For your dental practice to be successful, you need to stand apart from your competitors and offer patients something they can’t get anywhere else.
Take a moment to reflect on these questions:
- How is your practice different?
- What can a patient get from your practice, your team, or your treatment that they can’t get from another dentist?
- Is what makes your practice unique a core tenet of your brand and marketing?
The answers may come to you immediately, or these questions might feel incredibly daunting. But they are key in helping you identify what actually makes you stand out among other practices in your area.
Here’s the catch — if you’re saying the same things that every other dentist is saying, or could say, it’s not a very good differentiator.
3 Ways to Differentiate
80% of dentists are content with being bread and butter doctors. But 20% are looking for some caviar on top. This special segment of dentists want to dominate their markets because they’ve figured out something that makes them unique, and they brand themselves appropriately.
Want to be among the 20% of successful practices? To help you get started, here are 3 ways to stand out among the crowd.
- Finding What’s Unique About Your Practice
- Authentic Content
- Connecting Virtually
1. Finding What’s Unique About Your Practice
Identifying and leaning into your strengths can help you define your differentiator. When you’re considering what makes you different, think about this overarching question: Why should patients see you instead of a competitor? At the end of the day, your differentiators need to add value for your patients. So whether you’re showcasing what’s different about you now, or you’re being aspirational, the most important thing is that you commit to cultivating and protecting what makes your practice different!
Here are just a few questions to help you start soul-searching:
- How do you want patients to see you in your market in terms of cost?
- What part of your patients’ experience at your office can’t be replicated by your competitors around the corner?
- What technology do you use to enhance your services?
- What ties or relationships do you have with other organizations in your community?
- What creature comforts or amenities do you offer patients?
- How does your office stand out?
2. Authentic Content
A quick Google search of “dentist near me” or “dentist in [your city here]” will result in hundreds of dental websites loaded with stock photos. Stand out among the crowd by showcasing your
authentic photos and videos, which helps your marketing tell a story and creates a deeper connection with your audience by humanizing your brand. You — the doctor! — and your practice are already unique to you, but your potential patients don’t know it unless you make it center stage.
If you’re in a pinch or if you don’t have a budget for a professional photographer yet, you can also take your own photos or videos with a smartphone and readily- available image editing software or apps. This is definitely better than nothing! If you want to get a little fancier, you can invest in a basic digital camera or an entry-level DSLR to get more resolution, lens, filtering, and zoom options, or other advanced features.
The key is to understand that your authentic content gives you the opportunity to show people something they’ve never seen before, a glimpse into what makes you and your practice unique. Your authentic content shows what makes you and your practice different, reinforcing what you say.
3. Connecting Virtually
Although many doctors recognize that digital marketing is necessary for today’s dentistry, there are few who make it possible for their patients to truly connect digitally or virtually as a result of their digital marketing. Making it possible for your patients to connect virtually with your practice not only differentiates you, but also maximizes the success of your digital marketing campaigns.
This is where virtual consults come in.
Virtual consults make it possible for patients to “meet” you before their first visit and for you to provide the information they need to make the best decisions for their healthcare. For a convenient, on-demand virtual consult platform that seamlessly integrates with your digital marketing campaigns, consider opting for Your Virtual Consult. With Your Virtual Consult, you’ll get a branded microsite that works its hardest as a conversion-optimized landing page for your ad campaigns.
Looking for more ways to connect virtually with your patients? Having live chat on your website offers a quick and convenient way for your potential and current patients to speak directly with your practice in real-time. Not all patients want to pick up a phone to ask questions, and live chat helps both your front office team and your patients save time.
Online scheduling is also a great way to book patients that are looking to schedule an appointment after hours. Take a look at LocalMed; their product is easy to use and allows your patients to schedule directly from your website through a pop-up or embed. Most importantly, LocalMed is the only online scheduling tool that provides data tracking and lead attribution, providing you and us with additional insight about the marketing campaigns that drive your online appointments.
These were just a few questions, concepts, and practice additions to consider, and there are certainly many other avenues for you to explore! Looking to dig deeper, discover your differentiator, and stand out in your market? Click below to access Wonderist Agency’s “Doing Dentistry Differently” guide. It’s packed with more info and exercises that will help you find what’s unique about your practice so you can attract your ideal patients.
Written by Wonderist Agency. For further details and to learn more head on over to their website and check them out: http://wonderistagency.com
