Relationship-based new patient acquisition is important, and practices NEED to have a system in place to make sure this happens every month. However, this type of practice growth is limited by the number of hours in the day in which you can be out interacting with your community. You also have a practice to run! You can only grow your practice through relationships to the extent that you can interact with others and build personal relationships with them. Once you have a good, trusting relationship, you can ask for referrals or make patients and those you trust an offer. This takes time. Dental practices should absolutely be actively engaged in relationship-based marketing, but they need to have additional means to acquire new patients to grow. That’s the value of the second option for new patient acquisition.
2. Marketing-Based Discovery: With this strategy, a new or prospective patient stumbled onto your practice through an ad
or targeted marketing. They may have seen an ad you were running. They may become interested after seeing your ads a few times as your name becomes familiar to hear. Next, they may check out your online reviews, your social media, and other platforms to see if your practice is a “good fit.” This has been a standard practice for centuries … except now it’s on a digital platform. The problem with traditional marketing is that it can be very time consuming, inefficient, and expensive. On average, it costs a dental practice $250 (to as much as $350) to acquire a new patient through traditional marketing in the U.S. This cost is likely higher if you’re in a city like New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Dallas, where the cost of media is higher. Knowing that, Dentists may be aversive to funneling gobs of money into marketing strategies that may only work every once in a while. You need a constant influx of new patients to maintain a healthy practice, but how can you do this efficiently without breaking the bank?
By Lisa Weber, RDH — The $600K RDH, GG12 Certified Coach & Marketing Strategist
All of your patients have one thing in common. Every single one of them went through four phases on their way to actually becoming your patient. Phase 1: Awareness: Whether by referral, advertising, or a simple Google search, your prospective patient discovered you and your practice. Phase 2: Interest: Then they became interested in your practice. Perhaps they heard great things about you or maybe saw an irresistible offer in one of your marketing campaigns. Whatever it was, that interest motivated them into phase three. Phase 3: Contact: The prospective patient decided to contact you. They either called your practice to schedule an appointment or shared their contact information with you to request more information or an appointment. Phase 4: Action — Finally, they scheduled an appointment, showed up, and BECAME your patient.
Every patient follows these steps, but their discovery begins on one of two paths: relationship-based discovery and marketing discovery. 1. Relationship-Based Discovery: Often, new patients learn about you, your practice, and the wonderful services you offer through referrals. These can come from a trusted coworker, family member, or friend. Referrals are also common from other “influencers” in your community, like clergy members, realtors, doctors, or anyone else in a position that requires a high level of trust. As such, the relationships that you and your team build with your patients and community will lead to more “relationship- based” new patients. For example, if your dental assistant tells her hairdresser about the amazing cosmetic dentistry you do and shares your business cards — or a gift card toward care — you’ve planted seeds with the hairdresser (and their staff) that just might grow into a new patient relationship.
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