Showcase your practice via YouTube
Last week, we looked at how Twitter can help dental practices. So what about YouTube, the video channel network where people can share video content online?
YouTube is an ideal way to visually promote your dental or orthodontic practice as you can provide a video showcasing your wonderful facilities. You can introduce your practice to patients, explain your approach to treatment and importantly, you can feature real patient testimonials. Website statistics reveal that prospective patients like to view what other other patients say about your practice before they pick up the phone to book an appointment.
A little more on YouTube. It is owned by Google and is considered to be the second largest search engine (as you can search for videos on it) behind Google. Google currently owns approx. 90% of the search engine market in the UK and it likes social media because it shows you are continually active online. This means that your social media pages are likely to appear near the top of search results, making it easier for people to find your dental practice.
By embedding your practice video into your website, this will help optimise the website for search engines such as Google that highly value video content on sites. This will push your website higher up search engine rankings.
For examples of how we have helped ortho and dental practices maximise the value of their practice videos on YouTube, contact us.
To tweet or not to tweet…….
…..that is the question. Twitter is a micro message instant chat network that is growing fast, with 0.5 million new users every day. But does it hold value for dental practices?
Well yes, it simply provides another way for patients, dentists, nurses, practice managers and others to keep in touch. As part of their social media strategy, dental practices can set up a Twitter profile and post updates for people to follow in their own Twitter stream. This means you can quickly send news about the practice, appointment availability and new treatments to a large number of people. It is also potentially a great place to interact with your patients and prospective patients, helping you to provide better customer service.
Keep your tweets chatty and relevant. It might be that a new tropical fish tank is being installed in the waiting area today or that Reception area has been refurbished or that a new fresh coffee machine has arrived - something that says that you are investing in the patient experience at your practice.
As with Facebook, it is easy for followers to share content that is of interest with their friends and family, which will quickly spread your news much further. Over time this should encourage more people to use the dental practice.
For more information and tips on how to make the most of twitter, contact us.
Social Media – is it worth it for dental practices?
It’s an overwelming “yes” if you are looking to build your patient base and engage with your current patients.
Firstly, the sheer volume of people, including your patients, that use this form of communication. Did you know that over half the UK population are on social media? It is currently ranked the fourth most popular activity on the internet (above email).
Four of the most well known ones – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn offer your dental practice the best opportunity to reach the people you want at your practice.
The primary and most well known social media platform is Facebook. There are approximately 800 million members worldwide. 100 million of those are active on the site every day, keeping in touch with friends and family.
Dental practices can set up a Facebook Page where updates on the activities taking place at the practice can be posted. For example, latest dental news, booking availability, and special offers could all be added to the Page. Useful information such as top tips on how to look after your teeth could also be posted, as could information on more specialist type of treatments. A person can share content they particularly like with friends and family. Potentially this content could then go viral (spread fast) within Facebook.
A Facebook Page offers existing patients the opportunity to “like” the page and follow it for updates. These updates will then appear on their personal Facebook profiles where their friends and family may also see them. In addition, Facebook Ad campaigns (pay per click adverts) can be run that target particular age groups and locations. These will gain further likes for the Facebook Page. Over time, all these activities may draw new people to your dental practice as they become aware of the range of services you provide.
For advice from our Social Media specialist, Chris Wood, contact us.
For information on our range of social media training and support packages.
Active patient retention. It’s a must for survival and growth
If you are finding it hard to attract new patients cost effectively and many practices are, it’s even more crucial that dental practices have patient retention initiatives and systems in place. Reactivation or recall are terms often used to describe encouraging patients back in for an appointment.
Before doing any reactivation with your patient list it’s important to understand how many patients you have on your books and which of these segments they fall into.
Divide your patient list into 1. patients (they have come in for treatment in the last say 12 months), 2. dormants (they last had an appointment between 13 - 24 months ago - maybe because they haven’t got round to booking an appointment or money is a bit tight or they simply haven’t been reminded!) and 3. lapsed patients (24 months + ago and your practice is now well and truly off their radar, they may have defected to another practice for all treatments or they have simply not been to any dentist in that time).
A few insights from our experience:
1. What you send, email, text or say to your patients should be different according to which segment they are in.
2. Contacting your dormants with meaningful updates (on new treatments, new practice news, a simple appointment reminder, a birthday card, a voucher or whatever it takes to gain an appointment) will definitely bring patients in.
3. Don’t give up on lapsed patients. Test trying to win them back and by test I mean, take a sample, say 50 or 100, and contact them
4. Measure your reactivation activity and what works best
5. Contact your patients regularly. Maintain and build your relationship with them. After all, a happy patient is an advocate and a source of referrals for your practice
6. Last but not least, patients coming from your own patient list are always the lowest cost source of fee income for a dental practice
For a review of your patient management policies and procedures, contact us
Dentists can obtain finance for Marketing
With many dental practices having spent considerable sums of money upgrading their premises for CQC annd HTM purposes, the pot may be largely empty for other vital areas of investment. Marketing falls into that category.
With the banks applying stringent criteria for capital expentiture loans, it’s safe to say that practice Principals may not be aware that that finance can be made available for working capital, which can be used for essential marketing investment. Whether a new or upgraded website that will deliver patient enquiries and appointments, proven advertising tactics that have worked or other forms of marketing where a significant ROI can be confidently predicted, it is possible to raise funds.
