Are You Spending Too Much on Your Email Campaigns?

Email is a low-cost way for dentists to create more engagement with their patients, but let’s face it, low-cost isn’t the same as free. Plus, even if you’re doing all of the work yourself, that’s still time you could be spending elsewhere. We’ll look at a few things that you should keep in mind when you’re segmenting, crafting, sending, and analyzing the emails for your dental practice in San Diego, CA.

How Much Should You Be Making?

First things first: the most common statistics you’ll hear about marketing is 5:1, meaning you should be making about five times whatever you invest in your marketing efforts. Since email campaigns certainly fall under this category, you might be tempted to start defining your success based on this figure.

However, keep in mind that this is definitely not the only way to calibrate how well your emails are performing with your audience. Sometimes, you might need to reach out several times before you even get even a marginal response back. Consistency is usually far more important to your bottom line than straight ROI from a particular campaign.

Who Are You Talking to?

Your content is going to be pivotal when it comes to the efficacy of your email campaigns. A busy parent with three kids isn’t going to want to be reminded that just one of them needs a checkup. A distracted professional may not even pay attention to an email unless they know that your dental practice is in their insurance network. If you’re too busy sending generic messages (and you’re wondering if you’re spending too much), chances are they’re falling on deaf ears.

Digital Marketing for Dentists in San Diego

Dental marketing in San Diego, CA is very much a balance between who your patients are and what they’re looking for. Spending too much on marketing is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, but it’s likely that most dental professionals could at least use some clarification on the matter. If you’re looking for an analysis on the matter, contact Digital Healthcare Professionals for more information. We can evaluate what you’re spending, how much you’re bringing in, and how it compares to your peers in the city.

What You Can Learn from Your Number One Competitor’s Web Presence

If you’re an optometrist in San Diego, you may only think about your web presence so often. However, there is a lot to consider when it comes to how your prospective customers are interacting with you and your competition when they’re online. We’ll look at what you can learn from your number one competitor, and how it might help you ramp up your digital marketing strategy.

Fast Glances

When you search for optometrists in your neighborhood, it pays to see who is popping up immediately. In some cases, it might be a subpar competitor with bad reviews and paid advertising. In other cases, it might be an optometrist that’s siphoning away business from you patient by patient. In the latter case, they might have great reviews and a killer website, one that is slowly costing you.

Rethinking Your Website

Your goals might be relatively modest when it comes to improving your optometry practice. For instance, you might want to increase revenue next year by 10%. Or you might hope to double your patient base in six months and open three new practices in 12 months. No matter what you’re going for, though, investing in your website is a message to your customers.

A better website presence shows them that you’re paying attention to what they’re searching for and what they need to know. From your operating hours to your invoicing, the more tools you can put online, the more functional your business will be. It may not be the deciding factor for a patient to choose you, but it’s all important when it comes down to their experience.

Digital Marketing for Optometrists

Digital marketing for optometrists in San Diego, CA is not like digital marketing for a toy store. The stakes are different, and so is the industry. Your biggest competitor may very well get all of their business through word of mouth, choosing not to have a website at all. This is not a reason to ignore your web presence, though. At Digital Healthcare Professionals, we can tell you with certainty that putting the time and effort into everything from your website menu to your social media responses all have an effect on your bottom line.

How Much Does SEO Affect Revenue for Dentists?

If you’re a dentist, you likely wonder how your website’s SEO affects your bottom line. You might also ask a variety of questions about the type of time, money, and effort to spend on it. For instance, if most of your referrals are word of mouth, do you really need to keep up with Google’s ever-changing list of requirements? We’ll look at the crux of the matter and what kinds of resources a dental practice would need to part with to improve their website’s SEO in San Diego.

Mastering SEO in the Dental Industry

Search engine optimization for San Diego dentists refers to the work you need to do to stay on top of search engine rankings. So, if someone searches for dentists in the Gaslamp District, your practice would be the one to pop up if you fit the search criteria.

If you don’t happen to come out on top, the next questions are about which practices are coming up and how their business is faring. So let’s say that Dr. Smith, DDS is constantly outranking you, no matter what you do. If you call the practice and find that you can’t get an appointment for the next six months, it may have something to do with how they’re implementing SEO.

