8 Ways to Attract New Patients with Local Dental Advertising

Dominate Local Dental Advertising

Conversations and articles about dental marketing so often focus on big brands, the national and international companies that describe their marketing budgets in millions or tens of millions of dollars. But what about the little guy, the neighborhood dentist whose budget is more like thousands or even hundreds of dollars?

For dentists, there’s “local marketing,” which is the self-evident practice of dental marketing to prospective patients who are close enough to your dental office or offices to be willing to make the trip. Local marketing lets you compete with big brands because you can focus your dental marketing dollars in a precisely targeted area around your dental practice .

Local marketing is a must for any dental practice that wants to keep its patient list at least stable while competing with other local dentists trying to do the same thing. Given that so many people are using the internet to search for health services, local marketing requires much more attention to digital marketing.

Some local marketing tactics mirror what national brands practice, but others take advantage of some tools designed specifically for local, whether you define that as your neighborhood, your city or your county. Here are seven mandatory local marketing tips:

1) 66% Of All Searches Are On Mobile Devices

Are You Mobile-Friendly? Folks are spending more time on their mobile devices than they are on desktop computers, so if your website is difficult to use on a mobile phone, potential patients will pass you by. Google Search, which ranks sites based on mobile-friendliness, is likely to pass you by, too.

Being mobile-friendly means that your site’s text and photos fit on the screen, navigation is easy and text is easy to read. It also means visitors can book appointments from their phone, easily find your office location and hours, and tap a phone number to call.

Use the Google mobile-friendly test to evaluate your site. If Google recommends improvements, you made to update your website with a responsive design that adjusts depending on the user’s screen size. It is a must for your dental advertising show correctly all the time.

2) Localize Your Website

As elementary as it may seem, make sure your dental office address is built into your dental website on every page, usually in the footer at the bottom of the page. Also, make sure the site includes a map that shows the location and allows users to plot their route. Maps can help you appear more prominently in search engine resulting in an overall boost to your dental marketing strategy.

Review your website content and look for ways to build in location information. For example, instead of referring to yourself as a local dental practice, write “Bakersfield dental practice” or “Chestnut Hill relies on our practice for their dental health care.” If your office serves several communities, don’t hesitate to mention all of them together or separately throughout your content.

This is also a great time to give your dental website a hard look. If it looks a bit dated, its time for a refresh. Here are 7 of the best website builders to transform your dental office's website in no time!

3) Local Targeting For Paid Advertising

When you use Google search advertising or Facebook Ads, you can set your campaigns to show your ads only in your location.

Both ad platforms are relatively inexpensive but require quite a bit of knowledge and time to be done right. Insert location information in the campaign set-ups and run A/B split test to improve results. You’ll get the best results by experimenting over time with ad content, targeting, and your landing pages.

4) Digital Direct Mailer Ads

teethtalk ads are a great example of local dental advertising for dental practices. We combined the power of social media and local advertising to connect interested dental patients with local dentists.

teethtalk ads are like direct mail ads but shown to people that are looking for a dentist in your local area.

This modern way of attracting new patients has seen great success since your dental practice is only being shown to people how are interested in dental services. Learn more how teethtalk ads grows your practice here.

5) Claim Directory Listings

Above all else, claim and complete your free Google My Business listing. It is the most important listing for your practice. Google Search is more likely to show your practice when people search for dentists. A GMB listing also puts you in line to show up in what’s referred to as the “local pack,” which usually displays a locator map and organic (non-advertising) results.

There are plenty of other online directories that strengthen your local online presence. Add your information to directories like YellowPages.com, teethtalkgirl.com, the local chamber of commerce, Bing, Yelp, LinkedIn, Better Business Bureau, FourSquare, Manta and Merchant Circle. There are many others. Make sure your business name, address, phone number and website address are consistent across all directories.

When you advertising with teethtalkgirl.com, your dental practice is added to a dentist map directory driven by social media and local Google search terms. Learn more here.

6) Local Search Engine Optimization

This step is related to localizing your website with dental SEO. You want to make sure your website shows up when somebody searches Google for “Austin dentist” or “dental office in Charleston.” If you need help identifying keywords that could help you in local searches, check out Google Trends.

Improving your local search optimization can help your website appear higher on search engine results pages. The higher your site ranks, the more likely it is that search will click on your result.

If you advertising your practice on TeethTalkGirl.com, our platform uses local dental search terms to help boost your dental practice’s local visibility. Learn more here.

Another way to improve SEO and link your practice to the community is to write about and promote local events, activities, and even local industries and businesses. The more you can find ways to name your communities in your website text, the better. Search engine optimization is critical to every dentist's digital marketing strategy.

7) Use Social Media

Take advantage of opportunities to add location information to your social media profiles and posts. Business name, address, phone and website URLs should be consistent with your directory listings.

In your social media content, occasionally highlight local events and activities, especially any that your practice might be involved with or help sponsor. Promote contests or giveaways for local folks and highlight the winners in your content.

Don’t overlook advertising opportunities on platforms other than Facebook, including Instagram, teethtalk ads, Twitter and even YouTube.

8) Community Activities

Your virtual presence online is critical, but if you on all the online platforms, then why not try a physical presence to promote your practice. Sponsor a youth baseball or soccer team. Buy a billboard at the local high school football stadium. Set up a booth at a local fair or put one of your dental assistants in the dunking booth.  

Any of these efforts demonstrate you care about your community and have a stake not only in the community’s dental health but in the community’s spirit.

Unless you have offices in many different areas, local marketing is the only marketing your dental practice should be concerned about. It makes it easier for prospective patients to find you, and it strengthens your relationship and reputation with your community.