Creating Brand Awareness in Your Community
The Goal of Marketing
When it comes to marketing, there are many techniques and theories. Creative and actionable ideas are all over the internet. You can find plenty of bulleted lists and videos with expert tips. But all of this advice can feel scattered without a central unifying objective. Of course, everyone understands that we market to grow a business, but what’s the objective of successful marketing? What should every marketing effort seek to advance? Understanding why you’re marketing can help you avoid wasting time and money on unfruitful campaigns.
Top of mind. If you’ve spent any time in marketing, you’ve probably heard this term. Essentially, it refers to the relationship between your business, customers, and prospective customers. And like a relationship, it takes effort to establish, maintain, and grow. In this way, being top of mind is similar to brand awareness. It’s how the public views your company/dental practice. What would people say if you were to walk down the street and ask about your practice? Would they know where your building is? Would they be able to describe your marketing content? Would they have a positive feeling about your dental practice brand?
Staying Top of Mind
Simply put, you want local residents to visualize your dental team when they think about dentistry. If they were to do a mental Google search, you want your office to be at the top of page one. In many ways, staying top of mind is similar to SEO, which requires consistent effort to rank high in search engine results. So how can your practice remain top of mind in your community? What marketing efforts most effectively keep you at the forefront?
Develop an Authority Website: All of your digital traffic should link to your website. Whether a prospective new patient lands on your Google business page or social media accounts, you want them to click through to your website. Your website is your home base, the place for your dental team to express a passion for dentistry and patient care. Unfortunately, most dentists view their practice website as just another marketing task to be checked off a list. The result is a mountain of cookie-cutter sites on the internet. These websites have all the basics (dental services, staff profiles, hours, etc.), but they fail to provide the depth, enthusiasm, and essential contrast needed to stand apart from the crowd.
Creating an extraordinary dental website is a long-term investment. You’ll need to budget for original, high-quality website content. (Thankfully, job sites make it easier to find qualified remote content writers at affordable prices.) Website development also requires time. It’s not easy to catalog before and after pictures, remember the camera for important office events, and gather all the necessary material for content development. Employing a designated website manager who understands SEO and responsive website design is a must. Your team will be updating the site regularly, and having a professional maintaining and backing up your hard work is critical
You’re going to drive a lot of traffic to your website. It’s not enough to just meet expectations—you must exceed them to stay top of mind. This means original tutorials about dental topics. It means detailed blog posts about dental topics and services. It means showcasing a portfolio of your dental work. It means creating a website that feels organic and real-time, updated regularly with fresh content.
A Dental Practice Website That Attracts New Patients
Building and Maintaining an Effective Website that Grows Your Practice How Important Is Your Website? Your dental practice website is like a storefront on the internet, and it functions as a hub to which all your efforts are linked. Most importantly, your website domain is the way search engines understand
Post and Advertise on Social Media Regularly: Household decision-makers are most active on two platforms: Facebook and Instagram (i.e., Meta). Posting regularly and creating corresponding advertisements can immediately and dramatically affect your website traffic. Social media is an investment. It takes considerable time to be creative and produce content, but the long-term benefits are substantial.
Facebook and Instagram represent more than just content sharing. These platforms provide other popular services like Facebook Marketplace, Messenger, and Videos. Even people who don’t routinely post social updates log in to use these free services, which means the majority of your prospective patients are scrolling through social media right now. The local community will be exposed to your brand if you’re posting and advertising on social media.
Looking for inspiration? Check out our social media calendars and social media posts for dental offices.
Pursue Local Marketing: Staying top of mind requires effective local marketing. There are so many ways to form local relationships and establish trust. For example, your practice can sponsor local youth athletics, participate in events like parades, and provide free dental education in elementary schools. Of course, digital marketing is paramount in our modern world, but traditional “boots on the ground” networking shouldn’t be ignored.
Local Marketing Strategies That Attract New Dental Patients
Maximize Touchpoints with Local Dental Marketing Remember, Dental Marketing Is Local So much of our marketing efforts focus on digital mediums like Google ranking and social media, but as a local small business, dentists also need to pursue “boots-on-the-ground” local marketing efforts. The reality is that most new patients will
Work on Your Curb Appeal: One aspect of marketing that dentists often overlook is the branding power of the office itself, the look, condition, and signage. People are walking and driving passed your office every day. What do they see? Does it look worn down? Are there cracks in the driveway? Does it need a paint job? Because prospective patients know little about dentistry, they often judge quality by assessing the state of the facility. The logic is simple: If the practice cares about maintaining building aesthetics, they are concerned about details and excellence, which means they will provide high-quality dental care.
One of the most important aspects of curb appeal is signage. Aspects like color, design, and location can have a profound impact. Generally speaking, the colors should be calming (blue, green, and white). The sign should project dentistry at first glance (perhaps a molar?) and face toward the most traffic. Changing up your sign from time to time is also a good idea. This helps to combat sign blindness by sparking new interest. Some cities even permit digital signs, which allow customized messages about special days and dental service promotions.
Why Dental Practice Signs Are Important [5 Design Tips]
How Effective Dental Signage Can Attract New Patients Your Dental Sign Is the Face of Your Office Even with effective digital branding, people eventually come to a location for treatment, so your office building is an essential branding element. Patients and prospective patients already drive past your office frequently—on their
