Building a Marketing Machine: How to Get a High Volume of New Patients in Your Door Each and Every Month

Most dentists want to grow their practice and realize that they need a large volume of new patients walking in the door every week. But not everyone realizes what it takes to make that happen.

Generating a large volume of new patients doesn’t come from only one or two isolated sources, or a hit-and-miss approach to marketing. A large volume is the result of a comprehensive marketing machine. Each channel works with every other channel to build an overall, cohesive presence.

For instance, when a patient gets a postcard in the mail, your response rate will be much lower if you don’t have excellent online reviews and a compelling website so he can check you out online. However, he never would have even heard about you if he had never received the postcard. Thus, every avenue of marketing works together with every other avenue. The more you have going, the better your overall presence.

The goal of a practice isn’t to build one or two ways of getting new patients, but an overall marketing machine. Let’s take a look at what this consists of.

Your Website: Your website must be attractive, up-to-date and informative. It must be utterly clear on how to call the office, how to request an appointment, and what your specialty is. It must be built with the right technical foundation and have the relevant content that makes it rank well on Google. Of course, there’s a significant amount of technology involved in these tasks. However, when you’re looking for a company to build your site, make sure they focus above all on conversions —in other words, getting people to decide to take action and call or write in to the office.

Pay-Per-Click: This is one of the most common forms of internet advertising. At the top of the page of Google search results, for example, there are “paid results.” You pay money each time a person clicks on your ads and is sent to your website. Your pay-per-click ads can be offered to people who live or work near your practice, making this a viable method of reaching prospective patients. Google and Facebook pay-per-click ads are among the best channels to use in creating a high volume of new patients.

Direct Mail: Even in this age of the internet, direct mail still works. But you’ve got to be smart about it. You need lists of individuals who are likely to need your service and who have the income or insurance to make that service possible. You must tailor your message to the interests of that demographic. For example, promote pediatric dentistry to families with children, and dentures to retirees. And once you have sent that mail, you must keep track of the results so you can tell if that particular mailing was cost-effective.

Newsletters: Newsletters are a great way to keep your patients coming back to you. Once you start them, keep them going on a regular basis. They don’t have to be monthly if you just don’t have the resources. Make them quarterly, but make them useful and informative. And don’t ever forget to sell the excellence of your services.

Referral Program: Most practices run some kind of referral program. Review yours to make sure it’s actually bringing you new patients. If it’s not, fix it. We have found that patient referrals are typically the best new patients and sign up for the most treatment.

Reviews: These days, businesses are living and dying by their reviews. Sites like Google, Yelp, Healthgrades and ZocDoc all provide a platform for your patients to write reviews. You should be monitoring your reviews and communicating to anyone who leaves a bad review to see if you can handle their problem. On the other hand, encourage your happy patients to write positive reviews. A small sign with these icons displayed at the checkout desk is a good way to remind them.

There are many other channels of marketing, but as you can see, none of them are individually difficult. The key to seeing that steady flood of new patients is having these channels all running at once. While you may not be able to get them all running at top speed instantly, just work on constantly expanding them. As you get bigger, you’ll be able to add more and build your comprehensive marketing machine.