Online Marketing Tips for Dentists

Hi there…

We've searched the web to provide some useful tips to you. But before we start there are some general things you want to keep in mind: • Provide value.

– Don't be "salesy". Give your patients the information they need, e.g. on how to floss properly, why you recommend certain techniques but steer clear of others or pros and cons of bleaching. Don’t just try to sell your services. That way you will establish yourself as an expert - someone your patients can trust.

• Be genuine. – People will notice when you're trying to be someone you're not. They

don't only come to your practice because of the services you provide but because of you, too.

• Repeat. – Research has shown that people will consider information

"trustworthy" if they have heard it 3-5 times from different sources. Make sure you have a strong message and brand and communicate it repeatedly and consistently across different channels.

Your Website

• Make it personal

– Your website should give prospective patients an idea of who you and your team are even before they step into your office.

• Make it relevant

– Provide information that your patients are looking for, e.g. information on oral hygiene or new services you offer.

• Make it user-friendly

– Make it as easy as possible for your patients to find the info they need. Put yourself in their position and remember: things that are absolutely clear to you might not be clear to your patients.

• Make it mobile

– A rising percentage of people use smartphones to access the web. Make sure they can still see all the relevant info on your page (e.g. opening hours, contact data, and the "request a date" button)

Your Website

• Make it SEO-friendly

– You might provide the best information in the world, but it’s worthless if no one can find your website.

• Make it up-to-date

– You should update the content and layout of your website regularly. Don’t just change everything though. Check to see what is working and what isn’t and act accordingly.

Search Engine Optimization

• There's quite a number of things that influence your website's ranking on Google, Yahoo, and Bing – and they keep changing.

• Keywords, longevity of your website, freshness of your content, links to and from your website, Facebook®, Twitter®, YouTube® or practice blog all have influence on your search ranking.

Search Engine Optimization

• Don't just use generic keywords like "dentist" or "local dentist" but include your town/neighborhood.

• Don't limit yourself to these somewhat obvious keywords but branch out and use "long tail terms".

Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

• Social media is not so much about you marketing to patients, but rather patients marketing to patients. Word of mouth has been a trusted marketing method and social media is word of mouth at its best.

• It's an easy way for you to interact with your patients and provide them with up-to-date info, and it's easy for your patients to share this information with their social network.

Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

• Provide value with your social media activities. Let your patients know about the great video you found on how to keep a healthy smile or about a change in dental insurance regulations.

• That does not mean you mustn't tell them about your newest team member or about a new service you provide. On the contrary! Be personal, but make sure that this isn't all you tell them about.

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Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

• If you or a member of your staff is social media savvy – great! If not, don't despair! There are professionals out there who can help you.

• Inform your patients that you're now on Facebook® or Twitter® and ask them to follow you.

Facebook®

• Facebook® is the biggest social media platform with more than 900 Million users (May 2012). Quite a few of them are your patients or prospective patients.

• For your practice, set up a Facebook fan page. You don't have friends with a fan page, but people can „like“ your fan page.

• Include your practice's logo and photos to increase recognizability.

• Your fans will get all your posts published to their newsfeed – and their friends will see your posts too.

• Your fans‘ friends will also see when your fans like things you post or leave comments on your page.

Facebook®

• Interact: Ask questions, host a contest, and respond to your fans’ posts

• Add a Facebook icon to your website. That way patients who access your website will know you're on Facebook too.

• Be relevant: provide your fans with valuable information.

Twitter®

• Don't use your personal account for business purposes

• Engage with your followers by connecting with them on a personal level and providing them with information that will impact their lives in a positive way

• Show your interest in what your followers have to say. Ask questions and utilize the retweet function

Blogs

• Practice blogs are an excellent way to provide your patients with in-depth information about specific topics and reveal your credibility.

• You can also engage with your patients – you might ask them to contribute a guest blog post.

