When someone in your area needs a dentist, you want your dental practice to be the first one they think of — or barring that — to get found in local searches. In order to do that, you need to build a strong local presence.
Local marketing is a necessary component of any dental practice’s success. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to market your dental practice locally and get new patients in the door. Here are five local marketing tips for dentists:
1. Optimize your dental website for local search
Make sure your dentist website is optimized for local search by including your city, state and zip code on your contact page. You should also include local keywords throughout your website content to help improve your site’s ranking in search results.
Another great way to boost your local dentist SEO is to embed a map of your location on your contact page. This makes it easier for potential patients to find your dental office when they conduct a local search.
Plus, when someone is ready to actually come in for a dental cleaning or examination, embedding a map on your Contact page also makes your practice easier to find.
2. Claim and optimize your dentist listings
It’s important to claim and optimize your dentist listings on popular online directories, like Top Rated Local®, Google Business Profile and Bing Places for Business. These listings provide valuable information about your dental office, like your hours of operation, location and contact information.
But it’s not enough to just create listings on these directories — you also need to make sure the information is accurate and up-to-date. That way, when potential patients find your listing, they’ll be able to easily get in touch with you to schedule an appointment.
Listings management software, like the Marketing 360 Listings app, allows you to update all of your dental practice’s listings across the web from one place, saving you time and allowing you to make updates in minutes.
3. Connect with your community on social media
Another great way to build a strong local presence is to connect with your community on social media. Post about local events, share photos of your staff and patients, and provide valuable dental tips that your audience will find helpful.
Make sure to also include location-specific keywords in your social media posts so they’ll be more likely to show up in local search results. And be sure to include a link to your dentist website in your social media profiles so potential patients can easily find more information about your dental practice.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider creating a Facebook page for your dental office. Facebook is the most popular social media platform, so it’s a great place to reach a large number of potential patients.
Bonus tip – Build business partnerships on LinkedIn
Many dentists overlook LinkedIn since it’s traditionally a B2B marketing channel. However, it’s also a great place to build valuable business partnerships for your dental practice.
Reach out to other local businesses, like medical practices, and offer to cross-promote each other’s businesses. For example, you could promote each other’s businesses on social media or include a coupon for the other business in your patient welcome packets.
There are endless possibilities for how you can team up with other local businesses to reach a larger audience and grow your dental practice.
4. Get reviews and build a strong reputation
It’s no secret that potential patients research dentist reviews before choosing a dental practice. In fact, the vast majority of consumers read and trust online reviews for local businesses.
That’s why it’s so important to make sure your dental practice has a strong reputation in the community. Send out patient surveys after each visit and encourage patients to leave reviews on popular online directories, like Google and Top Rated Local®.
In addition to building a strong reputation, online reviews can also help improve your dentist SEO. That’s because Google uses reviews as a ranking factor in its search algorithm. So the more positive dentist reviews you have, the higher your website will appear in local search results.
To make the process of getting reviews and building a strong reputation even easier, consider using reputation management software, like the Marketing 360 Reputation app. This app allows you to send review requests to your patients via text or email after each visit and manage your reputation from across the web.
5. Invest in local advertising
Local advertising is another great way to reach potential patients looking for a dentist in your community. There are a number of local dentist marketing channels you can use, including:
- Search and maps advertising – Advertise your dental office on popular search engines, like Google and Bing, as well as local maps listings.
- Social media advertising – Use social media platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn, to target potential patients in your community with dental ads.
- Display advertising – Place dentist ads on popular websites that your target audience is likely to visit.
- Digital TV — also called OT (over-the-top) — advertising – Advertise your dentist practice on streaming platforms, like Hulu and Roku, and use targeting to connect with people in your community.
- Digital radio advertising – Advertise your dental practice on digital radio platforms, like Pandora and Spotify, and target potential patients in your area.
- Digital billboards – Place dentist ads on digital billboards in high-traffic areas, like near highways and busy intersections to build a recognizable brand in your community.
To get started with local advertising, create a dental marketing plan that includes a mix of different local channels. Then, set a budget for each channel and track your results so you can adjust your strategy as needed.
As you can see, there are a number of different dentist marketing channels you can use to reach potential patients in your community.
With Marketing 360’s all-in-one marketing platform for dentists, you can manage all of these local marketing channels from one place, saving you time and money. Plus, we have a team of marketing professionals who understand the dental industry and can help you maximize your success.
