Dental Marketing Ideas for 2023 You Don't Want to Miss

Creating a thriving dental practice that your community relies on for generations to come is the goal of every practitioner in this field. With the pandemic slowly moving further behind us, dental industries in 2023 are focused on overcoming the economic challenges left behind with innovative marketing and advertising to stay connected with patients.

Help your dental company have a stellar year of business and continue growing its new patient base with digital marketing. At Adit, we know you're already busy providing much-needed dental services and are probably crunched for time. We've updated this quick guide with the latest and greatest dental marketing ideas for 2023. After reading them all, reach out to us! We are standing by to help you get your office on track to improved efficiency, sustainable growth, and boosted revenue.

How Dental Marketing Has Evolved

The introduction of digital advertising for the dental industry began decades ago in the early days of the Internet. Today, it's a must for any provider hoping to achieve brand awareness to implement the best dental practices for their marketing strategies. Whether you've made an effort to handle this enormous task on your own or have chosen to partner with an experienced dental marketing firm like Adit, using the right tools for growth is essential.

Another significant evolution in how advertising and social media connections with your patients has changed is the ever-increasing reliance on web-based sites, reviews, and communication to find your services. That's right, capturing potential patients and getting them to book appointments is now done mostly online and not in person.

So if you've neglected to develop your online presence with effective marketing options like email campaigns and Facebook Ads, it's time to step up your game.

Dental Marketing Tips Your Practice Needs Now

Before you scroll through our list of top digital marketing ideas for 2023, make sure you hone your focus on a few key areas:

• Your authority in the dental industry
• Targeting the right market audience
• Share your vision and story to be more relatable

This is always a winning dental marketing combination when trying to reach out to new patients and cultivate an enduring bond with them.

Ready to see the exciting features, best practices, and innovative ideas popular for marketing this year? Check them out below!

Leverage SEO

On your website, social media channels, and everywhere you have content, always use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to maximize your brand reach. SEO is key in getting your dental business in front of patients when they look for your services. This requires careful analysis of current market trends for your target audience and using those insights to create and/or adjust your efforts as needed.

Focus on Your Service Results

While it is important to distinguish your dental company apart from the rest, how you go about doing so is equally vital. This doesn't mean giving raw numbers on how many patients you treated, but the results you can achieve. For example, do more than mention you offer whitening services. Instead, help your audience relate their needs to the results you can help them get. This will further motivate them to book appointments with your office.

Community Involvement

As a dentist, you and your team rely on your strong connection with your patients to sustain and grow your dental company. Help patients become even more in touch with your brand by sponsoring local youth sports teams, advertising locally, or contributing to charitable causes that directly impact your surrounding communities.

Giving back to the community you serve shows appreciation for your patrons. Patients are your practice's lifeblood, so try to get involved outside the confines of your office.

Use Patient Reviews to Grow Your Brand

Your reputation is on the line every time a patient interacts with your dental practice. Whether in the chair or bringing a relative for their annual cleaning, their visits open a window of opportunity to share online reviews about their experiences. You need this feedback to boost your brand's reputation ranking and measure your office's ability to meet patient needs. Sending review requests as part of your automated reminders and follow-up SMS messages can increase the likelihood of getting these coveted testimonials and improve your marketing efforts significantly.

You Need a Modern Practice Website

The core aspects of your digital marketing efforts will start on your website. Because most dental patients seek out providers online, their first point of contact with your brand is there. In fact, you should treat it as a virtual waiting room, and that first impression when they visit means everything.

You want your practice page not only to be friendly and hold your contact information but to be easy to navigate and provide convenient features for your patients. It's also important to update your site and give it a more modern appeal because most of your practice efforts will direct traffic to this location, so you need to get it right.

Create a Memorable Logo and Tagline that is Consistent

While this may seem obvious, it's not uncommon for consistency in brand messaging to get clouded in logo and taglines. This could happen due to being new and not having your dental business strategy completely figured out yet. Attractive branding that provides a consistent message about your dental office is important for new patients. They need to know what to expect from your brand and build trust in it. If elements are ever-changing or don't match up, it can be difficult to attract new patients and hold onto existing ones.

The primary characteristic of a quality logo and/or tagline is keeping it on brand, short, and easy to remember and understand.

Be an Authority in Your Dental Field

Being able to demonstrate to patients that they are in safe hands when coming to you for oral healthcare is vital. To establish your authority in the dental industry, try to submit informative articles about your specialty to local magazines, newspapers, and online guest blogs. In addition, consider participating in a dental panel discussion about the latest trends in care as a guest on a podcast.

In addition to proving your industry prowess, this will also help lend more reputational authority to search engines like Google when ranking your web page.

Create a Dental Website Blog

Any content you share with your patients needs to provide some level of value. This is usually best accomplished by publishing educational information on a dental website blog. Having a resource for visitors looking for answers about an oral healthcare concern is a great way to engage and convert website visitors into booked appointments.

