Anyone who has ever had a cavity understands the need to maintain good dental health. However, that’s the reality: most individuals only visit the dentist for yearly cleanings or when they have an emergency, like a toothache or chipped molar. Generally speaking, it’s simply not as serious a medical decision as, say, orthopedic surgery, addiction treatment, or even plastic surgery. You schedule your dental visit at a time that works best for your schedule.
For dental practices wishing to increase their patient volume using digital marketing techniques like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, this is a crucial place to start. Can PPC bring in a large number of quality leads for your business? Indeed. however only if your marketing efforts are optimized.
1. Formulate an advanced keyword plan.
Most dental offices won’t be able to afford to bid on “broad” keywords like “teeth cleanings” or “implant dentistry.” They’re too generic, too volumetric, and too competitive. Most of the time, doing so is not rational to begin with. Rather, concentrate on the terms that are most likely to generate leads in a specific area. Consider terms like “gentle pediatric dentist” or “implant dentistry in San Diego.”
The idea is to become more targeted and specific with your targeting (geolocation, age, etc.) and target the keyword list. Here are several methods to carry out:
To determine which of your current advertisements generate calls and appointments, use call tracking software. Examine calls to discover the terms and expressions that patients use to get in touch with you. Think about longer keyword phrases (which are typically less expensive) that correspond with natural language queries. To minimize expenses and target the appropriate audience, include a list of negative keywords as well.
2. Pay attention to a lean, mean, and well-optimized campaign structure.
In other words, your campaign structure, or how your Google Ads account is set up, is just as crucial as your keyword approach. A well-designed campaign structure aids in reporting, quality score improvement, account optimization, budgeting, and copywriting. We advise following a few recommended practices to get there:
Avoid making accounts for every place you visit. To share more conversion information across campaigns, combine each location into a single account. Make distinct campaigns for search phrases that are branded and those that are not. Sort keywords according to user awareness or funnel stage to provide the searcher with the most relevant results.
Lastly, create a campaign framework that helps you achieve your particular objectives. Numerous dental practices run multiple locations, each with its own PPC campaign. These venues may have distinct services, budgets for advertising, and aims. For example, an innovative approach in Boise would prioritize attracting new customers and building brand awareness. One struggling location in the neighboring city of Nampa would want to advertise a teeth-whitening special. While some dental offices would need to draw customers to a new offering, like child braces or veneers. With a segmented marketing architecture, you may manage spending to satisfy those particular areas.
3. Examine campaigns with just calls
Fun fact: mobile devices account for 61% of total organic Google search traffic. This is fantastic news for dental offices hoping to increase the number of patients who make appointments by calling in. Why? Since the individual viewing your advertisement is already in possession of a phone and can contact you with a single tap or click. Providing, of course, that your PPC advertisements aid in this process.
Call-only marketing has a lot of promise because of this. I mean, not everybody likes to fill out an online form, right? Only users with a phone-capable gadget will see call-only advertisements when they search. The steps involved in obtaining a lead are reduced in this scenario: Someone views and taps your advertisement to give you a call personally.
Success! In light of this, the following advice can help you configure your call-only campaigns:
- Determine the preferred appointment-making method for your patients.
- Create a succinct, call-to-action copy to promote calls.
- To gain insight into the effectiveness of your ads, use call tracking.
- Run advertisements throughout office hours to encourage phone calls.
- Continue testing until you find what functions the best.
A portion of the public finds it more convenient to book an appointment online, even though many others may still prefer to phone. Perhaps a site link advertising extension pointing them to your web-based scheduling page would be more appropriate for that particular area. To make sure you’re offering those who are your audience the options they prefer, it’s crucial to conduct tests.
4. Use ad extensions to boost interaction
Google Ads are not large or ostentatious. These are brief text-based advertisements that showcase your services with three headlines, each no more than thirty characters. These advertisements have a limited amount of space and a lot to say. Ad extensions, which let you occupy more space on the SERP (search engine result page) and increase the likelihood that users will click your advertisement, are among the characteristics that advertisers should utilize.
You can promote various kinds of material or actions with the help of the numerous ad extensions that Google offers. Dental practices should think about the following ad extensions: Your website can highlight particular pages and offer a direct connection by using site link extensions.
5. Ensure that your landing pages for ads are relevant.
There’s a reason why a lot of advertising professionals believe that placing PPC advertisements on your homepage is a sin. It isn’t coherent! A mobile-friendly, quick, and well-optimized landing page is necessary for a targeted advertisement.
When someone clicks through on any of your advertisements, as a dentist office, your goal is to make it as simple as possible for them to accomplish what most people want to do, which is:
- Find out more about your practice’s location.
- Study up on a particular service.
- Find out if the coverage they have is recognized.
- Make an appointment.
- Make a help or question call.
6. Ads should be location-based.
Again, geo-targeting will be very beneficial to the majority of dental businesses, single or multi-location. People who browse for dental services online usually don’t want to go far for care; instead, they are looking for local possibilities. Does your target market reside in a certain county, town, or city? Are there any certain regions—also referred to as “negative” locations—that you would prefer not to market to? To appropriately target your PPC advertising, you can employ geo-targeting.If you intend to employ geo-targeting, consider these helpful suggestions:
- Avoid going overboard with hyper-targeting.
- Give your clients a sense of your location by including the practice’s name in your PPC advertisements.
- When applicable, use location extensions for calls, addresses, business hours, and other information.
7. Bonus: Set up automated reminders to avoid cancellations
Getting a “lead” is merely the first step for dental practices. Even if your PPC campaigns are the most effective and high-converting in the world, it won’t matter much if the patients you are drawing in have a bad experience.
Being proactive is an easy strategy to improve the patient experience. It is easy to overlook routine dental care; we all have been guilty of delaying our next cleaning or examination. In order to lower the number of no-shows, we advise employing automated messaging—such as email and SMS reminders—to inform patients of their appointments. These initiatives will improve your PPC campaigns’ financial impact as well as your standing as a dentist who puts patients’ needs first.