SEO and the Bottom Line

It’s not always easy to connect your bottom line with SEO. Yes, you can ask people where they heard about you, but you won’t know how many direct referrals could be traced back to the popularity of your website. What’s often more important about your SEO is the care that you put into the website. If you know that your patients are going to look up facts about you, you’ll want to provide them with a site that is not only accurate but easy to navigate and stuffed with content that they can actually use.

Marketing in San Diego

If you’re looking for marketers in San Diego, CA who understand the landscape out there, Digital Marketing Professionals can help. We’re here to give you the tips you need, especially as search engine algorithms adjust to changing search patterns. Contacting us today is a step in the right direction, particulary if you want to build up your client base.

Fine-Tuning Your Demographics: How Optometrists Can Take a Deeper Dive

Marketing for optometrists can look relatively straightforward from the outside. For instance, if you work in a city that attracts the retiree crowd, then your advertising will focus on issues like glaucoma or cataracts. If you’re in a city with plenty of young families, you’ll likely advertise sales on eyewear for kids. However, there are ways to take a deeper dive and filter your customers so you can say the right things to the right people.

One to One

The goal for optometrist marketing in San Diego, CA these days is to get as close to one-to-one as you can get. Ideally, you would alert a fashionista that the perfect pair of frames has gone on sale for them based on their facial measurements and style preferences. In the real-world, this is a tough ask for optometrists — especially if they work with patients from a variety of backgrounds. However, filtering by location, income, age, and even insurance coverage can all go a long way to fine-tuning your demographic.

Needs and Wants

Once you start tinkering with your lists, it’s a matter of considering the needs of your patients. So, a young professional with a starter job may have a very different budget and priorities than a retiree who needs cataract surgery. With every new marketing initiative, you have to think about the people on the list will receive the messages. Consider how the parent of a teenager would react to a postcard with a picture of a toddler on it. Or how a senior on a fixed-income would feel if they visited your website only to see pages splashed with photos of expensive designer frames.

Optometry Marketing in San Diego, CA

There’s a lot to consider if you want to redefine your target audience in San Diego, CA, but the basics are easy to understand. The goal of a marketer is to reach out to the local audience and get their brand noticed. If you need a staff with expertise in this matter, the staff at Digital Healthcare Professionals can help. Our marketers specialize in local healthcare practices. We understand not only what you have to offer, but how different people are likely to react to different products and services.

How Can Optometrists Generate Better Leads?

Lead lists are not necessarily difficult to come by for optometrists, though quality leads are a different story. If you’re pouring money into email or texting campaigns without much luck, we’ll look at what you can do to change your strategy. We’ll look at what optometrists can do to get better leads in San Diego, CA, so they can get more patients and less pushback.

Consider Real-Time Leads

If you’re getting aged leads, also known as people who expressed general interest in services a while ago, it may not always go well. Some people may have already found a doctor, particularly if their needs were time-sensitive. Of course, it depends on the type of person you’re targeting. Some may not have taken action on making an appointment, in which case they may need that prodding.

With aged leads, it takes a little more finesse to achieve success. The wrong approach can turn customers off to your office entirely if they don’t even remember requesting services. This is assuming that you even get in touch with them to begin with. It’s not uncommon for people to change their email address or phone number between when they shared it and when you reached out to them. So while aged leads might make sense for your marketing budget, the net returns simply aren’t enough to justify the costs.

Find the Right Marketing Team in San Diego

Optometry leads in San Diego may not come easy (or cheap), but working with the right team can make a difference. Not only can the right support staff vet the people you’re communicating with, they can also pinpoint the promotions that people are most likely to respond to. From hassled parents to busy professionals, getting people to visit an optometrist is not always straightforward.

If you’re looking for a little help with marketing in San Diego, CA, the staff Digital Marketing Professionals can tell you more about what a better lead really looks like. There is no such thing as 100% returns on your lists, but there are ways to get closer if you have the right support. Contacting us today to learn more about our specialties in your industry is the first step.

How to Gain Organic Optometry Practice Recognition with Provider Directory Websites

Were you aware that 94 percent of modern patients look for reviews about a medical provider online before they schedule an appointment? This is important to remember as an optometrist because your online reputation will have a substantial impact on your profitability and ability to attract new patients. Provider directory websites can unlock a new line of access to people who are already looking for your services. Find out how to use these websites to the advantage of your optometry practice.