While a blog entry does require consistent posting schedules, the type of media you can share in an entry is broad. From picture galleries to informative 3-minute videos about a new product and demonstration, you can increase your patient engagement and attract prospects looking for a new provider.

Take Time to Make Informative Dental Videos

Video content is essential whether you film a sixty-second TikTok explaining your top ten joys of being a dentist or sharing a longer educational video on YouTube covering flossing techniques. These productions could even include a virtual tour of your office, giving patients a chance to see your workspace before their visit. This can alleviate anxiety and reassure them about their upcoming dental care at your office.

Never Skip a CTA

A call-to-action (CTA) is a crucial marketing strategy that should never be neglected in any content you post. This feature informs the visitor interacting on your social media, blog, website, and/or emails and text messages about what next steps they should take. Always include a link to your online contact page or scheduling app and your practice's phone number.

If you are handing out promotional items like pens, stress balls shaped like a tooth, or other fun stuff, put your contact information and website address on every piece.

Generating Leads Through Social Media Engagement

One of the primary ways your patients have stayed in touch with their families, employers, and businesses this past year has been through social media. Of course, this component of dental marketing strategy has always been important, but after the pandemic, it's here to stay and has become a lucrative avenue for revenue streams.

When leveraged correctly, platforms like Instagram and Facebook help you not only keep in contact with current and potential patients, but it forms a bond with them. Dental practices cultivate friendships with their clients, and sharing content on these sites boosts this effort and improves your reputation in the community you serve.

For example, suppose you are marketing to a niche of patients that often deal with dental anxiety. In that case, you can use social media posts to alleviate these concerns and interact with this market, letting them know that you empathize with these worries and are here to help.

Grow Your Dental Network with Professional Alliances

Also known as a cross-referral alliance, you can create a new revenue stream through referrals by creating a professional network filled with other dentists, doctors, and industry-related businesses in your area. It's important you only collaborate with those relevant to your dental services. Before forming this type of alliance, you should also research these organizations to avoid any negative impacts of being associated with them.

For example, if you create a referral alliance with a local orthodontist that has terrible reviews, you may find your own reputation harmed for associating with it.

Give a Discount

One way to attract and retain patients is by providing discounts. One popular money saver that can help cut down on no-shows is providing 3 - 5% off prepaid visits. You may consider a 5% reduction on billed accounts if they pay within five business days of receiving their statement.

You may even consider running specials on certain services, such as whitening, for limited periods of time. This can encourage patients that were on the fence about undergoing this type of treatment to go ahead and book their appointment.

Welcome Cards

Traditional marketing involves using non-digital methods to connect with dental patients in your area. One particular method that makes prospects feel welcomed and shares your practice's information is a welcome card. Typically, you would send these out once a month to new homeowners in the area. While it does cost a bit to get a list of new residents, it can establish a connection and put you at the forefront of their minds when needing oral healthcare.

Create a Mobile-Friendly Website

Everything seems to have moved from Internet searches on a desktop to the realm of smart devices like phones and tablets. We live in a digital age now where most of mankind will turn to the web to search for everything they need, including a dentist! This reality makes it crucial to build a dental website that is intuitive and is responsive to mobile users. Having a site that won't display properly on a smartphone can drive prospects away and on to your competitors.

If you aren't sure how to optimize your dentistry page for mobile viewing, consult with Adit's team of experienced dental marketing professionals. We can create a site that is not only unique and tailored to your company's needs, but we ensure everything displays properly on smartphones and tablets.

Incentive Patient Referrals

If you haven't already, you should be incentivizing patient referrals with discounts or account credits. You need to keep adding new patients every year, and there are multiple areas within your business for you to meet this goal. One popular way is to have current patients refer their friends, family members, or even coworkers to your dental practice.

How much you decide to discount a service, give away in gift cards or other prizes is up to you. Just remember to determine how much of a difference the cost of your patient referral program will make on your overhead costs. You don't want to discount your services so much that you lose money.

Monthly E-Newsletters

As part of your dental marketing efforts, you need to build contact lists of patients and prospects. One great way to do this is by creating a monthly e-newsletter filled with your latest happenings, service offerings, and other related news. When someone signs up to receive this regular communication, they will submit their contact information, which directly links your patients.

Content in this type of publication should be filled with educational and informative articles that share content related to your audience's interests. It's also an excellent opportunity to use CTAs and lead magnets to grow your pool of patients further.

Diversify Your Ad Providers to Extend Your Dental Practice Reach

Running ads is a necessary part of any effective dental marketing plan. You may currently only be focused on Instagram and Google Ads for your campaigns, but diversifying your marketing strategies to include Instagram, Twitter, and other related online channels is crucial. When one of these providers goes down, precious advertising time is lost. Another reason to use multiple ad providers to boost your visibility is they all come with different features that can help you tap into additional revenue streams within your market.

