Is Your Dental Practice Successfully Navigating the Digital Marketing World?

dentists taking advantage of digital marketingIn the bustling dental industry, where the pressure of patient care and constant technological updates can be overwhelming, your digital marketing may not always take the lead in business strategies. However, with the growing demand for dental services and a shift in patient demographics, it’s more important than ever for dentists and practice managers to leverage digital marketing.

With ProspectaMarketing by your side, you’ll gain valuable insights and practical tips that could revolutionize how your practice attracts and retains patients.

Recognizing the Digital Landscape

The Evolution of Dental Marketing

In the past, marketing a dental practice often involved print ads, local community events, and word-of-mouth referrals. However, the rise of the internet and social media has transformed consumer behavior, creating new opportunities to reach potential patients. Today’s successful dental practices understand that a digital presence is essential for growth.

Elements of a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy for Dental Practices

Search Engine Optimization

The Importance of Local SEO for Dental Practices

Local SEO ensures that your practice is visible in local search results, essential for attracting patients in your area. Optimizing your website for local keywords, creating Google My Business listings, and securing citations from local directories can significantly boost your practice’s online visibility.

Creating SEO-Optimized Content

Quality content is the backbone of SEO. By creating blog posts, videos, and infographics that provide valuable insights and information on dental health, your practice gains trust and authority, which search engines reward with higher rankings.

Website Design and User Experience

The Role of Your Website in Patient Acquisition

Your website is often the first interaction patients will have with your practice. Its design, speed, and mobile-friendliness play a crucial role in creating a positive impression and converting visitors into patients.

Streamlining Appointment Booking and Inquiries

A user-friendly website should make it easy for patients to book appointments and ask questions. Implementing an online booking system, live chat support and clear contact information can enhance patient experience and encourage conversions.

Paid Advertising

Targeted Advertising on Google and Social Media

PPC campaigns on Google and social media platforms allow you to target specific demographics, interests, and locations. This targeted approach can maximize your advertising budget and ensure your ads are seen by the right people.

Crafting Compelling Ad Copy and Visuals

In a competitive marketplace, attention-grabbing ad copy and visually appealing ads are key to standing out. Highlighting your practice’s unique selling points, such as advanced technology or exceptional customer service, can attract potential patients.

Investing in Your Digital Marketing Efforts

Key Metrics to Track

Measuring the success of your digital marketing efforts is crucial for identifying what works and what doesn’t. Key metrics include website traffic, conversion rates, search engine rankings, and engagement on social media.

Using Analytics Tools to Gain Insights

Tools like Google Analytics and social media insights provide in-depth data on how users interact with your digital platforms. By analyzing these metrics, you can make informed decisions to optimize your marketing strategy.

Digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and the strategies that work for one practice may not work for another. However, by understanding the digital landscape, and investing in a comprehensive strategy with the help of ProspectaMarketing, you can steer your dental practice toward online success. By clearly carving out your digital footprint, you’re not just keeping up with the times; you’re shaping the future of your practice.

ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

20 Ways to Win with Internet Dental Marketing

We just returned from the Crown Council Annual Event in San Antonio. What a great group of Eagles who flock together in this organization to learn from each other, improve their practices and give back. It was a great opportunity to spend a few days with those who attended.

On Saturday afternoon, I presented a workshop on “20 Ways to Win with Internet Marketing”.  The internet has become a critical source of new patient traffic, but doing it right makes all the difference. If you did not have a chance to attend, here is a list that we shared with those who were there, broken into three areas:

Strategy Development
1.  Effective Targeting
2.  Proper Messaging
3.  Consistent Branding
4.  Channel Strategies
5.   Results Analysis

Driving Traffic
6.  Meaningful SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
7.   Targeted Paid Advertising (PPC)
8.   Hard-Working Domain Name(s)
9.   Informative Website Content
10. Purposeful Blogging
11.  Optimized Video
12. Newsworthy Press Releases
13. Developed Social Sites
14. Enhanced Local Listings
15. Online Testimonials
16. Targeted Micro-Sites

Converting Prospects
17. Enticing Promotions
18. Innovative Phone Tool
19. Immediate Click to Call
20. Convenient Lead Form

Bonus

• Follow-up

• Continual Tracking to Learn What is Working

There was much more in our discussion.  However, in considering ways to reach and convert key prospects as part of your internet dental marketing, this is a good starting list of things that will help you achieve success.

