Advertising is a great way to reach potential patients, but it can come at a cost. While many dental practices successfully use ad platforms like Facebook and Google to reach potential patients, these platforms are increasingly expensive.
So how can smaller dental practices with limited budgets compete with established, larger brands?
Here are some platforms you can try if you’re looking to advertise for new patients, but don’t want to spend as much as your high-budget competitors.
Bing, a search engine, provides the opportunity to pay for ads that appear alongside organic search results to help you expand your reach to relevant searchers.
In a nutshell, you’ll create an ad and then make a bid for a certain keyword. The higher your bid amount on a keyword, the more likely you are to appear for certain matched search queries and, in turn, have someone click through to your website while using Bing’s search engine.
Bing Ads runs on a pay-per-click system similar to that of Google’s. While Bing is used less than Google overall with just 37.2% of the world’s search engine traffic, 60% of its searches are for product research, 55% have graduated from college, and 42% have a household income in the top 25% of the United States. This means that Bing could send more qualified individuals to your website at a fraction of the cost of Google.
AdRoll is a company with a network of partner websites that show display ads to consumers as they navigate online. You can create images or videos that will attract and engage potential patients as they’re browsing other websites.
In addition, as AdRoll itself explains: “AdRoll is ideal for growing your brand recognition because it allows you to advertise on networks that aren't a part of Google's display network.”
AdRoll also lets you refine your targeting based on someone’s age, location, and other demographic information, so you’re able to reach your ideal potential patients in your service area.
Pinterest is a visual social network that supports ads for a smaller cost than other networks, such as Facebook.
Pinterest ads allow you to show appealing imagery, like someone’s smile and healthy teeth, as someone browses the social network. This can engage people who are looking to learn more about oral health, looking for a new dentist, or looking for related topics.
You can also narrow your audience on Pinterest based on their interests — which are both selected by the user and suggested from the platform’s algorithm — and their demographic information.
In addition, it was reported that people in rural areas use Pinterest more than people in urban areas, making this a unique opportunity for dental practices in rural areas to find and connect with their audience.
While advertising is a great way to grow your audience, it’s not the only way to get new patients. For example, you can:
Each of these topics (and more) are covered in our guide, Strategies To Grow Your Dental Practice Patient List. Access it today to help grow your dental practice!
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