Dental offices are growing at an exponential rate, which makes them more competitive with one another. You may have noticed that brand-new dentist offices have popped up in your neighborhood, advertising a wide range of interesting treatments and advantageous offers. In a market with this much competition, it can be quite challenging to get an advantage. Increase your Patients in your dentistry.

Most importantly, providing great patient service is the most effective way to get a competitive advantage for your dental practice growth and differentiate yourself from the competition. Once you’ve set a standard for providing outstanding patient care, your practice should concentrate on reaching out to the target audience who are looking for services comparable to what you’re offering. To reach and impact your target audience, you will need a stronger online presence that leverages existing trends and best practices to grow your dental business.

Things You Should Avoid For Growing Your Dentistry

It takes time to develop a loyal customer base, even among the few friends and family members who mention following you. In reality, many dentists have mistakenly believed that the 20–50 people they know will be enough to sustain their business attempts with a dental start–up forever. Yet, reality sets in after a few months of having an empty schedule and realizing that a solo practice requires hundreds of patients to be truly profitable.

According to Henry Schein, Dental Economics, and other sources, between 1% and 2.1% of dental start-ups fail within the first five years of operation. Despite the fact that these numbers favor a dental start-up, slow growth, high levels of stress, and numerous problems may be avoided if certain ideas are taken into account. A dentist should avoid the four mistakes listed below while starting out in the field.

1. Saturated location

The first and most important step for a dental practice growth is choosing a location. A less favorable dentist-to-population ratio will make it challenging or even impossible for a new dentist to practice there. Low dentist-to-population ratios typically greatly increase the likelihood of failure.

2. Ignoring dental marketing

Ignoring marketing increases the chance of failure during the first two to five years of operation. While some dental practices can still be successful with little to no marketing, they frequently experience success much later than expected. Moreover, this pattern is evolving. Most dentists will need marketing to succeed as competition grows. Several dental clinics have taken 6-9 years or more to create the required patient base due to a lack of dental marketing.

3. Focusing on dental care at the cost of the business

A dentist must realize that practicing dentistry and managing a business are two entirely different things. Around 70% of businesses fail for cash flow-related reasons, according to US Bank. Dental start-ups must evaluate not only the loan fees, but also the costs of training, overhead, supplies, equipment, cash flow for the first year, and, of course, the expenses connected with marketing the first 2-3 years of operation. Dentists must take the risk of assuming that cash flow will occur in the absence of patients, or that cash flow may be ignored. Building a strong patient base requires time, money, and effort, and it leads to cash flow.

4. Neglecting to invest in employee training

Strong employee selection and training are crucial for a dentist’s reputation and profitability. It is essential to make sure that interactions between staff and patients are respectful, clean, and professional. The front office staff can make or break your practice, so it’s critical to understand their value. Dental start-ups should take into account a variety of dental marketing strategies in order to quickly develop a loyal patient base. When a patient base is established, direct mailers, pay-per-click advertisements, social media ads, neighborhood activities, and internal referrals offer excellent conversion rates. It’s best to concentrate on 3-5 marketing channels and run campaigns for at least a year.

Top 10 Tips For Attracting Patients To Boost Your Dental Practice

1) Create an attractive, personalized, optimized website – The majority of patients now look for a new dental practice online. Your website must be both user and mobile-friendly. Do not overcrowd it with images, but do include photos of yourself, your staff, and your workplace.

Improve the page by including a description of the services you offer. Find out what services your local rivals offer, then focus on the unique services you offer that they don’t.

Your objective is to convert website visitors into patients. Create an About Us page with details about your business, practice area pages so visitors can learn more about the services you offer, and a contact page so visitors can schedule an appointment with you in order to support the growth in dentistry.

2) Have a blog on your website – Your blog can serve as a window into your profession. You have the chance to present yourself as an authority. Keep your writing readable and fresh. This is a fantastic method to position yourself as an authority on a variety of subjects.

You might wish to expand out into podcasts or webinars with a question-and-answer time. Provide a recording of the webinar on your website so that people who couldn’t attend can watch and then be inspired to schedule an appointment with you.

3) Provide 24-hour online appointment making on your website – Both new and returning patients look for options to book appointments online. They want the ease of 24-hour access.

4) Create authentic, engaging videos – Consumers are fed up with traditional sales pitches. As a result, your videos should include actual people – you, your staff, and your patients – in a way that encourages trust, engagement, and familiarity. Only 20% of your visitors will read a document, while 80% will watch a video.

5) Encourage patients to leave positive reviews – Publish these reviews on your website and include them on fliers that you leave with other companies in the neighborhood and distribute at community events.

6) Use social media for marketing – Nowadays, having a social media presence is practically required. It should be set up such that you may interact with visitors and respond to their inquiries. To grow your dental practice, post frequently so that there is new information that will attract potential and existing patients back to your site to see what is new.

7) Use an email marketing strategy – The most effective marketing for your dental practice would be incomplete without an email plan. Emails are still incredibly efficient marketing tools. According to a DMA study, you can expect a $42 return on investment for every dollar spent. Emails are one of the most effective marketing techniques available. They are a great way to add another revenue stream to your dental business, and they can streamline your marketing initiatives while promoting connections and interaction with current patients.

8) Create PPC/SEM ads – Paid PPC/SEM advertisements are one of the best ways to get your message seen and heard. These are some of the most effective marketing strategies for increasing ROI. And they frequently result in greater search visibility. PPC advertisements are displayed at the top of search engine results pages and on social media sites. Pay-per-click advertising is a powerful digital marketing strategy with a $2 ROI for every $1 spent.

9) Add services – Check with your competitors to see if there are any services they do not provide that you can. You could wish to consider providing cosmetic dentistry to help people with their smiles. If you enjoy working with children, promote your office as child-friendly.

10) Use retargeting with paid ads – Retargeting is a strategy for boosting brand awareness and connecting with people in your audience who have shown an interest in your business. When someone visits your website or social media profiles, they will see your paid advertisements as they browse the internet. This is known as retargeting, and it serves to remind individuals of your practice. It’s a wonderful way to develop your dental business by converting website traffic into patients, and it’s a crucial component of your paid Google and social media marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these top 10 tips will help get your practice noticed and engage with more of your present and future patients. By implementing these marketing initiatives, you can increase your reach, enhance your relationships with existing and potential patients, and boost your dental practice growth in 2023.