Do Dentists Need Digital Marketing? 5 Clear Benefits Of Improving Your Dental Practice’s Online Presence
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Dentists never used to advertise.
Your patients knew you, and you served their families, and often their friends, neighbors, and the entire community.
Times have changed, though, and just being the friendly local dentist isn’t enough anymore.
Maybe it’s because of the internet, or how easy it is to drive across town to a different practice, but to get new clients today just isn’t as easy as it used to be — even holding on to old clients can be difficult if you don’t have an attractive online presence.
We’re not at a point where you need to start investing in TV commercials, but putting a bit toward improving your search rankings can go a long way.
Here are 5 immediate benefits of improving your online presence:
1. Getting Noticed
Most clients today find dentists in one of two ways — either by word of mouth, or a Google search.
You’ve probably got word of mouth covered — take good care of your patients, and they’ll help you out by recommending you when someone asks.
Improving your ranking in the search results can be harder, but also more beneficial — because the vast majority of searchers click on one of the top few links in the results.
With everyone doing online searches, being near the top is just the first step on the road to success.
While someone may find your name by searching “best dentist in my area,” chances are good they’ll also look for more information before making a final choice — and it’s up to you to make sure that what they find is what you want them to.
You can accomplish that by being absolutely amazing to the point where people write blogs and news articles about your practice — but let’s be honest, and admit that only happens to 1 dental practice in a million, if any.
The other option is to contact a service that can get articles published on hundreds of sites — then they’ll be seen by potential customers, and by the Google algorithm that determines the search rankings.
3. Define Your Brand
What makes your dental practice special?
Without an online presence, nobody but your existing clients will ever know.
Do you work with special needs patients, specialize in cosmetic implants, or offer clear aligners?
Let the world know, so that when a customer is looking for what you’re best at — you’re the one they find.
4. No Annoying Ads
Do you like seeing advertisements everywhere, constantly?
Probably not, and neither do your customers — when you want a service, you search for it, right?
Improving your online presence often means using highly targeted search engine optimization techniques instead of advertising that just annoys potential customers.
The best part? It’s often a fraction of the cost of typical advertising, and the people who see your pages are potential customers who were specifically looking for a dentist.
5. Modern Problems, Modern Solutions
To capture today’s customers, you can’t have a business that’s stuck in the past.
Everything happens online, and that means your websites and advertising style needs to be up to date, or else customers may assume your dental techniques are as ancient as your business practices.
The only thing worse than not being noticed, is being noticed and labeled as outdated or boring.
It’s a digital world out there, and the solutions to attract customers reflect that.
You don’t need to be a computer whiz or a master at website building to benefit from the digital revolution, thankfully, but it is important to find a service that offers modern solutions.
Of course, you could always stick to annoying Facebook ads if you think that’s better — but before you make that decision, ask some young adults how they feel about businesses that pester them with ads!
