You started your dental practice to help people live better through healthier bodies, teeth, and more confident smiles. Maybe your dental practice is focused on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, or perhaps you’re more focused on wellness through sleep and neuromuscular dentistry. Either way, dental marketing lets your patients know how you’ll help them reach their goals and who you are as a brand and dentist. Marketing can seem daunting, but it gives you your biggest return on investment. The bottom line is:
Dental Marketing = More New Patients.
Here are 10 dental marketing best practice tips for your practice.

1. Use Story-Based Marketing for Dentists
The mistake many dentists make right off the bat is making their marketing about them as a dentist instead of the patient. You’ve done lots of schooling and continue to learn new things through CE courses. Those things are great to say, but you need to frame the information about the patient and how you can help them solve their problem.
Writing a story is a framework that puts the element into your marketing to get your patients’ attention and helps them see the value in your services. Saying, “Dr. Dentist invested in a CEREC machine and can mill restorations in the office,” doesn’t directly communicate the value your new machine brings to the patient. Instead, try, “Are you missing teeth? You can get your teeth replaced in one day with our new CEREC technology.” This framing focuses on the patient and how you’ll help them fix their problem.
2. Post Branded Dental Social Media Content
Are your dental social media posts branded with your logo and colors and written in your chosen tone of voice? If not, they need to be. Your social media accounts are the hub of your brand marketing. To increase brand recognition and awareness, you’ll need to ensure that your social media exemplifies your brand through and through. Patients may not always require you, but when they do, you want them to recall your brand first. To do that, they need to be aware of you and recognize your posts as yours.
Branding on dental social media builds trust and credibility among your patient pool. And after all, wouldn’t you rather see a doctor that you felt you already knew?
Are you looking for Instagram marketing for dentists or dental social media content ideas in general? Sign up for #StaySocial to get new ideas and tips sent to your inbox weekly.
3. Have a Budget for Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your marketing messages are getting in front of the right people? Well, with pay-per-click for dentists (PPC), you know you’re getting your message to people who are,
- Looking for a [insert type] dentist
- Looking for a specific dental service
- In your area
- Have enough money to pay for your services.
PPC for dentists lets you advertise but only pay for the people who actually click on your advertisement. This saves you money and gets you a larger return on your investment than, say, a billboard or radio advertisement.
4. Avoid Using Duplicate Content
Let’s talk about your website content. Do you have content copied from other websites? Not only is this plagiarism, but Google doesn’t like it. If your website is a copy of other websites, Google will assume you don’t have anything valuable to contribute to the marketplace and rank you lower on search engine result lists. If you aren’t sure what content is original and what is copied, read this blog about a game-changing tool: Why Dentists Should Use Copyscape to Avoid Getting Screwed.
BONUS: Make sure the content you use on your website, social media, and any other marketing is valuable and accessible to your patient. If you write content that your patients can’t understand or can’t use, you’ve wasted your time.
5. Don’t Forget About Your Online Reputation
When was the last time you bought something online? Or even a large in-store purchase? Did you check the reviews? Probably! Why would you want to buy something with so-so quality?
Your patients feel the same way but to an even larger extent because the services you perform could change their lives forever. So, don’t forget about your online reputation. Check your reviews weekly and respond professionally, politely, and in your chosen brand voice. If you happen to get a poor review, don’t lash out. Respond in the same way and try to get the patient on the phone to fix the issue. You’d be surprised how often patients will take down poor reviews after talking with the dentist or patient coordinator!
Do You Need Dental Marketing Experts?
Pro Impressions Marketing provides marketing just for dentists because we understand your unique services need unique marketing. If you’re looking for a group of experts to stay on top of your marketing and get your new patients of the right kind, schedule a consultation with Pro Impressions Marketing today. Call (970) 672-1212 or schedule online.