Dental Marketing in 2024 – What’s Next?
Promoting your practice successfully in the face of increasing competition and financial pressures
The last three and half years in dentistry have been very turbulent, starting with the arrival of the pandemic, closed practices and huge uncertainty. We then moved into the period immediately post the pandemic with the no shortage of patient demand, price increases and generally renewed confidence.
However, that confidence bubble now appears to be bursting with lots of dentists starting to experience gappy appointment books and patients shopping around for the more lucrative treatments such as Invisalign and dental implants.
This isn’t just anecdotal, we also see it in the data we collect from client’s marketing reports, and whilst this isn’t affecting everyone, there is a picture developing of a general slowing down. So even where a dentist’s website is top of Google and traffic is still buoyant, the number of enquiries from that traffic is, in quite a few cases, reduced.
We’ve seen the cyclical nature of the dental business before of course and with significant peaks and troughs. However the current downturn arrives on the back of very bleak economic data, with real growth in the UK economy not predicted to happen until some way into 2025. So do we batten down the hatches or go on the front foot to keep ahead?
With that in mind, let’s take a look at our recommendations for progressive practices when it comes to their dental marketing strategies for the year ahead.
Stand out from the crowd with an excellent website
We’ve discussed in detail why your practice website should be your priority marketing asset, with better quality enquiries and return-on-investment than from any other channel over time. However we often see dentists resting on their laurels and failing to update their websites, even when it’s long overdue.
With increasing competition and switched on dentists updating their websites regularly, it’s very important to avoid being left behind. Whilst spending £4 – £5k on a dental website upgrade might seem like a huge expenditure, when compared to other practice spend, the investment potential is huge. Please speak to our team for an illustration of typical return-on-investment and how updating your website is something you certainly won’t regret.
Get your social channels in order and consider paid ads
Surprisingly a lot of dental practices still neglect their social media channels, even though it’s relatively common knowledge that new patients don’t just look at your website, they’ll typically cross-reference your socials too. If they find tumble-weed, then the impression they’ll gain is clear and it’s not a good one.
Another mistake often made in the dental community, is the belief that if they post on their Facebook page and drop an odd image on Instagram, then that will bring in lots of new patient enquiries. Unfortunately it won’t, simply because most folk won’t even see those posts, even if they’ve followed you or liked your page. As we’ve discussed in earlier blogs, Facebook massively restricts what we refer to as the “organic reach” of your posts, forcing you to advertise. To illustrate this, an organic (free) post on your Facebook business page might be seen by 10 or 15 people, whereas a professionally structured ad campaign can easily reach hundreds of thousands of people.
This doesn’t mean that you can neglect your organic social posting for the reasons mentioned above, but if you want to reach thousands of potential new patients, unfortunately you will need to advertise too. Web savvy dentists understand this and they’re already advertising – and almost certainly in your area!
Whilst we’re discussing ads, you can of course also advertise using Google Ads and in some ways this can be more beneficial as the quality of the enquiries compared to social leads, is generally better. However to balance this it’s important to understand that Google Ads tend to cost quite a lot more than the social ads equivalent, so there are swings and roundabouts to navigate.
Suffice to say that our most successful clients use both social ads and Google ads to ensure they reach as many potential new patients as possible. They understand that good return on investment can be achieved with both – and that’s the key.
Open days
Dental open days have been popular for some time alongside other external events such as wedding fayres etc. We expect this to continue through into 2024 and beyond.
However, if you don’t advertise your open day, the turn-out is very likely to be less than you’d hoped for. So for your open days, be sure to update your website with a prominent message, a month or so ahead of the event. Then use social media ads to broadcast the event to a wide local audience.
It’s important to understand that people won’t turn out to an open day unless they can see a good reason to do so, typically some form of incentive. Make sure that the value proposition, whether it’s for implants, Invisalign or something else, really is attractive and worth their journey. There are ways to do this without devaluing your service so please speak to our team if you would like more information and assistance to get set up.
Local media publications
A method which is often incorrectly derided, we still see clients having a lot of success with traditional print advertising campaigns, for example ads in the local papers and magazines which are distributed to neighbourhoods near to your practice. A professionally made ad for this type of publication should only cost a few hundred pounds and allows you to reach thousands of local people very cost-effectively. This is another great tool in your local marketing kit-bag, so don’t neglect it.
Internal marketing
This covers a whole gamut of activities, from the literature and flat screen presentations in your waiting area, through to the ethical treatment selling your team is (hopefully) trained to do and implementing. This is even more important now than ever before to ensure that you are making the most of your captive audience i.e. existing patients. Remember that for each smile makeover you complete successfully, there’s a very happy patient who will likely be recommending your services to friends and family. Those word-of-mouth referrals are perhaps the most valuable, and in potentially leaner times ahead, more important than ever.
Finally, don’t forget to ask your patients to leave a great review for you on Google and Facebook. Those all-important reviews need to be nurtured and we’re already encouraging clients to review their processes to make sure it’s happening. Don’t be one of those dentists who say it’s too hard and too risky to pursue reviews; it’s a mistake you’ll regret as your local competitors steal a lead on you.
Summary
As we move further into uncertain times, multi-channel marketing is becoming essential. This ranges from a great website with prominent Google rankings, ethical selling to existing patients, through to promoting your services using paid ads, both online and in local media – a truly holistic approach.
Unless you’re an NHS dentist, for many, the days of patients knocking on your door are passing. Those who will ride it out and come out stronger on the other side are the dentists who will try harder than ever with promoting their services and treatments, not just to their existing patients, but to new patients externally too.
If you’d like to know more about holistic dental marketing and getting moving for your own practice, please get in touch with the team at Dental Media on 01332 672548.