In recent years, experts gathered a lot of knowledge about putting dental practices on the market. This applies to both regular registrations and checks and to specialist interventions. Specialists are able to satisfy the needs and objectives of oral care professionals into marketing activities that suit them and that deliver results.
In order to effectively recruit clients for oral care professionals (so in addition to dentists, dental hygienists, periodontists, endodontists, orthodontists, etc.), we review the most important online marketing channels in this article.
How do you recruit clients for a dental practice?
Broadly speaking, there are three ways in which you can proactively market a dental practice:
- Make your practice known in the oral care chain
- Offline marketing, such as publications, papers, and studies
- Online marketing, such as visibility in Google and on Social Media
For getting local SEO for dentists click here
This article is about online marketing and SEO for dentists. Now there are about five to ten channels for dentists and other oral health professionals to attract clients with online marketing. If these are used with a clear strategy like SEO then they are also complementary to each other, then the effect of the individual channels is greater.
We then speak of an integrated customer journey, in which you serve and follow the oral care recipient from the moment there is interaction with your practice or a care need arises for which a dentist or other oral care professional can offer help.
Why is SEO for dentists important for your dental practice?
Every company aims to generate as many customers as possible and thereby increase their turnover. By ranking higher in Google, the company builds brand awareness so that potential customers are more likely to purchase their service from you than from a dentist they know nothing about and maybe even don’t know. With a high position in Google, your company also comes across as reliable and professional, which also contributes to the ‘client satisfaction’ factor, which especially dental practices can use. In addition to brand awareness and turnover, there is another reason to go for SEO techniques: saving marketing costs that can quickly become sky-high.
Know exactly which marketing channel suits dentists at what time
Marketing channels suitable for dentists. How much budget and in which channels of online marketing is invested, depends on many factors. Think of the size of the practice, the ambitions you have as a dentist, and how many clients your practice can have.
Therefore, here is an overview of all channels that you can use. We then explain in detail how they work.
Marketing platforms:
- Your website as a central platform for all marketing
- On the website, you can do local SEO for dentists that can help you rank
- Google My Business as a “mini-homepage” for quick contact
Marketing Channels:
- Google Ads for instant more signups
- Attract medical oral care content for specific clients in the long term
- Facebook and Instagram for creating an “oral care experience” around your practice
- Email marketing for customer maintenance and follow-up
- Youtube for creating strong customer relationships and oral care experience
Here you see a distinction between platforms and channels. In terms of “customer journey”, the channels are the way to where it all happens: Contact and conversion on the platforms.
A website for dentists
Because the website of your dental practice is the center for contact and digital visitor experience with your patients, we treat it first. Of course, all channels can function independently to a certain extent and will always produce some result. However, there will always be interacting with your website.
It is important that when people see your practice on one of those channels and they decide to visit your website that certain expectations are met. A good user experience is then important. Think of easy contact with a call button and contact form, which are especially attractive on mobile.
Another important factor that inspires confidence is authentic photos of the practice and treatments, preferably in action. Also mention the specialties and advantages of your practice that characterize you and mention customer reviews in which clients tell how well they have been treated by your dentists and what good oral care means for them.
Two types of websites for dentists
We have two types of websites for dentists:
- A format specifically designed for dental practices
- A website full customization
The format has been conceived and designed with affordability and functionality in mind. With this format, you get a modern website that focuses on a pleasant user experience and the main objective of a practice: converting visitors into patients. With authentic photos of the practice and treatments in action, we create a look & feel that fits well with your dental practice.
The other option is a custom website. We start the design process with a blank sheet and we create a website that is completely tailored to your wishes. The choice between the format and the customized website differ and are sometimes very personal.
A custom website does not have to be better than a format in terms of function. With customization, it is possible to incorporate your own identity into the website as much as possible. This is important for many of our customers and we see that a custom website is regularly chosen.
Google My Business: Quick contact with your patient
As mentioned earlier, the website of your dental practice is the center for contact and digital visitor experience with your patients. It involves all the local SEO for dentist. In line with this, it is strongly recommended that you set up your Google My Business profile properly.
Once people have come into contact with your name – perhaps through one of your active marketing channels! – and oral care is urgent or important to them, then they enter your practice name into Google.
The rectangular, elongated information box that then appears on the right side (desktop) is your Google My Business profile. And perhaps even more important: The informative part fills almost the entire screen of a Smartphone.
Google offers a lot of possibilities to make this “mini-homepage” look attractive. If you ensure that you fill in and keep everything up to date, it will become more attractive and easier for people to look, click, call and navigate.
Here is a summary of these options:
- Title of your practice with star reviews and a photo next to it.
- Location information, opening times, and your phone number including Google Maps display.
- Under “overview” buttons to call, navigate, label, and visit the website.
- Under “posts” you can post informative updates about your healthcare practice. Think of posts about complaints, treatments, and results. You can also load the blogs on your website here.
- Under “products” you can state which treatments you do.
- Under “reviews” you will find testimonials from your clients. Via the mobile app, you can send them a WhatsApp link with which they can write a review in seconds.
- With the option “photos” you can show a lot of current material from your practice.
This is just one scenario and one journey. By measuring as much behavior and interaction as possible on all channels, you can continue to reach oral care users in their journey and show them valuable content in an appropriate way.
