Dental Marketing Myths You Should Ignore

June 19, 2019, My Digital Dentistry

Can you think of business sectors that are more competitive than dentistry today? If you can, then that would probably be a pretty short list because as far as competitiveness is concerned, dentistry is right there at or near the top.

Look around your city, and you will probably see a dental practice office in every corner. The more of them in operation, the more the competition becomes intense. After all, they are targeting practically the same people to become their patients, and they are, in all likelihood, implementing a variety of dental marketing strategies to win that contest over everyone else.

Whether you’re practicing regular dentistry or cosmetic dentistry, you know that you need to engage in online dental marketing to get a leg up on the competition. However, you need to be a bit more discerning with your tactics and strategies because dental marketing myths abound, and you could be falling for them right now just like many other practicing dentists. Here are some of those dental marketing myths you should ignore.

You can run successful dental marketing campaigns on a tiny budget
There is some truth to this myth, but only if you have an entire city or town to yourself or with at least one or two other dental offices.

However, as stated earlier, there seems to be a significant uptick in the number of dental professionals establishing their practices. What’s more, these same dentists are not skimping on their dental marketing campaigns. Whether they’re employing traditional means of marketing their business or sallying forth with digital campaigns, these dental practices are going all out in their efforts to get more people to come through their doors.

In an industry as competitive as dentistry, a bigger marketing budget would serve a dental practice better. Spending for PPC advertising, for example, will typically require more spending on the dentist’s part, but the results in terms of traffic will be so much faster compared to the months of waiting that you will have to do if you stick to regular, organic, and cheaper SEO.

The results of online dental marketing come instantly
It’s but normal for companies offering SEO services to toot their own horn a little bit, but if you hear them bragging about having provided instant results to its other clients, then consider yourself being scammed into hiring them because there is no such thing as instant results in the world of organic SEO.

Quick results are possible, especially if you go for PPC advertising, but SEO and other online dental marketing approaches need some time before significant results come in.

Come to think of it, no one marketing technique, dental or otherwise, is in a position to promise instant results. After all, other factors impact your rate of success, including location, prevailing market conditions, the degree of your online presence, and how fast you can adapt to the ever-evolving digital environment.

Word-of-mouth is tops
Let’s be clear about something: Word-of-mouth is a pretty potent way to get a buzz going about anything, including your dental practice. Once a patient talks to other people how exceptional your dental services are, they will likely repeat what they heard, and that’s great for your practice.

Word-of-mouth, however, just isn’t enough to get your name out there at a level that will attract as many patients as possible. Because even if people hear about your practice from someone, you cannot assume that they will believe it. In all likelihood, they are going to do some due diligence online. That means they will have to read content—whether official information from your website or online reviews from former patients—that will confirm or belie what they have heard about your practice.

What we’re saying is that while good word-of-mouth is beneficial, it would be more effective if it works side-by-side with a well-conducted digital dental marketing campaign, which will provide the information people need when doing their research.

Just hire a dental marketing company and forget all about it
Dental professionals these days can consider themselves fortunate that there is now a myriad of companies specializing in dental marketing that can help them get the word out about their practices.

However, just hiring a dental marketing company and letting them do all the work won’t cut it.

If you want to maximize your results, you need to work closely with them. They will need your input from time to time to fine-tune a campaign. And if they’re marketing your practice as a service-oriented business, make sure your staff is as helpful as possible when answering phone inquiries. Your billing should also be up to par so your dental marketing team can credibly trumpet it in their campaigns.

When hiring a dental marketing company, you must think of it as a partnership in order to get the best possible results.

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