Why marketing matters
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 29th July 2023
For all businesses great and small, marketing is an incredibly important tool to keep prospective patients aware of your services, boost your profitability and also strengthen relationships with your existing patient base. Marketing plays a role in enabling your dental practice to stay relevant and constantly ‘on the radar’ for those seeking dental services. Dentistry is competitive and has never been so dynamic – but where to start when marketing your dental practice?
Set yourself up for success – the ‘why’
Marketing is ubiquitous now – every business, company or organisation utilises some form of marketing in order to attract customers and promote their services. In dentistry, a good marketing strategy can help you stand apart from the crowd. For example, appropriately marketing a business is especially important once a clinician has acquired their first practice. It may be jarring for many after the long years of vocational experience, to delve into practice ownership and the business side of dentistry – but successfully marketing their business is a sure-fire way for new practice owners to attract prospective patients and establish themselves.
The majority of dentists are not well-versed in marketing, and may not feel entirely confident in that area. But in order to maximise the true potential value of your business, you should be marketing it successfully. Firstly, you should establish an ‘identity’ for your business – what makes you unique? Why should patients choose you over competitors? What will be your unique selling point (USP)? Over the years the business’s identity may shift and change, but establishing one from the outset and being consistent in subsequent marketing will prove vastly useful. For established dental practices, is marketing still valid? Yes! Due to the competitive nature of dentistry, you may consider adopting new technologies or treatment offerings to diversify your practice, and this is certainly worth shouting about. As such, you should always be thinking about new ways to promote your business’s evolution.
Let’s hear the ‘how’
When looking to market your business and services, the internet provides near-limitless resources to do so. Approximately £3.6 billion is spent on social media advertising in the UK each year[i] – and with around 66.11 million internet users in the UK at the beginning of 2023, it’s not hard to see how utilising the online sphere can be a boon for business.[ii] However, you don’t have to spend thousands on marketing your practice.
A practice’s website will be the first port of call for most patients, as such it should be a thoughtful, accessible and well-laid out resource. Patients should be able to find any information they need easily, such as contact information, directions and options to book appointments online. Websites are fantastic tools for displaying the best of your service offerings, too – you can display testimonials and information about the team, for that personal touch. Your website should be search engine-optimised (SEO) to ensure that prospective patients can easily find it when searching for dental services.
Online platforms that can be utilised for marketing are typically platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn – but other options like YouTube and TikTok are also growing in popularity.[iii] This is likely due to consumer interest in faster-paced video content, which dentistry is particularly well-suited for. You could consider hiring a social media manager or tasking a team member with creating short, snappy videos that help to promote your business – for example, video testimonials from patients or ‘before-and-afters’. You don’t have to spend thousands on this endeavour, which is why social media has become such a popular vehicle for business marketing and promotion. Plus, it’s free to join groups and pages on social media, which will get your practice’s name out there and help you create more of an online presence.
Don’t forget some other traditional marketing methods which are relatively cost-effective, such as leaflet drops in your local area. This is especially effective if there are new housing estates or properties in the area. Plus, you could ask your patients to refer family and friends to you if they are happy with your services, gifting them with a referral card as a way to show your appreciation.
Benefits in the short- and long-term
It’s also important to remember that creating a solid, positive presence through your marketing efforts will aid you should you choose to sell your dental practice further down the line. Even if that’s several years away, building up your patient base, accruing positive reviews and experiences will benefit your dental practice immensely when the time is right to sell. As part of their free practice ‘Health Check’, Dental Elite provides marketing ideas and techniques that will aid you in maximising the value of your business. The team have years’ worth of experience in marketing and SEO, and are dedicated to helping you optimise your revenue stream, so you can enhance your practice’s value when you decide to sell.
An effective marketing strategy is a powerful tool when it comes to attracting new patients and boosting your business’s revenue. In dentistry, it truly pays to stand out from the crowd and when you can differentiate your practice from competitors, you will certainly reap the benefits.
For more information contact Dental Elite. Visit www.dentalelite.co.uk, email info@dentalelite.co.uk or call 01788 545 900
[i] statista. (2023). Digital marketing in the United Kingdom (UK) – statistics & facts. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/4019/digital-marketing-in-the-uk/#topicOverview [Accessed 17 Apr. 2023].
[ii] DataReportal – Global Digital Insights. (n.d.). Digital 2023: The United Kingdom. [online] Available at: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-united-kingdom#:~:text=There%20were%2066.11%20million%20internet [Accessed 17 Apr. 2023].
[iii] Statista (2023). Social media platforms used by marketers worldwide 2019 | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/259379/social-media-platforms-used-by-marketers-worldwide/ [Accessed 17 Apr. 2023].