First, What Is a Provider Directory Website?

Provider directories are healthcare provider websites that build an informational directory of medical providers. These directories usually have a substantial amount of information about a provider, such as:

  • Their location and contact information
  • Their areas of specialty
  • Their educational or training background
  • Their healthcare affiliations

In addition to the general provider information, many directories allow patients to leave reviews or ratings for each provider. This means each listed provider can achieve a certain star or satisfaction rating based explicitly on reviews from prior patients.

How Do You Get Your Name Listed On These Directories?

There are numerous provider directories to look for that can help get your name established as an optometrist, such as VitalsDoximity, and Healthgrades. Each directory can have its own method for providers to get listed. For example, Healthgrades asks providers to create an account and their own provider profile on its website.

Tips for the Best Directory Profile

The best provider directory profile offers a comprehensive look at the provider, the provider’s professional background, and the details a prospective patient will want to know. A few things that can be important to include when creating a profile on a provider directory will be:

  • A clear, up-to-date picture
  • Accurate contact information
  • A functional link to your optometry practice’s website
  • Reliable information about current services provided
  • Background information, including education and affiliates

Need Help Building Your Online Reputation as an Optometrist?

Your online reputation is extremely important in the modern world. If you are struggling to get your reputation established online as an optometrist, we can help at Digital Healthcare Professionals. Reach out to the team to discuss your needs today.

LinkedIn for Dentists: How to Post for Fellow Professionals

There are a variety of ways for dentists to reach out to current and prospective customers. The objective is to figure out how to best talk to people based on the platform — whether it’s print marketing or social media. The problem is that too many companies use the same strategy, forgetting that not only are the audiences different but the priorities are changing too. We’ll look at how to utilize LinkedIn so you can tailor your approach before creating content.

Play to Your Strengths

When you consider the content to post for professionals, consider what you can offer to them. It’s likely that if people are looking on LinkedIn for information about dental services, it will be based on the insurance plan they have. If your office is excellent at determining the benefits of different plans, don’t be afraid to boast about it. Social media marketing for dentists in San Diego, CA works best when you give your business a unique voice.

Talk about how your prices are lower than your competitors as a way to appeal to professionals who are looking to save money. Offer to take a look at their plans and explain how they relate to your services. Remind them that their dental plans can cover certain procedures as a way of driving in new business.

If you’ve noticed that you’re losing market share to a specific competing business, think about the unique selling points that will distinguish yourself from your competitors. Whether it’s the ease of filing a claim or more modern equipment, LinkedIn users are more likely to be looking for practical advantages as opposed to fun facts or photos that might be better suited to Facebook or Twitter.

Dental Marketing in San Diego

Dental marketing in San Diego, CA doesn’t have to be complicated, but it will take some time to put together. If you don’t have the bandwidth to go through strategies for your office on every social media platform, the staff at Digital Healthcare Professionals can help you keep it all straight. A professional browsing at work and a parent browsing on Instagram will have very different needs, so it helps to keep that in mind before you choose a content strategy and schedule.

The 4 BIG Rules of Content-Building for Your Dental Websites Service Pages

In the digital world, content is invaluable. The words you integrate onto your dental practice’s website pages bear a lot of responsibility. The content is naturally important for sharing information, but the content on a website also matters for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, building brand voice, and more. As you work to draft written content for your custom website’s dental service pages, be sure to follow these ever-important rules.

1. Make the content scannable

Readability is hugely important for web page visitors, especially those looking for quick information about a health-related service. When prospective patients land on a service page, they will want:

  • Rapid answers to the questions they have about that dental service
  • Content that is clearly laid out, so they can find answers quickly
  • Clear statements to divide the content into easy-to-read sections

The more scannable the content is, the faster an individual will be able to find what they want to know. Therefore, use headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs, so the content is easily scannable.

2. Make the content approachable

It is important to portray your knowledge as a dentist on service pages for sure. However, avoid making the content so technical and heavy on medical jargon that you lose your readers. Strive for a more conversational tone using terminology that people understand, especially with pages related to a complicated dental service like oral surgery or temporomandibular joint disorders.

