cycle studios, PTA’s - basically anything that is local and likely has a human running their social media. If you have questions on what to post, check out my other article on Linkedin about Dental Social Media Content
You! - This one only works if you really work hard to be a salesperson and get out there and meet people in your community like from church, your neighborhood, organizations in the community. Clearly not my mother….
Email - If you don’t capture emails you should. Your EMR might already be storing this information, but it’s for you to utilize the emails. If you have access to all your customer emails, then I would send out a monthly newsletter. Start with once a month and see how it works. There are plenty of email options out there like MailChimp and Constant Contact and they are super affordable.
Office - Any marketing in your office space/and your Dental Team. If any of them live in the community their friends and family can be a potential pipeline for new patients. The outside of your building. Do you have a sign that can be seen when people/cars pass by your office? If you don’t look into exterior signage if it’s in your budget.
Paid Media Marketing Tactics: The list here can go on forever, but I am listing a few primarily digital tactics since they can be cheaper and are more targeted.
Facebook/Instagram Ads - This is for “New Patient” acquisition and would focus on more basic “evergreen procedures” like teeth cleaning or teeth whitening
Google Ads - Google has a ton of different ad options, but start with Pay Per Click ads...focus on searches that are more specific. (i.e. dental implant, crowns, and night guards etc). Here is a resource to learn more about Google Ads.
Next Door Ads - I haven’t had much success with these, but it's worth trying. What’s cool about Next Door Ads is you can target specific neighborhoods in your community. Here are more details on their advertising.
Waze Ads - If your office is on a busy street but hidden in an office building, this is a good tactic to create awareness and is pretty cheap. Think of Waze ads as a mobile billboard that costs as little as $2/day. Here are more details on their advertising.
Earned Media Marketing Tactics:
Local Facebook Mom groups and Next Door - if you live close to your office (and if you have friends/family in this area even better). It’s a way to get some referrals
Sponsorships - See if there are some affordable sponsorships that might be a good fit, perhaps something with the Parent Teachers Association
Online Local Newspaper - Hit up the local online newspaper to see if they ever need any information on dental/health stories. If they do, cool...if they want to charge for it...then think about it to see if it’s worth it.
Team Members - Your team at the office (as well as yourself) needs to encourage online reviews specifically on Google and Facebook. Start with your family and friend that have been to your office for the most
Wrapping Up - Again remember, there is no “silver bullet” that will bring you, new patients, magically….so focus on answering these two questions before you open up your pocketbook and spend money on marketing.
How Do New Patients Find Out About My Dental Practice?
What are the different Marketing Tactics I can use to have patients consider going to my dental practice?
Once you answer those questions, you can start developing a marketing plan and work out how much you can reasonably spend on marketing to get new patients...and who knows….maybe after running the numbers, you might decide that being a salesperson isn’t so bad…telling the whole neighborhood you are a dentist or actively get involved in your church are sure a lot cheaper….