It feels strange to even think that word-of-mouth marketing used to be the main source of attracting new patients for many dentists. It’s not that word-of-mouth marketing is not a good source of lead generation, but it can’t be the only source of getting new patients. Haven’t we learnt anything from the quote “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket?”
Digital revolution has completely changed the way of promoting and advertising a dental practice. There are different forms of ads – social media ads, Google ads, display ads, native ads, influencer ads and many more. It’s a good way of diversifying your ad budget money as well.
Running ads on these channels is not a tough thing. That’s why everyone is doing it. Many even by themselves without any outside help. But what is tough here is getting results or getting positive returns on your investment. The people who belong to this category are not that many.
That’s why today we are going to figure out what kind of mistakes dental practices make while running their online ads and what they can do to make their digital ads more effective.
6 Easy Fixes For Common Dental Advertising Mistakes
Here are the six common dental advertising mistakes that many are making alongwith their fixes:
Mistake 1) Not Doing 360 Degree Marketing
To increase the effectiveness of your advertising, you have to make sure that all your marketing efforts are in sync. All the digital channels are directly or indirectly connected with each other.
Let’s say Ms. Y sees your ad. She clicks on it and is taken to your website. She finds your social media handle there. So, she clicks on your Instagram channel. She finds a post about your Twitter there, she clicks on that and is taken to your Twitter channel.
On your Twitter, you have shared an article where you’re applauded for your good dental services. She goes back to your website and contacts you.
She has taken many jumps in this scenario.
Website -> Instagram -> Twitter -> Article -> Website
If the marketing wasn’t so smooth, there were chances of losing her at every jump she took. Maybe she found your Instagram has nothing interesting to say or maybe you have shared some views that she doesn’t believe in. Many things could have gone wrong if it was not for 360degree marketing.
Marketing fix to mistake 1
All your digital channels are important. Even if they seem like they are not bringing you any web traffic, they are still contributing in their own ways.
A customer sees your brands at least 7 times before they become interested in you. For those 7 perfect impressions, you have to perfect your image everywhere your audience likes to hand out.
Mistake 2) Spending Budget on Wrong Location
We all get tempted when it comes to picking target locations for our ads. Who doesn’t want to reach more people?
“Maybe I’ll be able to attract patients from that distant neighborhood and they will like my work so much that they wouldn’t mind driving for an hour to come to my office.”
“If I can get 3 leads every week from my neighborhood, imagine what will happen if I increase the diameter of my target market.”
Many have made the exact same mistake and it is one of the most common dental digital advertising mistakes, so you could learn from them without spending even a single dime.
Marketing fix to mistake 2
Spend more time understanding your audience. Don’t assume that they will travel an hour to get dental treatment from you. If you’re still very sure, I’ll suggest you do a little market research to understand if they feel the same way.
You will have to invest a little money in the research but it will save a lot of wasted ad budget in the long run.
The rule of thumb for dental advertising is that once you cross 5miles from your office, it’s going to get tougher and tougher to attract new patients. If you’re in a big city, there are high chances that this radius can decrease. As bigger cities generally have more competition and also people prefer the convenience of going to a nearby dental office.
I live in Brooklyn. For my dental appointments, I liked keeping it simple and preferred a place where I don’t have to take a subway.
In rural areas, this radius can go up. Rural areas don’t have many amenities available. Many times it’s just one or two dental offices for the entire city.
Mistake 3) Ignoring Your Online reputation
One thing dentists need to guard more than anything in their business is their online reputation. We take what we say and do online very lightly, but one wrong word can take your reputation on a spin. One of the most common dental digital advertising mistakes is not looking into online reputation.
Additionally, everyone likes to check reviews before deciding to see a dentist. If the reviews are not managed well, they can drive away many potential new patients.
Marketing fix to mistake 3
Search your practice’s name online and see what kind of results you see. If you see everything positive and good, you are doing a great job. But if you see negative reviews, bad articles written by others about your practice, then you need to do something about it.
You can start by introspecting whether those articles are right or not. If people are complaining that the receptionist is rude at your office. Maybe you want to deal with that situation rather than ignoring it.
