Showing posts with label dentists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dentists. Show all posts

Monday, July 6, 2015

Top 25 Marketing Strategies for Dentists (Vol. 3)

We bring you the final strategies from our three part series: Top 25 Marketing Strategies for Dentists. You already learned how marketing has evolved to offer you a choice of marketing techniques that work best for your practice and your budget.
Missed our previous articles? Read volume 1 here and volume 2 here.




Reactivation Marketing

Do you contact patients after a certain amount of time to remind them of their appointments? If so, you’re already doing a bit of reactivation marketing. Reactivation marketing is communicating, reconnecting and reengaging with patients who have not visited you for a period of time. While it can be challenging to reconnect with inactive patients, it is much more cost effective than acquiring new patients. Since you already have a lot of information on your patients, it allows you to personalize your message.

How to get started:

  • Start by pulling a list of patients who you haven’t seen in the past 12 months.
  • Send these patients a postcard offering an incentive if they respond to your postcard within a certain period of time. Try offering a free electric toothbrush or a whitening kit. 
  • For those who don’t respond, follow up with a letter from the doctor reminding them the importance of dental visits.
  • Finally, assign your team to call inactive patients. Rather than leave a message, make every effort to speak with the patient directly.
  • If none of the above works, put those patients on your archive list and move on. 
Systemize this process and implement into your team’s regular routine.

Local Marketing

Local marketing is a great way to create campaigns that are customized to a certain audience. Rather than taking a broad approach, try reaching out to a group within your community, such as the parents of your child’s soccer team, a nearby country club, the spin studio you attend, or your local Chamber of Commerce. By focusing on a niche area, you will likely see a better return on investment than if you were to do a broader campaign such as traditional ads in radio, TV, newspapers or magazines.

How to get started:

  • Network, network, network! Attend events in your community and hand out business cards. You can also offer to sponsor events, which shows your support for the community and gives your practice exposure.
  • If there aren’t any upcoming events, why not host your own at your office? Make use of social media and invite locals and patients. Ask your network to promote the event. The more the merrier!

Mobile Marketing

In 2013, Harris Interactive conducted a consumer survey showing that 72% of respondents are within five feet of their smartphones the majority of the time. In fact, more people are on their mobile devices than they are on computers or laptops. If you have a website or blog, ensure that it is optimized for mobile devices. Google also ranks sites higher when they are mobile friendly, so if your site is not optimized, your site will be harder to find even if you invest on SEO.

How to get started:

  • Invest in a responsive design for your website. Responsive is when your site will resize automatically no matter the size of the device it is being viewed on, ensuring that it is easy to read and navigate.
  • Use fewer images, minimal scrolling and navigation from page to page. Also use big buttons that are far apart for easier clicking.

Reputation Marketing

This is the combination of reputation management and brand marketing. Today’s consumers want to share their experiences and also learn what other people are saying about services before they commit. Reputations can be built or destroyed on consumer reviews. If you don’t manage your reputation, there can be devastating consequences.

How to get started:

  • Encourage your current patients to post an honest review - whether positive, neutral or negative - on Yelp, Google+ or their social media channels.
  • Monitor regularly what people say about your dental practice using platforms such as Hootsuite or Sproutsocial.  If you get a negative review, respond immediately on the online platform. Be sincere manner and offer to make their experience better.
  • Be sure to respond to positive feedback as well to build stronger relationships.

Brand Marketing

Brand marketing is about creating a positive visual and emotional impression. It is about providing a consistent and unique image that showcases the personality and quality of your practice. Strong brands are memorable, especially if you have an interesting logo or practice name.

How to get started:

  • List all the strengths of your practice. Do you have exceptional customer service? Do you use the latest technologies? Find your core strength and then begin to build your message.
  • Your message should be descriptive, yet short … no longer for than two sentences. This message will guide you throughout your content creation and advertisements.
  • Your logo should match your message, keeping in mind that it should also be welcoming, friendly and professional.
  • Once you’ve set your message and image, spread them throughout your network and in your advertisements.
Keep in mind, your brand is a combination of everything that your patients and potential patients experience – your logo, colours on your website, the tone of your message, your advertisements, staff, etc.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is identifying individuals with influence over potential customers. If an influencer shares your online content, this is one of the best ways to get exposure. A trusted influencer can bring instant credibility to you and your business.

