The struggle is real for every dental practice when it tries to target the right audience and keep them interested long enough to make a real conversion through digital marketing. The online attention span of the average consumer has increasingly become smaller because of the wide number of choices available.
Blaming a consumer’s lack of interest or the variety of choices available is not going to help your marketing cause, though. You can use a number of digital marketing tools to improve your conversions and brand awareness in a competitive online environment.
The best way to improve response rates is to ensure that your digital creative content inspires real action from your target audience. The key is to avoid mistakes in your online campaign that could cause a potential consumer to backtrack from a buying decision.
Sometimes identifying less obvious mistakes and rectifying them can get you expected outcomes without having to overhaul your complete digital marketing strategy or invest a large amount of advertising dollars.
Pay Attention to Your Headlines
Check your online content headlines to see if they are unclear or ambiguous. Your headline creates the first impression, and it should clearly inform readers about what the content is likely to offer them.
Always remember that the online audience has no dearth of choices. Countless ads and articles come up when they are searching, browsing, or going through their mail. You can ensure a higher clickthrough rate if you make your headline interesting and clear about your offerings.
Additionally, a straightforward and benefit-oriented headline will always outperform a clever headline that could mislead readers. For instance, “How to Improve Your Dental Practice’s Digital Marketing Campaign” will give you better results than saying “How to Double Your Dental Practice Revenues.”
Use Lifestyle Photography with Caution
Consumers often form assumptions about a brand based on the people photographed in a marketing campaign. This is because human nature often judges on appearance alone. Sometimes, instinctive reactions to such images can be negative and can discourage a consumer from doing business with a brand.
It is important that you represent as many diverse members of your target audience community as possible when you use real-life people to pose for your marketing campaign. You could also choose not to use lifestyle pictures at all and focus on images that might not cause your potential consumers to jump to conclusions.
Make the Call to Action Stand Out
The ultimate goal of your digital marketing campaign is to make your potential clients visit your website or any other page to complete a transaction or at least engage in a meaningful way. By hiding the call to action (CTA) or keeping it vague, you make it difficult for your audience to take the steps you want them to.
However, do not attempt to squeeze in too many CTAs that appear intrusive and make the content unreadable. Your efforts should be directed toward making your CTA help your audience feel encouraged to take the desired action in every ad, landing page, or blog.
You should make your CTA as clear as possible and directly ask your audience to follow with subsequent steps. For instance, if you want them to call your office for an appointment, then you should tell them so directly and provide a phone number in the next line.
Focus on the Right Web Traffic
Some dental marketers only focus on the absolute number of visitors while analyzing their website traffic. They forget to check the relevant, localized, and targeted audience index. You do not need to focus on driving people from all over the world to your website.
Rather, you need to focus your efforts on bringing in readers who can possibly visit your dental practice and avail themselves of your services. These people are the real audience your digital campaign needs to focus on.
Use Emails to Your Benefit
Emails have not lost their relevance with changing times and advancing digital technologies. However, many people have forgotten about the power of email marketing since the rise of social media networks. By using the personal touch of an email, you can enhance the outcomes of your digital marketing campaign.
The best way to do this is by encouraging your target audience to subscribe to your free online newsletter, which could be weekly or monthly. Alternatively, you can send them direct emails occasionally, with an option to unsubscribe. Provide useful and enriching information in each email, address their questions and concerns, and deliver real value to your audience through your email marketing efforts.
Provide Proof
Imagine choosing between two products that are equally priced at the same quality. One product has many descriptive images and well-crafted explanations, while the other has grainy photos, a short description, but tons of reviews. Which one would you prefer?
Consumers will not take your word for it. They will cross check everything you claim with reviews and third party descriptions. It is important that you include testimonials and reviews wherever possible to encourage conversions.
Social media has made this easy with many people willing to provide reviews, comments, and testimonials. Encourage your dental patients to leave feedback and testimonials, which can deliver more response and drive more traffic to your website and your dental office. You should also make it a point to cover third party platforms such as Yelp or RealSelf to truly capture the essence of reviews.
Final Thoughts
Digital marketing campaigns today do not need massive budgets. Rather, you need to be careful to avoid any rookie mistakes in your content or mode of delivery. You can achieve better response rates by making your online content unique, relatable, and informative.
Mr. Arulrajah is president and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, a complete Internet marketing company that focuses on SEO, social media, marketing education, and the online reputations of dentists. With a team of more than 180 full-time marketers, ekwa.com helps dentists who know where they want to go get there by dominating their market and growing their business significantly year after year. If you have questions about marketing your practice online, call (855) 598-3320 or email naren@ekwa.com.
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