It is important to have a good marketing plan in place for any business. And for oral and maxillary dental surgeons it’s essential to attract patients directly to your practice.
Marketing your dental practice is not just about attracting new patients, it’s about attracting the right kind of patients to the practice—and educating the public about good oral hygiene.
Here are a few tips for getting your marketing practice into the right gear.
Build a Strong Referral Case
Traditional marketing tactics like referrals can never go out of fashion. As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, you need constant visibility through general dentists. One of the most common ways of getting a client for a simple surgery like a wisdom tooth extraction is through a referral from the general dentist.
One of the critical factors in getting referrals lies in being in constant touch with the dentists who generally gives your reference. Getting in touch with new dentists will also help.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the support you get from the doctor’s team members. Many of your referred patients might be through the team members of the referring dentist.
Here are a few marketing tactics you can undertake to build a strong referral base.
Sponsor CPR Training Session: A CPR training session is required in almost all offices, yet, all offices procrastinate in getting this training. You can think of surprising the staff of the referral office with a sponsored course in CPR training, which will add professional value to their organization.
Sponsor a CE course: This is another excellent professional way of providing value to your referral sources.
Valuable Gifts: You can also surprise the staff of your referral offices with gifts. These gifts don’t have to cost a lot, but they can be something valuable to the people you are giving them to. Pick non-traditional holidays to give out these gifts and make their day.
Publish a Clinical Newsletter: A hardcopy of a newsletter and even a digital one can help you reach potential patients.
Provide a Pharmacy Directory: This will be of great help to the staff of your referral sources.
Marketing to the Public
An essential element of the marketing plan is to have marketing activities directed towards the public. This can help you get new patients who have never been to a dentist and can help you convert patients who are not happy with their current dentist.
In fact, according to the American Dental Association, more than 100 million people fail to see the dentist every year, and more than half that do, don’t visit the dentist on a regular basis. A marketing outlook program can help reach this general public. This method can work especially for marketing campaigns like those surrounding a wisdom tooth extraction.
Creating an Online Presence
A social media page is the best way to build up any business in these modern times. You’re adding a great deal of weight to your marketing campaign if you do your social media campaign right.
You might not have regular updates on your Facebook page, but it must be interactive and engaging to current fans. Other than keeping your social media channels up to date, you can ask your existing patients to share your content with their friends on social media. This helps reach a more extensive network of contacts, and you can get potential new patients aware of your practice.
Review Management
People trust online reviews and often base their own decisions of going to places based on the reviews. An online survey by BrightLocal found that 84% of the people said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Therefore, it is important to have a system in place to highlight the positive reviews you get and encourage people to give them.
Having the right marketing tactics in place can help you grow your dental practice exponentially.
About the Author
Dr. Anu Isaac, DMD, is a dentist in Salem, MA, and runs Coral Dental Care, a successful dental practice. Dr. Isaac strives for quality on a daily basis and this commitment to quality is reflected in her constant pursuit of advanced training. Her firm belief that even experts need to stay updated about what’s new in the dental field, enables her to provide every patient with optimal oral care. As the founder of Coral Dental Care, she is dedicated to creating healthy, beautiful smiles for her patients and also to educating the dental and non-dental community with her engaging articles on all things related to oral health, recent dental innovations, and latest treatment modalities.
