Marketing Your Oral Surgery Practice

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Marketing Your Oral Surgery Practice
No business should operate without a good
marketing plan in place. That includes the
business of oral and maxillary or maxillofacial
dental surgeons. Marketing your oral surgery
practice is essential if you want to attract new
patients directly. Just remember that marketing
your oral surgery practice is not only about
attracting new patients but also about attracting
the right kind of patientsand educating your
community about the critical importance of
practicing good oral hygiene and getting regular
checkups. In this article, well explore some of
the best tips and strategies for shifting your
dental oral surgery marketing plan into the
highest gear. So, you can gain more of the right
patients. Patients who need your skill and
expertise for extractions, wisdom tooth
extractions, dental implant placements,
maxillofacial surgery, and more. Build a Strong
Referral Base A traditional marketing strategy
like referrals will never go out of style.
Referrals are particularly important in dental
healthcare, specifically for oral surgeons,
periodontists, and endodontists. If you are like
most oral surgeons and dental specialists, you
receive most of your patients via general and
family dentist referrals. As an oral and
maxillofacial surgeon, you need the constant
visibility that general and family dentists
provide. For example, one of the most common ways
to get a client for a simple surgery like a
wisdom tooth extraction is through a referral
from a general dentist. Dont forget referrals
from your patients. The best time to ask for
referrals is when patients give you positive
feedback about your care. And the best way to
maintain a steady stream of professional
referrals is
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by staying in constant contact with the general
and family dentists who provide them. Getting in
touch with new dentists in your area will
help. Dont underestimate the importance of
support from a referring dentists team members.
Many referred patients come from hygienists,
dental assistants, and techs who work for the
referring dentist. Marketing Tips for a Stronger
Oral Surgery Practice Here are some marketing
tactics, tips, and strategies you can use to
build your practice Make your website
mobile-friendly A mobile-friendly or responsive
site will load quickly and display properly on
any mobile device. More than half of all web
traffic now comes from mobile devices. In fact,
Google prioritizes mobile search when calculating
website rankings, so you can bet that prospective
patients are visiting your site from their
smartphones. Request patient feedback and
reviews If you want more new patients to choose
your practice, then take a closer look at your
online reputation. Those patient reviews are the
single most important decision-making factor for
prospective patients searching for a dental oral
surgery provider, according to multiple sources
and patient surveys. When you ask patients
directly for feedback, they are twice as likely
to leave reviews. Thats why asking for feedback
should be a key focus of your marketing strategy.
It costs you nothing to ask. And there are
several effective ways to get patients to leave
reviews.
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Ask patients for feedback in person. The easiest
way is to simply ask your patients for feedback
immediately after theyve received care or when
they are checking out. Offer automatic digital
feedback. Automatically send your patients email
or text messages right after their visits. Add a
suggestion box. A suggestion box wont help your
online reviews, but it will help your patients
feel valued and heard. This can translate into
patients feeling more motivated to write positive
online reviews or refer new patients. Hire a
referring dentist liaison Dentist liaisons
specialize in creating and implementing referral
programs and helping your oral surgery practice
make the right connections with potential
referring dentists in your community. If you
dont have the budget to hire a professional
practice liaison, identify someone from your
staff to forge relationships with area physicians
and build your referral program part-time. Even a
little extra focus can pay big dividends in
growing your patient base. Leverage
relationships with current and former
patients Many dental practices focus mainly on
attracting new patients. However, your current
and former patients can also be a goldmine. You
can retarget this group by promoting your newest
services and procedures to them. Remember that
previous patients can be your best source for
referrals, so make outreach to this group a focus
of your marketing program.
Marketing to the Public
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Directing your marketing activities toward the
public can help you get new patients who have
never been to an oral surgeon. It can also help
you convert patients who are unhappy with their
current providers. The American Dental
Association estimates over 100 million people
avoid seeing a dentist every year. More than half
of all patients dont visit their dentist
regularly. A marketing program can help you reach
this general public. One method that works
especially well is a marketing campaign
surrounding wisdom tooth extraction. Building an
Online Presence Your key to standing out in
todays healthcare landscape is having a strong
web presence. Potential new patients are much
more likely to find you when you have an
up-to-date website, a robust online profile, and
active social media accounts. To reach more new
patients, you should appear regularly online with
relevant content and messaging. Social media is
one of the best ways to build a business today.
Social media can add weight to your marketing
campaign if you do it effectively and regularly.
For example, you can add regular updates on your
Facebook or Instagram page to engage current and
future fans. In addition to keeping your social
media channels up to date, you can ask current
patients to share your content with their friends
on social media. This will expand your network of
contacts, and make potential new patients aware
of your practice. Reputation Management People
trust online reviews and often base their
decisions on those reviews. According to
BrightLocal, 98 percent of people now read online
reviews for local businesses, and 87 percent
check Google reviews. Thats why its important
to have a system in place to highlight your
positive reviews and encourage patients to give
them.
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With the right marketing tactics in place, you
can grow your dental oral surgery practice
exponentially. Learn more about marketing and
growing your oral surgery practice. Find
solutions that will drive new patients to your
practice. To get started, contact us.