Today we’re going to get very detailed, or as they like to say ‘in the weeds’ of our dental marketing plan here at my practice Life Smiles. We have a digital marketing plan with Ekwa Marketing, which consistently attracts 65 plus new patients to our practice every month. We’re a two-doctor dental practice, so if we divide, it’s about 32-33 new patients a month for each doctor.
As my good friend Naren Arulrajah, the CEO of Ekwa Marketing, who joined us recently in the Thriving Dental Podcast would say,
“Marketing is helping your potential clients to know you and then choose you.”
The best kind of marketing is helping people know you and choose you elegantly, without them knowing that it’s happening. In April, our Life Smiles dental center was seen 96,289 times by people, and we got 1129 phone calls on our new patient line. It’s important to note that these people are not coming because of an ad but instead are organically searching for our website on Google.
Today about 5% of our marketing is analog whilst 95% is digital.
Some of the key methods that Ekwa Marketing uses to ‘get people to know us’ is through SEO and also through Google Maps. Life Smiles show up as one of the top three when it comes to the keywords ‘Dentist in Phoenix, AZ’ and we have 317 reviews on Google.
1. Using specific digital reviews to provide authority to our patients
One of these specific digital reviews provided to us by Ekwa Marketing, is ‘Doctor’s Choice Awards’, where a doctor recommends another doctor. Generally, when a Doctor recommends another practitioner in the field, people tend to put a lot of value in that review. It’s like Oprah recommending a book. Linking these reviews to your homepage can give you instant results.
2. Crafting the story
You need to know who you are, and how to live it. This will be your story and the story of your practice. At Life Smiles, our story is about two young dentists, with two young families who take care of other families like their own. This story is then woven into every aspect of our digital marketing plan in a subtle way. For instance, in our ‘About the Doctor’ page of Dr. Paul, one of the pictures is of him, his wife and his four children. So, people can relate.
3. Digital patient reviews
Do you remember that time when one of your patients said “jeez, doctor I didn’t even feel that you gave me a shot.” Instead of just thanking him and ending it there, we ask our patients to give us a review, so that they can help other patients who have dental anxiety.
Life Smiles journey with Ekwa Marketing has been truly satisfying and there’s many more things that weren’t mentioned here that you can find in our webinar, that can help you create the perfect dental marketing plan for your practice.
You can learn more from my podcast episode on How LifeSmiles Attracts 65 Quality New Patients Every Month via Digital Marketing with Naren Arulrajah. Listen to it now!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Here is the Link to schedule a Free Marketing strategy Meeting with Ekwa!