Sure, the sums involved need to be of reasonable size, say £5 – £10k or more, but it’s an option for dentists looking to launch a practice, build awareness quickly, promote new treatments or clinicians, increase their patient numbers significantly or attract highvalue cases.
So, who can provide the finance? LDF specialise in finance and unsecured loans for dentists and other professions. Go to www.ldf.co.uk/professions
To find out more on how to invest the money wisely, contact us.
Outdoor media can work really well for dentists
Just to demonstrate that marketing in the “new economy” isn’t just about on-line, text, instant messaging and social media, in a recent campaign for a dental practice promoting implants it achieved a three fold return on investment within one week in a 6 sheet bus shelter poster campaign.
As well as building awareness, the real acid test is response and new cases, in this instance, high value cases. The keys to success are well positioned sites where heavy traffic is always slow moving, simple stand-out creative and BIG call-to-action (telephone number and web address).
Of course, mentioning when the posters are going up in a Tweet won’t do any harm!
For advice on outdoor media contact us
Dental Business Growth Workshop
Steve Davey and Pree Panchmatia, renowned dental business and marketing specialists, are hosting a FREE half day practical workshop (worth £395) on 17th May in London’s West End.
Yes, it is free, but this valuable session is likely to appeal only to ambitious and entrepreneurial practice owners who are committed to substantial business growth.
Entitled ‘What is the real ‘hidden wealth’ in your practice, and how can you release it?’, it enables dental practice owners to address the following questions: -
- How can I best maximise my profitability?
- What are the best and safest ways to slash my business and personal taxes?
- Why patients should beat a path to my practice rather than another?
- What are the best ways of getting a steady stream of my ideal patients?
- How can I get revitalised to enjoy my dentistry again, make more and work less?
The Workshop is designed specifically for and will appeal to principals and associates who know they can and should be enjoying significantly more profit and enjoyment from their businesses. It offers very practical solutions and strategies to deal with the increasing demands of rising costs, staff turnover, CQC etc and will be an invaluable investment of your time.
Pree Panchmatia specialises in business growth and financial planning and advises dental practices on how to maximize the effectiveness of the team to engage patients and improve revenue. Steve Davey specialises in all aspects of marketing the practice to achieve best ROI – to include new patient acquisition, maximizing your patient list and helping you introduce additional treatments.
Their combined approach ensures dental practices and other sector businesses receive a unique mix of skills and over 45 years experience in helping businesses improve their profitability.
To reserve your place or more information, call 0845 287 3051 or email steve@smiledentalmarketing.co.uk
Smile Marketing opens office overseas!
Dental marketing specialists, Smile Marketing, are proud to announce a new office in Guernsey. As part of its expansion plan, the agency recently opened the office to serve its clients on the Channel Islands.
The agency feels that it can help dentists in the Channel Islands to increase patient numbers and improve fee revenues. The new office is located in St Sampson and enables Smile Marketing to support private practices as they develop their businesses within a competitive market.
The move is part of the agency’s strategy to make dental marketing a recognised specialised service across the country. It recognises that the dentistry profession presents marketing challenges such as trying to communicate clinical information to patients. As dental marketing specialists, dental practices can feel assured that this is done in an accurate yet accessible way.
Steve Davey, MD, says:
“As part of our UK growth strategy, we wanted to ensure all parts of the UK have access to specialist marketing skills and experience. Supporting the Channel Islands’ dental community is a natural extension of our services”.
Smile Marketing now has offices in Devon, London and the Channel Islands, with other branches scheduled for the Midlands, the North West, the North East, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Telephone: 0845 287 3051
Smile Marketing Ltd., Transport House, Commercial Road, St. Sampsons, Guernsey, GY2 4QP
Lifetime Of Smiles!
In addition to the services already offered, Smile Marketing is now also providing educational literature for dental practices.
Our aim is to give you the tools for you to provide your patients with practical advice to maintain their oral health between visits to your practice.
Our Lifetime of Smiles brochures guide patients through dental care and target each age group individually. The set comprises of four different booklets:
- Caring for your first teeth
- Oral health for teenagers
- Caring for adult teeth
- Tooth and gum care for the over 50’s
Click each image to access a larger picture.
The brochures are an opportunity for you to extend your professional service- supporting patients after they have left your practice and communicating with them in the comfort of their own homes.
Keeping a step ahead…
Smile Marketing are always looking out for new information about services offered by dentists and changes and advances in dentistry- keeping aware of what we may encounter via our clients is all part of our service!
On a recent foray into the Dental News section of a UK-based website, I found an article about progress in tooth-reattachment. I won’t pretend to understand the complexities of it (it is Friday!), but in summary:
the University of Illinois in Chicago have used stem cells from molars to form new ligament fibres and cementum- both of which are the basis of healthy tooth attachment
It never ceases to amaze me what the combination of dentists’ knowledge and technology can achieve. This makes our job even more rewarding, as we are able to share both established and newly-acquired skills held by practising dentists with potential and existing patients. After all of the hard work put into learning and updating the art of dentistry, opportunities to exercise them should be maximised!