Ever wondered the process that patients go through to decide whether they’re going to become your patient, or choose a dentist down the street?
Word of Mouth
Word-of-mouth marketing is still very important, but is becoming less important as time progresses, mainly because of the high volumes of other review sources available.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t do your best to provide a positive experience for patients and generate great referrals. It’s just that solely relying on word-of-mouth is no longer an option for most dental practices.
You definitely don’t want word-of-mouth about your practice being heavily negative. However, a handful of satisfied patients is not going to dramatically impact the process by which people choose to become a patient of your practice.
The Google Gorilla
In Australia, Google has a 94% market share among search engines. Not surprisingly, this means you need to have a strong presence in Google. This includes a strong organic presence where you are prominently on the map and in the top 10 listings.
This organic presence should be supplemented with a strong body of Google reviews (each review can be a touch point), and Google ads. Apart from the priority given to ads in Google search results (the ads appear first), there is growing evidence that Google ads boost your presence in the organic rankings too.
Aggregate Sites
In our journey to maximise touch points for our potential patients, a good presence in aggregate sites is helpful too. While the Yellow Pages (physical or digital) was historically the best place to go, this is no longer the case.
The strongest site in dentistry is www.dentist.com.au and most practices already have a free listing there. There is the opportunity to upgrade your listing for a fee, which gives the benefit of appearing strongly in neighbouring suburbs too. Other websites such as www.australiastopdentists.com.au endeavour to help patients choose a dentist in their local area.
Centaur has a partnership with a range of different marketing platforms, which can expand the reach of your marketing message so you can increase your touch points and ultimately, boost new patients to your practice.
Social Media
While social media provides an obvious opportunity for more touch points, there is one key difference between social media and the other examples listed. Your potential patient is typically not on social media to find a dentist, therefore any messages from your practice are typically less effective in social media.
The area where social media can really help, however, is around reassurance. Once a patient, having seen other touch points, is leaning towards choosing you, they may do a final check on your social media pages to reassure themselves that they’re about to make a good decision.
Consistency is Key
One other thing to note in the journey for your prospective patient is the need for consistency. Ie. Is your presence in these various channels consistent in terms of your brand (messaging, imagery etc)?
For example, if you have gushing Google reviews, but your website is a train wreck, that inconsistency causes something called cognitive dissonance. This can also occur where the practice seems clean and professional, but the call to reception is answered with a “hello?” rather than a more professional greeting.
Further, if you claim, for example, that your practice is modern yet you haven’t posted on your social media for months/years, this may cause potential patients to go elsewhere. Bottom line, consistency is key.
Summary
We would love it if the process by which a patient chooses a dentist were as simple as delivering one message, one time, in one location, and then the patient books an appointment.
Alas, in a modern era, this is simply not the case. Instead, to win this war in an increasingly competitive and noisy market, it is about having a consistent message across multiple channels, so that when a patient comes looking for a dental practice in your area, they will choose you.
About the Author
Angus Pryor
CEO – Dental Marketing Solutions
