Managing any kind of business or practice means a lot of work, but one of the hardest things to do effectively is marketing your business. Unfortunately, in the era of smartphones and social media, newspaper ads and flyers just won’t cut it, and marketing is more than just creating a website and social media account.
The first thing you need to consider before marketing your business is what your practice has to offer. Not just that, but ask yourself “What makes my practice stand out?” If the first thing that comes to mind is that you care about your patients or give them one-on-one care, it isn’t as special as you think it may be. In fact, you and every other dentist probably have a similar, if not the same, answer.
Fortunately, with learning comes growth, and whether you’ve just opened up your practice or are finding new ways to expand your reach, here’s how to leverage your business for growth and success.
Have the Right Team
In any medical practice, having the right people in your team can make a whole world of difference. This is why it’s important to invest time in the hiring process and make sure that you’re hiring the cream of the crop. Doing this will help you find the best people for your team and also help you save money. This is because investing in your employees will encourage them to stay, saving you from additional costs such as training expenses for new hires.
It may take a lot of time and effort to go through each application, but you’ll thank yourself for taking more time to do so in the long run.
Offer Unique and Quality Service
Finding what sets you apart from your competitors is important in any kind of business. And for orthodontic practices, being aware of what makes your practice unique can help you expand and attract more customers. There are many different ways to make your practice unique, from offering more efficient solutions such as lab-made orthodontic aligners, personalized newsletters, or even social media pages that allow you to interact with your patients virtually.
It also helps to offer different payment methods like cash, debit, credit, and personal check, as patients are likely to accept treatment if they have a variety of payment options. If your budget allows, you can also consider offering flexible financial options for patients who may not be able to shoulder all the expenses at once.
Form a Bond with Your Patients
Providing quality service is easier when you get to know your patients, and they’ll appreciate you for putting in the effort. Getting to know your patients means remembering their names, wishing them a happy birthday, and even asking them about their family. Taking your patient care to the next level by keeping up with the parts of their personal lives that they share with you will set your services apart, emphasizing a less transactional relationship with the patients you care for.
Use New Marketing Strategies
In the age of the digital economy, where people expect on-demand service and information, making use of digital marketing strategies can help you attract new patients, and allow existing patients to stay updated with the latest news about your practice and any new services you’re offering.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media plays a critical role in all our lives and is a platform where people can communicate with each other easily. Take advantage of this by creating social media accounts that contain interesting content that can help patients stay up-to-date with any changes and communicate with your office especially in these uncertain times. Creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram also allows you to interact with your patients and outside of the office.
Optimize Your Search Engine Presence
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is an important tool to help your business grow organically. While paid advertisements can also help you widen your reach, search engines drive a majority of online traffic. SEO can be hard to understand at first, but simply put, it involves understanding the usage of keywords in content that people are searching for and what kind of content people want to consume.
Implement Technology into Your Business
As technology continues to advance, adding equipment and other gadgets to make your business more efficient is more budget and user-friendly than it used to be. And with more people continuing to work from home, online services are as popular as ever. Consider offering online consultations that allow you to examine your patients at a safe distance before asking them to visit the office for a closer inspection or in case of a procedure.
It’s important to remember that all businesses are different, and what works for others may not necessarily work for you. And while it’s going to be a difficult and at times tedious road to find which strategies work and which ones don’t, these strategies can make your journey to success a little easier.
