Due to increased awareness about dental health and the introduction of new technology into the industry, the dental services market is growing rapidly. Last year the global dental services market surpassed $433 billion and is forecasted to grow at a 4.5% compound annual growth rate over the next several years, reaching a projected $610.4 billion by 2030.
Your practice can experience unprecedented growth in this expanding market by providing quality services and implementing robust marketing strategies. This article by the United Consumer Financial Services team outlines five marketing trends to help your practice grow and maximize revenue in 2024.
How to Market Your Dental Practice To Maximize Revenue
-
SEO and Geo-Targeted Ads Generate Local Leads
An essential element of effective marketing is knowing your audience. For dental practices, that audience primarily includes patients and prospective patients in your immediate area with access to your office location. Thanks to technological advances over the last decade, targeting those specific patients with marketing and advertising is easier than ever.
Geo-targeting allows you to specify the geographic scope of your advertisements and saturate the local market with tailored content about your dental practice. Geo-targeting ensures locals receive regular online ads about your services and promotional content, improving the relevance of your ads for viewers and the return on your marketing investment.
Although effective SEO requires you to research your demographic’s online search habits, creating content with commonly searched keywords and phrases is easy to generate leads and draw more traffic to your website. As AI technology further enhances the precision and functionality of search engines, SEO will become an increasingly important strategy to ensure local patients find your website and learn more about your practice and services.
-
Social Media Curates Stories and Community
Nearly everyone is on social media these days, and it continues to be a primary source for keeping up to date on community information, events, and news. This means a successful marketing campaign for your dental practice must include social media.
Social media allows your practice to share stories, introduce specialists and staff, address questions, and feature testimonials. Your presentation in these posts and videos can boost your credibility, raise awareness about your services, and help to create a community around your practice that encourages patient loyalty.
Social media also offers your practice a way to get current and former patients involved and to encourage patients to return for future services. Following up with patients after each visit allows you to gather important feedback and ask for recorded or written testimonials for social media. Invaluable for marketing purposes, testimonials or before and after photos provide powerful testimony about your services and create space for patients to participate in your practice’s developing community on social media.
-
More Patients Want Personalized Remote Care
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, one rising trend in health care is the demand for remote access to healthcare providers. For instance, patients want to know that their dental care team is accessible for questions long after they leave the office. Your office must develop remote engagement strategies that use technology to sustain relationships with patients after their visits.
Two-way texting, telemedicine, and online chat options foster your practice’s relationship with patients even while they are not in your office. This personalized remote engagement also enables your practice to monitor patients’ conditions, track progress, and field questions or concerns that do not warrant in-person appointments. Highlighting these features in your marketing campaigns will show prospective patients that you offer quality services and prioritize holistic health and personalized care.
-
Cost and Access Still Drive the Market
Last year, dental clinics dominated the dental services industry, accounting for 68.5% of the industry’s total revenue. Of this 68.5%, private dental clinics outperformed their competitors due to their lower-than-average service costs and the one-stop access they provided regarding specialists and varied oral care. The success of dental clinics in 2022 proves that the demand for affordable costs and ready access still drives the market.
Although other strategies may give your dental practice an edge, what matters most to your patients is that they receive the specialized care they need at reasonable costs. Effective marketing for your dental practice will demonstrate to potential patients that your practice balances affordability with quality and accessibility.
Advertising graduated pricing-for-service options helps patients choose the level of service they need without disrupting their budgets. Marketing campaigns promoting service bundles or package options empower more patients to take advantage of select services at affordable costs.
Marketing loyalty or membership programs are also effective ways of securing long-term patients by offering incentives or discounted services for regular visits. Regardless of your discount options, your marketing must show patients that your practice is an affordable solution to their oral health needs.
That also means your marketing must offer prospective patients a preview of your services and the specialists on staff. Can your practice provide appropriate care if a person has an oral health need? Who are your specialists? Can they be trusted and easily reached? Market your practice so that patients know precisely what kind of oral health care you provide and which qualified specialists will assist them. Doing so brings credibility and clarity to your practice and anticipates the questions or concerns that may keep patients from taking the first step toward a consultation or appointment.
-
Consumer Financing Grows Your Practice
As patients face higher costs due to inflation and dental practices face cash flow challenges, consumer financing offers payment solutions that benefit everyone. Adding consumer financing to your marketing content is a strategic way to grow your practice.
Patients want to know if they can afford your services, which is precisely why advertising consumer financing options positions your practice for success. When dental practices offer financing options through firms like United Consumer Financial Services, patients can receive the care they need without the burden of unmanageable up-front costs.
Consumer financing means fewer patients will be denied access to the critical oral health care they need. It also helps your dental practice maintain a stable cash flow and expands your patient list by making your services affordable to more people in your area. When marketing, emphasize how your practice offers low, fixed, monthly payments that enable patients to more easily pay for the care they want — even when their insurance does not cover it.
Conclusion
As the dental services industry grows, simple marketing changes can significantly boost revenue and generate more leads for your practice. To learn more about how you can position your practice for growth or more about consumer financing options for your practice, contact the team at United Consumer Financial Services today.