Starting up a brand new dental practice is no easy task, let alone a very expensive one. We are talking about at least 2 operatory rooms, new dental equipment, having an awesome front and back staff, and any remodeling/ upgrades to the office (your logo, painting, etc.).
This obviously puts a huge dent into your budget and now you’re left with a much smaller budget to market your practice, which ultimately should have been your first budget to have been set because your marketing is what will bring you your new patients, which means consistent and higher profits.
However, assuming you do not have a large budget to market with, I don’t want you to be too concerned or feel like all you have left to do is send out post cards to your local neighborhoods and pray that someone will come; there are much more ways to market your practice successfully on a budget.
Aside from doing the obvious which is inviting family, friends and colleagues to check out your new practice (which I am assuming you have done already; even if they have already told you they have a dentist, still ask them to check you out). Let’s see what else we can do!
Participating In your Local Community Events
Each community has a Chamber of Commerce or something of that sort where the city’s political and local community matters occurs.
So go online and get onto your search engine. Let’s say you live in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.
Type into Google “Rancho Cucamonga Chamber of Commerce Events” and then see results.
Click on the first couple of results that aren’t ads and look at the calendars of their upcoming events. Here you will see either many meetings, networking events, grand openings, and more happening, this is all planned out monthly by the Chamber of Commerce.
Take note of the events occurring and see which ones best fit your schedule and you could participate in. Each event in the calendar has a person to contact, so contact that person and let them know that you would like to set something up to help out or participate in the event. Most of the time this will cost you absolutely nothing!
So, so far we have spent, really, $0.00
Marketing Online With A Budget
I’m going to assume that you know we live in an age of where everything is ran online and internet is king! So this means I am also assuming you have already spent money on creating a website!
Now that you have your website we want people to look into it and do the obvious, pick up the phone to call your dental practice.
However, with millions and millions of dental practice websites all saying the same thing you are saying, how can we start attracting new patients or creating awareness of your brand new practice?
Simple.
Remember how we used Google before to look at your local community events. Well now what I want you to do is use Google again but this time let’s look up “local community bloggers” or “local dental bloggers”. (You can also type *your city’s name* bloggers or *your city’s name* dental bloggers).
Then do the exact same as before click on the links that seem to be the most relevant to you and your business. Of course local bloggers may not be really relevant to dentistry but look at the bigger picture here. These local bloggers may have a bigger influence on your community than you think! Offer them a free tour of your practice, free dental check-up, free bleaching if they write about their positive experience. Make sure when these “community influencers” come in that your customer service is ON POINT! Believe it or not but this response brings in crowds of people which is pretty much exactly what you want!
Also, what you can start doing is set aside an hour every other day or so to write small articles about dentistry, your dental experiences, your business experiences, and more.
This helps out a lot when you are searching for “local dentist bloggers”. Search for them and click on a couple links. Take note of the websites that seem to attract the type of audience you want to have for your website.
Then look for an About Us page or Contact Us page on the “local dentist bloggers” website and contact them. Be very transparent and let them know that you like their latest post or a specific article that you saw on their website about cosmetic dentistry.
Now, see if you can contribute a specific article that you wrote to their website and appear as a “guest writer” or “guest post”.
Most times, the “local dentist bloggers” will let you appear as a “guest writer”. Putting your name and article out there on other websites gives your website more credibility and helps build an audience as well. This audience may create referrals for you, spread your article around so more new potential patients can see it, or the audience may say “hey I need a dentist that can do that, where do I call?!”
So, assuming you already have a website, we have spent a total of: $0.00.
Talk To Everyone About You and Your Practice
No, I don’t mean this:
Me: Hey, what’s up!
You: Hi, I’m Bill DDS. Here’s my card. Check out my brand new dental practice. I am now accepting new patients.
Me: Cool story bro. *puts chewing gum in card and throws it away*
I mean be friendly and nice with everyone. Treat everyone as if they are your new potential patients because guess what; everyone who smiles and has teeth are your new potential patients!
Let your cashier at Target know that the bag of chips you are buying is a flavor you have never tried or the pack of gum you are buying is a flavor you love and then see her response. Ask her if she thinks that’s the best flavor.
The point is to spark up some small talk!
Then when she tells you the total of your groceries or purchase start paying and say “hey if you want this week we are doing free teeth whitening for you and your family right down the street if you’re interested? It’s exclusive to only the Target employees”. See what the cashier says and proceed from there. The worst that can happen is that the cashier will say “no”.
The best that can happen is that they will say “yes” or ask for your card. Regardless, you have built awareness to them that you EXIST! Your dentistry is right down the road and now they know. Who knows maybe during that week they may tell their co-worker or their family!
This has worked like a charm for me almost 10 times out of 10!
So in total, our marketing expenses have really come out to $0.00
So remember to always talk about your practice when the opportunity presents itself, if the opportunity is not their then create it. You need to participate in your local community events and reach out to your local online influencers and bloggers. Remember, if you are on a tight budget and need help, re-read this article! Most importantly remember marketing your practice should be a blast! Have fun with it!
For more insanely valuable information visit: The Dental Marketer or listen to the podcast #TDMTALKS