Diving Deep Into Marketing for Dentists (My Takeaways)

An avalanche of both booked and patient walk-ins is the dream of dental practitioners. But let’s be honest — getting these patients requires hard work because the dental industry is fiercely competitive.

To help you win and bring your dream to fruition, I will discuss the most interesting dental marketing campaigns I’ve seen and highlight what makes them so effective.

I’ll also share some out-of-the-box marketing strategies for growing your dental business. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Dental Marketing Strategies: 5 Campaigns You Can Learn From

Below are the top dental marketing campaigns I’ve discovered — from Google ads to unique website updates. Here’s how these dental offices and companies found success.

1. Increase lead capture with Google Ads.

Google Ads is one of the most effective marketing strategies I’ve seen dental companies use. Beyond helping to create brand awareness, Google Ads lets you generate leads fast.

Case in point: Smile Doctors.

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Smile Doctors started in 2015, and in the first few years, the brand had minimal brand recognition. To connect with people who may need its orthodontic services, they used Google Ads, and I’ll tell you why.

From my experience, marketing channels like SEO take time to bring results — often six and up to nine months to attract just traffic.

Waiting for results wasn’t in the best interest of Smile Doctors. As a business with offices across the U.S., Smile Doctors needed country-wide brand awareness to get clients across their branches.

Embarking on a Google Ad campaign was an easy (though costly) choice to get people searching for dental services in each location.

Part of the campaign included the creation of customized landing pages aligned with each ad campaign. The brand also created many location-specific landing pages.

In fact, as of the time of this writing, Smile Doctors has 269 location-specific landing pages. Here’s an example.

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With the landing pages set up, they conducted research to find commercial and transactional keywords. They also did competitor analysis and found and bid on many location-based keywords.

The campaign was massive, and insights from SpyFu show they may have invested over $13,000 per month in Google Ads.

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Here are a few of their ads.

Overall, these ads got Smile Doctors a 35% increase in conversion rates. Call and form submissions also surged by 73%.

The icing on the cake is the incredible increase in online brand awareness — going from a mere 252 monthly visits in 2016 to 62,115 visits in 2023.

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My Takeaway

Google Ads can get you results, but it’s best when you pair it with customized landing pages. These pages have the potential to rank organically, causing you to attract organic traffic and possibly help you cut your Google Ad costs.

2. Increase organic website visits and qualified leads with a targeted SEO campaign.

Customers will always appreciate your willingness to direct them. Once you can teach them “How to do [insert topic idea],” you will stand out and become an industry authority.

The Klement Family Dental (KFD) knew this about SEO and went all-in on it.

Before they got aggressive with SEO, they had a one-page dental website with subpar copy and no blog.

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Fast forward to 2024, the website has a new look with lots of pages, resources, and clear calls to action.

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Their strategy? A combination of content marketing, on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.

Some of the technical SEO boxes they checked off include having a sitemap and optimized site architecture, which looks like this:

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A practical example is their “dental services” top-level navigation. Hovering on it shows the next-level menu, which has yet another category.

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This website structure is a plus for user experience because it reduces the crawl/click depth to three clicks.

That means it takes three clicks for a user to reach the bottom of the architecture (tooth filling, for example) and find what they need.

The outcome? Search engines rank such pages high.

The KFD website also has an informative blog with 171 posts. The traffic value of these posts shows they save up to $40,000 on Google ad costs.

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Besides this saving, what I love even more is their targeting of keywords that have commercial value. For example, their top article about “home remedies for toothaches” brings in 19,000 monthly visitors with a traffic value of $26,800.

The catch with this article? If the home remedy options do not satisfy visitors, they can contact KFD for professional help.

My Takeaway

Implementing SEO and content marketing can unlock the full potential of your dental website. But this duo works even better when you target keywords with high commercial value.

3. Run a reputation management campaign.

A report by B2B SaaS Reviews says 52% of customers consider businesses with an average review rating of four out of five stars suspicious.

Parker Pediatrics and Adolescents, a dental brand, didn’t meet this threshold. The outcome? Patient numbers were taking a hit.

To fix this, they embarked on a reputation management campaign using a two-pronged strategy.

First, they established and optimized business listings primarily focused on Google Reviews. Working on the business listings positioned this dental brand for local SEO success.

This process ensured they had consistent NAP (name, address, phone number) on the internet, which created trust for potential new patients.

The second approach was the simultaneous launch of a Google review solicitation campaign. This helped them generate a steady stream of reviews from actual patients.

Today, when you search for Parker Pediatrics, you see a consistent NAP across listings and a good review page.

The clinic’s average Google Reviews rating underwent a remarkable transformation, going from 3.6 to an impressive 4.2. They’ve also witnessed a 16% increase in new users, according to Cardinal Digital Marketing.

