The cosmetic dentistry market is growing. Capitalize on the high demand by implementing our ideas for growing your cosmetic dentistry practice in 2024. Read on to learn how.
Identify Your Target Audience and Structure Marketing Accordingly
Before you create a marketing strategy to grow your cosmetic dentistry practice, you must identify your target audience. Understanding your audience allows you to shape marketing and ad campaigns to increase your patients and ROI.
In the cosmetic dentistry industry, your target audience, regardless of your location, is mainly female. One study found that roughly 71 percent of all cosmetic dentistry patients are women. Additionally, women are the primary purchase decision makers, driving 70 to 80 percent of all consumer purchasing. Through buying power and social influence, women are the ones that will be driving business to your cosmetic dentistry practice, and they’ll also be your most significant source of word-of-mouth referrals.
Begin by understanding that most of your revenue will come from female patients. From there, you can make decisions that help you grow your practice while catering to your target demographic.
Capitalize on Video Marketing
Video is a powerful marketing tool for cosmetic dentistry practices. This medium allows providers to engage with current and potential patients by fostering a connection that the written word can’t provide. Video marketing lets patients see and hear directly from providers and staff and keeps them engaged throughout your message.
The video also allows you to present dynamic before and after shots of your patient’s teeth. While photographs adequately show a patient’s improvement, the video draws the viewer in and offers a more thorough perspective of how transformative your cosmetic dentistry treatments can be.
In a world where mobile usage accounts for over a third of total media time, your practice must reach potential patients where they are: on their phones. Video marketing created with mobile viewing in mind helps you grow your cosmetic dentistry practice while informing and endearing potential patients to your office.
Manage Your Patient Reviews
Online reviews drive the health of your cosmetic dentistry practice. It’s no secret that consumers go to reviews to make purchase decisions. For most consumers, an honest review is more trustworthy than a personal recommendation from a friend or family member.
Any cosmetic dentistry practice should implement a review management strategy which can be broken down into a few simple steps:
Ask for Reviews
When you’ve completed your patient’s treatment, send them a link via text or email asking them to review their experience with you. Include an option for them to leave comments. Satisfied patients are highly likely to leave a review, with one survey finding that 67 percent of happy customers leave reviews for positive experiences.
Respond to Reviews
Whether the review is good or bad, your office should respond. The same research mentioned above found that 89 percent of consumers are compelled to patron a business that responds to all its online reviews.
Ask for Review Edits
Inevitably, your practice will receive a bad review. If and when this happens, remember that bad reviews can be changed.
In your review response, acknowledge your patient is upset and ask how you can make things right. After you’ve taken steps to resolve the issue, ask them to edit their review to reflect their experience. They’ll likely oblige if you’ve shown care and worked to remedy the problem.
You can’t overestimate the impact of online reviews and your review management strategy. Reviews drive growth, so prioritize your patient review process.
Focus on Remarketing Campaigns
If your practice has been around for any significant length, you’ve likely seen the same customers come through your doors for additional or supplemental treatments. While adding to your patient list is worthwhile, patient retention is just as crucial for growing your cosmetic dentistry practice. Treating existing patients provides greater ROI than acquiring new patients, empowering you toward growth.
Remarketing means marketing to existing customers or patients. Below we give you a few remarketing examples for your cosmetic dentistry practice:
- Email campaigns notifying patients of new treatments or important updates
- Text alerts offering special promotions for returning patients
- Texts reminding patients that it’s time for a follow-up visit or to schedule their appointment
The essence of remarketing is reminding your patients why they came to you first and encouraging them to book your services again. Provide patients with treatments and care they love, and you can be sure they’ll be back.
Provide Memberships Options
Some cosmetic dentistry procedures are one-time appointments. But some services, like teeth whitening, are meant to be repeated regularly. Your practice can offer membership packages for these regularly recurring services.
As discussed above, retaining patients is less costly than new patient acquisition (though both are vital for growing your cosmetic dentistry practice!) Annual memberships incentivize patients to come to you for their cosmetic dentistry treatments. You can structure these memberships however you’d like, catering to the wants of your patient base.
Memberships can include the following benefits:
- A discount on specific treatments
- Product discounts or BOGOs
- A free treatment after a specific number of visits
- Discounts for reaching a certain number of word-of-mouth referrals that result in appointments
The possibilities are endless for membership incentives. Determine what your patients want, and create memberships that reward them with those benefits. You’ll see an increase in repeat patients, and they’ll enjoy the perks of membership with your practice.
Provide Affordable Patient Financing
Cosmetic dentistry is growing in demand and popularity, and practices find that many patients want and need alternative payment methods to receive cosmetic dentistry care.
Many cosmetic dentistry procedures can cost upwards of $1,000 per tooth. Implants, veneers, and crowns transform a person’s smile, but that price point is not affordable for patients without access to a credit card or cash on hand to pay for those treatments.
Cosmetic dentistry patient financing through a firm like United Consumer Financial Services makes cosmetic dentistry accessible for your patients. Affordable financing options empower individuals to choose the life-changing services you provide.
Cosmetic dentistry financing through UCFS is simple: once approved for their loan, your patient makes affordable monthly payments directly to UCFS throughout their loan. Your practice receives payment just days after the contract is signed, preventing lapses in cash flow, and providing you with the resources you need to grow your practice.
Patient financing can help you
- Attract new patients
- Retain existing patients
- Increase patients’ average order values
- Maintain consistent cashflow
A robust financing solution benefits your practice and your patients.
Conclusion
If you own or manage a cosmetic dentistry office, you know that your services are in high demand. Take advantage of the market and put these ideas to work to grow your practice. And when you’re ready to explore the benefits of patient financing through UCFS, our team is happy to talk. Reach out to UCFS to begin a conversation today.