In the latest edition of Dental Town, Dr. Anissa Holmes outlined some new and exciting ways to attract new patients sharing marketing strategies under three headings: Unique culture, Social media done well, and Relationships. I encourage you to read her entire article as Dr. Holmes has some great ideas about how to wow patients.
Dr. Holmes also outlines her social media strategy and how she is driving new patients to her office including Facebook and Instagram, which Dr. Holmes referred to as “the most effective social media platforms for dentists”. In addition, her office is building relationships with established businesses that cater to similar target audiences and parlaying that into mutually beneficial partnerships.
Marketing is indeed vital, but you must make sure you are able to schedule those leads
At UIC Dental, we agree with Dr. Holmes that marketing is vital to attracting new patients, but also remind any practice that is marketing for new patients to make sure you are available to convert these leads into appointments on the schedule. Patients are going to call when it is convenient for them and this might not match when you are currently in the office and able to schedule that patient.
For example, if a patient calls on Friday and the office is closed, will the office have someone available to make sure this hard earned lead is not lost? What about if a patient is checking out and scheduling their next appointment, but a phone call is coming in at the same time due to increased volume from the marketing efforts?
Voicemail may seem like an acceptable solution, but I promise you that there are new patient leads calling that are not being scheduled because of the highly competitive nature of dentistry. Otherwise, why would you be marketing if patients were already decided on who they would be choosing for their dentistry needs?
No more lost leads
UIC Dental caters to offices with a forward eye for marketing. We offer a service to make sure your marketing efforts do not go wasted by answering the phone when you are not available and scheduling new patients instead of using voicemail. With a guaranteed 4 to 1 return on investment (ROI) in New Patient production, an office can be sure that its marketing will be maximized and all interest generated from those efforts are scheduled right when the patient is calling.