There are many ways to market a dental practice, from print ads to online marketing strategies. However, one of the best forms of marketing is also one of the oldest: word of mouth. People rate recommendations from people they know higher than all other forms of advertising when it comes to trustworthiness. Word of mouth marketing can help your brand to succeed. Here are some ways you can encourage people to recommend your dental practice.
Current Patient Referral Program
People who recommend your dental practice to their friends and family are doing your business a great service, so it makes sense to reward their efforts. If you need to improve your new customer acquisition rate, consider setting up a current patient referral program. In such a program, you would offer discounted services for anyone who refers another patient to your dental practice. To make it easier for your current patients to convince their friends to give your practice a try, you could also offer a discounted first appointment for new patients who come to you via a referral from a current patient.
Go Above and Beyond
To get your current patients talking about your dental practice, you have to provide more than a standard service. You need to impress them with the level of care, the welcoming atmosphere that helps them to feel at ease, or the lengths you will go to, to fit them in for a weekend appointment when they’re suffering with a toothache. Referral programs are a useful incentive, but if current patients are not impressed with your dental practice, they won’t refer it to people they care about. As you work to develop your marketing strategies, be sure to avoid getting distracted from your core mission: to provide the best level of service possible to your current patients.
Get People Talking
People do not often talk about the place they go to get their teeth whitened over dinner, because it’s not an exciting topic of conversation. However, they might mention that their child won a competition to draw a picture of the tooth fairy organized by the local dentist. Fun activities are a good way to create talking points among your current customers, which could help new people get to know about your dental practice.
Social Media
Today, many conversations do not take place face to face but rather on social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you can get people talking about your dental practice on these sites, their friends and followers will see those conversations and learn about your business. Maintain an active presence on one or more social media sites, and encourage your followers to interact with your page by posting questions, quizzes and contests. In today’s age of digital communication, you can’t afford to be left out of the conversations taking place online.
The Benefits of Word of Mouth Marketing
Once you build up a base of satisfied customers, news of the fantastic service your dental practice provides will naturally spread to those people’s networks, bringing new patients to your door. Inexpensive, highly targeted and, most importantly, extremely effective, word of mouth marketing is a great way to acquire new customers for your dental practice. Be sure to include it when planning the marketing strategy for your dental busine
