Why Digital Marketing Is Important For Dentists

Has your dental practice hopped on the digital marketing bandwagon? If not, here's what you could be missing out on.

Brand Awareness

The purpose of any marketing campaign– digital or otherwise– is to increase brand awareness. Both online and traditional marketing does a good job of creating brand awareness, however, digital marketing generally edges out the competition thanks to society's increasing use of technology.

HubSpot points out some staggering statistics:

• 86% of people find the location of a business using Google Maps.
• Voice search is estimated to grow to $40 billion in revenue by the year 2022.
• Over 46% of people check their smartphone before they get out of bed.
• There are more than 2.38 billion Facebook users worldwide.
• Over 500 million people use Instagram daily and there are over 1 billion active accounts.

Reduced Marketing Costs

The cost of digital marketing is much lower than traditional marketing. WebFX reports that, on average, the cost of television ads is about $342,000 for a 30-second spot, the cost of newspaper ads is $113,000, and the cost of telemarketing is $51.40 per order. Meanwhile, the cost of pay-per-click ads (PPC) is $0.05 to $3.00 per qualified visitor, and the cost of search engine optimization and web content marketing could be free in the right hands and situation. 

Higher ROI

As a result of reduced advertising costs across the board, online marketing's ROI tends to be on the (much) higher side. It generally costs much less to get a digital marketing campaign up and running and start attracting new patients to your dental practice than it does to put an ad out in the newspaper or send out direct mail. If you're only paying a few cents per lead instead of hundreds of dollars, your profit margin could increase significantly.

Granular Marketing

One of the reasons that traditional marketing costs so much is because it gets your ad out in front of thousands and potentially even millions of people. This may sound like a winning strategy, but in many cases, it's not. Television, radio, direct mail, and telemarketing ads are distributed to a passive audience. You may be marketing to thousands of people, but many of them aren't even considering dental services. Your audience is often larger with traditional marketing, but fewer people are actually paying attention.

With digital marketing, you're able to get much more granular with your ads. This means that you can show ads more easily to your target market– people who are already interested in your services. For example, Facebook sponsored ads allow you to select the geographical region, gender, income, and interests of who you want to see your ad in their news feeds. As a result, your marketing efforts may become more precise and effective.

Accurate Analytics

A critical component of any marketing campaign is analytics. How are you measuring if your ads are working? When it comes to traditional marketing, these figures are much harder to calculate. For example, it's next to impossible to get more than general data for billboards other than how much traffic goes by each day. Determining how many appointments were a direct result of the billboard ad can be difficult and can usually only be done by surveying patients as they come into your office.

Digital marketing tools allow you to capture accurate, real-time analytics about how users are interacting with your ads, your website, and your other online marketing efforts. You can easily find out which ads are bringing in leads and which ones aren't, so you can funnel your budget into the most effective campaigns.

Lead Nurturing

Many forms of traditional advertising don't allow you to nurture your leads well. Billboards, television ads, and radio spots come at consumers but don't often engage them. If a consumer becomes interested in your practice because of a billboard ad, you have no way to answer their questions until they reach out and contact you. Online marketing allows you to create lead nurturing campaigns that give consumers the information they need right when they need it, so you can take an active part in leading them through the buyer's journey.

Are You Marketing Your Dental Practice to New Patients Online?

If your dental practice isn't budgeting for digital marketing or developing strategies to make the most of low-cost, high-return online marketing tactics, you may need to rethink your approach. Digital marketing for dentists is growing and you can likely guarantee that your competition is marketing online. You should be, too.

About Treloar & Heisel

Treloar & Heisel is a premier financial services provider to dental and medical professionals across the country. We assist thousands of clients from residency to practice and through retirement with a comprehensive suite of financial services, custom-tailored advice, and a strong national network focused on delivering the highest level of service.

Treloar & Heisel and Treloar & Heisel Risk Management are divisions of Treloar & Heisel, LLC.

Insurance products are offered through Treloar & Heisel, LLC.

Treloar & Heisel, LLC. and its divisions do not offer marketing advice. Please consult a professional concerning these topics.