3. Make the content match your brand voice

Continuity in voice makes the reader feel comfortable. In other words, you will want the visitor to recognize your brand voice whether they land on a service page, a blog post, or otherwise. For instance, if your pediatric dental practice generally offers a parent-geared voice, this personality should be reflected on service pages.

4. Make the content informational

Most importantly, make sure the content offered on your service pages answers the questions a site visitor would have by navigating to that page. For example, if you have a dental implant service page, consider what the visitor would be looking to learn. Strive to answer those questions in a clear way in your service page content.

Get Help with Your Dental Practice’s Website Content

Need help building an effective content strategy for your dental practice website? Reach out to the team at Digital Healthcare Professionals for help. We have the experience to help with everything from building a good reputation and a custom website to incorporating written content that works hard for your business.

Tips to Get More Dental Service Bookings

The internet is vast and simply posting things online for your dental practice won’t necessarily attract the local market that you need for dental service bookings. You need specialized, local digital marketing strategies like the following:

Get a Custom Website

There are so many generic websites on the internet these days that it’s hard for customers to identify individual businesses. Expand your brand by getting a custom website that exhibits your practice’s unique identifying characteristics. This includes everything from personalized images depicting your office, brand colors, fonts and style. This is a great way to help cement your brand in your local customers’ minds so they instantly think of your dental practice when they need service.

Publish Blog Posts Regularly

Consistently updating your website with optimized blog posts helps to keep your website rankings high in search engines. They also create a sense of connection with your current patients and pique the interest of new ones. These updates serve as gentle reminders of your services, keeping your practice firmly in their thoughts and encouraging bookings.

Fostering Patient Trust with Online Reviews

Positive online reviews and testimonials from your past and existing patients help to instill trust in those who are searching for dental services in your area. Make it easy for your customers to leave five-star reviews, which gives social proof that can help sway potential patients in the area.

Boost Visibility With Local SEO

On your website, make sure your practice is easily discoverable to local prospects by implementing local SEO strategies on your front-facing pages as well as in all of your blog posts. By focusing on local SEO strategies, you can target specific searches related to the dental services that your office provides. This is also a great way to promote services that you have that your competitors don’t. Implementing these techniques will significantly enhance your practice’s local visibility, and increase the likelihood that you’ll get more dental service bookings.

When you’re ready to implement these strategies in your digital marketing, let the pros take care of it for you. At Digital Healthcare Professionals, we offer all of the above-mentioned services and more. Contact one of our friendly representatives today to learn more about how we work hard to increase your online local presence.

 

What’s a Reasonable ROI for Your Marketing Dollars?

Marketing is such a broad term that it’s easy to get confused by what exactly it is. From there, the assumptions only get more tangled. If you’re investing in marketing as a dentist in San Diego, CA, just how much should you be making? We’ll look at why there isn’t always a straightforward answer, and what you can do to help manage your expectations (and your budget).

The Standard Rule: 5 to 1

The most oft-quoted advice is to make around $5 for every $1 of marketing you spend. (If you’re making $10 for every $1, this is considered exceptional). Anything below $2 to $1 is likely losing you money. The standard might sound great for anyone trying to convince themselves what the cost vs. reward is of their spending, but it doesn’t tell the full story.

The Trick of Measuring Your ROI

If you’re thinking about dental marketing ROI in San Diego, CA, you first and foremost need to remember that marketing and sales are technically two different departments. They may be closely linked, but marketing is more about getting the word out there and cementing your brand. It’s not the same thing as crafting a sales pitch.

Because marketing is more about a broad strategy than it is about conversion rates (even if conversion is the ultimate goal), it may be more difficult to track your ROI. You can certainly ask people how they heard about you, but their answer may not always directly connect to your marketing. For instance, a client may tell you that they heard about you through a friend. What they left out is that the friend heard about you thanks to your Facebook contest campaign.

Dental Marketing in San Diego

When you’re working with the right marketer in San Diego, they can tell you more about how your dental practice is likely to perform in certain territories. They can tell you more about the expectations of various audiences, so you can speak to them on their level — whether that’s in an email or on a web page. At Digital Healthcare Professionals, we tackle a wide variety of services that can help you gain a prospective customer’s trust, so you can grow your client base.