Orthodontist marketing tips every local practice needs
As an orthodontist, it’s your job to help make neighbors in your area smile. More business for you, means more smiles in your area.
If you are starting a dental practice and want to grow your client base, start by building your orthodontist marketing strategy.
Marketing is more than advertising; —it’s the process of communicating your value to new and existing clients. Everything from handing out business cards to reaching neighbors with regular posts on Nextdoor can help boost your local business.
With holistic marketing in mind, try these 8 orthodontist marketing tips for you and your practice
#1 Solidify your branding
Before you put yourself out there, you need to understand how your business is represented and communicates with your audience.
Many local business owners find it helpful to begin a brand brainstorming session thinking about the big picture of what you want your business to accomplish and why. Consider listing ideas for-
- Your vision
- Your values
- Your mission
- Your goals
- Brand voice and personality
Exploring these concepts, look for patterns as you define a “North Star” that will guide all your business and marketing decisions
While your vision and values can be strictly internal, you can also share them with your clients. That’s what the team at Lathrop Family Orthodontics in Portland, OR, did. The local orthodontic practice created an “Our Philosophy” page on their website that tells clients who they are and their commitment to patients
Visual brand elements you need include:
- A logo
- A slogan
- A color scheme and one or two fonts
Consider partnering with a local agency or designer for professional branding that grows along with your practice
#2 Identify your target ideal patient
No orthodontist’s marketing plan is complete without market research. Now that you know what your dental practice represents, you known who you want to reach. To determine your target market, think about your ideal orthodontic patient and list the following info
- Age
- Income or budget
- Family makeup
- Dental history
- Orthodontic needs
- Insurance coverage
Crafting effective messaging and digital marketing will be with your future patients in focus.
#3 Revamp your website
With what to say and who your audience is it’s time to say it. Every local orthodontist should consider creating a website.
- Services you provide
- About or “Meet the Team” section
- Phone number, address, business hours, and contact form
- FAQ for new patients
- Portal for booking appointments
A digital option for booking can help increase appointment by making booking the experience as straightforward as possible. Windy City Orthodontics in Chicago, IL added a live chat feature to their website, making it easy for orthodontic patients to schedule appointments, ask questions, and more.
#4 Stay active online
A professional, easy-to-navigate website will help your orthodontics practice make a strong first impression. Keep building trust in your practice and with your community with a digital presence that extends to social media networks future patients frequent.
- Create a free Nextdoor business page – With a local office, your business’s neighbors are all potential patients. Reach them on Nextdoor, where 1 in 3 US households are active. When you set up your free page, you unlock an instant following of confirmed neighbors to your business, free posts to introduce yourself to them, and easy-to-use advertising tools to reach any ZIP code in your area.
- Post to social media – Help patients get to know you, your practice, and your team by sharing your story, regular business updates, and even photos or videos on the social media platforms your target audience are on.
- Try email marketing – Stay in touch with patients through an email or SMS service that can send automatic appointment reminders, invoices, and monthly newsletters that keep you – and good oral hygiene – top-of-mind.
- Start a blog – Blogging about your expertise provides value to patients beyond orthodontic treatment. Plus, when you follow search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, each blog post offers another way for clients to find you through with a simple search.
- Try guest blogging – You can also share your expertise by writing for other publications, where you can funnel readers to your website through in-article backlinks.
#5 Share patient recommendations
Positive reviews from past clients or before and after photos of your best dental work can help get the word out about you and your practice. When prospective patients see that others have had a phenomenal experience with you, they may be more likely to book with you. More than 70% of people look to online reviews before committing to a healthcare provider, and 76% of neighbors have been influenced by a recommendation they saw on Nextdoor.
So, how do you collect recommendations from satisfied patients? Consider:
- Creating a “Share your experience” section on your website
- Including a link to your Nextdoor page in your newsletter or on your social media or blog
- Putting paper forms or a tablet with a digital survey in your waiting room
- Asking new patients if they’d be willing to share their thoughts after their appointment
Once you have glowing reviews and permission to share them, do so on your website and social media. Respond to recommendations on Nextdoor and post to your feed for neighbors to see what other local patients have to say.
#7 Provide free consultations
Orthodontic work can be an investment for patients with or without insurance. Free consultations make your services more accessible to prospective patients.
Owasso Orthodontics, —a small-scale practice based in Owasso, OK draws in new clients with keeping a “Complimentary Consultation” button at the top of their site.
Moody Orthodontics in Austin, TX, even offers virtual consultations with a few selfies to receive recommended services.
Offering a complimentary consultation is another way to help prospective patients get to know you and your orthodontics office. Tell neighbors about this option in a free post on Nextdoor or in an ad campaign to ZIP codes you want to reach.
#8 Network with other dental professionals
Patients will often visit an orthodontist at the recommendation of their general dentist. Become a go-to local orthodontist in your area through building relationships with dentists in your community.
You may be able to connect with dentists and other orthodontists by:
- Attending local events
- Going to dental conferences
- Joining existing online groups
- Creating a group on Nextdoor
By following tips above, you also help your orthodontic practice make a good first impression with other dental professionals.
Local marketing is easy with Nextdoor
Even taking small steps to establish and improve your digital marketing can bring big results to your dental practice.
Start your orthodontics marketing locally, where most of your patients will be.
With Nextdoor, local marketing and advertising is easy for neighborhood businesses. When you claim your free Nextdoor Business Page, you instantly become a part of network of engaged neighbors. You’ll have a hyperlocal platform to tell your story, provide expert advice to new and existing patients, and gather recommendations from your top supporters.
Nextdoor Ads , you can help expand your network even further. With complete control over your audience targets and daily ad spend budget, you can easily introduce yourself to thousands of neighbors—no door-to-door marketing campaign required.
Sources:
GlobeNewswire. New Research Finds That Over 70% of Consumers Read Online Reviews When Considering a New Doctor. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/02/08/2380830/0/en/New-Research-Finds-That-Over-70-of-Consumers-Read-Online-Reviews-When-Considering-a-New-Doctor.html
HubSpot. What Does It Mean to Offer a Frictionless Customer Experience? https://blog.hubspot.com/service/frictionless-customer-experience
