Smiling Dentist: How to Play the Online Marketing Game and Win

The internet can be a curse or a blessing depending on the business owner’s point of view. The internet gives people access. Accessibility has given way to an immeasurable amount of choices, which means that a business has a lot more competition to worry about.

How Important is Online Marketing?

There was a time when finding an oral specialist simply involved searching through a hard copy directory. Most people skipped the research and simply looked for the closest location to their home or job. Choices were narrowed down significantly, even if there were hundreds of places to choose from in one city.

The internet has given people access to all of the 210,030 professional oral care providers in the United States.

Source: kff.org

Of course, most individuals will not travel city lines to visit a dentist, but the hundreds within a city are definitely within their grasps. People are also becoming more involved in their health. Some are looking for an oral specialist that has an online presence with real reviews. They may consider this before they even call an office.

This is why online marketing is vital for a business. As indicated in BrightLocal’s survey, 75 percent of all small to medium business owners say that online marketing has been fruitful. 32% says it has been very effective and 43% says online marketing is effective.

Take Advantage of the Current Online Market

Many professionals are using the internet successfully, but the fact is 47 percent of all professionals (not just oral care providers) are not sure if they will increase their online marketing. And 16 percent of professionals have no plans of increasing their online marketing budget.

These facts make this one of the best times to get involved in online marketing. Remember that there is a lot of patience involved with online marketing. For example, it takes some time for a particular page to show up in the search engines. And, it takes longer for that particular page to get a high rank. Sure, there is some SEO optimization and backlinks that could be used to expedite the process, but it still takes some time.

Utilizing online marketing to its fullest potential makes an oral professional’s online presence more recognizable to potential clients. This should not be too hard to accomplish since many professionals still have not figured out how vital online marketing really is.

Spin What Works For Another Oral Care Provider

One tip that we always suggest is to use some of the marketing techniques that competitors in the field already use. These techniques have been successful for them, so they should work out for another in the same profession. These campaigns are usually successful, just as Anthony Kirlew points out:

“If you see your competition doing something as it relates to marketing, they are probably doing it because they are making money with it.”

This does not mean that innovation in online marketing is not encouraged, but replicating campaigns that have been successful is a smart move.

Consider some of the following successful campaigns:

Using an Informative Visual Presentation

Many successful dental campaigns have used infographics. Infographics are images that present interesting facts about dentistry or teeth to a potential client. The infographic should entice potential clients. The image might be linked to friends who may also find it interesting. The information presented may even go viral, especially if the information presented is unique.

The reason that this type of campaign works is because the information is easily digested and visually appealing.

Make a How-to Video for Potential Clients

One thing that we noticed is that search engines rank “how to” videos highly. Many dental care specialists have used videos to promote their businesses, which have been successful campaigns. Several of the oral care specialists who have used “how to” videos have focused on simple procedures they perform on their clients. This is to reassure their clients that the procedure is simple and that they are safe in their hands.

We suggest that oral care specialists consider producing videos that show a particular service that he or she performs on clients on a regular basis. It is also a good idea to look at what is popular at the moment, like showing a potential client how to use coconut oil as a mouthwash to decrease oral pathogens.

Using a video to professionally explain how to use a natural product and explaining the benefits might be a step in the right direction. This is because natural remedies are a rising trend, which can be used to promote the oral care professional’s services. We also suggest that the video is shot by a professional videographer and editor because quality matters.

Using Search Engine Localization

Another tool that many successful dental practices have used is a localization tool that is provided by some of the biggest search engines. This–in effect–puts a business in the search engine’s directory. Doing this gives that particular business a chance to be found over other businesses that have not yet joined that system.

Social Media Works Wonders

Social media is a world of its own and requires a lot of upkeep, but the rewards are endless. There are many ways to use social media, and it all depends on the way the dental specialist wants to tackle this particular tool.

There are photo-sharing social media accounts that may be helpful in spreading an oral care specialist’s business around. Or, he or she could use micro-blogging social media accounts to spread his or her business. All of these can expose a new business to more people, but it does require constant updating. So we suggest that a social media manager is hired for this particular task.

There are several other things that a dental professional must consider, but we suggest that he or she takes it easy. Take each task step by step; this should help an oral specialist reach his or her desired online marketing goals.