While running a healthcare practice isn’t quite the same as operating a shop or a company that sells physical products, it still has to be run as a business to some extent. Being savvy and business-minded means you are far more likely to succeed in getting patients through the doors of your practice, and start earning those all-important recommendations. With many people only visiting the dentist once or twice a year, what can you do to ensure you keep regular custom happening?
Your website
Your website is likely to be the first port-of-call for many online visitors, and so you want it to be a valuable and useful source of information. You want your website to look and feel clean, and accurately detail what services you offer, and for what cost. However, in order to get it seen, you will ideally need a digital marketing team, with a knowledge of your industry, to help optimize each page. Digital marketing for the dental industry is not as hard to come by as you would expect, and is incredibly useful for offering you a tailored service.
On top of having an optimized website, it’s a good idea to register your dental practice with Google Business, so your practice will be listed immediately when people are looking for a dentist in their vicinity.
Your location
It’ll be much easier to promote your dental practice if you pick a suitable location in the first place. You will want to choose somewhere that has plenty of families and residents nearby – regular visitors are what will make your business profitable. If you’re not in a busy city center, you will want to be careful about setting up close to another dentist. Being in direct competition with a nearby practice that’s popular with residents may affect your business. Do plenty of research before buying a property and registering with the local authorities.
The interior
Every business has a ‘brand’ of some description, and your clinic should have its own look and feel that’s completely unique to it. You should reflect this in the interior by keeping it linked in with the general theme of your logos and promotional material. If you pride yourself on being a family-friendly dental practice, then your waiting room shouldn’t be too formal or trendy for the sake of it. You should have toys and furniture that would be appropriate for patients with small children that puts everyone at ease. However, it’s recommended that you keep your cosmetic interior budget completely separate from your professional equipment, as many dentists have made the mistake of spending far too much on design.
It will feel like relatively no time at all from when you first purchase your premises to when you start recognizing familiar faces at your practice. Setting up the promotional side of your dental practice is key for ensuring that you get those regular customers in the first place. Giving people a reason to get through the doors is just the first step in retaining them as a regular patient and customer.
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