How to successfully acquire new patients with practice marketing,
The “Practice Marketing for Dentists” series by KaVo intends to support you in your practice marketing efforts, particularly online, and assist you in acquiring new patients more easily, through targeted and efficient activity.
These are the first questions that you need to ask yourself.
- Are you really showcasing what patients can expect from you?
- Is your reputation being communicated clearly?
- Do you have an online presence for your patients and have you considered your visibility?
- Is it easy to get in touch with you?
- Is the first impression that you are positive, congenial and knowledgeable maintained consistently for the patients?
- Is the experience in the practice and the visual perception consistent with what you communicate online and also in your brochures?
Good practice marketing will provide you with a tangible pay-off.
It pays off to publicly display your high-quality dental services in your online and print communication:
- Due to the freedom of establishment, the competitive situation is intensifying, especially in urban areas. It is particularly important in these areas for you to position your practice positively and authentically, distinguish yourself from the competition, and use these factors to assure your patients of the quality of your services as a dentist.
- Patient behaviour has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. Dentists need to value both their online and “off-line” visibility because potential patients are active online, want to be well informed and to compare services.
- Up to 70% of new patients will attempt to contact you via your website – that means: Your first impression counts! Furthermore, you will need to maintain that initial good impression by providing a holistic and consistently high-quality image of your practice.
The foundation of successful practice marketing.
Successful practice communication can be summarised via two key concepts – transparency and patient orientation.
Once you have this foundation, consider the channels that you would like to use to reach your patients. Your practice marketing initiatives will be all the more impressive if you are able to present yourself through various media, and if you are able to think and strategize holistically.
- Transparency in terms of your objectives, your unique selling point (USP) – e.g., a specific field of treatment or specialisation – and your positioning form the basis of a successful marketing strategy.
- Combining this with focused patient orientation, i.e., putting yourself in your patient’s shoes, will place you in the best position to develop successful practice marketing.
The most important communication channels with tips and tricks for your practice.
Your website is the most important showpiece for your practice and imparts the very first impression to your patients. It should provide a succinct overview of your services, focusing on quality, approachability and empathy. This is how you succeed at digital marketing.
Printed documents and print media are still valuable ways to present your practice to the public and should aim to complement your online presence. You can find out how to accomplish this and what to focus on here.
For many of us, social media and the correct use of it in the context of practice marketing are a “closed book”. KaVo has compiled the key elements for you here.
Yes, the interior design of your practice also forms part of practice marketing. Your patients should feel comfortable and safe with you – in every aspect. Learn more about this topic and how you can make a big difference with a few small tips.
Tried-and-tested digital advertising channels may also be intelligently integrated into the overall strategy. KaVo has summarised these channels and how you can use them here.
The combination of these initiatives should be individually tailored to your practice, based on how long it has been running and what its reputation is. However, regardless of which mix of practice marketing techniques you choose: It is always essential to send a consistent message to create recognition value for your existing and future patients. Combine this with appealing aestehtics and your practice marketing is sure to be a success!
Satisfied patients who feel comfortable with you from the time that they start to look for a dentist right up to the period after the treatment and recommend you to others are the best form of advertising.
The Internet plays an increasingly important role in the acquisition of new dental practice customers.
Therefore, a successful internet presence with a practice website, social media and email marketing is just as important as classic marketing and a consistent external presentation, a uniform design and, above all, the corresponding practice interior design and equipment.
