What is your dental office marketing all about?

Are you marketing with purpose?

There are two definitions of marketing with purpose:

• Marketing in accordance with a reliable, repeatable, data-driven marketing plan
• Marketing with values and mission at the forefront, going beyond making money

Many orthodontists have #2 figured out. They know that by practicing their skills, they have the chance to make a positive difference in others’ lives. That has the potential to make a big impact on modern consumers, who want to know the businesses they work with share their values.

It’s #1 where marketing for dental offices often comes apart.

You trained, you studied, and you finally started your practice with the desire to be an orthodontist, not a marketer. But without the benefit of modern, scientific marketing – that is, marketing that uses data to focus efforts and improve processes – you can easily get lost in the shuffle among your competitors.

An integrated marketing plan is how you stand out and differentiate yourself.

That draws new patients to your door and builds the framework for life-long relationships.

What Does an Integrated Marketing Plan Include?

Integrated marketing plans build on your knowledge of who your customers are and what they want.

They include:

• A definition of your marketing goals, timeline, brand standards, and promised experience
• Formalized, in-depth buyer personas to tailor your marketing messages to your patients
• The specific online techniques you’ll use to find, connect with, and keep your patients
• The offline approaches that will complement and strengthen your digital presence
• What data you’ll collect and use to continuously improve marketing campaigns

One reason orthodontists of all sizes should consider an agency for dentist office marketing is this: Your marketing team brings with it proven, repeatable processes. That means you don’t have to spend a lot of time reinventing the wheel. Instead, you can start moving toward your goals at a brisk pace.

You’ll also avoid the long learning curve many digital marketing technologies have. For example, say your plan includes social media. Learning to post is simple enough, but if you spend your time posting once a week, you won’t get the response you expect or the data you need to do better.

Mistakes like this – which anyone can make – often convince orthodontists that digital doesn’t matter.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. About 85% of all Americans now own a smartphone and adoption is high across all age categories. Virtually all of your future customers will find you online, no matter if they’re doing research for their own needs or looking for a new family orthodontist.

If you’re not there, that same business will go to a competitor.

The Three Biggest Advantages Integrated Marketing Will Give You in 2022

A new year means a new start. That’s especially true when it comes to marketing.

There are some orthodontists out there who already get all the work they can handle. If this describes you, more exposure and attention may be the least of your concerns right now. But many business owners will look back on the past year and conclude they didn’t reach all of their goals.

If so, the first place to look is your marketing.

And remember: Even when things are going well, there’s always room for improvement.

For instance, an orthodontist whose schedule is packed right now might do well to consider how to use marketing to attract customers with more disposable income. Likewise, email marketing and other forms of dental office marketing can win referrals for when slow seasons strike.

If you’re eyeing an integrated marketing plan for the coming year, it’s worthwhile to pursue it.

Here’s what a cohesive digital marketing program has to offer:

Building Deeper Trust to Win More First-Time Business

There are lots of adults out there who have never gotten any orthodontic care.

In fact, millions of Americans suffer from dental anxiety. You have an uphill climb when you want to win them over and get them to make that all-important first call. As an orthodontist, you might not scrape teeth or drill cavities, but you shouldn’t assume a newcomer knows all the ins and outs.

One of the most crucial things marketing does is build trust before you even meet.

That usually comes in three phases:

• Helping the prospect identify the problem they’re having and what might be causing it
• Providing information on the potential treatments and the consequences of inaction
• Highlighting testimonials and social proof showing you’re the orthodontist for them

Sound dental office marketing means embracing your role as a digital publisher. You’ll need blog posts to educate about conditions and treatments, e-books and audio to delve deeper into specific subjects, and video storytelling and social media to create a one-to-one human connection.

Positioning as an advisor and expert means prospects will feel like they know you already.

This might seem like a tall order, but the effort you invest now pays dividends for years to come. Once your content library and customer funnels are set up, your website continues working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, forever. By comparison, many orthodontists get no value from their websites!

Unless your website is set up to win business, it’s pure overhead.

Deepening Brand Loyalty with Your Existing Patients

Some patients will get treatments that require follow-up. What happens to all the rest?

Without the right marketing in place, you might not see them again – even if they were fully satisfied.

You may have done everything right, but modern life is busy. You need to cut through the clutter.

Email marketing costs only dollars a month but yields the highest ROI of any digital marketing tactic. It also has the power to keep relationships going strong. By blending helpful, informative content with limited-time offers and standard customer reminders, you remain a part of your subscribers’ lives.

And publicizing the right offer at the right time helps you control the tempo of business, too.

Combined with social media and direct mail marketing, you ensure full coverage of your customer base no matter how they prefer to be contacted. To make certain these elements work together, you need an integrated marketing plan with repeatable processes that are easy to follow.

Saving Time and Money – and Improving Both Over Time

Every time someone interacts with one of your digital properties, they leave a trail of valuable data.

That’s true of your website, social media, email, and more.

Used correctly, this data tells you in precise detail what works and what doesn’t. That means you can get more bang for your buck, lowering the cost of retention and new customer acquisition.

Partnering with a Central Florida marketing agency is the fastest way to translate raw data into actionable lessons and opportunities for growth. Your integrated marketing plan must include ongoing efforts to collect and analyze data, then use it to do even better next month.

Contact New York Ave today to begin.