External Marketing

Internal Marketing

External Marketing:

We discussed marketing last week.  I hope you were able to engage in some external marketing and saw the benefit. Marketing is critical in order for you to bring in new patients and helps reward your current patient base. External marketing is activities that help boost your current patient base to feel valued and to give them information while also increasing the word about your office.

                                                             

                                             

There are several types of external marketing that you can do. Including Facebook,   a Website, and a blog.  You may also utilize, Yelp, Google plus and twitter. However, these are just a few of the social media sites that you may use in order to market your business. Each site can be set up and managed using Hootsuite to help you organize your posts.

There is a variety of quotes and information you can post on these sites. Research suggests that Facebook users want to get to know you and your office. They want to know what is going on in your office. It is an extension of who you and your staff is. Contests, questions and data can also help bring individuals flocking to your site.  Each post can be unique and different on each site, or you can post the same quote or information piece across multiple social media sites.

Blog posts can be short, sweet and informational. About three hundred to four hundred words can help support a blog, two times a week. When creating a blog make sure to give readers information that is about your practice and topics that interest the population of patients you see. For example, if you see children in your office that focus on information that is going to be important to parents.

A few tips and tricks:

1.     Be consistent

2.     Use information that is relevant

3.     Do giveaways or contests every once in awhile

4.     Post photos

5.     Create QR codes in the office for patients to scan and quickly get to your site

    Great teams take effort. Take time to work on your practice regularly to build quality communication and strengthen your results. For more information and to read other articles, please visit us at www.saltdpm.com.

Increasing your likes

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Increasing your “Likes”

Sometimes I have found that individuals don’t want to take the time to be on Facebook because they feel people are not paying attention or because it takes too much time. Don’t be tricked into believing that your Facebook presence isn’t important even if you don’t have a lot of likes. Continue working, tweaking and building your Facebook page because I can guarantee it does make a difference.

However, here a few simple ways to increase your readership on your Facebook.

1.     When patients are leaving have your “front office genie” inform the patients that you are now on Facebook. Ask them to like you by handing them a card with the URL or again having IPAD’s available so they can do it right there.

2.     Like what other people and patients have on their pages.

3.     Create a post card with all of your online information and mail or email it to your patients in order for them to easily access your information.

4.     Have a contest or a special. If you’re able to offer a 5% discount if a patient likes you on Facebook. This will not only help increase your number of patients overall but it will increase the number of people who are looking at your page.

5.     Keep it simple, neat, organized. If it is easy for patients to find and easy for them to navigate they will be more likely to keep going back to your page.

We live in a digital age. As younger generations have to pick who to give their business too and who to trust with their health they are looking not only what happens in the office, but what happens in your office online.

Great teams take effort. Take time to work on your practice regularly to build teamwork and strengthen your results. For more information and to read other articles, please visit us at www.saltdpm.com.  

Increaing your online presence: Facebook

It is not new information that patients are looking to connect with their dentists and doctors in other ways, besides entering the office. Your online presence is important however, not only for patients but for potential employees as well.  Recently my husband and I decided to place our kids in the school district closest to our home. The first thing I did was look for their Facebook, website and reviews. What information you have or don’t have on the Internet greatly impacts your practice. When I started looking for a new dentist to take my kids to, again I immediately went to the Internet.

Facebook is a great and easy way to keep patients in the know. How do you create a good look? Well that is the great thing about Facebook, you don’t have to spend hours creating colors and designing. You get an option on a business page for a header picture. You can do this in three easy steps.

How do you get patients to find you? There are a couple of different options. For example, you can purchase IPads and have them in your waiting room for patients. Have it immediately load your Facebook page and potential patients can like you. However, this also allows patients to do something else while waiting. You can also have a QR code on your business cards that takes patients to your page or you can have a post card that has your information on it with your Facebook url code. 

What content do you put on there?

This can be a little tricky because there is so much information going out on the Internet. However, you can do a quick survey of your patients, using a website called Survey Monkey that asks patients what information they want. Or you can do some Google searching to see what other dentists are putting out there.  Here is what I recommend:

Monday: a welcome hope you had a great weekend quote.

Tuesday: A new technology, special or event your practice is engaging in

Wednesday: a dental fact

Thursday: an inspirational message

Friday: A enjoy the weekend quote or message

Your Facebook should represent you and your staff. Put pictures of your office up. If you write articles for magazines or other online places, give this information to your readers. If your patients like you or send a message, you want to respond. Appreciate them for going to your site and helping to build your online presence. This isn’t an area you can afford to neglect anymore.

Great teams take effort. Take time to work on your practice regularly to build teamwork and strengthen your results. For more information and to read other articles, please visit us at www.saltdpm.com.  

Social Media

You might be asking yourself why social media? What can it really do for me? I don't need to tell my patients what I'm doing. However, social media sites are a great, free way to advertise and connect with your current patients.  It can also help you find new patients. These days, patient reviews are important and social media is a great way to post those happy reviews for other new patients to see. 

Which sites should you be on?

1. Facebook

2. Yelp

3. Twitter

4. Google Plus

5. Linkedin

What should you post?

You can post updates on new technology you have in your practice or an event going on in your office or close to home. If you have discounts you can post those as well.  Facebook is great for articles that relate to dentistry and help support oral health care. 

 Don't get overwhelmed. Start small, maybe try one for awhile and then move on from there. I suggest doing some research to see what other individuals in the same field are posting.  

How many times should you post? 

Facebook-once a day

Twitter-Twice a day

Google Plus-once a day

Linkedin-Once a day or every other day

This may sound like a lot so if you don't have the time to walk around tweeting about the new x-ray machine you have, that is okay. There is a simple solution, hootsuite will allow you to write or create your posts and then schedule when you want them to post. This makes keeping up on your social media an easier job. Or find someone at your office that enjoys updating and being on Facebook. It can become your greatest assets.     

 

Where has all the Yellow gone?

 Picture By: Blaine Parker

 If  phone books are no longer used, how does your business advertise its services? Let's face it, we are in the technology age. This photo is truly worth 1000 words.  Yellow books are a thing of the past, as more people use the Internet to find what they are looking for.  Can they find your business? 

            It has never been more important for your office to have an online presence. You must be easily located  by patients when they search for you. You can get your name out there by having a website, using Facebook, or by being a part of professional sites such as Linkin and Google +.  

            Different types of patients go online looking for a variety of things.  Some patients are looking to connect with you outside the normal business day, while other patients are looking for reviews, and to learn more about your services.  No matter what your patients are looking for, they aren’t looking for it in the hard copy of the yellow pages.  The stronger and bigger your presence is on line, the better chance you have that patients won’t leave your "business card" on a table waiting for the janitor to trash it.