The old ways of marketing your practice using the Yellow Pages, postcards, or word-of-mouth referrals are just not working as well as they used to.
With more corporate practices popping that have bigger marketing budgets, the competition for patients is becoming stiffer. You can’t just open the door in a neighborhood and expect your practice to thrive.
Many independent dentists and dental practices have already started using Facebook Ads and Adwords to compete against growing corporate practices for good reason.
Facebook advertising for new patient acquisition is like the modern day, cost-effective postcard ad. Not everyone who sees it will be interested, but you can reach a lot of people and it’s much more budget-friendly than direct mail.
Advertising with Facebook also gives you the opportunity to target very specific groups of people who not searching for your practice but who fit your target demographic, including:
- People who’ve Been Away from the Dentist for Years
You can put up offers on FB for new patients (ex. $99 Exam + X-Ray) that do a great job at bringing in new patients. When we run these ads, we strongly emphasize that the practice is judgement and lecture-free to encourage people that are embarrassed about their teeth.
- People Looking for Specialty Treatment their Regular Dentist Can’t Provide
We focus on getting our clients mainly Invisalign, Cosmetic, and Implant patients because there are so many people who are thinking about those treatments and their regular dentist just doesn’t offer them. Specific Facebook targeting, like income level, job, and neighborhood, can help you find the people that are most likely to respond to these ads.
- People who are Not Happy with their Current Dentist
These people are easy to target with great content – articles about treatment options, payment plans, awards/recognition, and reviews. Once they show interest in the initial content, we show them relevant offers until they opt-in. For instance, exam+x-rays offers, Teeth Whitening offers, Invisalign offers, etc.
- People that just Moved to the Area and Haven’t Gotten Around to Finding a New Dentis
This is a great group to bring into the practice because they haven’t been away from the dentist for too long and you don’t have to deal with the extra hurdle of convincing them to get back to a dentist.
- Current Patients that have been Putting off Recommended Treatment
We’ve had clients tell us that their current patients saw an ad for implants and then booked their consultation, eventually moving forward with treatment.
You only see your current patients for ~15 minutes 1-2x year. Even if they’re thinking about starting treatment, if they don’t book their follow-up appointment the day of their check-up, you might not currently have the follow-up in place to remind them to do so and then they just don’t do it. Seeing the ads regularly on Facebook give many patients the nudge they need to call and book.
The #1 Reason We Use Facebook
Aside from the opportunities to target specifically, mentioned above, the #1 we use Facebook ads is because it’s a great place to track your marketing dollars. If you’ve ever run a marketing campaign – postcard, ad, etc – and wondered after how well it worked, you’re not alone.
Many dentists just cross their fingers with marketing campaigns but you never have to do that with Facebook. Facebook allows you to see exactly how many people have viewed your offer, the leads you’ve gotten, the patients that it brought in the door, and how much you spent, down to the penny.
This will give you the peace of mind to know that your ads our profitable.
Thinking about running ads in your practice?
Facebook ads aren’t a good fit for every practice. To see if they would work for you, click the button below to take the assessment now >