With so much of a recent focus on digital marketing, it’s important to remember how vital word-of-mouth marketing is for your dental practice. Of course, all of the marketing advice shared through Oral Health’s blog and Oral Health Office is extremely valuable for conducting marketing efforts for your practice, but, according to our survey last year, word of mouth is still ranking as the best way to attract new patients. And the best way to gain those positive recommendations by patients is to focus on providing an outstanding service. From the customer service to the clinical work, ensuring you and your staff are delivering the best work possible should always be your number one priority. Not only do you owe this to your patients as their oral health care provider, but it also helps upkeep your – hopefully amazing – reputation. Keep in mind that word-of-mouth marketing can work both ways and a bad experience could easily lead to patients avoiding your practice as a result.
But don’t forget – online reviews also count towards word-of-mouth marketing since they are real reviews coming directly from real patients. Monitor your business’s online reviews on a regular basis to solve any complaints and encourage current, happy patients to share their stories on your Google or Yelp pages. Only one third of dentists recorded using online reviews to attract new patients but it is a simple method every practice can utilize to demonstrate the positive community surrounding their clinic.
As seen in the print issue of Oral Health September 2022
*In October and November 2021, Bramm Research, a third-party independent research house, conducted an online survey of active, practicing non-hospital affiliated dentists and dental specialists on behalf of Oral Health. Using Oral Health’s subscription list, a total of 264 completed surveys were tabulated. With a total sample of 264, the margin of error is plus or minus 6.0 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. If, for example, 50% of the sample indicated that agreed with a statement, then we can be reasonably sure (19 times out of 20) of an accuracy within +/- 6.0%. This means that a total census would reveal an answer of not less than 44.0% and not more than 56.0%.
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