t’s no secret that corporate dental practices are growing. Just take a look at your local community. How many miles away are you from the nearest corporate office? I’m willing to guess it’s not that far. Unfortunately for many solo practices, this growth in corporate dentistry can be intimidating. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be. It is still possible for small dental practices to fight and win against large competitive pressures.
If you’re a dental practice struggling to compete against corporate dentistry, here’s what you need to know to guarantee success in the battle:
What Corporate Offices Are Good At
Most new patients don’t intrinsically know the difference between all of the various dental practices available to them. It’s our job to educate patients on what sets your practice apart from the rest.
This is what big corporations are incredibly good at. Corporations know the value of aggressive marketing; they often have much larger marketing budgets than the average dentist, and they don’t hesitate to educate patients in a way that shines a positive light on the corporate dental industry. That means corporate dental practices are advertising their competitive pricing and convenient hours—two important factors in choosing a dental practice.
However, there’s a lot more that goes into why a new patient chooses a dental office than pricing and hours alone. And that’s why the key to success when competing against corporates is to make it crystal-clear to potential patients why your dental office is the obvious choice.
An Opportunity, Not A Problem
You already know that dentistry is not a commodity. There are numerous differences between dental practices that distinguish whether or not they are a top-rate facility. Quality of care, technical skills, and customer services are just a few of the factors that come into play. So what is it that sets your dental practice apart? This is what we need to make painstakingly clear to new patients.
It’s extremely difficult for big corporate practices to create any sort of personalization in their brand. Their websites all look exactly the same regardless of office location, with little to no information on the doctors and staff. Their online reviews are typically lackluster, providing social proof that they are not the best choice in the area. And what’s more, these corporate dental practices are too big to quickly implement cutting-edge marketing strategies across all of their offices.
By knowing these weaknesses, small dental practices can implement and execute a marketing strategy that is guaranteed to win against corporations. Let’s break it down:
1. Create An Amazing Online Brand
The more trust you can build with potential new patients, the more you can differentiate against corporate offices. Start by creating an amazing online brand.
Ensure your website answers all your new patient's questions. Corporate practices don’t have the room to create an educational experience on their website, but that’s exactly what patients want to see. An FAQ page is a great way to do this. Think about the services you offer, which insurance you accept, and what financing options are available. Make sure your navigation bar makes this information readily available and confusion-free.
Other aspects of your website to consider include having a fantastic design, displaying photos of the doctors and staff, and sharing any educational resources about available procedures.
2. Prove You’re Better With Amazing Online Reviews
If your practice is better than the competition, you need to prove it. How many Google reviews does your practice have? What is your rating? How does this compare to the competition in your area?
If a new patient is searching on Google and they see your dental practice boasts an average 5-star rating compared to a corporate practice that has mostly three-star reviews, who do you think they are going to choose?
Google reviews are only going to increase in importance, so ensure you have an active strategy in place that encourages your patients to leave reviews about your practice online.
Additionally, remember to put case studies and testimonials directly on your website. New patients love looking through smile galleries or seeing before-and-after photos that clearly show what kind of results they will receive.
3. Dominate Your Marketing With Cutting-Edge Strategies
Corporations are often trying to implement new strategies to thousands of different dental offices across the country. There is simply no way that they can keep up with implementing the newest—and most effective—cutting-edge marketing solutions. This is a huge opportunity for solo dental practices to get ahead and win more patients.
One way to stay cutting-edge is to rank in Google. Corporates are trying to rank hundred and hundreds of practices at once, which is often next to impossible. However, with a highly individualized marketing plan that is customized to your individual dental practice, it becomes much easier.
We also want to look ahead to where new patients are already engaging, such as paid ads on social media. If you can stay ahead of the trends and make yourself visible where high-quality patients already are, then you are guaranteed to beat out the corporates for more patients and overall success.
Jacob Puhl is a dental speaker, author, and co-founder at Firegang Dental Marketing. Jake lives and breaths new patient marketing, and is a leader in the dental industry for using the most cutting edge online strategies to attract new patients. Visitwww.firegang.com to find out more, or email him at JakePuhl@firegang.com.
Source: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2015/10/puhl-how-to-compete-against-corporate-dental-practices-and-win.html
In other dental news: Aurident offers the Optimet DS 6000 Scanner which uses patented proprietary conoscopic holographic technology to generate highly accurate and consistent scans.
The DS 6000 Scanner can be used for all dental applications such as copings, full contour crowns, bridges up to 14 units, implants, implant bars and dentures.
No comments:
Post a Comment