Contrary to what most people believe, promotions and marketing do not always involve thousands of dollars. Not even for dentistry. There are affordable yet efficient ways of promoting your dental practice. Today, we will discuss five of the most effective ones.
1. ONLINE PRESENCE
In 2020, everyone has a digital platform they use. But you need to know how to utilize this fact to your benefit. If most of your local population is present on social media, that is where you need to be. Having your official website or social media account can help you reach your target audience, and that too, for free. The following are some of the ways you can use an online platform the right way.
MAKE IT APPEALING
Whether it is an Instagram account or your business website, you need to make it appealing. Just because you’re a dentist doesn’t mean your website can’t look fun or modern. Make sure the platform looks cohesive and organized. Pay attention to the color pallet, the content you’re putting out, and your platform’s overall ambiance. If the viewer likes what they’re looking at, you’ll have a higher chance of convincing them to stay get all that you need to know in oral surgeon marketing from Hip Agency.
TARGET LOCALS
Your priority should always be the local community. The closer an area is your dental clinic or hospital, the more critical it is to target it. Use local keywords and optimize your digital platform accordingly. This technique will bring more local traffic to your main page.
CLICK-TO-CALL PAID ADS
Unaffordable online ads are a myth. You can select your budget and pay whatever is feasible for you. You can even choose your audience, and the ad owners will do the rest. These ads are available on Google and almost all social media platforms.
REVIEWS
Apart from putting your primary information on your website and account, add patient reviews as well. These are important to gain the trust of patients who you haven’t even met yet.
ORGANIC SEARCH
Organic search rankings have by far the biggest returns for your marketing spend. The difficulty is finding an SEO company who can actually get the results they promise. Inbound Medic, an agency specialising in helping medical practices (including dentists) rank higher on google say that clients can increase their marketing returns by as much as 95% after a focused SEO campaign.
2. E-MAIL MARKETING
Among the many other free strategies of marketing online, e-mail marketing is a popular and effective way to expand your reach. Let us talk about it in a little more detail.
WHAT IS IT?
Just as you e-mail a person to get their attention, businesses send e-mails to potential clients to grab their immediate attention. The strategy involves writing a professional and attractive e-mail and sending it directly to the target audience.
HOW IS IT USEFUL?
Unlike TV ads, an e-mail is a direct communication to your patient. So, they are bound to open the e-mail and take a personal look at it. When they do this, and your e-mail is an attractive one, you may get through to them and convince them to choose you for their dental surgery. Because you have provided all of your essential information in the e-mail, you can expect a quicker response than most of the other marketing strategies.
HOW SHOULD ONE CREATE THE PERFECT E-MAIL?
If your e-mail is not effective or properly constructed, the whole strategy will fail. The perfect e-mail should be concise, simple, and easy to read, relatable to the patient, and should persuade them that you have the solutions to their dentistry-related problem.
WHO SHOULD ONE SEND IT TO?
Anyone, and everyone, you consider a target audience or potential patient can be a part of your e-mail list. However, if you don’t want to spam, keep the frequency of these e-mails moderate.
3. REFERRAL BONUSES
Referral bonuses have been in trend for the last many years, but the hype about their effectiveness and efficiency has only recently come into the spotlight.
WHAT ARE THESE?
To be precise, referral bonuses are perks offered when a client refers your business to another potential client. You can offer these perks to either of these individuals. In the dentistry department, this would mean, maybe, a few bucks off their first appointment or an extra consultation on the house. It’s entirely your call!
HOW ARE THEY USEFUL?
A referral is your key to growth. When an individual has dentistry-related problems, they are bound to ask for recommendations from their friends and family. If this recommendation is you, you’ve got yourself a new patient. Offering bonuses to your patients, new or old, can motivate them to consider you. You can view the concept as a bribe (it’s completely legal and morally right, though!)
Read More: 5 Attention Grabbing Marketing Ideas
4. LOCAL EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Another easily looked over, but very important, way of marketing for dental surgeries is by being locally active on events and gatherings.
* WHAT ARE THESE?
These local events include sports competitions, funfairs, seminars, and social gatherings. They involve any event that has relevance to local businesses.
* HOW ARE THEY USEFUL?
Here’s an easy example to make it clear for you. Have you ever been to a football game where the two teams are wearing shirts by local businesses? If yes, you already have an idea of what this marketing strategy is. It is an excellent way of getting attention from the local audience present at the event.
Other ways of doing this include educational trips and seminars where you can go as a guest speaker. Not only will you spread awareness about your profession and dental health, but you will also get an excellent opportunity to market for dental surgeries at a very low price.
5. APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
One of the best uses of digital technology in terms of marketing is reaching your audience directly.
WHAT ARE THESE?
Appointment reminders are what they sound like. They are reminders about an appointment. They can be in the form of postcards, phone calls, and SMS. Some particular kinds of software also allow you to remind your patient that they have an appointment with you.
HOW ARE THEY USEFUL?
By doing this, you can ensure that the patient will not miss the appointment and show up. It also motivates them if they’re having a hard time gathering energy for it. Plus, they’re as cheap as you can imagine!
Hence proved that you do not have to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on the marketing for dental surgeries. You can start with these five simple, affordable ways and see the effects for yourself.