The term dental practice marketing has such a huge scope, even if it is unapologetically specific in trying to find marketing solutions for a dental practice. While there is no one formula for a successful marketing strategy, experts agree that the four Cs must be considered when building a marketing campaign.
What are the four Cs? These are customer solutions, customer cost, convenience, and communication. A thorough understanding of these four basic principles of marketing will allow you to build a marketing campaign that is suitable for your dental practice.
Customer Solutions
Instead of focusing on your products and what they have to offer to your clients, think about what your customers want. Your intended market wants value and solutions to their problems. They don’t want products and services that they don’t really need and won’t add any real value to their lives. But since you’re in the dental practice industry, offering solutions is actually a lot easier compared to businesses in other industries.
Customers are going to knock on your door because they need a dentist; because something ails them and they want to address that problem. As a service-oriented industry, dentistry offers something a lot of other businesses cannot —solutions. When creating a marketing campaign, focus on that—your ability to solve your patients’ oral health problems.
Customer Cost
It’s really not about how much you want your products and services to cost. It’s about what your market can afford. Think about where you are located and the demographics there. Can the average community member afford your services? If not, restructure your pricing scheme. You need to offer competitive prices. Otherwise, your market will walk out and find another dentist who can offer a better price.
Convenience
Where is your clinic located? Is it near the residences or the workplaces of your target market? Is it easily accessible by public transportation? Is there a bus stop or a subway stop near you? Is it easy to hail a cab? No matter how good of a dentist you are, your audience won’t want to travel 30 minutes or an hour just to see you. They’ll find another clinic that’s nearer to where they stay. Convenience is the key to attracting your market.
Communication
As much as you would want to simply promote your services, this is not the right way to do it. Your patients want two-way communication. They want to be able to ask you questions. You need to be accessible to your patients at all times. Make sure there’s someone who can answer the queries posted on social media and your website as a part of your dental practice marketing.