If you’re a solo practitioner or smaller provider, maintaining a steady growth rate can be challenging. Especially when pop-up concepts like SmileDirectClub penetrate the market and offer your prospects an innovative alternative.
Dentists and orthodontists with decades of experience under their belt are now competing with a new phenomenon: teledentistry.
That’s right – patients don’t even need to check-in with their dentist to receive the same quality of service. Or so they thought. Here are some marketing tips to prove your prospects wrong and keep an edge in the competitive market.
Revamp Your Marketing Strategy
First thing’s first – if you’re not marketing in the digital space, you need to make that a top priority. The only way you will reach your target audience is by meeting them halfway. Get a website so your local business is visible on search engines, develop a social media presence, and start sending out emails on a regular basis.
Make Sure Your Website is User-friendly
Once you get a website, make sure the design is responsive and aesthetically pleasing. It’s important to make the best first impression possible, because your website will directly reflect on your reputation. Every page should be clean, up-to-date, and impactful, delivering a message that says “I care about my online appearance.” If you don’t take time to invest in your practice, then why would a new patient consider investing in you? Talk to a professional about optimizing your website for all devices, not just a computer.
Maximize Traffic to Your Website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial to the success of your practice. You might think that simply having a website is enough, but your site is not an instantaneous lead magnet. There are several best practices you should follow to optimize the website traffic you are getting. If you want to generate quality leads, then you need to capitalize on the quality of your search engine foundation.
Consider Investing in Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC)
Sometimes local businesses need a jump-start to get their momentum going, and online ads can be very useful if you manage them properly. Setting up a PPC campaign through a marketing professional can increase your online visibility, website traffic, and overall sales by generating leads through search engines. These campaigns need to be monitored on a continual basis, so only people who are serious about improving their digital marketing strategy should go this route.
Highlight Your Success Stories
Practitioners and providers have a unique responsibility to their patients. You are not only selling a product of service, you also need to establish yourself as a credible authority. If you’re being trusted with a patient’s livelihood, you have to go the extra step to earn their trust. The more success stories you can highlight online, the easier it will be to generate more leads. Reference our testimonials page to see some examples. The truth is, most people wouldn’t think twice about visiting a doctor or dentist who had a questionable online reputation.
Get the Support of Your Community
The truth is, practitioners can provide something that no computer or do-it-yourself service can: an authentic human experience. You can build relationships and make a difference in people’s lives, past their physical appearance. If you are a dentist or orthodontist, consider hosting a free wellness workshop or sponsoring a youth program nearby.
These small acts of kindness will really go a long way when you are promoting your practice in a competitive space. Just make sure to strengthen your online presence before you do outreach, so it is easy for leads to find and follow-up with you.
If you want your marketing strategy to succeed, you need to make your patients feel valued and appreciated. And in today’s day and age, most of this relationship cultivation takes place online. Make sure you have the tools and professional insight you need to keep your practice relevant, despite ongoing changes in the market.
