The cutting-edge new patient strategy that 99.9% of dentists are missing

September 17, 2015

Article

e you ready to scale production and get more of those high-value patients that all dentists love? Then it’s time to learn about a cutting-edge new patient strategy that no other dentists are taking advantage of

Are you ready to scale production and get more of those high-value patients that all dentists love? Then it’s time to learn about a cutting-edge new patient strategy that no other dentists are taking advantage of…yet. I’m talking about retargeting ads.

Simply put, retargeting ads are one of the most potent ways to build relationships with those ideal patients who are already interested in your services.

We already know that the majority of people use Google and social media to make decisions about what local dental practice to choose. This is especially true of younger generations who are accustomed to having a world of information at their fingertips. (And these younger generations are the ones who are going to become lifetime patients-along with their families-for years to come.) Retargeting ads are one of the most effective ways to make sure these potential patients find your dental practice when searching online.

What are retargeting ads?

The primary difference between a regular display ad and a retargeting ad is that a retargeting ad targets those specific users who have previously visited your website. A retargeting ad only shows up to those people who have already had an interaction with your dental practice-those potential patients who have expressed an explicit interest in the services your practice offers. So after a person lands on your website, they might see ads for your dental practice on Facebook, Google or YouTube.

Retargeting ads are especially powerful because most high-value patients (like implant and cosmetic cases) are not ready to make a purchase the first time they land on your dental website. In fact, most aren’t even ready the second or third time! On average, it actually takes potential patients seven to twelve interactions with your dental practice before they are prepared to make a purchase. Retargeting ads help you to show up and stay on these patients’ minds, effectively nurturing relationships until they are ready to convert into high-value cases.

How do retargeting ads work?

To set up a retargeting ad, you or your dental marketer must put a unique tracking pixel (sort of like an invisible tag) on your website or a single landing page. This pixel creates a “list” of people who have visited your dental website. Anyone on this list will then see your retargeting ads on other online mediums, including but not limited to Google, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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Are retargeting ads creepy?

This is something that we hear a lot. Many dentists believe that retargeting ads are “creepy.” After all, do your potential patients really want your ads to show up on Facebook or Google just because they landed on your website once? Actually, there is a significant chance that they do.

The first thing to remember about retargeting ads is that they are filling an ad space that would be there anyway. Your potential dental patients have the option of seeing random ads that they do not care about, or your practice which they have already expressed interest in. So if your dental practice is relevant and useful to these potential patients, why wouldn’t they want to see you there? These potential patients will only see your ads for a limited time-ideally long enough to have seven to twelve interactions, but not necessarily more than that.

What do retargeting ads look like?

There are multiple different ways to use retargeting to massively grow your dental practice and scale production. Here are a few of the most popular online mediums for retargeting ads:

Google ads: Google calls it “remarketing,” but it is basically the same strategy. These are the ads that you typically see on the top or right-hand side of your Google search results. However, they might also appear as banner ads or embedded as text links.

Facebook: Facebook ads show up to potential dental patients in their news feed or on the right-hand side of their Facebook page.

Twitter: These are ads showing up in your primary Twitter newsfeed.

YouTube: For YouTube, you can set your retargeting ads as banner ads or overlay ads. If your dental practice uses video, then you can also utilize the short ads we see at the beginning of YouTube videos that say “skip in 5 seconds.”

Conclusion

Virtually no dental practices are taking advantage of the game-changing power of retargeting ads. However, you can absolutely expect that to change as more and more dentists become savvy to the transformational benefits of online marketing. Get ahead of the competition by using retargeting ads to start marketing to your ideal, high-value patients today.