10 Dental Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Practice

Many of us have preconceived notions, fears, and worries about going to the dentist. If you want to grow your dental practice, you might be wondering what marketing tactics you should use to bring in more clients.

This is where dental marketing comes in! Implement these ten ideas into your marketing strategy to help you grow and scale your practice.

What is dental marketing? 

A successful dental marketing strategy helps spread the word and paint your practice in a positive light. You’ll want to promote your dental services with a combination of promotional methods and paid advertising. Generally, the more new patients you attract, the higher your return on investment will be. 

Dental marketing is crucial as it helps you communicate with your current audience and remind them of annual check-ups while connecting with new patients who might not be comfortable with dental appointments or have initial hesitations. Every dental practice should utilize dental marketing. It can help drive website traffic, improve your brand’s online image, and increase bookings.

3 elements of a great dental marketing strategy

1. Positive imagery

Going to the dentist can be scary for many people. Show the results your clients can get when they visit your practice. Include before and after smile shots gathered from patients. Remember to ask for permission before you post their pictures online! Content generated from pre-existing clients is free for your practice yet can be incredibly engaging. 

2. Educational and high-value content

If you want to convert more clients, share your expertise with your audience and explain why a dental check-up is important. This will improve your positioning as an industry expert. 

3. Your unique value proposition

What makes you stand out from the other dental practices in your community? Do you specialize in particular dental branches? Do you have exceptional customer service? Can you treat children as well as adults? Highlighting what makes you unique can help prospects choose you. 

10 dental marketing ideas

1. Upgrade your website design

While you might focus on the content and the marketing aspects, don’t forget to pay attention to the design and user-friendliness of your website. A poorly designed website with hard-to-use navigation bars, dull or unpleasant colors, a non-responsive design, and vast chunks of text can cause visitors to leave a website without giving the business a chance.

Make sure that your website is easily accessible, responsive, and can be seamlessly browsed on a mobile device. Did you know that approximately half of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices? If you don’t want to miss out on potential leads, now is the time to upgrade your website. 

2. Display client testimonials and reviews

Going to the dentist can be scary for many people. While clients can’t avoid the pain of tooth extractions and fillings, you can highlight your professionalism, capabilities, and exceptional customer service with client testimonials and reviews. Your future clients want to feel reassured that you’re the real deal! 

Including a wide range of testimonials and reviews across different demographics can help humanize your business, provide social proof, build trust and credibility, and illustrate how your practice can help your patients.

3. Start a blog

Starting a dental blog is an effective way to attract new clients to your website. You can start by publishing consistent blog posts a few times a week and sharing them on your social media or via your email newsletters. They will be directed to your website, which will increase website traffic. Other benefits of a blog include:

• SEO optimization.
• Providing clear answers to patients’ questions.
• Highlighting the dental services you offer.
• Establishing trust and credibility with new patients. 

It’s important to remember that your blog is for your patients. Choose topics that provide value and interest to your clients. Some great dental blog topics include common FAQs, tutorials or how-to posts, a step-by-step dental procedure, advice for at-home dental care, and explaining a popular new dental trend or product you use.

4. Make it easy to contact your practice

Once a potential client views your website in a search engine, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to get in contact with you. If they can’t find a way to contact you quickly, they’ll most likely click out and go to your competitors. If you don’t have an online appointment form submission page, set one up. While listing your phone number and email address on your Contact Us page is good, many people dislike calling up establishments. 

You want to give someone as many contact options as possible so they can find the one they are most comfortable with.

5. Create a customer profile

Who is your ideal client? What are the problems they are trying to solve? As a dental practice, you might be trying to appeal across all demographics, but there might be specific target groups depending on your clinic. 

Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself the questions they’ll be asking. If you were them, what would make a particular dental practice more appealing than others? Where would you get your primary source of dental information from? Are there any hesitations, and if so, how would they get past them? Asking yourself these questions can help build a target customer profile. Once you have this profile, you’ll be able to refine your marketing efforts to target them.

6. Utilize social media

In the past, many dentists relied on their reputation and word of mouth around the community. This style of marketing was slow but helped them build up their practice over time. However, in the past few years, social media platforms have exploded in popularity. More likely than not, your audience is on social media.  

But how do you use it effectively to grow your practice? You can utilize various platforms to showcase your authority, make them feel more comfortable before they visit, and let them know they’re in safe hands with you. Through fun and light-hearted social content, you’ll be able to give your practice an approachable personality. It’s all about trust when it comes to dental marketing! You’re selling comfort, good health, confidence, trust, and an overall great experience.

7. Get involved in your local community

Did you know that getting involved in community events makes you feel great and is also an effective marketing strategy? Get your practice out there by participating in food drives, local charities, and other vital causes. 

Community involvement is important as this often results in increased networking opportunities, more word-of-mouth referrals, the ability to connect one on one with potential clients, and increased awareness of what you have to offer. You can also share photos and videos from the event to post on social media or your blog. Great volunteering options include fundraisers and free dentistry events. 

8. Utilize email marketing

If you’re looking to promote your practice online, an email newsletter is one of the first things you should incorporate. Emails are great as they help you get referrals and reviews while allowing you to inform your patients about the latest company updates and offerings. You’ll also be able to send out appointment reminders and follow-ups! 

If you’re looking to beef up your email database, you can add a sign-up form on your blog, social media pages, and website. This will make it easier for people to sign up. You can also ask new patients if they want to be added to your email list for regular reminders, tips, and updates.

9. Utilize video marketing

While video marketing might seem like an odd marketing strategy for a dental practice, this style of marketing can actually benefit almost all businesses. It allows you to deliver dental information and tips and tricks in a fun, fast, and engaging way. 

Creating video ads or ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos can also help you showcase your personality, the people behind the practice, and other aspects of your business most clients won’t be aware of. For a successful dentist and patient relationship, a personal touch is vital.

10. Promote special offers and discounts

Who doesn’t love special offers and discounts? Post about special promotions on your social media, as search engine ads, within email newsletters, and in all customer communications. This is a great incentive, especially to get first-time clients. You could offer a percentage discount for new check-ups or a special offer for repeating customers. 

People love to see exclusive deals and get freebies. By offering a small discount or promotion, you’ll be able to separate your dental practice from the masses and attract more clients.

The bottom line

Dental marketing is a great way to attract new clients and keep your practice at the forefront of your customer’s minds.

By utilizing these tips, you’ll be able to improve your dental marketing strategy to grow your practice and get a healthier, happier customer base!