How to Create Innovative Dental Marketing Strategies for 2021

Change.
That word is somewhat about cause-and-effect.
And it’s especially timely considering how dental marketing has changed in 2020. 

Change relative to positioning your dental organization going into 2021 is no doubt having an effect on your dental marketing strategies in 2021.

What’s changed in dental marketing in 2020… and what’s timeless?

Perhaps a better perspective would be fixating on a few timeless values – those things that remain constant regardless of what’s swirling around you. All things considered, 2020 will be remembered as the year that much changed.

• How you do dentistry
• How you interact with patients
• How you position your practice(s) and organization for the future

It’s a good idea – especially relative to your dental marketing – to find the unchanging core. And once you do, measure your efforts by it.

COVID-19 will create ongoing challenges and changes. Marketing in this new era will require an emphasis on the timeless value of reassurance.

Dental marketing designed around the long-term value

Carl Sewell understood a long-term view of customer service. He embedded a “lifetime value perspective” into his Dallas Cadillac dealership.

By his calculations, he found that “the lifetime value of a loyal customer in terms of automobiles and service was $332,000.” 

This perspective was instilled into the culture of his dealership at every level – from the sales floor to the service bays.

In essence, his team(s) were expected to provide a reassuring level of service that respected what could, on average, produce $332,000 worth of customer loyalty.

What if you applied that same level of service and value reassurance to each patient across your practice(s) and organization as a whole?

Design your dental marketing strategy around what you’ve learned in 2020 and attain lifetime patient value 

Pivot your dental marketing narrative while continuing to embrace COVID-19 “fallout.” 

Though our society is turning a corner on some issues relative to the pandemic…you’ll likely be dealing with it (and the fallout) for months to come. Much of your ongoing embrace will surround the reality that dentistry could remain a low priority for the general public.

This in spite of the substantial energy you’ve given across your organization to infection control, investment in new levels of PPE, and other touch-less, patient-facing protocols.

Your marketing narrative will rely on improving and maintaining patient confidence in those protocols and dentistry’s value to overall health and wellness.

• Turn-up-the-volume on patient communication. Present a friendly, calming, assuring “face” on every promotional or communication initiative. 
• Stay front-of-mind to give them reasons to return sooner rather than later.
• Create trust and appeal through organic content instead of “slick,” predictable, and standard marketing collateral. The unexpected, personal touch via useful content helps create a “safe” space for cautious patients.

Focus your dental marketing on a sustainable patient experience

Carry the idea forward that the pandemic has altered your patient interactions. And it’s your opportunity to help them sort through the changes.

That said, it’s perhaps even more vital to evaluate every patient-facing connect-point in their journey from pre-appointment to appointment to post-appointment follow-up. At every point along the way, understanding, confidence, and perceived safety and security is essential.

• Make appointment availability and scheduling efficient and easily accessible.
• Provide procedural guidance for in-person and virtual appointments that accommodate patient preference and comfort.
• Highlight digital, contactless solutions that enhance safety and patient convenience. This includes your website navigation, voice/phone communications, personalized email and text messaging, mobile applications, and online business listings.

Frame your dental marketing with empathy and timeliness

Tone-deaf marketing communication will fail in this era of dentistry. It’s vital to keep your communication ever-sensitive to the stress the public and your patients are continuing to feel.

Keep in mind that if there’s any sense that you’re focused on production over their general sense of well-being – trust will be lost! That said, the more you instill confidence through informative content, sensitive answers to their questions, and creating a safe patient experience – the trust will increase.

• Craft your marketing message around a theme of safety and sensitivity. 
• Show what a calming, safe, comfortable patient experience looks like via visual content using images and a brief video.
• Market your services with transparency and authority. Present your practice(s) as caring experts and encourage patients to provide reviews relative to your patient experience.

Revive your dental marketing investment with “the new normal” in mind

It’s reasonable that you paused a percentage of your organization’s marketing spend during the pandemic. But now, it’s also necessary to reboot your investment around what’s becoming an acceptable norm in dentistry.

• Re-engage your marketing with organic content. Search tactics have (and should) shift a bit during this era, but the content will consistently deliver as it’s sensitive to patient needs.
• Assess your local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Confirm that your Google My Business listings are thorough and present the essential details about your practice(s).
• Answer the questions patients are asking via online search with relevant, useful, on-topic content. Revive your blog pages across your organization and keep the content flow consistent with informative content.
• Engage patients via social media. And consider investing a portion of marketing dollars in paid ads – mainly themed around demographics and relevant service promotions. 

Deploy new technology that gives patients a real-time connection to your services

Patients are returning to dentistry, but they’re quick to communicate about their concerns regarding comfort and safety. Keeping up with their inquiries can be a daunting task for your team(s).

Innovative technology can help your team increase and sustain their workflow efficiency. Plus, your patient experience will improve as those seeking your services will have additional points of contact with your practice(s).

New technology solutions can include:

• Live chat via chatbot technology. Patients can ask questions, receive answers, and be connected to a staff member when necessary. 
• Tracking and data analytic software platforms. You can track KPIs and other patient-facing metrics that reveal how, when, and why people are connecting with your practice(s). 

And speaking of innovative technology solutions…Marketing Matchback could be what you’re looking for to boost your dental marketing in 2021

Jarvis Analytics Marketing Matchback module tracks your patient journey from lead to production. And after all, isn’t dental marketing an ongoing journey leading to what could be lifetime patient relationships?

What’s a “matchback?”

• They’re a new or existing patient who visits your practice within 60 days of their first contact.
• They assist you in assessing the dental marketing campaign that generated the most patient production and how those patients found you (e.g., Facebook, a referral, etc.).

The Jarvis Analytic Marketing Matchback tracks key metrics such as:

• First-Visit Revenue (FVR): the production from each unique marketing campaign to the patient’s first investment.
• First-Year Revenue (FYR): the production from each unique marketing campaign to the patient’s first-year investment. 
• Cost Per Lead (CPL): total cost calculation of the marketing campaign divided by the number of leads.
• Matchback Visit Production (MVP): calculation of the total production generated by all matchbacks.

The Jarvis Analytics platform and the Marketing Matchback module help assure that you’re tracking the important metrics and staying on-track with your goals as your dental practice and/or DSO grows and expands. 

Jarvis…

• Integrates seamlessly with your chosen practice management software/platform
• Presents the metrics you want and need in an easy-to-view dental dashboard that reduces data complexity for growing dental practices, dental groups, and DSOs

Request more information about the Marketing Matchback module or experience Jarvis in action. 

Request a demo today!

And…

Contact us for more information about data tracking that leads to better dental marketing and organizational profitability.