Building an Online Presence for the Dental Specialty Practice

The face of dentistry has changed immensely over the past few decades! As the industry has expanded to include more optional cosmetic services, marketing has become a necessity for the average general practitioner. But if you represent a dental practice that specializes in orthodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, or oral surgery, what promise does dental online marketing hold for you?

Dental Marketing: From Unethical to Absolutely Crucial in Three Decades

Thirty years ago, the neighborhood dental clinic was generally a utilitarian operation, focusing solely on prevention and restoration of oral disease. And while we at Roadside know that restorative and preventive dentistry are better than ever in 2012, we also realize that you now have many patients clamoring for cosmetic procedures; to straighten, brighten, and enhance the appearance of their smiles! In order to better serve patients, many dental practices are expanding to feature such aesthetic services, and creating an atmosphere within their facility that caters to this new clientele as well.

Enter dental marketing. To the utilitarian dentist of thirty years ago, marketing was considered a breach of ethics; but for the modern dental practice, it is an absolute must to stay vital and competitive! We are proud to be on the cutting edge of dental internet marketing, and we love witnessing how a practice can succeed and better serve their community when they embrace all that online marketing has to offer!

But What About Specialty Practices?

For the dental specialty practice, the issue of marketing and ethics remains touchy. If you specialize in endodontics, periodontics, oral surgery or orthodontics, we understand that internet marketing probably hasn’t become a priority for you……. yet. Read on to learn why now is the time to begin building an online presence for your specialty practice, and how you can do so without creating a breach of ethics or alienating the members of your local dental community that you rely on for referrals:

Much of the focus here at Roadside is on building visually stunning dental websites that get our clients found by new patients online. We understand that this isn’t a top priority for you specialty practices that rely solely on strong relationships with a solid network of referring doctors for acquiring new patients. Your specialty dental website therefore, needs to work to enhance this bond between your practice and referring practices, with a secondary focus on attracting the attention of potential new clients searching online. But how can your website accomplish this?

Likely you’ve noticed that more and more of your referring docs are switching to digital X-rays and email communication, forgoing the old chemical-dipped image and carbon-copy referral you used to receive via snail mail. Well, imagine a website that acted as a portal to streamline the referral process, making it simple, straightforward, and easy for referring docs to deliver their patient info, case notes, and images directly to you.  If you currently have a dental website, does it act to better serve your referring doctors, strengthening your relationship?

You must realize, too, that an increasing number of the general public now rely on the internet to get answers to their questions. When considering new clients who’ve recently been referred to your practice by their general dentist, does your website adequately meet their needs? Perhaps your website can better serve new patients with online intake forms, GPS-integrated turn-by-turn directions that can be accessed from a mobile device, post-operative instructions, a virtual tour of your facility, even video instructionals on your procedures to familiarize new clients with the doctor while answering frequently asked questions.

What we want to get across is that internet marketing for the dental specialty office doesn’t have to conjure up images of sleazy used car salesmen. Basically, as your referral network and patient base evolve to accomplish more online, are you moving to accommodate them? Having a fully functional marketing website can and should be an integral part of your practice. And we firmly believe that an internet marketing strategy which focuses on the unique needs of the dental specialty practice can be accomplished in a dignified, ethical manner.

If you’d like to learn more about how Roadside Multimedia can help you fortify your specialty practice by better serving your referring doctors and new clients, we invite you to contact us today!