As the world opens back up after the Covid-19 pandemic, the dental industry is entering unprecedented times. We’re planning a successful reopening for our dental practices. We’re crafting our marketing message to be more applicable to a post-coronavirus world. And we’re navigating new PPE requirements and putting other policies in place to protect our patients and team members.

All these additional requirements and sensitivities make it even more important to be efficient and effective with our marketing strategies. We need to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of all of our marketing efforts. Here are three ways to get better marketing results without having to spend more time and money on your marketing.

1. Involve your patients in your marketing.

Some of the best dental marketing campaigns are the ones that get your patients involved in spreading the word about your practice. At my practice, we like doing coloring contests, clothing drives, and thirty-day floss challenges with our patients.

Patient involved initiatives like these offer great ways to spread the word about your practice while building deeper relationships with current patients. 

To involve your patients in your marketing start by choosing a campaign that involves your patients. We’ll use a coloring contest as an example. You can give away free dental care or even gift cards to local shops for winners. Then, hang flyers around your practice so everyone who comes in can see what you are doing. Have your team members encourage patients to submit an entry to the coloring contest, too. In addition, send out emails to your patients about the contest to get patients who are not scheduled to come in involved.

As you get entries, share pictures of the entries on your Facebook page so all of your Facebook fans can see the camaraderie you have with your patients. And involve your team or Facebook fans in choosing a winner. You could even put all the entries on your Facebook page and hold a public contest where the pictures with the most likes and shares wins. That will make it so your patients share posts with their friends and family members and encourage them to interact with your Facebook content.

When we involve patients in our marketing, we create tremendous goodwill and excitement about our practice. People see our practices differently. And they spread the word to their family and friends.  And all that leads to spreading the word about your practice.

2. Get your community to market our practice for you.

It’s a lot easier than you think to get your community excited about what you’re doing in your practice. If you’re doing something like a Project Smile makeover competition or treating kids for free one Saturday, your community will likely be very excited to help you spread the word. And the fastest and easiest way to do that is to do a Facebook Live letting people know what you’re doing.

When done correctly, you can have thousands of people in your community seeing and sharing your message. Just start a Facebook live, introduce yourself, let people know what your practice is known for, and tell them what you’re up to. Then ask them to take part and spread the word. Your energy and authenticity will go a long way to ensuring they share your message with their friends and family 

After you record your Facebook Live, share the link with your patients by email and ask them to get involved, too. As they watch and share your content, your reach will continue to grow.

3. Think through what great experiences you’re providing for patients in your practice.

If you’re giving patients amazing experiences your marketing can get even easier. For example, in my practice, one of our primary goals is to ensure patients leave feeling pampered. When they arrive, we give them a tour of our practice. We show them our core values. We let them know what we’re known for. We show them new technology, safety measures, and more. We also give them warm peppermint-scented towels to wash their faces and give them gourmet coffees and teas. 

Of course, we also provide top-quality dental care on top of all the benefits and amenities After all that, our patients frequently tell us how much they look forward to coming to the dentist. Imagine that! 

At the end of each appointment, we ask patients, “How was your experience today?” When they let us know it was amazing, we ask, “Would you be willing to do a quick video to share that experience? There are so many people who are afraid of going to the dentist, it just might change someone’s life.”

You might be surprised by how many people say yes. When they record a video, we can then share it on social media and to our patients by email. 

By giving amazing experiences everyone wins. Our practice becomes more enjoyable for us and our patients. And we get patients regularly recording videos encouraging people to come to our practice. While us telling people why our practice is so special is helpful, patients telling them is even more helpful

Are you struggling to market your practice?

If you’re struggling to market your practice, patient participation, community involvement, and experience enhancement might be what you need to start marketing like a boss.

If you’re looking for training or coaching for your team to accelerate your growth, click here to learn more.