Archive for category: Marketing Tips

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.

Today, a successful dental marketing campaign requires practices to combine online advertising methods with traditional advertising techniques. Below are six dental marketing tactics that are simple, actionable and highly effective for growing any dental practice.

1. Engage the Local Community

Making a dental practice visible within the community can be accomplished by sponsoring a local baseball team. By purchasing shirts for the team and adding the practice’s logo, the advertising information is now directly in front of parents who have children needing dental care. Another way to gain new patients is by stapling a child-size toothbrush to a custom-designed postcard with information about the importance of biannual dental cleanings. This advertising method can also be used when targeting teens and adults.

2. Build a Social Media Presence

Incorporating social media into a practice’s marketing plan is one of the best ways to build awareness. By creating social media posts, practices can highlight the benefits their patients receive as well as any unique qualities that will place them above their competitors. Consider creating posts to acknowledge staff birthdays and major holidays. In addition, practices can recognize celebrations that specifically relate to dental care (e.g., National Dental Hygiene Month, etc.).

Be sure to include photos of smiling staff members as well as pictures to demonstrate the practice’s welcoming atmosphere and office’s chic interior. By providing these visually-appealing photos, potential patients may be more inclined to schedule an appointment.

3. Create an Easy-to-Use, Informative Site

While traditional dental marketing prefers brick-and-mortar offices, a successful digital marketing campaign requires that the practice optimize its website’s capabilities.

Since the practice’s website is frequently the first point of interaction with a potential patient, the content and photos on the site must appear professional. In addition, the site must be easy to navigate.

4. Create Monthly Newsletters

Monthly newsletters are vital to a practice’s marketing strategy. The purpose of a newsletter is to maintain top-of-mind awareness and preserve relationships. These newsletters should be easy to read, helpful and, whenever possible, fun. With a newsletter, a practice can keep patients familiar with their dental staff, inform patients of current specials, new products and upcoming events (e.g., A Halloween Candy Buyback, etc.).

5. Provide Patients with Appointment Reminders

Whether providing patients with appointment reminders via a mailed postcard, a phone call, a text message or an email, these communications are essential to ensuring a patient arrives for his or her scheduled appointment. These same methods can be used to remind patients that it is time to make an appointment (e.g., for their bi-annual cleaning, etc.).

6. Mailed Offers and Postcards — Direct Mail

Despite the regular use of social media for advertising purposes, direct mail is still a feasible method for advertising, especially when it comes to Baby Boomers. Direct mail advertisements should draw attention to the practice’s specialty as well as outline any competitive price points.

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1. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/11/30/dental-marketing-ideas
2. https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/blog/10-dental-marketing-strategies-you-can-implement-right-now/
3. https://mysocialpractice.com/2020/04/7-dental-marketing-ideas-you-can-work-on-from-home/
4. https://markitors.com/dental-marketing-strategy/
5. https://www.ccpedo.com/october-national-dental-hygiene-month/
6. http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/