Having a successful dental practice requires attracting local clients and converting them into loyal customers. Whether you are a beginner or you have been in the practice for while, attracting more patients remains a priority.
But how do you find the right people to reach? In this guide, we’ll provide ten easy tricks to help you get more local clients for your dental practice.
12 Tips to Attract Patients to Your Local SEO Dental Practice
There are several ways to find local clients for your dental practice. However, the tips in this post have proven to be the most effective.
1. Invest in Local SEO.
Local SEO is a critical component of any local marketing strategy. It helps you reach potential customers where they are already searching for the type of services you offer.
By optimizing your ads and social media content for local search terms, you can get more visibility in your environment and attract more people to your practice.
If you own a website, make sure it is optimized for local search by using keywords that describe your dental practice and location. This will help your website appear at the top of search results when potential clients search for dental services in your area.
We have put together a comprehensive guide that will help you optimize your website with SEO.
2. Establish Street Front Signage for Your Business.
Make sure your dental practice stands out from your competition with a street-front sign. Having attractive signage and appropriate lighting will help potential customers find your business easily.
On top of that, it will help increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your practice Better still, place a “patients welcome” sign on the door so people will know they’re in the right place.
Doing this gives customers confidence before they even enter your practice.
3. Give Back to the Community Through Charitable Involvement.
Show your commitment to the community and give back by doing charitable work. Charitable activities make a big impression on potential customers, as they’ll be more likely to promote your business if they know it’s giving back in some way.
It also attracts more attention to your dental and medical center. Volunteering at a local event or donating services can draw members of the public who may not have heard of you to your dental office.
Consider hosting free dental checkup days in low-income areas or providing discounts and treatments for non-profit organizations. This will help attract local clients who need dental work and boost your reputation in the community.
4. Network and Connect with Other Dental and Medical Professionals in Person
Attending in-person events and meetings like seminars, conventions, and conferences is a great way to interact with other dental and medical professionals. A face-to-face relationship can make all the difference.
Try to connect with local businesses that offer products or services related to dental health. Also, you can expand your network by offering special discounts or packages to their customers – this will get people talking about your practice.
Don’t forget that dental care is not only about primary treatment, but also preventive education – this might be your key to attracting more concerned locals.
5. Offer Specials and Promotions Through Local Media Outlets.
Working with the local media can be an effective way to reach more potential clients. Try offering personalized and limited-time discounts, promotions, and specials via newspapers, radio, and TV stations in your area.
For example, you can offer to give away a toothbrush, a pack of dental floss, a mouth wash or other dental product after someone visits your office for the first time.
Additionally, if you support any charitable causes or sponsored events, make sure to mention it in all your marketing materials. That way, people will know how much you care about the community.
6. Online directories
Another way to find more local patients is by listing your dental services in online directories such as Google My Business, Yelp, and Healthgrades. Doing so will help your practice show up in search results and increase your visibility online.
7. Provide excellent customer service
There is more to business than just the products and services you offer. The satisfaction of your customers should be a top priority as you work towards expanding your business.
Providing excellent customer service and building positive relationships with your patients will help to keep you in business.
Plus, positive word-of-mouth and referrals from satisfied customers will help you retain existing ones and attract new ones. which are powerful marketing tools.
8. Hire skilled Workers
We mentioned why you need to provide excellent customer service. And the performance of your staff plays a vital role in how clients will perceive your business.
Your workers are always in direct interaction with your patients. They among other things are deciding factors as to whether your clients will continue to choose you or turn to other dentists for their dentistry needs.
You may offer great services, but one badly behaved employee can cause you to lose a host of patients.
Hiring professionals who are exceptional at their job description including customer relationships may cost you a ton of money, but what you will get in return will make it worth every penny.
9. Establish flexible payment plans
Not everyone has health care insurance or can afford to pay upfront for a dental service. Many people have untreated cavity issues with no resources to treat them.
In fact, report says that 40% of adults with no income and health insurance are likely to have at least three untreated cavities.
If you can offer flexible payment plans, you will attract more patients to your dental care center. You can pull off this strategy by patients pay by installment or via any other flexible means.
10. Ask patients for feedback and referrals
Did you know that 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses before making a decision? Referrals are a great and cost-effective way to attract new patients.
Ask your existing patients to refer their friends and family members by providing rewards, such as discount codes or free services.
Your current patients will feel valued, and the people they refer will be more likely to give you a try because they’re hearing positive reviews from someone they trust.
Encourage patients to leave positive reviews on your websites or word-of-mouth advertising by incentivizing your patients for each successful referral they bring in.
11. Leverage Social Media to Connect With Potential Patients.
Social media can be a powerful tool for promoting your dental practice and building relationships with potential patients.
Create accounts on various channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to share educational content about oral health, updates about new services you offer, or photos of happy patients. An engaging social media caption can make a lot of difference.
Make sure you engage regularly with your followers and include calls to action so that they know how to easily contact your practice. Additionally, make sure to reply promptly when someone reaches out via social media about an appointment.
All these may seem overwhelming as a busy practitioner, but you have nothing to worry about. Several social media tools can help you efficiently manage your social media activities for maximum results.
12. Invest in Paid Advertising Efforts Targeted to Local Areas.
Paid advertising can be a great way to get the word out about your dental practice and attract new customers.
To ensure that your efforts are successful, it’s important to target your paid advertising campaigns to local audiences to maximize impact and reach the right people.
You can achieve this by using geo-targeting online, or by purchasing radio or television ads that focus on specific areas or audiences.
For maximum effectiveness, consider creating different campaigns based on demographics such as gender, age, and location.
Conclusion
There you have it! A comprehensive list of marketing guides that will help you find more local patients. It is one thing to open a practice and another to get and retain patients. Follow them, and you are well on your way to becoming the go-to dentist in your locality and beyond.
