Blogs Have Never Been More Relevant

This very blog represents an ever-growing, still-relevant, and robust component of dental practices’ successful digital marketing campaigns. While blogs as a form of content have been around for more than 30 years, what in 1999 amounted to ~24 bloggers now spans in excess of four million active blogs in Canada alone. The power of this dynamic platform for educating, updating, and entertaining patients and supporters remains undeniable.

This method of communication and promotion is as timely as ever; however, your practice’s blog may no longer be relevant. As is the case with dental technologies and practice amenities, it is vital to stay on top or ahead of any trends and changes that influence how content is delivered and communicated via the “humble” blog.

A world of opportunity at your fingertips

Many dentists and practice administrators may not realize just what a force digital marketing is in our country. Canada has among the highest rates of Internet utilization in the world. In its most recent Digital 2023: Canada report, Kepios noted that nearly 94% of the population is “connected.” Other key statistics from the report and Toronto-based Made in CA further quantify blogging and complementary digital content as a persistent powerhouse for practices like yours:

Upwards of 80% of our fellow Canadians are online regularly, with Canada characterized as a “prime market” for bloggers of all kinds to leverage.

The “average” Canadian spends more than six hours per day accessing digital media in its many forms.

More than 98% of the population has an active mobile connection, reinforcing the importance of seamlessly aligning communications with smartphones and other digital devices.

In 2022, CAD 12.29 billion was allocated to digital marketing efforts, accounting for the majority of total advertising spend at 68.3%.

Upwards of 46% of the CAD 14.17 billion in digital marketing revenue came from search, followed by social (at around 26%).

Audio represents the fastest-growing digital marketing segment (revenues grew 59% between 2020 and 2021).

What the numbers tell us about what to do next

Let the statistics be your guide. Several interesting trends and developments should be harnessed when developing strategies for one’s blog and complementary digital presence. What was available to us to improve our blogs and content differs tremendously from the opportunities we had as medical bloggers two years ago, let alone five-plus years ago.

As a content marketing tactic, blogging in the dental space at present should be laser-focused on the following:

Providing one’s patient base with valuable information. Google favours “people-first” content that is consistently interesting and useful to the reader, viewer, or listener. Quality content is one of the fastest ways for your blog to “show up” in search and “get found” by the patients you want to draw and endear to your practice.

Due to the nature of blogs and respective posts, this form of content offers opportunities not present within pithy or restrictive social posts or even niche home page or services page content on your website. Blogs can convey your “voice” as a practitioner and advance the collective office’s principles, mission, and vision.

Publishing well-researched, eloquently-written, and otherwise quality posts reinforces one’s credibility and authority and builds trust within the community. It also augments one’s industry presence as a thought leader, which lends itself to fruitful, patient-driving partnerships with other practices and providers.

Blogs as a vehicle for communication and promotion are built on certain fundamentals; notably, each post or update should answer the question, “What urgent or timely need does this information satisfy?” Medical blogs shine when it comes to this foundational element. Often, in dentistry and broader healthcare circles, there is an urgent need at play. Visitors to your blog, website, and social media are motivated to the online “home” of your practice by specific situations, challenges, and concerns.

For instance, consider how a potential patient may have just moved to the area and is overdue for a check-up. They may be actively searching for a new “dental home” for their family. Or, the user may seek a second opinion or have noticed a concerning change to their gums or the appearance of their smile. Whatever the case may be, ensure content always provides a positive, clear, and substantive answer to the question, “How is this fulfilling a specific need? How will this help the reader? How will it solve a problem?”

Given that search is such a force-to-be-reckoned-with across digital media, it is essential to correctly identify keywords for your blogs – akin to how you take great care with pinpointing and writing to certain terms on your main website. Consider specific ways your office shines to advance your differentiators as a practice and clinician. Think beyond writing posts that are overly broad or general to dentistry in your respective market.

Instead, focus on content that revolves around a specific capability, skill, or amenity; for example, upcoming posts could highlight a new diagnostic technology associated with significantly less radiation exposure. Or, you could promote a new chairside whitening gel that is specifically formulated to remove even the most stubborn stains and drastically minimize the risk of conventional concerns like sensitivity.

Throughout this post, we have referenced social and blogs as part of an expansive digital strategy. Ask yourself, “How can I cross-promote this meaningful, empowering, and engaging content on my social media platforms?” And, just as there are advantages associated with longer-form blog posts, there are also unique perks to social media as a means of marketing the blog. No less, platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X are designed for engagement. Be sure to provide “calls to action” and to encourage a specific next step for the social user who lands upon your latest post promoting a particular technology, treatment, or service on your blog.

Be mindful of multi-media, and not merely the singular typed word. Successful marketing campaigns are diverse. Similarly, today’s blog posts are rich with all sorts of content – be it authentic photos and enlightening graphics or the audio growing at the aforementioned breakneck pace. Video is also experiencing unprecedented gains. In its latest video marketing report for 2023, UK-based Wyzowl noted that 91% of businesses were using video as a marketing tool as of this year – an all-time high since its first such survey in 2016. Of those “non-video-marketers” at the time of the study, 70% were committed to jumping onto the bandwagon by the close of the year. Of the non-video users, 30% said they lacked the time to do so, whereas 18% said they simply did not know where to start regarding video as a vehicle for driving traffic to their respective organizations.

We encourage you not to overthink introducing new forms of media to your blogs. You can have paralysis by analysis. Keep the videos and other forms of non-print media simple. Not all videos that may be integrated into your posts (and promoted specifically on images-centric platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube) need to be “heavy,” serious, or technical in some way. In fact, there is an all-important place for fun, light-hearted content that illustrates you as a human and fellow neighbour and member of the community first and as a clinician/provider second.

Today’s consumer, in general, craves authenticity and “escapism,” as HubSpot puts it. Video has the capacity to deliver on this. So, go ahead and do a fun, short, and engaging “meet the team” video. Or, video your team members when they are in the community doing good work or enjoying a surprising hobby or activity. These ways of thinking outside of the obvious “products and services” can open doors to new, loyal patients, partnerships, and brand advocates.

We may list this last, but acknowledging smartphone adoption and utilization statistics is essential to a thriving, results-driven strategy. What they tell us as practitioners is that we are leaving money on the table if our blog, website, and other digital content are not correctly optimized for mobile. There is nothing more off-putting to a visitor than to encounter a blog that is clunky, hard to navigate, difficult to reach, and slow to load from their smartphone or mobile device.

Blogs like ours are here to stay! We urge you to revisit your strategy on this front. If you have not taken blogging seriously in the past, now is the time to do so. Do not lag behind your competitors who are taking full advantage of the myriad new media, platforms, outlets, and technologies. They are within reach to elevate the quality and dynamism of this critical digital marketing element to new heights of engagement and success in patient attraction and retention.

About the Author:

Naren Arulrajah, President and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, has been a leader in medical marketing for over a decade. Ekwa provides comprehensive marketing solutions for busy dentists, with a team of more than 180 full time professionals, providing web design, hosting, content creation, social media, reputation management, SEO, and more. If you’re looking for ways to boost your marketing results, call 855-598-3320 for a free strategy session with Naren. You may also schedule a session at your convenience with the Senior Director of Marketing – Lila, by clicking https://www.ekwa.com/msm/ or simply send a text to 313-777-8494.