Dental Practice Growth
10 Top Marketing Tips
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1. YOU NEED A PRACTICE GROWTH PLAN
Your roadmap - where you are and where you’re
trying to get to
Your business objectives and practice vision
Marketing strategies to develop your brand, find new patients
and build patient retention and loyalty
What sets your practice apart from the competition
A 12 month marketing schedule with actions & responsibilities
A Business Scorecard’ with detailed KPIs
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2. KNOW YOUR IDEAL
PATIENTS
You need to have in your mind who your ideal patient is
This needs to be based on facts, not ‘gut feel’ (see Secret 3)
Without a clear understanding of your ideal patient how will
you know where to look and what to say to attract them?
Write it down, be specific – who they are, what they look like,
why they should choose your practice
Does the way you present yourself make you more or less
attractive to your ideal patients: -
your brand • the treatments you offer 3
the ambience of your practice • the words you use
• the patient journey……..
your website
3. UNDERSTAND YOUR EXISTING PATIENT BASE
A closer look at your patient list will help you to grow
quicker
When was the last time you took a close look?
• ‘Active’, ‘dormant’ and ‘lapsed’ patients?
• How many patients only come once?
• What about their annual spend or Lifetime Value?
• Where your patients live (at postcode level) - where you 4
have lots of patients and where under represented?
SOME OF THE ANALYSIS WE USE
Treatment Sales Analysis
Recency / Frequency Analysis
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..AND MORE
Patient Mapping
New housing
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4. GET CLOSE TO YOUR COMPETITORS
How well do you really know your competitors?
Have you ever considered why patients may choose
them over you?
You need to do an objective analysis of your
competitors – and do it regularly – annually at the least
Here’s just some of the things we look at:
Proximity How long established? Website review
Branding critique
Pricing comparison Headline offers
Treatment Mix Analysis 7
Opening Hours
Staff and experience
5. TRY NEW MARKETING CHANNELS
Don’t just stick to your ‘go to’ marketing channels
Be brave and test new ones
Always use a ‘test➞re-test➞roll out’ approach
Multi-channel marketing compounds the results
And always ensure you track results
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PLUS FACEBOOK ADVERTISING OF COURSE
• Connect with people who are most 9
likely to be interested in your services.
• Targeting options available such as
age, interests, demographics &
location
• Need landing page for data collection
and follow up
• ‘Lead ads’ (with integral data
collection) now possible
• Ads with video improve response
• Re-targeting – serve further ads to
leads
YOU’VE PROBABLY NOT CONSIDERED TV…
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DENTAL PRACTICES ARE ALREADY USING TV
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6. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT NEW PATIENTS
Don’t focus all your attentions on getting new patients
Hidden income potential there is in your existing patient
list (back to Tip 3)
Costs x 5 more to attract a new patient than retain one
Give them an outstanding patient experience,
communicate with them often, make them offers they’ll
find hard to resist and generally make them feel special
and they’ll stay with you longer and spend more
Plus, ‘word of mouth’ from existing patients is one of 12
your most valuable (and cheapest) forms of new
patients anyway!
7. ALWAYS APPLY SCIENCE WHERE YOU CAN
As dentists or specialists you pride yourself on your
evidence-based approach, research findings and
harnessing the latest in proven dental treatments
Running your business should be the same 13
Apply ‘science’ to your marketing and growth plans
Taking a more analytical and less ‘gut feel’ approach
will;
Grow your practice quicker
Attract more profitable patients
Make your marketing more effective
Stop you wasting money
LOTS OF GREAT TECHNOLOGY AND DATA
Socio
Demographic
Data
Household
segmentation
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8. BUILD A BRAND
Your brand is one of your greatest assets
Not just your logo!
Your brand, and everything that underpins it, is what: 15
Defines how you act
Sets you apart from your competitors
Influences patients choice of practice
Adds tangible value to the worth of your business
Engenders loyalty from patients AND staff
So take it seriously, take time to clearly define what it is,
what it stands for and invest in it wisely
Be consistent and treat it with care……
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
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9. KEEP IN TOUCH – DON’T BECOME A STRANGER
Maintaining meaningful contact with 17
patients is key
Not just a slick recall process –
although that is vital too!
Newsletters, emails, open days,
social media posts and birthday
cards are just a few great ways of
building rapport and an ongoing
relationship
But be sensitive, and not just for
GDPR reasons. Always ask for
permission.
Make them fun, informative and
don’t always turn it into a ‘sales
pitch’
MAKE IT REGULAR
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10. RESULTS TRACKING AN ABSOLUTE “MUST DO”
Over 75% of practices don’t set targets for campaigns AND
50% of those don’t track response anyway!
Not surprising marketing is seen as a ‘dark art’
The tracking of results is a ‘must do’ not a ‘nice to have’
Data capture needs to be built into the work routine and
into the systems e.g. SoE, R4, etc you use
Every campaign wherever possible needs some form of 19
unique tracking code
Without tracking there are no results – without results you
can’t prove ROI
Thank you
t. 01626 897 713
m. 07974 748 550
[email protected]
www.smiledentalmarketing.co.uk
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