There is no shortage of dental practices; that’s for sure. As a patient, that’s excellent news. It means you probably have multiple options located near you from which to choose. But, for a dental practice, this means stiff competition.

So, what can you do to stand out from the crowd, boost your visibility, and persuade patients to choose your services rather than those of your competition?

Enter marketing.

With the widespread availability of marketing tools and knowledge sources today, almost anyone can get started with marketing fast and easily. While some simple tips such as creating quality content can prove to be quite helpful, other things aren’t quite as intuitive. A lot of the time, small business owners tend to overspend on their marketing campaigns, focusing on tactics that ultimately don’t bring in the desired effect. They also assume that it’s OK to spend more in the beginning because the new customers they’ll bring in will make up for holes in their budgets.
How can you avoid these costly mistakes and focus only on the marketing strategies that bring in the best results? Here are some simple tips to help you out!

1. Put Your Prospective Patients First

This means that you should focus on what your prospective patients want, not on your needs. The first question you should be asking yourself is what are people looking for in a dentist, and then try to offer just that. This simple question should serve as the basis for your entire marketing strategy. However, don’t focus just on the positive. Make sure to take into account the downsides too, and then market yourself as the opposite of that. For instance, one thing that often annoys people is the time they have to spend waiting for their appointments. So, your marketing could focus on ensuring potential patients that long waiting time isn’t something they should worry about when choosing your dental practice.

2. Provide Tips And Other Useful Information

Your marketing materials should include more than just a catchy punchline and your contact info. Try to make the content educational and include tips that people can try by themselves in their homes. Get creative with both the type of information you include in your advertising and the style of its expression. Tell people how to correctly brush their teeth; offer reviews of products, or debunk homemade whitening solutions.

The important thing is to provide something useful, and you can rest assured that people will notice.

3. Be Patient And Consistent

Your marketing ventures won’t be bringing in new patients overnight. An efficient strategy takes time to implement and show results, so it’s essential to be consistent.

Roll your sleeves up and get ready for numerous repetitive tasks. Here’s the thing: if you want to bring in new patients, you will have to contact them multiple times. Don’t give up if they ignore your communication efforts the first time around. Most likely, they are at the top of the funnel, just becoming aware of their problems and looking for a solution. Give them time to learn about your practice; offer them educational content, and nurture them into becoming loyal patients in your practice.

4. Give Them A Reason To Call You

Don’t just sit around, waiting to see if your marketing strategy is effective. Persuade prospective patients by offering them an incentive to make an appointment with you. If you provide them something appealing enough, it will be hard for them to ignore how special your office is and why they need to call.

5. Pay Attention To What They See First

The headline is the most important component of any marketing material. Unless your name has brand recognition (and most likely that’s not the case), don’t put your name and logo at the top of your ads. Instead, begin with a clever headline that will grab the attention of your prospects and pique their curiosity to learn more.

6. Always Test Everything

Some methods might work better than others; that’s just a fact. While it’s not that tragic, it can be a problem if you’ve spent a considerable amount of time to implement something that doesn’t bring in results.

That is why you need to test everything on a smaller scale before you go big. It’s better to create different versions of your ads and test them on a small sample. Monitor their results to see what works and what doesn’t, and modify your strategy accordingly

Final Thoughts

It’s a fact of life for any business: if you want to succeed, you need to make yourself known. If you use these six simple tips, your marketing strategy will improve, and you’ll ultimately be able to bring in new patients and grow your dental practice. After that, it’s up to you to offer the best care you can and keep patients coming.