How to get started:

  • Find an influencer. Influencers cannot be determined by the number of followers they have on social media. Influencers are trusted leaders within your industry. A good place to start your search is on dentistry sites like Drbicuspid.com or dentaltown.com, where there are many trusted contributors.
  • Connect with them. Follow them through their social media channels and subscribe to their articles. Establish an online connection by sharing their content, commenting on their work, asking questions and starting conversations. 
  • Once you’ve established a connection and are following them for some time, you’ll begin to see topics in which they are interested. Create content tailored to them and send it along for their feedback. As you continue to build your relationship with them, they may share your content to their following. Keep polishing your content and continue to build relationships with them.

New Marketing

The key to staying on top of the game is adapting to new and ever-evolving strategies and technologies. Even if you’ve been in practice for decades, you should always look for ways to evolve your marketing techniques. Whether there’s a new dental practice in town, new regulatory issues or change in consumer behaviour, resisting change could result in your business declining.

How to get started:

  • Observe the current market. Closely observe your industry and your competitors.
  • React fast. While it may be hard to adjust, procrastinating allows your competitors to get in before you. Earlier adaptation means you’re in a better place to serve your patients.
  • Remember, your customers come first. Be sure to ask for feedback and adjust your process to satisfy them.

Now that we’ve completed our series, Top 25 Marketing Strategies for Dentists, it’s time for you to determine which ones work best for you. You don’t need to implement them all, but the beauty of marketing is being able to try new techniques to reach different types of audiences. Pick and choose a combination from the list that works best for your practice and your budget.

Do you want to cut down your dental supply costs by 20%? Sign up now at Wazu

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Dental Lab Work at a Glance: April 2015

Interested in knowing what type of work other dentists are sending to their lab? We've partnered with Frontier Dental Laboratories. to give you an overview of the type of work they see each month. Frontier works with dentists in United States, Canada and Europe, working with the most innovative technologies and the best materials so that each tooth is not just beautiful, but the best possible tooth available.

Here is the summary of data in April 2015
  • The rate of posterior crowns were 64% and 36% for anterior restorations.
  • 80.6% prefer metal free materials such as E-Max, zinconia and empress 

Monday, May 25, 2015

Top 25 marketing strategies for dentists (Vol.2)

Introduction:

This week, we bring you eight more marketing strategies designed to help you maintain strong ties with your clients, build your dental practice’s reputation, and boost your bottom line. Remember: marketing matters, but it’s not all about big billboards and flashing lights.

Read the previous article here.

Email marketing

For many businesses, email marketing is still one of the most effective strategies used to connect with customers. For smaller companies, like dental practices, email is a great way to market your services, without having to break the bank.

Perks:

  • Email marketing is an effective tool for promoting new products or services to existing and prospective patients. And, if done right, it can help build customer loyalty and trust in your dental practice.
  • Unlike other forms of marketing — like mail outs or newspaper advertising — email is incredibly affordable, and environmentally friendly.

How to get started:

  • The first step to effective email marketing is to build (and maintain) an up-to-date contact list. Start by obtaining a list of your existing clients’ email addresses. Then collect names and email addresses of prospective clients by posting a sign-up form on the website of your dental office. If you have a new patient on board, remember to ask for their email address during the initial appointment.
  • Once you have an up-to-date contact list, create an email marketing strategy. Consider how often you should be sending email to your clients, and what kind of content is worth sharing. Avoid bombarding them with too many messages — if communication is too frequent, they’ll begin to tune you out and look to unsubscribe from updates altogether.
  • With a strategy in place, now it’s time to draft that first email. Consider using email campaign software, like MailChimp, which offers mobile-friendly templates that can be easily customized.
  • Remember to make your email as visually engaging as possible — an email campaign containing photos or a video will grab your clients’ attention and keep them reading longer.
  • Before you hit send, make sure you’ve personalized your campaign using dynamic tags, which will ensure your clients are addressed by their first name when they open up the message. Also be sure to include a link to your website and all your social media channels to drive readers online for more news and information.
  • If you’re already familiar with email campaigns, try taking it one step further: send automated emails to target audiences. Have a client that cancelled their dental appointment? Send an automated email acknowledging the cancellation and reminding them to call or sign up for their next appointment. Or, if you have a client who is long overdue for a teeth cleaning, consider sending them an automated email with a promotional offer. While it will take time to categorize your clients into distinct audiences, automated email marketing can lead to great results and increase customer loyalty, without going over your marketing budget.

Online marketing

When it comes to online marketing, the sky’s the limit. But, as a dental practice, the most important form of online marketing you can invest in is a strong, dynamic website. Without an online presence, you’re missing out on huge business opportunities.

