15 Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Dentists

Digital Marketing for Dentists

Most people conduct some level of online research whenever they need anything — whether a product, service, or just some answers to their questions.

They’ll often read reviews, visit different websites for comparison, ask questions to get other people’s opinions, etc. They’ll use all the tools in their arsenal to help make the best possible decision.

The availability and accessibility of information on the internet has been a game changer. Many businesses unfortunately still haven’t gotten a grasp on this new reality. Particularly in the healthcare industry.

You can grow your dental practice tremendously by developing an omnipresence on the internet; by being the first name people come across whenever they’re searching for dental services.

This article will go over 15 dental marketing strategies to help you dominate the internet, display credibility and authority, and most importantly, find new patients.

Interesting Healthcare Digital Marketing Stats:

Google gets more than 77,000 searches every second (Source), and 67% of clicks go to the first 5 results. (Source)
5% of all searches on Google are related to health. (Source)
Around 40% of people say that information they come across on social media affects how they deal with their health. (Source)
55% of people research service providers on social media. (Source)
84% of people trust reviews they read online as much as they trust personal recommendations. (Source)
94% of people use reviews to evaluate healthcare providers. (Source)
It takes 1-6 reviews for patients to form an opinion about a healthcare practice. (Source)
Up to 88% of healthcare appointments are scheduled via phone calls. (Source)
Email marketing has an average ROI of 4,400%. (Source)
Personalized email subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened. (Source)

15 Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Dentists

1. Get an optimized website

A website is the foundation of your online presence. It’s the central hub where potential patients can access information about your dental practice.

Search engines like Google work by aggregating information from different websites across the web, and then showing the most relevant results based on what a user is searching.

By simply having a website, you could also get thrown in the mix and get shown to people searching for you. The phrase ‘dentists near me’ gets up to 10 million searches on Google every month! If you don’t have a website to capitalize on that traffic, then you are missing out.

The most important thing to keep in mind when building your site is that the quality of the user experience determines how well Google ranks it. A site that has a good ranking may appear on the first page of the results, where more people are likely to see it.

User experience, or UX, is simply how well designed the site is, how easy it is to navigate, how fast it loads, and how responsive it is. A responsive site loads as well on smaller devices such as smartphones as it does on computers. In short, your site has to be optimized to provide the best possible experience to people visiting it.

Wix is a great tool you can use to build a site that’s automatically optimized and well designed. You can also use FreeWebDesign to get professional developers to build your entire site for free. A website is a key component of your dental digital marketing strategy.

2. Set up PPC Ads

PPC, or pay-per-click, is an advertising model where ads get served to people as they browse the internet, however the advertiser only gets charged for the clicks. It’s one of the most effective dental marketing strategies.

For instance, if your ads are shown to 200 people, however only 20 click them, you’ll only pay for the 20 clicks despite the fact that many more people got to see your marketing messages. It’s a very cost effective way to advertise on the internet.

There are numerous platforms where you can run a PPC campaign, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Ads.

Google is often the preferred option by many advertisers due to the advanced targeting options it gives them. You can use the platform to target users based on their recent activity on the internet, including the keywords they search and the websites they visit.

For instance, you can instruct Google Ads to show your ads only to people who search for the query ‘dentists near me’ or ‘best dentist in xxxx [insert your city]’. Such people clearly interested in dental services and are likely potential patients.

PPC is incredibly powerful and can help you start getting patients almost immediately. You can test it out by running a trial campaign on Google Ads with a limited budget. If the results are positive, then you can gradually increase your budget to reach more people.

3. Set up retargeting ads

Most internet users have an extremely short attention span due to the number of things constantly demanding their attention. They may have landed on your site while searching for dentists, however got distracted by something else on social media. Once they leave your site, chances are that they’re not returning.

Retargeting is a popular advertising model where ads get shown to people who previously visited a website. You’ve probably seen it a lot. You visit a site once, and right after leaving, its ads are suddenly everywhere.

Digital marketers often spend aggressively on retargeting because it has one of the highest conversion rates. Some studies have shown that people who have been retargeted have a 50-70% higher conversion rate than people seeing an ad for the first time.