If your budget is still under a bit of a crunch, consider other ecosystems outside of Facebook. Platforms like Pinterest and TikTok are incredibly affordable, and some of their free content posting features can accomplish the same goals without costing you a dime.

Search retargeting

Do you know how to place ads on Google for certain search words such as "dentist in city"? That's Google Adwords. Within Adwords, you can do what's called search remarketing, which only shows search ads to people who have previously visited your website. So imagine this: someone visits your website, and they leave it to go back to Google to look up competitors or do more research, and they see a different ad that you display that says, "You just visited my website. Here's 20% off if you call right now!" That's powerful stuff

Use Your Google My Business Listing to Connect Directly with Your Patients

You probably already have a Google My Business (GMB) page set up for your practice, but are you treating it like an outdated phone book listing? In 2020 and 2021, Google introduced new features to this free marketing tool that added call logging and insights for your google map results and added online business attributes to profiles.

This is a free resource to get your dental practice seen when potential patients are searching for care in your service area. Now you can further enhance your online reputation presence and convert these leads into recurring patients even easier.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC advertising is a great way to get the most from your marketing plan. These purchased advertisements help develop a clientele and recruit new traffic based on paid placement on a search engine. It targets consumers based on their searches and leaves you in a position to attract new people to your page, another strategy that Crawford & O'Brien encourages.

Tap into Your Digital Marketing Potential with these Benefits

Still, questioning why your office needs a dental marketing agency like Adit? Contrary to what you may believe, online advertising is helpful for every industry of business, not just tech startups and Youtubers. Despite this focus on boosting your online brand positioning, it all translates into booked appointments with the individuals responding to your web-based efforts. Besides new patients, you will further establish your dental company in the communities you provide services to, which is crucial to building your reputation and good standing.

Below are additional benefits of working with a team of highly qualified digital marketers:

Build Stronger Relationships

It can't be overstated the importance of your relationship with your patients. Taking the time to create your brand story and share it effectively on the interweb plays a significant role in establishing a connection. Your website, social media profiles, and content that you share will convey more than contact details and your specialty. You give visitors a glimpse into what makes your dental company so unique and insight into what it's like to do business with you.

Adit takes this a step further by supporting your online image with great reviews from your current patients, which translates into valuable referrals.

Edge Out Your Competition Effectively with Sound Marketing Practices

Dentistry is a high-demand and fiercely competitive industry. While word of mouth is still one of the best methods to grow your base, you need to get out in front of new business opportunities quickly. Staying ahead of your competitors requires ongoing analysis and review of not just your marketing strategy but that of the competition.

It is hugely beneficial to learn how they find success and then improve upon them to grab potential patients from their pool.

Advertising Does Create Practice Growth

Without the expertise of a knowledgeable dental marketing agency like Adit, it's easy to waste advertising dollars online. Many of our clients had initial doubts because they didn't understand how targeted advertising works online.

Online ads are an exciting tool, but the process can be overwhelming due to their fast-paced and ever-changing nature. Adit does the research so that every dollar you spend on digital advertising maximizes your opportunities for booking appointments with new and current patients.

Some of the popular social media platforms we can advertise your dental practice on include:

Google

A Google Ad is one of the most effective marketing tools you have at your disposal in the online marketplace. Why? Because when individuals are searching for a product or service on the Google platform, they are ready to make a purchase or appointment. They aren't window shopping--they're researching their options to make dental health decisions. Using ads on this channel means you will get in front of these leads right away.

Instagram

With over a billion active users logging into this application every day, Instagram has quickly become a lucrative marketplace for the dental industry. Features like Instagram Stories and uploading short value-added video content at no cost have also made this popular for advertisement. Unlike other online social media platforms, Instagram is a closely connected community of people looking for ways to connect with the people, products, and services they love.

Facebook

Unlike Instagram, Facebook provides a more professional feel to advertising. While the goal is to raise awareness about your brands, they offer more insight and business-focused marketing features in their new Publisher Tools. If you want to highlight how much your patients love their experiences with your dental office or showcase outstanding employees, this social media platform can help you deliver. Even if you want to promote special offers to draw in new clients, Facebook Ads make it easy to create a sales funnel that performs.

Discover New Ways to Grow Your Dental Practice with Adit

Feeling inspired and ready to start marketing your dental company effectively? At Adit, we can create an informed marketing strategy for your business to help you start seeing results sooner than later. So don't burn through your advertising budget. Instead, contact our team of knowledgeable marketers who are standing by to assess, create, and implement successful advertising planning that pays off for the long term.

Adit is a leader in dental digital marketing because we actually get dental practices like your own on the front page of search results. We know what it takes not only to rank high but drive new patients to your office, and we have the case studies to back us up.

Worried about the cost of hiring a professional marketing firm to not only build your online presence but assist in dental practice management? We understand! Adit offers a Patient Booking Guarantee where you don't have to pay a dime until you no longer break even on your investment.

Request your free demonstration today to learn more about this guarantee and the comprehensive digital marketing strategies and tools we offer!