• A blog on your website could also be connected to your Facebook®, Twitter® and YouTube® accounts. If you post something on your blog, people will be notified automatically via Twitter or Facebook.

• Last but not least, blogs that are connected to your other social media channels can improve your SEO performance.

Google+®

• Dentists can put their social connections in Circles (business and private usage possible) and rearrange per drag and drop

• Right out of the box, you can identify people as New Patients, Existing Dental Patients, Colleagues, Friends, Family or just somebody you're following.

• Pages of Google Plus are linked to Google Places.

• For some reason, the level of engagement is higher. Commenting and resharing seems to happen at a higher rate than on Facebook

YouTube®

• Google acquired YouTube. Google is now searching websites with YouTube videos

• 74% of searches are done through Google

• 25% of searches are video related

• More and more patients are searching YouTube for services

• When a patient finds your video through YouTube, they also have a link to your website.

• Place how-to videos, dental treatment animations or funny videos to attract patients.

Going Local

Make sure your practice is listed on Google Places. Many people search for "dentist in xx". A Google Places listing will help them find you.

Claim your business listing on Yelp®. Your practice might already be there – make sure you are too and see what your patients say about you.

Reputation Management

You should perform at least basic reputation management. Social media can help you. 1. Do an online search for your practice and see what comes up. Usually,

with Google Places entries, people will leave reviews. Check them out, they will give you a basic insight into your online reputation.

2. Sign-up for Google Alerts using your name, your practice and other words that apply to you. Whenever anyone writes anything about you online, you will get an e-mail telling you about it.

3. Encourage positive reviews from your patients, especially those with Google or Yahoo e-mail accounts. They just need to search for your practice on Google, click on your profile in the local business center, click on "add a review", type it in, and that’s it.

Reputation Management

• Again: Claim your business listing on Yelp®. Your patients might already be talking about you. Respond to their reviews, especially if they are negative.

• Don’t be afraid of negative reviews. If you can see they are obviously fake, other people will realize it too. And if someone is genuinely dissatisfied, you have the chance to respond to their bad review.

Tracking

• Whatever it is that you decide to do, make sure you track the results.

• You need to see who accesses your website (and which sections exactly), how long they stay, who opens your e-mails, follows you on Twitter, likes you on Facebook, or has you in their circle on Google+ so that you can follow up.

• You need to see whether all the effort you, your team, or your agency puts into marketing your practice pays off.

• Google Analytics or Adobe web analytics tools are just two examples of tools that may be used for such tracking.

Generally Speaking

Doing effective marketing (online and offline) is time-consuming and may be costly so you want to consider a few things beforehand:

• What are your targets?

• Who are you targeting? New or existing patients?

• What sets you apart from other practices?

• How do you measure the success of your activities?

• And last but not least: Do you have the resources and know-how to do the marketing yourself or should you let someone on your team do it? It might make a lot of sense to get help from marketing professionals especially regarding website design, SEO, tracking and brand development in general. There are quite a few agencies that specialize in branding dental practices.

Our Sources

• http://www.towniecentral.com/Dentaltown/Article.aspx?aid=3827

• http://www.dentaleconomics.com/index/display/article-display/7810973453/articles/dental-economics/volume-102/isue-5/technology/the-power-of-like-how-dentists-reach-and-influence-new-patients-through-facebook.html

• http://www.dentalmediapros.com/3-tips-to-effective-online-follow-up/

• http://www.glidewelldental.com/dentist/chairside/issues/spring2010/practice-management.aspx

• http://www.thewealthydentist.com/blog/1439/5-simple-online-marketing-strategies-for-dentists/

• http://www.dentalheroes.com/google-places-tips-dentists/

• http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

• http://mashable.com/category/facebook/

Who we are

We're your Dentist Pointer team. As we said in the beginning, we search the internet for tips and tricks that we think will be useful to you.

We also send out short e-mails with our tips. If you would like to receive our e-mails, just write us at team@dentistpointer.org

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