Your ads can focus on your call-to-action, whether that’s to book an appointment at your dental practice, or to fill out a form. The most popular retargeting platforms are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of increasing a website’s authority to help it rank higher on search engines like Google. A good ranking often means more traffic since the website will be visible to more people searching, which can lead to an increase in new patients.

The main SEO goal for your dental practice should be to appear at the top of the search engine results page for all queries related to your services. Some may include:

“Dentists near me”
“Best dentists in [insert your city]”
“Affordable dental clinics”
“Best place to get a tooth filling”

SEO has two main components. The first is on-site SEO, which mainly entails optimizing the individual pages on your site to make them search engine friendly. Some ways to optimize a page include increasing its loading speed, publishing lots of relevant content, and making it mobile responsive. You can use tools such as Surfer SEO to analyze and optimize your on page SEO.

If you built your site using innovative tools like Wix then the pages will automatically be optimized and search engine friendly.

The second part is off-site SEO, which mainly entails link building. Link building is the process of increasing the links that point to a website. Every time another website links to your site, Google sees it as a sign of authority and credibility, and therefore gives you a better ranking in the search results.

Since link building can be extremely tedious, I’d suggest you outsource it to an SEO company. By investing in SEO, you can soon eliminate the need to spend money on paid advertising campaigns for your dental practice.

5. Publish blog posts

A blog is one of the best ways to completely dominate the internet and establish yourself as an authority in the dental industry.

Most internet users spend a lot of time researching products, services and information online. If they keep coming across content from your blog, then they’re likely to see you as an authority in the field. Your value will rise tremendously in their eyes.

Mayo Clinic has completely mastered this content marketing approach. The majority of their online traffic comes from their blog.

In addition to helping you build credibility, a blog will also help you get traffic to your site. Google absolutely loves content. The more content you have, the higher the chances of getting a good ranking in the search results pages. You can publish regular articles on topics that are related to your dental practice, such as:

“How to keep your teeth healthy naturally”
“5 reasons to change your toothbrush frequently”
“10 tips to improve your dental health”

You don’t even need to do the writing yourself. You can easily outsource it to freelancers on platforms like Upwork.

The key to a successful blog is keyword research; that is the process of identifying specific queries that get frequently searched on Google. When you know what they are, then you can write posts addressing them.

For example, if you discover that the phrase ‘what to do if you have cavity in your teeth’ gets 10,000 searches every month, then you know it’s probably something you need to cover.

SEMrush is the most popular keyword research tool used by marketers all around the world. You can use it to find high-traffic phrases related to dental health.

6. Display reviews on your site

Online reviews are fundamental for businesses that rely on traffic from the internet. They are a sign of credibility. Without them, you’d be forcing potential patients to take a gamble on your dental practice. A recent study showed by 67% of internet users are influenced by reviews.

You can get reviews by simply requesting for them from patients who you have a good relationship with. Make sure to create a page on your site where you can display them like trophies in a cabinet.

You can also publish your reviews on your social media platforms. The more positive reviews your dental practice has, the easier it will be to get new patients.

7. Get a Google My Business

Google My Business, or GMB, is a free tool that Google provides to businesses to help them manage their online profiles. GMB profiles often get priority ranking in the search results and on Google Maps.

They are incredibly important to have since they can dramatically increase your online presence and help you get new patients. People who are researching dental services might see your GMB page even ahead of your own website.

Another useful feature of a GMB page is that it allows you to collect reviews. Whenever a patient visits your dental practice, Google automatically follows up by requesting them to submit a review. Reviews are so important in this digital era because they show credibility.

8. Dominate social media

Social media marketing is an area that is often neglected by many dental practices. If you’re looking to dominate the internet, then you have to dominate social media as well. You need to be on the major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

If you don’t have the personnel to run your accounts, I’d recommend you either outsource the work to a freelancer or a virtual assistant. Some of their responsibilities will include posting new content daily, engaging with followers, answering questions, and growing the account following.

Another advantage of having social accounts is that they often get priority ranking on Google, similar to a GMB page. That means when a person is researching dentists in your location, they could also see your social pages in the search results.

Always ensure to use the same name on all your social profiles – the same name as your dental practice. Don’t leave any room for confusion.

9. Do monthly giveaway contests

Doing giveaway contests is a great strategy to help grow your social media accounts and drive awareness to your dental practice. It gives your followers something to look forward to every month, and can increase your page engagement dramatically.

