Local Dental Marketing Best Practices

A brief overview of local marketing needs for all dental practices.
UPDATED APRIL 16, 2023

Local Dental Marketing Essentials

Marketing for local dental practices is essential for building and maintaining a strong patient base. With the rise of online search and social media, it’s more important than ever for dental practices to have an effective marketing strategy in place. In this article, we will discuss some key elements of local dental practice marketing, including how to do it, what goes into it, and why it matters.

First, make sure your are aligned with what state of business development your dental practice or DSO is currently operating within. It’s important to make a truthful evaluation of where you are, how you got here, and where you’re looking to take your dental practice.

Now, let’s discuss how to do local dental practice marketing. One of the most important steps is to establish a strong online presence. This includes creating a professional and user-friendly website, as well as having active social media accounts. It’s also important to make sure that your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all online platforms, including directories such as Google My Business and Bing Places for Business.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile (was Google My Business)

Your Google Business Profile is crucial to local business success and is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Maps and Search. By verifying and optimizing your Google My Business listing, you can improve your visibility to potential customers searching for products or services in your area.

Local Dental Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Another key element of local dental practice marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). This involves optimizing your website and online presence to make it more visible to potential patients searching for dental services in your area. This includes conducting keyword research, optimizing on-page elements, and building high-quality backlinks.

Optimize for Local Keywords

Identify the keywords and phrases that potential customers in your area are using to search for products or services like yours. These can include the name of your city, region, or local landmarks.

Local Dental Paid Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Another effective marketing strategy is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. This allows you to create targeted ads that will appear when potential patients search for specific keywords. This can be a cost-effective way to drive targeted traffic to your website and generate leads for your practice.

Local Dental Social Media Marketing

Social media can be a powerful tool for local dental practice marketing. By sharing informative and engaging content, building relationships with patients, and promoting special offers and events, dental practices can use social media to connect with potential patients and promote their services.

Local Dental Professional Referral Marketing

Another important aspect of local dental practice marketing is building relationships with referral sources such as physicians, chiropractors, and other healthcare providers. By building relationships with these referral sources, dental practices can increase their visibility and attract new patients.

Local Dental Marketing Plan

Why it matters for dental practice to have a local marketing plan. Dental practices that are able to effectively market themselves to potential patients in their local area are more likely to attract and retain patients. This is because local marketing allows dental practices to reach a targeted audience, which can help to increase visibility and credibility. Additionally, by having a strong online presence, dental practices are more likely to be found by potential patients searching for dental services in their area.

Finally, it is important to understand that local dental practice marketing is an ongoing process that requires regular monitoring and adjustments. By tracking the performance of your marketing efforts, you can identify what is working and what isn’t and make the necessary adjustments to improve your results.

In conclusion, local dental practice marketing is essential for building and maintaining a strong patient base. By establishing a strong online presence, optimizing for search engines, utilizing PPC advertising, using social media, building relationships with referral sources, and tracking and measuring your results, dental practices can effectively market themselves to potential patients in their local area. A strong local marketing plan can help dental practices to increase visibility, credibility and attract new patients.