Perks:

  • First and foremost, having a website makes it easy for your clients to find the information they need morning, noon, or night. And, by placing key details online, like office hours and holiday schedules, you’ll reduce the number of calls to your front desk, enabling your staff to redirect their energy to other office projects.
  • Having a website also makes it easy for new customers to find you through a quick search.
  • You can also boost customer loyalty and attract new clients by offering helpful information on your website in the form of videos or blog posts.
  • Using platforms, like Google Analytics, you can also begin to track key details — like what cities your visitors are based, and what pages are getting the most views. With increased insight, you’ll be able to strengthen your website and continue to boost your online reputation.

How to get started:

  • Whether you hire a web designer, or choose to go with a free template, it’s important that your website not only looks professional, but is also mobile-friendly.
  • Once you have a design in place, make it easy for your clients to find what they’re looking for using intuitive headings and a clear navigational structure. And remember to make it easy for visitors to find need-to-know information, like office hours, contact information, and service offerings.
  • Don’t forget to put your website to work. You can add a lot of value to your site by giving your clients the option to schedule their next appointment online. Or, post a few client testimonials on your site so that visitors can see what makes your practice stand out from the competition.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing

Consider the last time you wanted to find out what Greek restaurants in your neighbourhood were open on a Sunday. Where did you turn to? The answer, almost definitely, was online — and to a search engine, like Google, Bing or Yahoo. Everyday, millions of people turn to search engines to quickly find what they’re looking for. Search results are ranked (or listed) in order of what the search engine considers most relevant. And while the results may contain a few paid ads (marked as paid and sitting at the top of the search results), the other webpage listings are generated through an organic search, with top results appearing in order of what’s most relevant based on the user’s search query.
But how do you get to the top of the list of organic search results if you’re one of hundreds of dentists in a city? That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. Using just a few simple SEO techniques, you can help boost your website’s ranking and get above the rest.

Perks:

  • It’s unlikely that visitors will click through to the next page of search results, let alone scroll beyond the first three websites listed. With a strong search engine optimization marketing strategy, your website is more likely to appear higher in the list of search results, which will ultimately drive more visitors to your site and boost business.

How to get started:

  • A key way to boost your rank in search engine results is to add fresh content to your website at least once a week. Why? Many search engines, like Google, give higher ranking to sites that are updated on a regular basis. Don’t know what more you could post to your site? Consider starting a blog, complete with dental health tips, community event listings, and dental promotions or deals.
  • Outside of adding fresh content, using keywords is another easy way to boost your website’s rank in the list of search results. Start by identifying keywords used in the industry and incorporate them into your website copy. You may want to check out tools, like Google Adwords: Keyword Planner, to see how popular keywords worked in the past and learn how well they’ll perform in the future!
  • While there are a number of search engine optimization agencies that can help you boost your rankings, be mindful of those that promise guaranteed results. Ranking high with an organic search does not come easy.
  • Finally, remember to be patient. It will take time for your search engine optimization marketing strategy to pay off, especially in competitive industries, like dentistry.

Local citations marketing

Citations are essentially online references. Anytime the name of your dental practice is mentioned, or listed on another website (with or without a link), you've earned a citation. And in the world of search engine optimization, that’s a good thing. In fact, citations are particularly important when it comes to local search rankings. If the citation includes your practice’s full address, phone number and website link, even better.

Perks:

  • Citations are good for your bottom line, as they bring added exposure to your dental practice and can help attract new clients who may not have otherwise heard of, or considered you.

How to get started:

  • While an online phone directory, or job listing website, are perfect examples of areas you can earn a citation, there are many other, more creative, and much more effective online spaces to get listed.
  • If you've invested in cause marketing and are already supporting a charity, you can gain a quick and easy citation by being listed on their website’s sponsor page.
  • Also consider other relationships you have with businesses and suppliers. If you offer a particular product, like aligners, have the company list you on their website as a practice that offers their product.
  • Invest the time in setting up social profiles with online search discovery services and interfaces, like Google My Business or Foursquare. You’ll not only gain more citations, but have the power to update your company information and address when needed.

Paid search marketing

If you have the budget, paid search marketing (buying key words and online ad space) can be incredibly powerful and bring your website to the top of search results. With this form of marketing, you’re essentially paying to have your website display for certain keywords. When a potential client runs a search using your selected keywords, your practice’s website will appear front and centre.

Perks:

  • Though it comes with a price tag, paid search is an effective way to get your dental practice noticed.
  • In the end, paid search marketing translates to more traffic to your website and ultimately more clients coming through your front door.

