Effective online marketing for dentists is essential to continue to expand patient lists and continued success. Online marketing opens the door to new opportunities and a plethora of local patients who are going to need dental work at some point in their lives, and when their old dentist leaves or is booked, make sure that your dental practice is there to help them. 

One of the only ways for this to happen is with online marketing strategies,so let’s take a look at five basic marketing strategies that all dental offices need to be taking x-rays of! 

1. Website design and development

The base of any online marketing for dentists should all lead back to a dental office’s website. A website should be the hub for all digital marketing strategies from email marketing to PPC campaigns. When was the last time your dental practice updated its website? 

Take a bite out of this statistic- the average website design is obsolete after three years. Even within the last year, design elements have drastically changed and mobile-friendly website design has taken a front-row seat in the design and development industries. 

A consumer makes a decision about a dental practice’s website in less than a second, to be exact it is 0.5 milliseconds. 

What does a website need moving forward to ensure it provides the best experience? 

• User experience and user interface design elements
• Mobile-friendly design
• Fast loading speeds
• Accessibility 
• Call-to-actions (CTAs)
• Contact information
• Clear and concise content
• Service pages
• Easy navigation

A well-designed website can provide the best user experience that will not only increase brand awareness but also create credibility between search engines and consumers alike. 

2. Search engine optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of organically ranking a website on search engines with on-page and off-page optimization strategies that can include but are not limited to keyword research, backlinking, blogging, page optimization, and many other SEO strategies. 

If you are the leading pediatric dental practice in the area, but new consumers can’t seem to locate the practice, it will be difficult to continue to bring in new customers. 

When it comes to online marketing for dentists, local SEO strategies are one of the most effective strategies to continue bringing in new customers. 

Research shows that 30 percent of all mobile searches are related to location, and for local dental practices, this is where all of your customers will come from. 

What happens when you search, “dentist near me?” 

Does your practice populate? What about the competitions? It is important to understand that companies will continue to invest more of their time and marketing budget into SEO, and a company without SEO will continue to fall behind. 

3. Social media marketing

Social media marketing is exactly what it sounds like- marketing on social media platforms- however, social media marketing is a strategic marketing plan that takes into consideration the target audience based on their digital consumption. 

While LinkedIn could be a great social media platform to use for other industries, for some, it is one that their audience doesn’t frequent. Due to this, a social media marketing Omaha expert would suggest utilizing other social media platforms instead. 

Social media marketing is more than posting to social media, it also includes the management of those social media accounts. 

To ensure the continued success of this marketing strategy, social media marketing Omaha experts will monitor the accounts, engage with existing and new audiences, continue to write social media content, schedule content, run reports and many other aspects that go along with social media marketing. 

4. PPC management

PPC advertising is a great way to reach consumers right where they are searching for dental practices, on search engines. This type of marketing is often combined with SEO strategies to ensure a long-term growth strategy while providing quicker ROIs with PPC advertising. 

5. Email marketing 

A major benefit for dental practices is that they have access to an entire email marketing list of current and even past patients! An email marketing campaign can be utilized to revive old patients and entice them to come back or send out special promotions for teeth whitening or even giveaways! 

Email marketing is more of a traditional marketing strategy, but this strategy continues to be one of the best for showing strong marketing ROIs. 

For every $1 invested into email marketing, a company can find itself with up to $42 for their ROI. 

For help with online marketing strategies, contact us today!