Excellent dental care, a pristine office, and a gorgeous dental website – your practice has it all – and now ensuring that patients can easily find your practice becomes your number one priority. To do this, most doctors will opt to hire a marketing agency, but with so many options available, it’s hard to decide which company you should hire.
Below we’ll discuss the important ways you can narrow down your search for the perfect dental marketing company and hire one that will provide the most value to your practice.
Pick one that specializes in dentistry
First things first: find a marketing company that specializes in dentistry. They’ll better understand what it takes to drive new patients into your office and will already be equipped with the tools they need to make it happen.
The amount of time it takes for a general marketing expert to learn about dentistry is a time you will pay for. So save money and go with an experienced pro from the start.
If you need a custom dental website design company, check O360.
Research their track record and experience
Once you’ve found a few companies to compare and consider, take some time to dive into their past work. Check out their website and research other dental practices that have hired them. Check reviews on third-party sites. Read more than one or two. Look for details in good reviews.
Prioritize companies that have a few years of work under their belt. The money and time you spend to market your practice should not be wasted, so the company you hire must have proven it can deliver.
Marketing is often a creative endeavor, and it can be easy to get lost in all the hard work that is being put forth. Be sure the company you hire is results-oriented. The hardest workers in the world don’t mean anything if they’re not producing results.
Be Clear with Your Goals
Think about what your practice struggles with the most and set some goals for yourself. Maybe you need help with engagement on Social Media; perhaps it’s getting more new patients to book an appointment. Listen to advice and be creative, but trust common sense more than anything.
It’s totally within bounds to ask about successful case studies of prior dental practices they were able to help and in what ways. Here are potential subjects to raise:
- Raising Google rankings
- Procuring testimonials on Yelp and Google My Business
- Establishing a presence on review sites
- Increasing new patient bookings
- Optimizing SEO and pay-per-click ads
Understand How they Measure Results
A company specializing in marketing will likely be great at marketing themselves to you, but how communicative they are during this initial phase of your relationship should tell you a lot about what you can expect if you hire them.
Ask if they have reporting tools that can help you understand their progress. Do they offer regular check-ins with you to assess their work? Ask for an example of a report sheet and see if you understand it.
Marketing is indeed a long game, so keeping your expectations in check with reality is important. That said, a good marketing company should be able to demonstrate growth year over year, and they should be able to relay that to you clearly.
Find Flexible Team
Working with a flexible company is equally as important. If they cannot meet their goals in the outlined timeline, then they should be able to part ways or re-strategize their approach.
Don’t get locked into staying with a company that isn’t worth their pay. But don’t jump from one company to another quickly, either.
Check Their Designs
Visual marketing is important. It might not be obvious because dental care is a physical service that must be provided in person. Still, a visual presentation of your practice is key in converting visitors to patients.
If two dental practices have similar credentials and are local to the same patient pool, what catches a patient’s eye can be the deciding factor.
Having consistent design across your website, digital platforms, and social media profiles can go a long way. Consider the type of patient you want to attract and what may appeal to them. Here are some great examples of dental websites.
Too Good to be True!
Be aware of very low prices or very lofty promises. A company that promises 400% growth in 3 months should not be trusted. A $499 ‘full custom’ design is, most likely, a design copied from somewhere else, or worst, just ‘taken.’ Look for a fair price that matches the level of the service provided. Look for promises that are realistic and logical.
Consider your Budget
Of course, you’ll want to hire the top marketing agency, but this isn’t always practical in relation to the size of your practice. Project what your returns will be in the case of success, ensuring it’s worth the dollars you spend.
Remember that the idea of ‘testing’ a budget in marketing is usually not a good idea. Especially short-term testing. Spending $300 on online marketing to see if it works is the equivalent of sending 10 postcards to see if direct mail marketing works. Find a good company and give it a real chance to succeed.
You’ll also want to ensure their pricing is transparent and clear.
Digital marketing for dentists
Conclusion
Selecting a dental marketing company is a critical decision considering the time required to deploy marketing campaigns and the financial spend. Be sure you’re hiring someone you can see working within a year-long relationship, at the least. Ask questions and conduct your due diligence. Your practice depends on it. Learn 25 ways of marketing your dental practice.