The clinic now boasts over 100 reviews, a testament to the genuine satisfaction of their patients and an accurate reflection of their work.

My Takeaway

Online reviews shape perceptions, especially in healthcare. To attract patients with reviews, always ask your past patients to always leave positive feedback.

More positive feedback helps you dilute the overall impact of any negative review on your brand.

4. Get leads with Facebook Ads.

Smile Design Dentistry (SDD) is a family-owned practice in Florida. Faced with a low number of new patients, the brand embraced Facebook ads as a solution.

Their objectives were to:

• reduce customer acquisition cost.
• increase patient volume while keeping spending stable.
• enhance lead generation and new patient bookings across their 50 locations.

To meet these objectives, Cardinal Digital Marketingworked with SDD to tell video stories, use image carousels, and adopt value-based conversion actions that helped the Facebook algorithm find better prospects.

They also created ads tailored to each location at every stage of the funnel. Plus, the creative planning involved A/B testing assets to achieve the lowest cost per lead (CPL).

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After this campaign, call duration, conversion rates (CVR), and cost per acquisition (CPA) improved. There was also a notable increase in brand search volume, which shows improved brand awareness.

The indicator of success was not just in the efficiency of conversions but in the actual results — an influx of new patients.

My Takeaway

Facebook ads are helpful for patient acquisition. But while you’re at it, watch out for your CVR, CPA, and CPL. If they are too high, you might be doing something wrong. That said, the ultimate barometer for success is more patients.

Quick note: You can connect your ad account to your HubSpot Marketing Automation software to create and manage your Facebook ads directly in HubSpot.

5. Try a website update or refresh.

Dr. Geisca Horn and Dr. Chad Loween run Serene Oaks Dental. Looking at their website homepage, all I see is elegance.

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But it wasn’t always this way.

The site looked like this in March 2016.

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Web archive results show they have redesigned their dentist service website several times.

In fact, the good folks at Roadside Dental Marketing say they redesign their site roughly every 2 to 3 years. And in 2021, they did a complete website makeover.

This is fascinating. Their rationale?

Serene Oaks Dental is not your average dental practice.

Dr. Horn and Loween are trailblazers in cosmetic dentistry who constantly enhance their skills and invest in the latest technology. They are also in a competitive market near Minneapolis, so they need to always stand out to stay ahead.

According to Roadside Dental Marketing, the results of their rebrand were a 72% increase in mobile traffic, a 37.9% surge in total traffic, and a 52.5% boost in average pages per session.

My Takeaway

Your website reflects on your practice. By updating it, you create a great brand perception. This is even more important if you work with patients who want expensive dental services.

4 Dentist Marketing Ideas and How to Execute Them

Here are four dentist marketing ideas you can use to drive traffic and sales opportunities to your dental business.

1. Optimize your Google Business Profile for local search.

“Dentist near me.”

“Dentist in Florida.”

“Best dentist for Invisalign in [state].”

These are local search terms. When patients search for them, Google will return results with profiles in the user’s area.

To win such local clientele, you need to set up or claim your Google Business Profile. Here are some tips for optimizing your profile.

Claim and verify your business.

This is the first step to optimizing your Google Business Profile.

A verified profile adds authenticity to your brand. This reassures visitors they are engaging with a legitimate and established dental practice. Here is how a verified Google profile looks:

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Add images showing the physical location.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and with a dental practice, it’s worth even more. Showcase your clinic, staff, and facilities using high-quality images and videos.

A visual representation of your dental services can help potential patients get a feel for your clinic and set the tone for a positive experience.

Choose relevant categories for your dental service.

Doing this helps your business appear and rank in the right search results. For instance, here’s what I got when I searched for “orthodontist in New York.”

And “oral surgeon New York.”

These results show Google will return results that reflect the category a user wants. So, if you run a specialized practice, clarify this by choosing the right category and emphasizing it in your description.

Optimize your description for local keywords.

Research and identify local keywords for dental services. Think “orthodontist in [location],” “teeth whitening in [location],” etc.

Use these keywords in your profile description, services, and posts to enhance your local search visibility.

2. Bid for transactional and commercial intent keywords.

Both are bottom-of-the-funnel keywords. Customers who search for them are actively seeking to make a purchase or take action — you just need to be there and gain their trust.

From my experience, such keywords may not have lots of traffic potential.

But their commercial value is enormous and bidding for them will be expensive and rewarding. Smile Doctors’ success shows the effectiveness of these high-conversion keywords.