The contests can take the format of sharing a post on your Facebook page to enter the draw to win a prize. The more times somebody shares a post, the greater their chances of winning whatever you have in store. You can also have them use your hashtags in their posts.

Be generous with your prizes, the goal is to get your followers excited so that they actually participate. If you can get just 50 people who have 1,000 Facebook friends or Instagram followers to share your posts, then you would have reached up to 50,000 people.

10. Email marketing

Email marketing still has one of the highest conversion rates out of all digital marketing strategies. Many people spend nearly as much time on email as they do on social media. Email campaigns in healthcare get an average open rate of 21.72%.

You can start building up an email list by integrating an opt-in form on your website asking users to sign up for your monthly newsletters. The newsletter in this case will be your lead magnet, a free item that is offered in exchange for somebody’s contacts.

Publishing newsletters is a fantastic way to indirectly market yourself through your email campaigns. The newsletters can provide any useful information on dental health. You can even repurpose some of your blog content as material for it.

Any announcements that you have can also be published in the newsletter, such as the dates for your social media giveaway contests. Email marketing is a very effective way to get new patients for your dental practice.

11. Integrate e-commerce

E-commerce is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. People just can’t get enough of online shopping and the idea of having things delivered to their doorsteps.

You can scale your dental practice by integrating an e-commerce store on your website and selling oral care products such as mouth wash, sensitivity toothpaste, dental floss, electric tooth brushes, etc. Selling such items is not only a great way to monetize your site, but it can also help you drive traffic.

With traffic always comes opportunities that can be converted in numerous other ways. For instance, you can upsell other products, get people to sign up to your email list, have them follow you on social media, etc.

Wix enables you to easily add e-commerce features to your site and even accept payment in different currencies.

12. Become a contributor on mainstream publications

This is one of the best marketing strategy for building credibility and authority for your dental practice. As mentioned earlier, most people nowadays do a lot of online research whenever they need a product or service.

If they keep coming across your name on other platforms outside of your own website, then you automatically gain credibility points. You look like the real deal.

Publications such as magazines, newspapers and even other blogs would love to have a dentist as one of their contributors because it would help them generate more traffic. Your segment can focus on dental health tips, similar to the content on your blog.

Although contributors usually don’t get compensated for their work, what they get is an opportunity to promote themselves to a completely new audience. They can also add back links to their own websites. A back link from an authoritative publication can help improve your SEO score and drive referral traffic to your site.

13. Publish listings on online directories

Many people use online directories such as Yellow Pages to find local services and business contacts. You can create a listing on local directories as well as healthcare directories such as WebMD Care, just to have all your bases covered on the internet. It’s a great way to find new patients.

Ideally, whenever people search for dental services through Google, they should either come across results from your website, GMB, or social media pages. And when they search through directories, they should also be able to find your contacts. That’s how you dominate the internet by developing an omnipresence.

Directory listings are also a great way to increase your back link profile, which is turn boosts your SEO score. Most platforms will give you the option to add your website address.

14. Marketing automation

Digital marketing often consists of many repetitive tasks such as managing social media marketing campaigns, PPC campaigns, email marketing, etc. All these activities can quickly get overwhelming, time consuming and labor intensive.

Marketing automation is a way to delegate repetitive tasks to software. And by doing so, you get to reduce your labor costs and free up time that could be used to do other things. You can use sales and marketing software like Hubspot to bring together all your marketing channels into one central hub.

You’ll also be able to analyze the results from your various marketing channels, and compare them to each other and to previous periods. Automation can bring a lot of efficiency to your dental practice.

15. Analyze and optimize

Develop the habit of constantly analyzing all your marketing efforts and optimizing the areas that need improvement. The last thing you want is to be wasting your time doing things that are clearly not working.

For example, if you’re running a social media marketing campaign, however the click through rates are subpar, then it might be because your ads are not enticing and need to be revamped. If your blog posts have a high bounce rate, meaning people are leaving without reading, then perhaps your pages load too slow.

If you built your site using Wix then you’ll be able to see your website stats and traffic info right from your dashboard. If you used a different builder then you can integrate Google Analytics.

You can also use marketing software like Hubspot to help analyze your efforts from all the different marketing strategies that you implemented for your dental practice.