When you’re planning out your dental marketing strategies, there are few things that you will likely be focusing your marketing efforts on. Some of these will include current patient retention as well as new patient rates.
For dental practices, new patient rates are very important because this inculcates that patients are seeing your marketing efforts online and have decided to choose your practice for their needs. There are plenty of ways to bring in new patients, but referrals are one of the most effective ways of getting new patients through the door, so you’re going to want to maximize them in your dental marketing strategy.
Why do referrals matter?
Why are referrals so important? Out of all of the ways to get new patients, referrals continue to be one of the most successful ways of doing this. The reason behind this is that people who are looking for dental services are more likely to trust practices that their friends and family have tried themselves.
It is easier to build trust with potential patients who come to your practice based on personal recommendations than it is to build trust with an entirely new patient with no prior knowledge about your practice.
Incentivize referrals
One way to build referrals is by incentivizing your current patients to refer their friends and family. One option to consider is if you offer a deal on services if they refer someone who becomes a patient.
For example, if they refer two people who come in for services, then they can get half off on dental cleaning. You can even go so far as to offer the incentive for both parties, such as offering the half-off deal to both the referred and the referee.
Personalize your service
People are only inclined to refer services from businesses that they themselves have had a good experience with. With this in mind, you should look into making your patients’ experience at your practice a pleasant one. You can even go so far as to personalize your service, by offering birthday discounts and knowing small details about your patients that make them feel like you care about them beyond their dental health.
Use social media
When it comes to maximizing referrals with your dental marketing, social media can be a very powerful tool. If you want to reach a wider audience, social media can help you reach the people that you want. Making use of online reviews and testimonials, as well as an online incentive program can help drive new patient rates up for your practice.