When we’re looking at branding, we’re trying to convey the spirit and ethos of your practice in visual form. Have a look at the psychological impact and impression created by different colours (e.g. if you’re a traditional practice and you want to convey an impression of stability and reliability, you might go with a colour similar to the famous “IBM blue.”)

You’ll also need an accent colour and a font that also encapsulates your approach in visual form and you can then use this to create a consistent, brandable presence wherever you appear online and offline.

We don’t tend to think about logo design too much but it’s actually a really important identifier of your brand and tells people a lot about what you’re aiming for…

Are you a no frills practice? Hi-tech? Aiming at the private market? Each of these would ideally have a different “look.”

Once you have your logo, you’ll want to use it everywhere – on your signage, business cards and print materials in practice, and on your website, social media channels/posts and videos online.

If you need help getting a logo redesign for your practice, or if you’re just starting out, get in touch.

If you’re going to get a new website then it should tick the following boxes, otherwise it’ll undermine the impression you’re trying to create:

Take things to the next level:

You don’t necessarily need to get a new website – often you can just change the design and keep the text and images the same, or make a few changes that will make a difference.

One of the biggest differences between the higher-end practices and the rest is the trouble they go to to help, educate and connect with patients and prospects.

Social media is a great way to achieve all three objectives

With social media you can reach new people in your area and if you can create something interesting, educational or fun, there’s a great chance that it’ll be shared and raise awareness of your practice.

It’s important to keep your page up-to-date as people expect to see fresh content on social media. The top international brands post an average of 8 times a day but – after testing post frequency ourselves – we’ve found that every day or two works fine for dentists.

It’s a good idea to get your posts designed professionally and branded to your practice. This improves your online image and needn’t cost the Earth (for example, at present we’re running a special offer for members of our Dental Practice Growth community where we’ll create professionally-designed posts for you every other day and post them to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.)

Here’s why you need to think about using video marketing if you’d like to upgrade your practice image and stand out from every other dentist doing the bare minimum (i.e. website + social media):

Whether you’d like to start small and get your feet wet, or just dive in, video can help you reach prospective patients in your area and position your practice as the best option in your area.

Between 70-96% of people visit a site once and then never return.

Offering these casual visitors a free eBook or nice-looking newsletter when they wander in can help get them onto an email list where you can then follow up and send them special offers (e.g. teeth whitening or free consultations) to convert them into patients.

We offer 3 types of opt-in offers:

1. eBooks such as “Upgrade Your Smile” that attract opt-ins and pre-sell cosmetic dental treatments

2. Treatment-specific guides/eBooks that educate patients about the specific service they’re interested in (e.g. Invisalign) and position you as the best option

3. Magazine-quality dental practice newsletters that build connection with the practice, answer patient questions and educate them on your premium treatments.

Once you have the contact info for your site visitors, you can now use email marketing to convert them into patients (see next topic).

Most dentists don’t bother with email marketing, even though it’s been proven to convert 40 times more than social media!

If a patient or prospect has requested information from you, send them follow-up emails that further position your practice as the best option for them and encourage them to come and visit to have a look around or book their first appointment.

For prospects who have signed up for information on a particular treatment (e.g. Invisalign) this can be done automatically.

Your email system can send them the professionally-designed eBook they requested and add them to a special treatment-specific email list with an automated follow-up sequence of emails that educate them about the treatment and include testimonials, before & after images, etc.

Include CTAs (Calls To Action) in your emails inviting people to come in for a free consultation, to see a projection of their future results, etc.

For patients who don’t sign up for information about a specific treatment but just want more info about the practice, you can send them a cool-looking practice newsletter, educational content and the odd offer (don’t overdo that as it puts a lot of people off).

Use video commercials to promote your various services – they position you as a leading practice and make you look great!

Another benefit of this type of paid advertising is it’s extremely affordable to promote videos vs. other types of ad content. In fact, you can get a commercial like the one featured below and run a campaign that reaches 5,000 for £150…

If you need some help getting started with paid ads or would like the process managed for you, please get in touch.

If you want to be perceived as a high-end practice, it’s important that your communication systems are working well and that you’re able to respond to messages coming in through the main channels.

Obviously you should have phone and email covered but we’re seeing an increasing number of people using Facebook Messenger to reach out to dentists (we’re admins on our clients’ FB accounts and see a stream of messages coming through all day with enquiries and requests for appointments.

You might also want to set up live chat and chatbots on your website to provide another way people can contact you. Chatbots and engagement widgets on your website also provide a way for people to leave messages for you after hours that you can reply to the next day.

Using technology to automate certain processes (e.g. obtaining reviews and sending out sending out treatment-specific eBooks to people who opt-in for them) makes your practice look both cool and professional at the same time. It also save your staff a lot of work!

People know that automation and technological solutions don’t come cheap and it’s a great way to stand apart from dentists who still have their heads in the 20th century…

Offering greater convenience through technology is a great way to separate yourself from many of the more old-fashioned dental practices.

An online booking process is easy to add to any website and makes you look slick and professional.

Which of these dentists would you contact first?

The dental practice with the highest overall rating and the most reviews will attract the most initial attention.

These days, 3/4 of people say they trust online reviews as much as they do recommendations from friends. Not only that, they read an average of 10 reviews. If they’re looking for a particular treatment like Invisalign, they’ll search for treatment-specific reviews, too.

Basically, you want to get as many high star-reviews as you can, for as many treatments and services as you can, and to keep them up-to-date (no-one cares how you were doing a year ago).

Some people consider Google reviews to be easily-manipulated, so make sure you get reviews on a number of other sites, too, (Facebook, Yell, NHS Choices, etc) to confirm that your high rating is legit.

We offer a free reviews system you can use to get more reviews and keep them up-to-date on any site you choose. Please join the email list at Richard’s blog/emagazine/membership site: Dental Practice Growth.

If you’re looking for something a bit more powerful, check out our fully-automated Premium Reviews System here.

Many dentists are reluctant to invest in marketing that doesn’t generate a quick return on their investment.

That’s understandable, but sometimes it’s better to take a different approach and focus on helping patients/prospective patients understand their treatment options and demonstrating your care and commitment towards them.

This way, your marketing will help you come across as more authentic, likeable and trustworthy while at the same time improving your sales through patient education without being “salesy.”

Great ways to educate patients:

1. Regularly-refreshed social media profiles
2. Your own high-quality dental practice newsletter
3. Videos about different treatments and frequently-asked questions
4. Free treatment guides that explain your high-end treatments in depth and which position your practice as the obvious choice
5. Blog posts that provide tips, insider knowledge and which answer common questions

Some people still believe that Google affords top rankings to the best quality businesses (although the truth is the businesses that understand SEO set up their website and marketing to get those). Nevertheless, this gives the top-ranked businesses some credibility in those people’s eyes.

And even people who know that any business can rank at the top if they really want to recognise that the practice that are there probably know what they’re doing and are serious about their marketing and their business.

Years ago, Microsoft did some research that said you need 7 “touches” (exposures to your brand) before a consumer becomes a customer. These days it’s probably a lot more.

So, get in front of everyone you want as a patient when they’re looking online.

Google top 10 – you’re there. Google My Business – there you are again. Facebook – here’s one of your posts! YouTube – hello! Oh look, our dentist has just emailed their latest newsletter!

Stay in front of your target market and stay “top of mind.” Then, people will come to you and not your competitors.