Do you want to sustainably attract more new patients to your dental practice? We have evaluated over 300 initial consultations with dentists and orthodontists – these topics likely concern you. You have invested in modern treatment rooms and offer advanced dental services like implantology. Despite your expertise, fewer patients than expected require these specialized treatments. You are looking for ways for your practice to be found by more patients seeking exactly these treatments.
Dealing with Webdesign Zahnarztpraxis Competition and Digitalization
Your years of experience and strong local reputation are valuable, but you are increasingly confronted with new, digitally savvy practices. You want to present your practice better online to retain your loyal patients and attract new ones searching for dentists on the internet. After acquiring an established practice, you face the challenge of modernizing it. Your goal is to retain proven methods while introducing new digital techniques to simplify administration and reach more patients.
Although your practice is well-equipped and located, not all appointments are booked. You are considering hiring additional dentists and are looking for ways for potential patients to find your practice more easily to better fill your appointment calendar.
Adapting to Changing Patient Needs and Expectations
Your patients appreciate the personal care in your practice, but they are increasingly interested in digital services such as online appointment bookings. You want to improve your online presence to meet your patients’ needs without losing personal contact. You have already started with online marketing for your practice, but the 2-3 agencies you have worked with a) did not understand your needs as a dentist and b) did not deliver transparent results – also, the accessibility you wanted was perhaps not provided.
Social Media is Not for Attracting New Patients
Unless you enjoy and have a natural talent for presentation, social media activities (aside from paid advertising) will not effectively attract more new patients. Do you seriously believe that in 2024, you can gain much attention with dental topics against content from Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Andrew Huberman, and scantily clad dancing women without making a fool of yourself?
Google and Facebook Ads Are Only Economical with Professionals (Unless You Are a Dentist in a Small Town)
Paid online advertising has become extremely expensive, especially since COVID-19. Paying over €200 for a simple appointment booking (excluding agency costs) is not uncommon. At the same time, you are not building anything sustainable with the energy and money – the effects dissipate the moment you stop the ads. Profitable for MVZs and pure implantologists – likely less attractive in the long run for general dental practices.
Younger patients in particular will be lost without an online appointment booking function and solid Google reviews. The same applies to employees. No one will apply to your practice if you have 3.5 stars with 7 reviews. Everyone who interacts with your practice – whether existing patients, new patients, potential employees, or referrers – will notice your rating, and this will (significantly) influence their actions towards you.
You Are a Dental Practice – Not a Webdesign für Zahnärzte Design Studio
There are reasons why Google has guidelines for color contrasts, text size, etc. Not everyone has 100% vision in both eyes and the latest smartphone with 2,000 nits peak brightness of the display. If you place implants and treat periodontitis, meaning you serve older patients, you should pay attention to such things – your web design company will not do it – unfortunately. Your website must help your patients and inform them well before the visit, not win a design competition.
For most general dental practices in cities with 200k inhabitants, it is sufficient to be extremely visible within a 500m radius on Google. The distance from the practice to the searcher is the most important ranking factor on Google Maps. And most dentists have never heard of how important Google Maps is for their practice. There is no green field anymore in 90% of cases. It is only about investing your working time in the right channels and gaining an entrepreneurial understanding of marketing and improving in this area. It is no longer enough to simply be a dentist and a leader.
Reviews directly affect your visibility and reputation. They are the one metric you should keep an eye on in online marketing as a dental practice, alongside the number of new patients per month and traffic from Google. We have seen several cases where practices have doubled their new patient numbers because they approached the issue of reviews with enthusiasm, and that means: Ask every patient personally for a review.
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