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6 Lead Generation Tips for Dental Practices

It’s not like the comparison has never been made before, but getting new dental leads and lead generation to your practice really can seem like pulling teeth. You might know your practice is better, more modern, more convenient, and more advanced than the one across town, but how do you reach new dental leads, let alone convince them to make the switch?

The best dental marketing lead acquisition strategies involve covering your bases in many ways, but you don’t have to break the bank to get started. Your current digital marketing strategy might already hit a few of these which is great. By using a few of these tips, you’ll start to see results in no time, and start adding new patients to your practice by reaching dental leads in new ways.

 

1. Get new patients by boosting your online reviews.

We put this one first because it might be the most important one, with some of the least barriers to entry. Online reviews on sites like Google and Facebook are your first chance to make a great impression. And while you might know how important it is to get reviews to attract new dental leads, getting your patients to actually leave reviews can be tricky.

Some services such as Podium, however, have made it much easier for you to up your review game online. The way Podium does it is through text messaging. You don’t have to leave it up to chance that your patients will remember to look you up and leave you a review; you can just send them a text.

That makes it much easier on your patients—they can just tap the link and leave a review in 30 seconds. You can even automate the process so the invite is sent out as soon as the appointment is over—you can get a new review before they even leave your parking lot, meaning your practice will be more visible to new dental leads.

2. Enhance your dental marketing with SEO.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of refining your website so you show up higher in search results. Studies show that as many as 67.6% of all clicks go to the first five search results—and it’s an incredibly competitive space. Entire careers are built around search engine optimization, so there are tons of things you could do, but some of the things you can start on today include the following:

  1. Add relevant keywords. Think like your leads—what would they search for to find you? Make sure those words show up on your website, or it’ll never be found.
  2. Start a blog with tips and advice for your new patients and existing patients using some of your most relevant keywords, and link to other places both on your website and off. By doing this, search engines like Google will start to recognize that your website is relevant and interesting, ranking it higher and higher in search results.
  3. Focus on your neighborhood. You don’t really need to show up for search results in Dayton if your dental practice is in Little Rock. Make sure you keep the name of your practice along with your location in prominent places on your website, your blog, and your contact page. This, combined with your Google reviews and Google My Business map listing, will help your dental practice show up higher in local search.

3. Optimize for mobile.

This isn’t a terribly difficult thing to do but it can be important, especially if it’s been a while since you updated your website. The truth is that most people perform local searches on their phones—in fact as many as 68% of all healthcare-related searches are done on mobile. If your website isn’t prepared for people visiting on their phones, you’re putting unnecessary obstacles in the way of a potential new patient choosing your dental practice.

If your dental practice doesn’t have a dedicated web developer, this might mean updating your website template or switching website building/hosting services to find a layout that is responsive to both desktop and mobile searches. Dental leads won’t notice it—which in this instance is the goal! Far better than them noticing you didn’t do it. They’ll just know they had a seamless experience on your site.

4. Engage dental leads through social media.

Keeping your social media feeds fresh can go a long way to showing your dental leads, new patients, and lifelong customers that you’re active in their neighborhood and engaged in your community. It’s also where you’ll get a lot of your organic traffic, with tons of opportunities too for online advertising.

It’s likely that you don’t need to invest in every social media platform equally; you probably won’t need to spend nearly as much time on LinkedIn or Twitter as you do on Facebook or Instagram. That said, a little experimentation can’t hurt, even on new platforms such as TikTok. Still, it’s best to make sure that not only are your profile picture and logo up-to-date and consistent across platforms, but that you post regularly and respond to comments and messages. It doesn’t take a ton of effort but it will go a long way, especially for potential new patients who are on the fence about switching. Keep reading for more great social media marketing tips for your dental practice.

5. Capture new patients with CRO.

CRO stands for conversion rate optimization. Instead of SEO which has more to do with how search engines and algorithms interact with your site, CRO is all about how people interact with your site. The first things you can do to increase your conversion rate are to make your website friendly, easy to navigate, and with clear calls to action. It might take people several interactions with your site, your ads, and your business before they convert, so you want to make sure there aren’t any major obstacles getting in the way.

Your website exists to get you new customers! You don’t have to be shy about that. Make sure the things people want most are, if not exactly front and center, at least very visible: your location, your hours, your specialties, and your phone number or other easy way that leads can contact you. Which brings us to number 6.

6. Turn a website lead into a new patient.

Once they’re on your website, the hardest part is nearly done—but if they click away without reaching out, you’ve lost a big chance. With Podium Webchat (which you can see and try out in the bottom corner of the screen here on this blog) you can actually capture those leads while they’re on your site with a question or concern. And it’s not like a live chat where your customer has to have a browser or pop-up—Webchat brings the conversation directly to text where your leads and customers can respond in their own time, and so can you. It’s more than just convenient, because you haven’t just made contact with a new lead—you now have their contact information. You’ve shown that you’re easy to communicate with, and now you’ve established a line of communication in the future for appointment reminders and more.

Dental marketing and dental lead generation aren’t sorcery—it’s just the sum of a lot of little actions. Choosing a few or all of these tips will help your practice not only rise up the ranks but see new influxes of dental leads and patients. By modernizing your process and your communication, you’ll be opening your dental practice to new types of customers and sources of revenue, too.

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