Internet Reviews – Not to Fear

With the increase in online reviews for dental services and other local businesses, dentists sometimes raise concerns about the lack of control about what is said online. A recent survey of online reviews found that they are largely positive. Like word of mouth, a great experience or a very negative one is more likely to spawn a review.

Here are a few excerpts from a front page Wall Street Journal Article on October 5, 2009 that provide some interesting insights into online reviews.

On the Internet, Everyone’s a Critic But They’re Not Very Critical

Average Review Is 4.3 Out of Five Stars; Jerkface Fights Back and Gets Bounced

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER and JOSEPH DE AVILA

The Web can be a mean-spirited place. But when it comes to online reviews, the Internet is a village where the books are strong, YouTube clips are good-looking and the dog food is above average.

One of the Web’s little secrets is that when consumers write online reviews, they tend to leave positive ratings: The average grade for things online is about 4.3 stars out of five.

Many companies have noticed serious grade inflation. Google Inc.’s YouTube says the videos on its site average 4.6 stars, because viewers use five-star ratings to “give props” to video makers. Buzzillions.com, which aggregates reviews from 3,000 sites, has tracked millions of reviews and has spotted particular exuberance for products such as printer paper (average: 4.4 stars), boots (4.4) and dog food (4.7).

If the rest of the Internet is filled with nasty celebrity blogs and email flame wars, what makes product reviews sites so lovey-dovey? “If you inspire passion in somebody in a good way or a bad way, that is when they want to write a review,” says Russell Dicker, the senior manager of community at Amazon.

His boss, Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, follows that pattern. He has posted five-star reviews for products like Tuscan brand whole milk and some “ridiculously good cookies” sold on the site. Mr. Bezos’s only non-five-star review: one star for a science-fiction movie, “The 13th Warrior.”

Culture may play a role in the positivism: Ratings in the U.K. average an even higher 4.4, reports Bazaarvoice. But the largest contributor may be human nature. Marketing research firm Keller Fay Group surveys 100 consumers each day to ask them about what products they mentioned to friends in conversation. “There is an urban myth that people are far more likely to express negatives than positives,” says Ed Keller, the company’s chief executive. But on average, he finds that 65% of the word-of-mouth reviews are positive and only 8% are negative.

Some suspect companies goose their ratings. This summer TripAdvisor.com, which averages just above a four, posted warnings that some of its hotel reviews may have been written by hotel managers. But review sites say the incidence of fakes is tiny, and many pay people to delete puffery.Other sites admit they have a positivity problem and are taking novel steps to curb the enthusiasm. One way is to redefine average. Reviews of eBay.com’s millions of merchants were so positive that eBay made 4.3 out of five stars its minimum service standard. Beginning this month, it is switching to a system that counts just the number of one- and two-star reviews. Sellers who get more than 3% to 4% of those ratings could get kicked off of eBay.

Another site, Goodrec, decided to ditch the five-star rating system altogether, replacing it with a thumbs-up and thumbs-down system. Amazon now highlights what it dubs “the most helpful critical review” at the top of its reviews page.

Jeremy Stoppelman, chief executive of Yelp.com, which posts reviews of local businesses in cities around the country, bragged in September that his site’s reviews were more diverse. The average review on Yelp is 3.8. Many assume online reviews are “only rants or raves, resulting in consumer Web sites composed solely of ratings on the extremes,” he blogged. “A broader range of opinions can give consumers a more complete view of a business,” he says.

What can we take from this? Providing outstanding customer service in your dental practice leaves you nothing to fear. Going beyond the expected to make their experience in your dental office exceptional and will likely eventually help you develop exceptional reviews online. Paying attention to your online reputation as a portion of your internet dental marketing strategy also pays off.