Instagram is the next big thing! Does social media advertising even work? Twitter. Get on Twitter ASAP! Emails, does anyone read them?
Does marketing confuse you? We don’t blame you if it does. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with a deluge of conflicting information about what works and doesn’t work when it comes to marketing your practice. While everyone is looking for a silver bullet, focus on these 4 tried and true dental marketing strategies that actually work.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
Most successful companies rely on a variety of different marketing channels to reach their audience. Why not just pick one, you ask? Things change fast when it comes to marketing and you can’t rely on just one tactic to grow your practice. For example, practices will say that SEO brings in all their new patients and they don’t need to do anything else. SEO is a key piece of your marketing mix, but it shouldn’t be the only tactic you hang your hat on. What happens when for reasons out of your control (think algorithm changes) your rankings suddenly drop? You’re back to square one.
At the same time, practices are disappointed when they have a decent website, and are active on Facebook but they aren’t getting the growth they want. It’s simply not enough. Practices need to fire on all cylinders in order for marketing to make an impact. Your patients and prospective patients are on multiple devices, scrolling through social media, reading emails, sitting in your office and your message needs to be in all these places, too. A comprehensive marketing plan ties all the different tactics together so while you’re working with patients, your marketing is working for you.
Focus On One Social Media Channel
Social media is an important part of your marketing mix. It keeps you top of mind with patients, and attract new ones. Practices make the mistake of thinking they have to be on all the major platforms when focusing on just one will lead to better results.
It takes time to build an audience and gain momentum on any one single social media platform. When practices try to be on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all at the same time they spread themselves too thin. It takes strategy and consistency for any one social platform to grow and be an effective part of your marketing. What’s more, each platform has a unique purpose and posting the same content across the board is simply wasted effort. By focusing on one social media channel, your more likely to post on a regular basis and create content that patients will engage with; both keys to successful social media marketing.
Email is alive and well! Whether you use it to update patients or for funnel campaigns, it’s a must in your marketing mix. What’s more, email is a key driver in reaching your current patients, who shouldn’t be ignored. Not all practice growth comes from acquiring new patients, but from engaging with and leveraging the ones you have. You’ve already won half the battle with them; they know and like you. They’re more likely to take you up on email offers about new treatments or sharing your news with their family and friends. Your current patients also generate referrals, make it easy for them to do so.
Paid Ads
If you’re wondering if paid ads work all you have to do is look at behemoths Google and Facebook and you’ll have your answer. Yes, paid advertising works and it works well. It’s a proactive means of reaching your ideal audience. Think of paid ads as your sales person. You want someone (or something) out there in front of the right audience telling them about your practice on a consistent basis.
Google ads and Facebook ads have targeting methods like no other. They return rich data that helps you further refine and target your ads so they are more cost effective. Don’t think people click on ads? Think again. All you need is a handful of people to click on your ads and book an appointment to see a return on investment. At the same time, it takes knowledge and expertise to run a successful ads campaign. Don’t leave this one to chance.
With a comprehensive strategy, you can focus on caring for your patients while these 4 marketing strategies work together to support your practice growth.
