Smart Advertising for Dental Practices

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Advertising is essential in today’s highly competitive world and to get noticed, your advertising choices must be smart. What is smart advertising and just how can you apply it to your dental practice marketing? If you don’t know the answers to those questions yet, you better read on…

It All Starts with a Smart Plan

Advertising simply for the sake of it is a waste of your budget. Create a strategy and decide how much of an investment you can afford. Next, your job is to ensure that you get the maximum reach from your budget. Create a plan to span a 12-month period and fill each month with the activities that will get you to your goal.

Get a Smart Website

You may not be able to afford broadcast or billboard advertising just yet. Instead, the Internet offers a host of possibilities to the dental practice owner who is willing to use his or area of expertise constructively. Again, you may not be able to afford the super-charged website of your dreams just yet, but you can make it part of your plan and start small.

Get a website designed on a content management system (WordPress, Weebly, Wix, etc…) so you can update your own content. Make sure you have a Google Places listing so that patients who are in your area can find you easily.

Commit to a content strategy and learn how to post blog articles. Start writing unique content that speaks to your specialty.

Use Your Business Cards Smartly

Yes, you read that right. There’s a better way to hand out business cards, believe it or not. Before you hand your card over, take a black marker and write a personalized message on it to the recipient. When you hand the card over, be sure to use both hands. This gesture indicates that the card has value; it’s a type of non-verbal communication that your patient will interpret positively.

Manage Smart Social Pages

Sure, every dental practice in your area is probably on social media but you can take the “road less traveled” and apply a smart strategy to your social posting. Consider what your patients really need to be educated about the most, and then feed this information to them in a quirky way. Maybe your audience isn’t big on reading long articles, instead, create a few interesting infographics that are easy to digest. Patients aren’t getting the message about flossing every day? Find a joke or cartoon that illustrates the point in a fun way.

Track Your Results

If it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist. Apply this idea to your strategy so that the next time that media sales agent tries to get you to book that last minute ad spot, you can find out how many people will be seeing your ad and decide if the return is worth the investment.