Marketing for dental practices is often overlooked because most experts in digital marketing prefer to talk about general topics. But having a dental strategy for your online promotional efforts is crucial when you are a dentist.
Benefits of Content Marketing
Before jumping into the best techniques to use for content marketing, it is important to understand why it is so great in the first place. Here are some benefits of content marketing:
Improved Visibility: Your dental office and brand will be better recognized and will be getting more attention including coverage from independent outlets and blogs.
Provide Value to Patients: You will be turning your one-time customers into returning clients by providing value to them not just in the office but also in their email inbox and on your site.
Reach Your Audience: You will be able to reach the right audience and attract more customers by creating personalized content.
Boost Marketing Strategies: You will boost your other marketing strategies both online and offline.
Develop Relationships: You will grow and develop your customer and partner relationships.
Stand Out of The Crowd: You will stand out of the crowd because not many dental offices use content marketing to promote themselves.
Build Your Reputation: You will build a good reputation for your office and become more well-known in wider circles.
#1 Change Your Mentality
First and foremost, you need to change your mentality. You need to realize that you are not just a dentist – you are also an executive. You are the best person to promote your dental office and your brand, so you need to make sure that you understand that and get ready for the promotion. If you don’t change your mindset (“I am just a dentist, I can’t market my company”), you can’t change your approach to the matter.
So, how do you change your mind? First, consider the benefits of content marketing. It’s definitely worth the money, the time, and the attention you will spend on it. Second, you need to look at the tips in this article and other similar guides to realize that content marketing is actually not as difficult and complicated as it may seem at first. That’s when you’ll become more open and your mentality will change in the right way.
#2 Determine Your Target Audience
The second step includes determining your target audience. If you don’t know who your potential customers are, you won’t be able to create an effective and powerful content marketing strategy that will reach the right audience and help you acquire new clients. Moreover, you need to then segment your target audience to personalize your content and make it more impactful.
One way to determine your target audience is by checking your existing clients and conducting a customer survey to find out what the key features of your perfect customer are. Alternatively, you can conduct market research and look at your competitors to find a wider variety of potential customers who should be targeted in your content marketing campaigns.
#3 Try Different Techniques
One thing you need to remember about content marketing is that there is no one right way to do it, so you will need to explore and try different techniques to find what works for you. Content marketing can include anything from guest blogging to social media marketing to influencer marketing to SEO which is why it is so crucial to keep in mind all of these tactics and choose the most effective ones for your strategy.
As Angela Griffin from the writing services reviews site Online Writers Rating puts it, “Content marketing is simple… and then it’s very complicated. It doesn’t matter if you are a small business owner or a dentist or even a high-schooler trying to make a living online, you will need to learn the basics of content marketing and then use them to get what you want from your digital advertising efforts.”
#4 Write Engaging Articles
Perhaps the most important aspect of content marketing is the content itself. The most popular type of content is the articles. They can be written in different formats, can have different lengths, and can be published on different platforms which makes them incredibly versatile.
As a dentist, you may assume that there are not many topics to be covered that will interest your target audience, but people are surprisingly eager to learn about their own bodies and find new ways to stay healthy, especially nowadays. For example, some articles like “5 Foods That Have More Sugar Than You Thought” and “5 Most Popular Dental Procedures and How Much They Cost” can do very well as a part of your content marketing campaign.
#5 Develop Your FAQ
FAQs are some of the most overlooked elements of a business website despite being incredibly important for pretty much any business’s audience. Customers want and need to know the answers to their questions – but your customer support may not always be available to help them. Which is why an FAQ is a must.
Moreover, FAQs are considered an integral part of content marketing because they function somewhat similarly to articles and can have keywords that help your website rank higher in search results. You can even create an FAQ section on almost every page of your site (e.g. product FAQs, business contacts FAQs).
#6 Send Out Newsletters
Another essential part of your content marketing strategy is your newsletter. Email marketing can help you significantly increase your ROI, stay in touch with your potential and existing customers, and maintain good relationships with your clients. Besides, newsletters can have anything from news and updates to service and product launches.
As Keith Manchester from the custom writing reviews site Best Writers Online says, “Making a comprehensive dental newsletter will help you create a steady flow of valuable content delivered right to your customers – something most people prefer because of the easy way they can get all the important information.”
#7 Offer Free Guides and Reports
Last but not least, offering free content is also crucial for your content marketing campaigns. Not everyone is able to pay for premium content (e.g. if you have a paid newsletter by subscription), so free guides and reports can be a great alternative for your audience.
The guides can cover product tutorials but can also be used to explain the processes involved in dental care. The reports, on the other hand, are best utilized with statistics to show your potential customers that your dental office is a reputable one.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, content marketing is perfect for advertising your dental office, so you shouldn’t shy away from incorporating it into your advertising strategy. Use the tips in this article to create your own dental office marketing plan and start promoting your business.