Here are a few ways you can identify these keywords:

• If your dental practice serves a specific location, include location-based terms in your keywords. For example, “dentist near me” or “dental services in [city].”
• Uncover competitor keywords with tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush and target those with the highest commercial value. Keywords related to services, pricing, or transactional actions are good examples.
• Focus on long-tail keywords. These keywords are specific and indicative of user intent. For instance, targeting ‘my tooth hurts’ is a gigantic waste of money. But “my tooth hurts so bad?” That’s a keyword that someone who needs help right away will search for.
• Include phrases that stimulate action in your ad copy. For example, same-day treatment is available and 24-hour emergency dentist.
• Use adjectives that suggest intent, such as “best,” “top-rated,” “affordable,” or “near me.” These modifiers suggest commercial intent, and using them will help refine your keyword list to attract patients.

Recommended reading: The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads [Examples]

3. Create Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram).

Facebook has a global advertising audience of 2.25 billion, and Instagram forecasts 1.44 billion estimated users by 2025. Both platforms offer unparalleled reach and targeting capabilities for paid advertisement.

Below are some Facebook and Instagram ad ideas.

Before and After Images

The visual impact of a transformed smile speaks volumes.

By creating these images, you give potential patients the confidence to use your service. You can try this out with a side-by-side image featuring a client’s smile before and after using your services.

Lifestyle Transformation Display

Highlighting the impact of dental services on lifestyle can resonate deeply. This is as simple as showing happy people with well-aligned and white teeth.

Feature images or videos that capture the newfound confidence and joy your patients experience after fixing their teeth.

Education on Bad Habits

Educational content is highly shareable and can position your dental brand as an authority.

Create visually appealing content that educates people on bad habits affecting their dental health — you’ll get engagement and trust that’ll translate into more patients.

Igniting Pain Points

Addressing pain points associated with dental issues helps you tap into a patient’s emotional triggers. To execute this, you can design image carousels, create videos, feature past clients, and more.

Plus, there are a myriad of issues you can address, like bad breath, tooth pain, decay, smiles that ruin impressions, and yellow teeth.

You can also create behind-the-scenes videos displaying some work being done, the atmosphere, and everything to the final result.

Tips for Facebook and Instagram Ad Success

• Branding: Maintain a consistent brand presence across both platforms to build recognition and trust.
• Use carousel ads: Facebook and Instagram carousel ad formats help you tell a visual transformational story.
• Generate engagement: Create posts that encourage engagement through comments and shares. Facebook’s algorithm rewards content that sparks conversations.
• Use Instagram Reels: Engage your audience with short, entertaining Reels that educate on dental health in a fun and digestible manner. What’s great is that Reels are shareable on Facebook.
• Call-to-action (CTA): Always have clear and compelling CTAs. Whether it’s booking an appointment or learning more about your services, tell the prospective patient the next step.

4. Create TikTok videos.

TikTok is an invaluable tool for dental businesses to connect with a wide demographic.

According to TikTok user research by Backlinko, out of 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, 23% use TikTok. The most interesting part of this data is TikTok’s 1.218 billion ad reach potential.

But newsflash: you don’t need ads to make TikTok work. With organic content, you can get incredible reach and engagement, provided your content is relatable and shows expertise.

Two dentists who use the organic approach on TikTok are @thebracesguy and @veneercheck.

Their numbers and what they do:

Achieving the above feat won’t be easy, but taking a step trumps stagnancy. Here are a few ideas you can implement to establish your brand presence on TikTok.

Before and After Smile Transformations

Create visually striking before-and-after videos showcasing the transformative power of your services. This format will both engage and reinforce the impact of your services and boost confidence.

3D Dental Work and Behind-the-Scenes Content

Offer a glimpse into cutting-edge dentistry by sharing high-quality 3D dental work and behind-the-scenes footage. This content can demystify dental procedures, building trust and appreciation for your services.

Dentist-Patient Conversations

Humanize your practice by featuring authentic interactions between dentists and patients. These conversations can address common concerns and foster a sense of community within your TikTok audience.

Hygiene Tips and Product Recommendations

Educate your audience with hygiene tips and product recommendations. You could create short and informative videos that highlight the importance of dental care practices while subtly promoting your services and endorsed products.

Concerns Your Audience May Have

There is no such thing as excess information or ‘the information is already out there.’ Your audience may want to hear from you.

To figure out their concerns, include a call to action in your videos and ask them to comment about their dental challenges.

Embracing Trends and Engaging Your Audience

There is a popular TikTok trend? Cool! Align it with what you do and make a fun video(s). This ensures your content remains relevant and resonates with the platform’s culture.

Also, respond to comments, ask questions, and encourage user-generated content. Bottom line: Engage with your audience.

Your Next Step as a Dental Practitioner

These marketing campaigns and ideas show you can achieve significant growth right now, while planning for future growth.

To grow right now, you need a substantial PPC or social media advertisement budget. For future growth, you need to consider organic content you can create that won’t only support your ad strategy but also generate traffic in the future.

And if you can execute both at once, that’s even better. You build brand awareness, attract new patients, and generate revenue — this trio will make you smile as a practitioner.