Private dental practices often find themselves in a clash with large dental corporations, which are increasing with each passing day. These large corporations usually have a lot of money to invest in extensive marketing campaigns as well as for hiring highly skilled and experienced dentists.
These corporations can dramatically lower prices, attract customers, and thus put private dental practices at risk. So what can private dental practices do when competing on price is not an option? You will be surprised to know that price is not the only thing that patients look for when seeking a dental practice. Continue reading below to learn all about it.
Utilize Referral Marketing
This marketing tactic uses word-of-mouth and recommendations to attract new customers. This type of marketing is the primary source of new patients, especially for dental practices.
When you are seeking a dentist, it's very difficult to tell how they will be without visiting them. So if you get recommendations from a friend, acquaintance, a family member, or online reviews from existing patients, then you can rest assured about the dentist and their services. You need to work on getting referrals by:
- Create a referral program depending upon the type of patients you want to attract and cater to.
- Keep your program simple and easy to understand to endure the maximum number of patients who refer you to others.
- Make sure that every staff member understands the program so that they can easily explain it to patients when the need arises. You can also introduce monthly bonuses or other such incentives for staff that promote the program.
- Keeps a reward for people referring patients to you, like discounts or gift cards. This will show you appreciation while also encouraging people to engage in your referral program.
- Utilize services like TruBlu Social Smiles to easily gather and post positive videomonials about your practice.
Emphasize on a Good Customer Experience
A good customer service is one of the best marketing tools you have to retain patients and attract new ones. Dentist-to-patient relationship is extremely important and, thus, should be your top priority. Large corporations usually lack high-quality customer service as their staff members are not paid enough to work extra. So being a private dental practice, you have the advantage of focusing on each patient individually. From your receptionist to your chief dentist, every member should reach out to patients and make them feel welcomed and cared for.
Patients who have a good experience when they visit you will keep coming back to you; they will trust you for other special treatments, give good reviews, and also recommend you to their friends, family, and acquaintances. You can take feedback from your patients to find out more about what you are doing right and what needs to improve.
Introduce New Patient Special
New patient specials are a way through which you can attract new patients to visit your dental practice. You can offer discounts like a free cleaning or teeth whitening on the first visit, a discount on a popular treatment, or an offer on different services for a cheaper price. This is a marketing strategy that gains you profit in the long run and thus is known as lead magnets.
There is an initial cut, but the revenue you receive in the long run from that patient is high. In return, with your exceptional customer service and rewards, you can retain patients for a longer time while also attracting new ones through your referral programs. When people are seeking out a dentist, they are more likely to with the one giving new patient special. And mostly dental practices those offers a good new patient special increase their revenues and grow their dental practice much more quickly than those who don't.
Provide Facilities
Visiting a dentist’s office should not feel like a chore or a boring task. You can transform your dental practice by offering unique facilities that keep your patients engaged and comfortable during their stay.
A smooth and comfortable experience is what you want to aim for so that your patients keep coming back to you whenever they need a dentist. So you can offer free Wi-Fi, entertainment facility like video streaming, massaging chairs, warm towels, snacks, coffee facility, noise-canceling headphones, a play area for small kids, and much more.
Make Use of Digital Marketing
In this age of the internet and smart devices, if you don't make use of this platform to market your business, then you will be left behind by your competition. Internet is a place where businesses are now marketed and discovered easily.
One way you can make use of the internet is by making good content. People tend to look up content on the internet. So you can use content marketing by creating and sharing high quality, informative, interesting content to attract and retain your target audience and thus attract business.
Content can be in the form of blog posts, info graphics, or videos. You can post these on your website, as well as on social media platforms, to reach a vast network. With the right content in front of the right audience, you can stand out as a trusted figurehead in your field. Your main aim should be to educate your target audience so that they will be willing to choose you over other practices and also pay a higher price to go to your practice.
Work on Local SEO
Another way to make use of the digital world is through local search engine optimization. Local SEO is a way of getting your dental practice ranked on the first page of Google search results for the terms locals are using to search, for example, “best dentist near me," “dentists in Xyz," or “xyz dental practice” etc. so this process will include optimizing your website according to these search terms being used.
Then you will be able to get your practice cited across the web which will tell Google the type and location of your business. If you are able to rank on the first page for these search terms, then a significant number of people are likely to check you out, and if they are willing to go to you, they will contact you easily. Improving your ranking is a quite tedious job, so you may want to work with an agent who has a good understanding of SEO.
Conclusion
Being in competition with large corporations that can put you out of business is quite challenging. This is especially true when they have more money than you. But the price is not the only factor upon which you can compete with large corporations. There are many other factors, as mentioned above, that, when implemented correctly, can help you stand out. So implement these today and see your business flourish.