Different owners will have different motivations that influence how they operate their practices. Some may want to first be efficient and make sure that patients are on schedule with their treatments while others believe in perfection, no matter how long it takes. Others yet, may want to make sure their teams enjoy a high quality of life and balance, even if it means sacrificing some revenue. Not everyone is focused on just growing their orthodontic practice. However, even if this is not your main focus, you should still be oriented toward focus. There is a distinct difference between being growth oriented and just growing for the sake of it. I recommend the former.
One of the main reasons why it is important to be growth oriented is the natural patient attrition in the orthodontic industry. You will get patients who need treatment. You will give them treatment, they will leave, and they will be replaced by new patients that need treatment. You need to be growth oriented in order to ensure a constant and smooth flow of new patients.
The market is also constantly moving and changing and is highly competitive. You should therefore constantly be challenging yourself to grow in order to improve your services and meet the needs of your patients. Here are some general tips on how you can get your orthodontic treatment practice more growth oriented.
Marketing
If you want to grow, then you need to get yourself new patients. You should therefore employ effective marketing tactics that increase patient flow. Some of the most effective ones include the following:
Social Media
Social media and a website for your practice are imperative to getting a steady flow of new patients. Social media in particular is pretty effective for marketing across many industries and the orthodontic industry is no exception. Unfortunately, not every practitioner is using social media to market themselves. And even if they are, they aren’t doing it properly. They aren’t using the right methods, posting at the right time, or even targeting the right people.
Make sure you’re exploiting the full potential of social media and posting at the right times. Remember that content is king. In a world where online platforms like social media re saturated with content, you want to stand out and build a community of the ideal patients you would like to have, posting stuff that would be relevant to them. You want to ensure that your content is authentic and valuable to your audience. You also don’t want to over post, or post just for the sake of it. You should also closely monitor where your new patients are coming from as this will tell you where you need to focus your energies more and what you need to improve.
SEO
A good percentage of your visits will start on a search engine. You should therefore constantly be making the effort to optimize your online search presence. Do some research about the keywords that are most relevant to your patients. When you do this, you can reap huge benefits and new patients, just from your online search presence.
To help with your keyword research, you can enlist the services of Edubirdie, a service that offers assignment help online for students in the UK. Edubirdie will do comprehensive keyword research for you and come up with a practical content plan to deliver useful and high-ranking content to your visitors.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Ask your customers for reviews so that others can get the good news and want to come to your practice. You can ask them to post to online review platforms and you can also feature the reviews on your own website.
Educate your Patients
Case acceptance is an important metric to consider when trying to figure out if your practice is healthy or not. Patients may not always understand why they need a particular treatment and this can often lead to them not showing up or canceling appointments. What you want to do is educate them, based on the individual case of each patient, so that you can add value to them and have honest conversations about the situation. You also need to work on your presentational style. Be more assertive and confident when presenting treatment plans so that patients feel like they are talking to an expert.
Conclusion
A growth-oriented mindset is your best friend when it comes to keeping your practice healthy and growing in a sustainable way. By applying the tips above you can not only ensure that you’re getting a steady flow of new patients, but also that your existing patients are satisfied with your service.