Quality dental office marketing ideas really begins with a dental marketing strategy. There are thousands of marketing ideas for dental offices, but without the right strategy they rarely work. So 
before we examine some dental marketing ideas, consider the importance of executing a marketing strategy:
- To reach the correct target patient you need a strategy to make sure your ideas reach the right person. Your target patient may value a unique service you perform, perhaps relate to your belief about prevention, or charity you support. Or, it may be as simple as proximity to practice, place of employment or friendly staff. The best way to find your ideal target patient is to examine your database and see which patients refer you, pay on time, and follow your prescribed treatment. Then survey them to see why they value you.
- It is better to be different than to be better. You need to be different than other practices that offer the same services. This can appear like a difficult task, but when you survey why your patient’s value you, it should become a common theme. Look at your competition; see how they position themselves to be different and do something different. As a bonus, you may pick up some really good ideas.
- When you establish who your ideal patient is, develop a message that resonates with them and starts to brand your practice difference by using these messages in all of your marketing efforts, under logos, on business cards etc… You can create a lot of ideas to attract more of this market, once you know who to reach.
Hopefully, now you understand why you need a marketing strategy before you are able come up with solid dental office marketing ideas. Otherwise, you may be putting your ladder on the wrong wall and reaching less than ideal patients. Such as a Groupon cleaning discount that attracts hordes of appointments that redeem the coupon, take up valuable chair time, stress the staff and never come back.
You have a much better chance to come up with marketing ideas for dental offices that are effective once you have a target patient description. Remember marketing is strategic, and advertising is tactical. Next, you need to find a medium that matches your target patient.
When people search for dental office marketing ideas they are probably looking for new patients and would be better off searching for dental advertising ideas. None the less, here is a list of 10 dental office marketing ideas (advertising) to consider:
- Email your patients weekly dental tips
- Start a referral program to rewards patients for their referrals (ex. Starbucks gift card or movie tickets)
- Send press releases to local media to notify the public about staff changes, new procedures or services
- Direct mail your patient base and offer a free dental checkup if they bring in a friend
- Use keywords in a blog post to show up for certain terms to reach interested patients
- Make a video introducing your staff to help prospects become more comfortable with your practice
- Use Facebook or Twitter to post fun dental facts to patients - to share with their friends.
- When starting up or moving, consider location and signage, to build awareness with drive by traffic
- Run ads in local newspapers or magazines to target a specific community
- Use patient testimonials in local search directories
In summary, we must remember when it comes to dental marketing ideas; it is wise to remember the quote from Sun Tzu: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Use the following program to help refer more patients to your office, "Notecard dental referral program":
