Have you thought about what you want to accomplish for your practice in 2024? Having clear goals for your dental practice is essential for business planning in general and from a marketing point of view as well. Your business goals will determine your marketing strategy for the year.
As much as a dental practice may strive to keep patients happy, providing excellent care and service, sometimes negative reviews happen. We asked Dr. David Pearce, retired owner of a lucrative practice and current dental coach and MDA CAB member, to share some advice about how to deal with negative reviews.
Dentistry is about more than just creating healthy smiles. It’s also about fostering strong, lasting relationships with patients. Because patients have a wealth of choices and plenty of information at their fingertips when it comes to selecting a dental practice, it is crucial for dentists to adopt a patient-centric approach to marketing. Building trust and loyalty is vital not only for a dental practice’s success, but also for the overall well-being of the patients who rely on it for the sake of their oral health.
Dental fear is a real challenge for so many patients and dentists alike. Patients who fear the dentist are usually the ones who need care the most, and dentists often struggle with how to help them set aside their fears to get the treatment they require. Thankfully, with more information widely available to the public and the option to use digital media as an educational tool, dentists have more opportunity than ever before to help their patients understand their fear and overcome it.
Have you recently tried to search a business, service provider, or medical professional on the internet only to find that they don’t have any real online presence to speak of? Maybe you can find the phone number and address on Google, but no website. Maybe you find them on Facebook, but there hasn’t been a post in over a year. Maybe you locate a website, but it does not contain much useful information other than contact details. How likely are you, as a consumer, to trust that business or professional?
Of all the available digital marketing options, which one is the most effective, the most pervasive and the most important? It’s a trick question. Here’s the real question: Is it possible to achieve all of your dental practice’s marketing goals with a single digital marketing channel?
Dentists of all people understand that there’s a lot more that goes into the daily operation of a business than meets the eye. The front of the house, so to speak, is what the patients see, but it’s the behind-the-scenes that is really the lifeblood of the practice. An effectively planned, implemented, and maintained marketing strategy will pay dividends that far outweigh the initial investment and will continue to do so for many years.
Marketing can mean different things to different people, and how someone defines it often has a lot to do with their personal and professional experience.
One of our clients recently wrote an article about how to build a successful dental practice, and we think he hit the nail on the head when he explained that marketing is a key factor in his success.
Instagram is one very popular social media platform — it has over a billion users. We love it and we think more dental practices should be using it as part of their digital marketing strategy. It’s an easy way to create awareness around your practice’s brand and reach more potential patients. Just follow the steps we have outlined for you here, and you’ll be on your way to becoming an Instagram aficionado in no time.