How to get started:

  • Start small and set a reasonable budget — sometimes even just $50 to $100 set aside for paid search marketing a month can lead to great results.
  • After you’ve determined how much you want to spend, choose your keywords carefully. Take the time to investigate which keywords are more likely to drive visitors to your site. Resist the urge to go with broad or general keywords, like 'dentist' or 'root canal'. Not sure where to begin when it comes to selecting keywords? Use sites like SEMrush to see what other dentists in your area are using!
  • If you choose to go ahead with paid search marketing, it’s important to monitor the impact using website analytics. If you notice a keyword not attracting as many visitors or producing the results (or conversions) it once did, it may be time to find a new keyword or two.

Retarget marketing

A large number of visitors to your website will leave without ever making a call to book a dental appointment. But, using a retargeting marketing strategy, you can help turn that around. How? With retarget advertising, a small bit of code (known as a cookie) is stored on an individual’s device every time they visit your website. Once they leave your site, they’ll begin seeing your practice’s advertisements at the top or side of other webpages they visit. Essentially, with this form of marketing, you’re looking to ‘re-target’ prospective customers and turn them into new clients.

Perks:

  • Retarget marketing is a great way to reengage with potential clients who have already shown an interest in your practice by visiting your website. Simply put, it’s a more targeted form of advertising than other search-based marketing approaches.
  • Like all forms of marketing, retarget ads will give your dental practice greater exposure and help you get ahead of the competition.

How to get started:

  • The first step is to select a retargeting platform – if you’re new to marketing, consider going with a managed platform (where providers will handle the retargeting efforts for you), rather than a self-service platform. Once you become more experienced, you can move to a self-service platform, which will give you greater control over your results.
  • The next step is to establish your targeting parameters. There can be a lot to factors to consider, but start with some of the basics. Select the audience geography, determine the time of day you’d like the ads to appear, and cap the frequency so visitors don’t get bombarded by your ads everywhere they go online (remember: you can turn potential clients away if your marketing efforts come across as too strong).
  • When developing a retargeting ad, remember that not all clients are created equal. Use different ad copy and direct visitors to different areas of your website depending on what kind of visitor they are. For example, if it’s a prospective client, consider directing them to an online appointment form so they can schedule their first appointment without any hassle.

Direct-to-consumer press release marketing

Historically, press releases have been used by public relations firms and organizations to get their message to the media. But now, online news aggregators, like Google News, are opening up opportunities for smaller companies and individuals to spread their news (and press releases) with the click of a button.

Perks:

  • With direct-to-consumer press release marketing, there’s no need to remain well connected with the media. Simply post your press releases to your website and let online news aggregators, like Google News, do the rest. It’s syndication at its best.
  • And, unlike traditional forms of advertising that come with a big price tag, direct-to-consumer press release marketing won’t require you to write a big check. Simply draft your message and publish!

How to get started:

  • If you’re interesting in press release marketing, the key is to start by familiarizing yourself with how to write an effective release. It’s important to make sure you have something worth announcing. For example, will you be offering a new product or service? Just remember to have a clear message — trying to squeeze in more than one or two will only dilute the impact of your release and confuse your clients.
  • When you’re creating direct-to-consumer press releases, it’s important to also offer more than just news. Give your clients a reason to read the release and take action. Will they be offered a special deal, or free consultation if they sign up today, for example?
  • When using a call to action in your release, remember that all links should redirect to a designated landing page, complete with more information about dental services and products on offer.
  • Outside of relying on key terms to help bump your release to the top of the search results, you may also want to consider signing up with a wire service company, like Business Wire, that will take care of distributing your news for you.

Evangelism marketing

While it may be similar to word-of-mouth, evangelism marketing takes it one step further. Use this strategy and you’ll witness your clients turn into spokespeople (or evangelists) for your dental practice, helping to spread the good news to their friends and family.

Perks:

  • With evangelism marketing, you’ll have an edge up over your competition. Why? Client ‘evangelists’ are not only more likely to come back more regularly for cleaning and try out new service offerings, but promote your work to the wider community and help you attract more clients.

How to get started:

  • Evangelism marketing is not something that you can implement overnight. Like word-of-mouth marketing, it relies on strong customer relationships, and these take time to build.
  • While your dental office is a good place to start developing bonds with your clients, you may want to invest in a social media platform, like Facebook, that allows you to engage directly with your clients and monitor their feedback online. Having a social media presence will also enable your clients to comment or share news you post with their friends and family, helping to further raise awareness of your practice.
  • Remember: like all effective strategies, evangelism marketing won’t work unless you’re listening to your clients and are receptive to feedback. If one of your clients recommends implementing a new service, be sure to let them know you’re listening and are open to the suggestion!

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