A Multichannel Marketing Approach to Attract More Patients.
Dentists take varied approaches in how they treat patients — after all, every tooth is unique — and the dental practice’s approach to marketing should follow the same philosophy.
If you’re trying to attract new patients to your dental practice or better engage dormant ones, there’s not always a one-size-fits-all solution.
A Gen Z patient may gather information from social media, while a Millennial might check out Google, and a Boomer may respond better to direct mail. If you want to reach them all, you’re going to have to diversify.
What is multi-channel marketing?
Multi-channel marketing is just what the name implies: a marketing strategy that leverages multiple channels and mediums to spread a specific message.
Perhaps you send out a postcard at the beginning of the month. Simultaneously, you run Facebook ads promoting your practice. Couple those with a geo-targeted Google advertisements and a custom landing page to book an appointment, and you’ve covered a lot of bases.
Creating a comprehensive dental marketing campaign like this helps you reach patients no matter where they are. Over 85% of adults in the U.S. report going online at least once a day, with 30% reporting that they are online almost constantly (up from 21% in 2015).
Tips for multi-channel marketing
As you begin crafting your marketing campaigns, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind:
1. Test the same messages across multiple mediums.
While you may need to tailor messaging at times, it should be similar enough that it’s synonymous with your brand. Keep visual elements uniform so that your marketing placements are recognizable — consistency is key in brand recognition.
2. Focus on what makes your practice unique.
Is it your dental membership plan? Your evening hours? Your specialty services? Make yourself stand out amongst the competition, to differentiate yourself to prospective patients.
3. Give different channels a try
By testing new channels, you can see which performs best. Keep in mind before heavily investing you might want to consider implementing a test budget with one or two initiatives. Maybe Facebook ads aren’t showing a big return, but Google banner ads are. Don’t give up on one entirely, but focus your investment into strategies that deliver results.
4. Track the results
As you’re testing your multi-channel marketing strategies, keep track of the returns and outcomes. Did that email campaign generate more appointments? How did the cost per click change from last month? Understanding these types of metrics helps refine and create better campaigns as time goes on.
5. Leverage your data
Data is your friend. With data, you can gain valuable insights into who your patients are and how best to reach them. Utilizing data helps you target the right audience and tailor messages specifically for them.
Recommended channel placements and strategies
Use call ads on Facebook and Instagram
Facebook and Instagram ads are a great way to target potential patients in your area. With the call feature, you can create an interactive ad that allows users who click it to directly call your practice from their device.
Setup remarketing ads
Remarketing (also known as retargeting) helps you reach people who’ve already visited your website. By setting up a remarketing campaign, you can display ads to those visitors when they browse the web or use other Google services.
Try Google Maps
Google Maps is for more than for just going places. With Google Map ads, you can create interactive ads that allow users to click your practice’s location and get directions. You can also target potential patients by selecting ZIP codes or drawing a custom area on the map.
Optimize your local SEO strategy
Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps you rank higher in the local SERPs for dental-related keywords. To start optimizing your website for local SEO, add the name of your city and/or town to relevant pages on your site. If your practice has multiple locations be sure to create unique content for each page.
You can also create a Google My Business page, which is a great place to encourage reviews for word of mouth marketing, and appear first when potential patients search for “dentist near me” or other similar phrases in their area.
Direct mail campaigns
Although direct mail may feel outdated, it’s still a great way to reach potential patients in your area. Statistics show that direct-mail response rates range from 2.9 to 5.3 percent, while email marketing response rates lag behind at about 0.6%. While email marketing may not be as effective in generating new dental patients, it’s a great way to reach out to existing ones.
Send automated emails to your dormant and uninsured patients
Automated emails are a great way to re-engage your uninsured and dormant patients. It's also the most cost effective. Consider sending emails with incentive-based offers, such as signing up to be a part of your dental membership plan. Kleer recently concluded an automated email marketing pilot with four geographically diverse practices that ran from January to July of 2023.
In that time practices yielded about a 55% increase in membership enrollment during the time of the email marketing campaign. Enabling them to bring in more revenue from their uninsured patient base.
When you work with Kleer, you work with the best.
Remember that no matter how large or small your practice is, any marketing efforts are better than none for your business. Ultimately marketing is a process, so you should test a few different methods to find out which works the best for you. Every campaign is a learning experience at the end of the day, whether successful or not!
We know your patients are your #1 priority and Kleer can easily automate your marketing to maximize their potential — with no effort required from your team. Plus, take advantage of the resources you’ll gain from the Kleer Membership Advantage, an exclusive partner ecosystem made up of marketing experts to help you create the perfect multi-channel marketing strategy for your practice.
When you get started with Kleer you can leverage all of these tools immediately to educate your staff and start advertising around your community. Marketing could be as simple as word of mouth, so never pass up an opportunity to mention your membership plan.
Kleer will be with you every step of the way to ensure your practice has a successful membership plan. To learn more, schedule your free consultation.
