How do your dental marketing habits compare to other practices?

No matter your profession, it’s always comforting and helpful to have a pulse on what your peers are doing to compare how your practice measures up.

That’s why ProSites, a leading provider of dental website design and marketing services, conducted a survey to uncover the marketing trends, objectives and strategies of over 400 dental practices across the United States.

The survey results revealed both expected and unexpected results. Below are three insights that the report revealed:

1. Most dentists manage their marketing in-house.

While the report revealed that most (41 percent) of dentists wear the “marketing manager” hat themselves, practices that have a dedicated marketing coordinator (11 percent) tend to see higher revenues than those without.

What this means for your practice: Hiring a dedicated marketing coordinator could improve revenues, but doing so also increases payroll, taxes and overhead. If your dental practice prefers to not add staff, outsourcing marketing efforts to an online marketing provider can help you achieve the same results without the organizational commitment of a new hire.

Related article: How to drive practice growth with a marketing coordinator

2. There is a surprising discrepancy between dental practice communications versus actual patient preferences.

The most common method that dentists use to communicate with patients is via phone call, however studies suggest that most patients (of all ages) prefer text and email reminders. The findings also suggest that the busiest practices and those with the highest revenues were the greatest users of email, text messages and social media communications.

What this means for your practice: The quicker you can invest in a reliable patient communications management system, the better. Effectively communicating with patients saves time, money, reduces no-shows and keeps appointment books full.

3. Outside of word-of-mouth, most dentists use a website and social media for marketing.

Word-of-mouth marketing continues to be a favorite, but dentists are also utilizing a website, social media and search engine optimization strategies as the next most popular marketing tactics. Additionally, 35 percent of dentists stated they post regularly (at least twice a month) to social networks.

What this means for your practice: Even though most dental practices rely on word-of-mouth, a simple referral is no longer enough. In fact, 43% of patients who receive a personal recommendation will still look online to judge for themselves. Having a professional website that ranks well within search results and a strong social media presence are great ways to stand out among prospective patients online.

In conclusion, dental practices that communicate across a broad spectrum of channels and cater to patient preferences will find the most success. Dentists can click here to get a complimentary copy of the full report.