Marketing trends are continuously changing and if you don’t keep up with them, your dental practice can fall behind. At Pro Impressions Marketing, we’re always staying on top of the latest trends and incorporating them into our services for our clients. Before you keep doing the same old marketing strategy from the past five years, take a look at the different 2021 dental marketing trends.
Your current marketing strategy might be missing a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Building Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness
If you’ve been keeping up with our most recent blogs, you’ve likely read about E-A-T before. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google mentions these in the Quality Rater Guidelines and it’s common knowledge that building up the expertise, authority, and trust on your website will improve your search rankings. This isn’t a new trend but it’s a trend that’s becoming more important by the day. As Google continuously makes changes to its algorithm, you should be adjusting your website accordingly.
Your website should present the most up-to-date information, mention any continuing education you’ve completed, awards you’ve received, links to publications you’ve written, and have tons of five-star reviews. Just keep persevering as a dentist, but make sure your website showcases it.
Reviews, Reviews, and Reviews
Gone are the days where you look up dentists in your area in the phone book. Consumers are searching for their dentists online now and with so much competition, they’re ruling out contenders by reading reviews from patients. If your dental office doesn’t have very many reviews, what message does that send to potential patients? 91% of people aged 18-34 trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their inner circle. Nearly 93% of consumers say that online reviews had an influence on purchase decisions.
With this information in mind, make sure your 2021 marketing plan includes obtaining more 5 star reviews. Ask patients to personally leave you a review after your visit with them. You can even send follow-up emails to ask again. If you don’t ask, don’t expect your patients to leave one. Also, make sure to respond to every single review you receive. Google favors it and it also helps build your authority and trustworthiness. Gain access to reputation management tools to streamline your review process.
More Authentic Social Media
Potential patients don’t want to follow you on social media because they like learning about dentistry or the different procedures you offer一they want to get to know you on more of a personal level. One of the biggest trends in social media right now is to be as authentic as possible. No longer is it favorable to post all your pictures with the exact same filter or only post images with the same colors and fonts.
Social media users want authentic posts that aren’t a cookie-cutter infographic you found floating around online. In addition to educating your followers about dentistry, you should also include photos of your team, fun videos around the office, and more personalized content. Let your followers get to know you and your team, not just text on an image.
Influencer Marketing
If you really want to capitalize on your social media marketing without paying for social ads, influencer marketing is a great alternative route to consider. Influencer marketing for dentists can involve finding a local influencer, or someone who has a large following in your specific area and paying them to post about their experience at your dental office. Some influencers might not even charge you for the post. They might do it for free in exchange for a cleaning or exam.
One of the reasons influencer marketing works is because it serves as a form of social proof. If someone follows an influencer and they got amazing results from a dental office and then post about it, you might feel the desire to also visit that dental office so you can achieve similar results.
Some of your existing patients might be influencers and you don’t even know about it. It doesn’t hurt to encourage your patients to post about their experience with you or their results on social media and then tag your dental office.
Fast, User-Experience Friendly Websites
Another trend that’s not going anywhere anytime soon is websites that load fast and offer an optimal user experience. For instance, your website should be fully functional on all devices. It’s 2021, if your website is not responsive, you need a new one ASAP.
Your website should also be easy to navigate and offer a clear message. If someone lands on your website and they can’t figure out what you do or how to make an appointment with you, they’ll move onto their next option. Ask a friend to give you a serious critique of your website and if they find it difficult to navigate or unpleasant to look at, a new website is a must.
Lastly, your website should load fast. Google favors websites with a fast load time and when your website is weighed down by unnecessary chat widgets, or virtual consults, it can have a huge impact on speed. If a website takes too long to load, someone might get frustrated and move onto the next dentist on their list.
If you’re in need of a fast, functional, and impeccable website design for dentists that’s guaranteed to give you results, contact us for a consultation.
Tech Savviness
Technology continues to advance and as it does consumers appreciate it more and more. Not only will potential patients appreciate the most advanced dental technology in your dental office, but they will also appreciate it on your website. Make your patients’ lives easier by including digital forms on your website for them to fill out before their appointment. Your website can also include an online scheduler so patients can book an appointment without having to call you. Having the option for online consultations can also set you apart from your competitors. You can even set up an online payment system or online store on your website if there are products you regularly recommend to your patients.
TikTok
The last marketing trend that’s emerged in the past year is TikTok. If your target market is young adults in their late teens and early 20s, it might be a good idea to get on TikTok. No, you don’t have to make a video doing one of those dances you see floating around the internet.
Arkansas dentist Dr. Ben Winters has over 7.2 Million followers for posting funny videos about dentistry. There are also dentists on TikTok educating their followers about trending challenges that can harm your teeth like shaving teeth down with a nail file. If you’re creative enough with your TikTok videos, you can gain a lot of followers and new patients!
Start Your 2021 Marketing Plan Today
If you’re not sure where your 2021 marketing plan should take you, our dental marketing specialists can help. We can pinpoint exactly what your strategy needs to help your practice grow this year. Let us help you reach your goals. Get started today by booking a consultation at (970) 672-1212.