I’m not saying that you should have 100% positive reviews. That’s not possible. You can not please everyone. But you should always spend time analyzing if there is any truth to what your patients are saying. If they are facing any kind of inconvenience, it’s your job to fix it.
If your reputation is not as good as it should be, you can go for rebranding. It is a little expensive but worth it.
Mistake 4) Mistake Not Reading Your Data
Data? It’s the one that makes us all sleepy and that’s why we are always trying to ignore it.
“I’ve had inquiry calls from two people today. I am certain our ads are working.”
Don’t make this mistake. You have everything right in front of you – everything you want to know about your ads, your audience and how they are interacting with your ads. Maybe you have received two calls today but the kind of money you’re spending should have brought you 15 calls in that. There are insights like this that we gain we befriend data.
Data is not as scary as it looks from far away. If you find it hard to grasp the numbers, take somebody’s help but don’t ignore data. You’ll miss out on various great opportunities. Not to mention your decision-making will no longer be tainted.
Marketing fix to mistake 4
Analyze that data and mine it for some very valuable information. You can learn many things from those numbers. Here are some of the information to look out for:
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- Who are your customers?
- Are they liking the ad?
- Is the ad relevant to them?
- Is your ad making them take the required action?
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Mistake 5) Asking Your Family or Staff to Write Your Ads
I shouldn’t be explaining why this is disastrous. Answer this for me
Would you go to your receptionist for a dental problem? What about your 15-year old son?
I know the answer to this. You don’t have to say it. Nobody would take the risk of getting dental treatment from an inexperienced and unskilled person.
We don’t feel the same way when it comes to ad copywriting.
Why do you think brands go to big ad agencies? Why does Coke not write their own ads? You don’t have to spend millions like them on your ad, but a couple of thousands can get you a professional ad that will be far more impactful and useful.
Advertising isn’t as easy as writing just any text and promoting to your target audience. Every algorithm keeps a score of how your ads are being taken by your audience. Share on X
If they don’t like your ads and ignore them, the social media and search engine algorithms continue increasing your bidding price and start showing your ads less. So, you pay more for an ad that could have cost you ten, twenty times less.
Marketing fix to mistake 5
A bad ad costs more than you think.
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- You lose your ad budget.
- Your potential customers get frustrated and they start ignoring you. This harms all your future advertising efforts.
- Chances of getting spammed by your audience because they find your ad irritating
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Ad copywriting is a skill. We all don’t have it. And that’s why we seek professional help here so they can compensate for what we lack.
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Mistake 6) Bad User Experience on the Website
The last step of most digital ads is to send the interested audience to the website where they can sign up, register, buy or contact the dental office. If your website doesn’t present the best picture of you, you will automatically lose a big chunk of your potential patients.
Many times businesses confuse bad results from their digital ads with badly written and created ads, when the real cause was bad use experience on the website. This is one of the most common dental digital advertising mistakes.
I once worked with a dental client who approached me with the issue that his ads are not very effective. Upon data analysis, it came to light that ads were successfully able to send the people to his website but failed to make those people fill out the contact form.
The problem was not with the ad. The problem was in the website.
Marketing fix to mistake 6
Make your website welcoming to the visitors. Just because it’s not a store doesn’t mean that you should stop taking care of it.
A website needs to reflect what your office does. Dentistry is a part of the service industry. And the service industry has to work extra hard to provide the best service to their customers to attract and retain them.
Services are not just limited to physical offices. Digital is just another way of telling people what it feels like to have you as their dentist.
Therefore, make your website easy to navigate. Visitors should not have a problem finding important information on your website.
Most importantly, it should be designed in a way that not just educates your visitors, but also encourages them to take the required action.
Website branding, colors, typography, design, user experience, web copy, website load time, etc.. they all play a very important role in deciding the final outcome of a potential patient’s visit.
These were the 6 common mistakes I have seen many dental practices make. I’m glad you’re going to be smarter and won’t repeat those.
Smart Business Owners Learn from the Mistakes of Others
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17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail brings the cautionary tales of mistakes made by many businesses that ultimately led to their failure and which other businesses should avoid at all costs if they plan to survive and grow. Get your copy.
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