Looking back at the dental marketing landscape in 2016

The good, the bad, the unchanged and what to expect in 2017.

It’s the time of year to take stock and reflect on what happened in the previous twelve months in the field of dental marketing; what we can learn and what we can expect in the coming year ahead.

One thing that became clear as we progressed through the year was that more and more agencies were attracted to the sector and that competition intensified. I suspect that much of the influx was prompted by agencies who were already established but considered that the dental niche might be more lucrative than their usual dealings with regular SMEs.

However, the lack of real penetration other than from one or two newcomers, suggests that the “easy pickings” some of the new agencies may have envisaged, hasn’t materialised – at least yet. Those of us who have been in the business for pushing on twenty years understand that not all dentists are hugely wealthy and that most of them have a close eye on their budgets. So the barriers to entry are quite high for any new entrant, particularly in what is quite a specialised niche.

Downward pressure on prices

That said, it is noticeable that a couple of the prominent dental marketing companies seem to have been affected, with rumours of consolidation and staff lay-offs, withdrawal from dental exhibitions and other cost-saving initiatives becoming apparent.

With more companies trying to gain a foot-hold and offering low prices (albeit often for work of questionable quality) there is inevitably a downward pressure on prices and those who set their business up to be “premier” suppliers with unrealistically high fees, were inevitably going to suffer. Those companies who maintained a close eye on costs, and continued to deliver high-quality services at sensible rates appear to have maintained/grown their market shares and prospered.

However, even with a large, loyal client base as we have built here at Dental Media, there is certainly no room for complacency – where dentists possibly only sought two or three quotations for a new website up until a few years ago, now they can easily reach out to six or seven agencies.

The erosion in quality of services

We are also seeing another characteristic of an increasingly competitive environment i.e. companies offering downgraded services as they come under increasing price pressure. In some cases this isn’t simply overselling and actually borders on misleading. This has been highlighted in depth elsewhere in this blog so I won’t go into detail now, but for example, there are several suppliers offering pre-purchased WordPress template websites and the like (i.e. not bespoke designs) for thousands of pounds along with onerous monthly maintenance fees for services which are of questionable worth.

Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge of the unsuspecting principal dentist and/or practice manager is still being exploited by some suppliers and I expect this trend to continue into 2017 and beyond. So in this type of environment, it’s essential that you do your research, ask pertinent questions and validate track records if you are to avoid the suppliers who offer poor value for money.

Fringe suppliers

There has also been an increase in “fringe” marketing suppliers in 2016. These are the guys who actually do other things within the dental sector but decided to broaden their offer with some type of marketing service or recommendation. So this might be a dental trainer teaming up with an email marketing company, a video company trying their hand with websites or a self-styled “social media” guru. Whilst it’s always useful to see all the options, it’s also worth keeping in mind that some of these guys receive kick-backs for their recommendations and you might not necessarily be getting an impartial view. My advice is to shop around and use all of the checking criteria mentioned above.

What did Google change?

It would be wrong to try to review the marketing landscape without at least touching on Google. The search engine is hugely important for those dentists who actively seek new patient enquiries from the web and consequently anything Google does or announces is worthy of close scrutiny and action.

Perhaps the two main areas of note (albeit there were a plethora of incremental changes) were Google’s continued push for “mobile-first” and the real-time introduction of their anti-spam algorithm known as “Penguin”. For the “mobile-first” initiative, Google has stated that the search results will soon be switched to reflect mobile indexing and that better ranking results will be awarded to websites which are truly mobile-friendly. If yours isn’t, then it’s time to take action.

On the anti-spam front, Google rolled-out the Penguin algorithm update which now operates in real-time rather than periodic releases. This was the first update for many months and saw some previously penalised websites recover, whilst others were hit with new penalties and demotion in the search results.

We are also seeing Google becoming increasingly adept with user artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand a user’s intent when searching for products and services and far less reliance on simply matching keywords as was the case in the past. Consequently you need to ensure that your SEO team is up-to-speed with all of the new search nuances and ready to adapt your website and digital marketing in the year ahead.

Paid search (pay-per-click) on the increase

As dentists realise the potential for Google to deliver new patients, more have begun advertising via the Google “AdWords” system. This is a quick way for placing an ad prominently on page one of Google if you are prepared to bid high enough.

When the searcher clicks, they are taken to the advertiser’s landing page and the advertiser pays the designated click cost to Google. This can be an effective way of advertising but you do need a good budget and diligent account maintenance to gain the necessary traction. There are other pros and cons associated with PPC covered in detail elsewhere in this blog.

The dash to Facebook

This is another area where there is increasing interest from the dental community. It’s relatively easy to set up advertising or promote content on Facebook to help drive traffic to your website or landing page and we are seeing quite a lot of dentists adding this channel to their digital marketing portfolio. However, success is not guaranteed as the quality of traffic from social channels and resultant meaningful enquiries are often poor.

So unless you are able to analyse the traffic data closely and have good systems in place to check the true return on investment, this is one area to treat particularly cautiously. Advertising on social media can work, but it’s best to align with a professional marketer unless you really know what you’re doing.

Personalisation

Another significant shift in website design for dentists is the adoption of “personalisation”. There is an increasing understanding that websites which contain highly engaging content such as testimonials and videos, alongside professional images of the team and facilities, work much better than cliched versions which rely on stock photographs, generic text and little else. Dentists are increasingly aware of the importance of this and working closely with their designer to ensure that their websites fit the bill. Your website is no longer just about a nominal presence on the web with a few basic details and contact information; if you really want to compete and stand out from the crowd, you need to put time and effort into the initial design and ongoing upkeep.

Summary

2016 has seen a number of important changes in the dental marketing arena. Competition has intensified as more companies enter, the quality of services on offer has arguably been diluted and advances in technology, driven by Internet giants such as Google and Facebook, continues to provide more challenges and opportunities for us all.

The web is extremely dynamic and continues to evolve at pace, so expect to see new and exciting opportunities presented in 2017. Here at Dental Media we will be monitoring closely and working out the best ways to harness any new technologies for the benefit of our clients.

See you in 2017!