Attracting and Keeping New Patients

5 Key Tips

Many dental offices struggle with finding and retaining new patients. Especially during quarantine orders when elective surgeries are off the table, it means that bringing in revenue and servicing the community is more difficult. Here are some of our tried and true methods on how to get new patients, and keep them.

The following 5 guidelines should take you a long way, but here is some more, in-detail advice about how to attract dental patients online.

Keep in contact with old patients

Word of mouth is the best way to advertise for anything, and private dental practices are no different. Once a patient has come in, a dental office needs to keep in touch with them to ensure they stay a patient. Fortunately, this is pretty easy:

• Take your patient’s email down when they come it. You should already have their phone number, address and name, but get their email too.
• About once a month, email them with updates from your dental firm.
  • Promotions you may have
  • New articles/blog information
  • Check-up reminders
  • Information about new services being provided

This keeps your practice on the minds of your patients. Not only does it help retain them as clients, but it goes a ways to them telling their friends and family about your dental office. Remember not to spam them with texts, phone calls, or emails, as this is seen as an intrusive annoyance.

Have a market niche

Look at your location first. Are you nearby an elementary school? Are you in a downtown office environment? Perhaps by a retirement home? Whatever your situation, adapt. In a place populated by professional adults, you can advertise top quality care for people that almost certainly have work-covered dental insurance. Nearby schools you can focus on services as a family dentistry office. Dental Offices near retirement homes can focus on bridges, implants, and surgeries. If you are attempting to serve low-income communities, your office can focus on ways to help people without insurance get dental care.

Sometimes finding your market niche might involve getting some of the latest equipment, like a 3-D printer for prosthetics. Perhaps it could involve community outreach, like going to classrooms or working part-time at free clinics. Either way, the important part of finding your market niche is to think creatively and be innovative.

Social media

Remember the dentist who killed Cecil the Lion? Even if you don’t he posted pictures of himself on social media after having killed one of Africa’s most beloved animals. He returned to work to protests and people shouting “murderer” outside his office. Whatever your views on the largely touristic industry of trophy hunting, it wasn’t a good look. In current pandemic times, social media is more powerful than ever, as many people are isolated and unable to see each other face to face.

When it comes to social media, there are quite a few guidelines to follow that can help your image.

• You can set up Facebook and Instagram accounts for your business.
  • Advertise your services with a keen eye on keeping it simple and being informative. People see the same adds over and over again as cloying. Let people know your services and where you are.
  • Invest in paid promotions so ads for your office can be seen.
  • Focus on the area your office is. You want people in Detroit to be seeing ads for your office if it is in Detroit.
• Keep your personal info to a minimum
  • Your clients and potential clients don’t need to see pictures of you getting bilked out of thousands of dollars so a guide can do all the work and you just have to point and shoot a gun. They also don’t want to see your political arguments with family. Keep your profile private, or better yet, don’t use social media for anything you don’t want strangers to see.

Engage the community

We mentioned this already, but there are plenty of ways to do this.

• You can have dentists teach at community colleges, where you can offer cheaper services to students.
• Perform free dental check ups, lessons, or maybe even surgeries in low-income and rural locations nearby your community.
• Contribute to community dental organizations, via volunteering or with donations.
• Buy ads in newspaper and on the radio so you can reach out specifically to the local population.
• Be present at community events, as a speaker, a contributor, organizer, or advocate.

Engaging the community still pays off better than online advertising. Tangible contributions and in-person actions result in far better responses.

Have a great website

For example, the Josey Lane Dentistry has a site that covers all the bases. It lists services offered, location information, promotions, details about the office and the dentists, a news blog, and contact info. It’s intuitive, simple, and functional. Start 2021 off right — and get your smile bright. If you are in the Carrollton Texas area, Josey Lane is currently accepting new patients, and we would be happy to serve you. Visit our website and contact us today to brighten up your year, and your smile.