15 Orthodontic Marketing Strategies You Need to Use Right Now

As an orthodontist, the chances are the last thing on your mind is marketing. However, in the post-pandemic world, creating effective orthodontic marketing strategies to attract new patients has never been more important.

You need an online presence that tells potential patients about who you are and the type of experience they’re likely to receive when choosing you as their orthodontist.

Orthodontist advertising is far from obvious or straightforward. With that in mind, we’ve created a list of ways you can market your business. First, though, let’s take a closer look at what orthodontics marketing entails.

What is Orthodontics Marketing?

Orthodontist marketing is all about targeting your core demographic to fill your schedule and retain a base of loyal patients. Business is not guaranteed because of a tremendous amount of competition.

More than ever, prospective patients are comparing your business online before making a call. They’re looking at your prices, your reputation, and your social media channels.

If you’ve yet to implement any orthodontic marketing ideas, you essentially no longer exist because modern patients aren’t looking you up in the phonebook.

Online marketing is now a critical part of your business strategy.

15 Orthodontic Marketing Strategies to Bring in New Patients

Whether you are a one-man operation or have an entire team working to provide better orthodontic services to your patients, you need orthodontic marketing strategies to make the most of your time and expenditure.

Here are some marketing ideas for orthodontic offices that you can implement right now.

1. Target Customer Pain Points

The first step is to identify your target audience and to market based on their pain points. What frustrates your demographic the most about seeking out orthodontic services?
Some of the pain points your demographic could have include:

• Fear of visiting an orthodontist
• Concerns over affordability
• A lack of an online booking system

The easiest way to find out what your customers really think is to ask them. Talk to your existing patients and get their honest feedback.

Pain points are the anchors for your entire marketing strategy.

2. Create a Unique Brand

Branding is everything from your name to your logo. It encompasses your brand’s story and allows you to stand out amidst a sea of other orthodontists.

Your brand will evolve. What’s important is that your brand is front and center. Keep it consistent across all your communication channels and ensure your values are represented within every interaction with the general public.

3. Modernize Your Website

A simple orthodontics marketing option is to modernize your website. This is one piece of online real estate that’s truly your own. Modern patients want a great online experience.

Here are some of the things to think about:

• The mobile experience
• Modern aesthetics
• High-quality photos
• Simple user interface
• Copy that sells

You can also use modern-day cloud computing solutions to analyze consumer behavior. See what people are doing when they visit your website and get the vital stats to see whether they’re staying or clicking away.

4. Choose Your Social Media Channels Carefully

Busy orthodontists only have so much time to handle social media. Prioritize the channels most appropriate to your demographic.

Chances are your patients aren’t looking for an orthodontist on Tik Tok or Twitter, but consider these platforms once you’ve established your brand: Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

When starting or refining your social media journey, try to stick to no more than 2-3 social media channels to make the most of your time. A more poignant effort on fewer channels is more effective than trying to cover every available social media platform, inconsistently.

5. Show Off Your Team

One of the best orthodontic marketing ideas is to show off who you are. Don’t be another faceless orthodontist.

Instead, introduce your prospective patients to your team. Give them names, faces, and stories they can connect to within your marketing

Every minute of the day presents an opportunity. From videos taken on a team-building day to lunchtime fun at work, let your patients get to know your staff on a personal level.

6. Make Orthodontic Treatment Fun

New patients are often nervous about starting orthodontic treatment. This anxiousness is often associated with the treatments themselves and implementing changes to their diets.

Make orthodontic treatment engaging with promotions like goodie bags (featuring toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc.), or even a gift certificate. Not only are orthodontic promotions great for individual patients, but they’re also another source of marketing content.

7. Host an Online Giveaway

Another way to create engagement is to host an online giveaway. Everyone loves the chance to win something free, and it can gain your practice lots of exposure.

For example, why not offer a small prize to people who commit to a 30-day flossing pledge and post a photo online of their daily regimen?

Little orthodontic promotions like this are easy and cost-effective to implement yet create a huge amount of engagement.

8. Highlight Safety Procedures

COVID-19 is here to stay, and close-contact patient services are a potential worry for many patients. Even if most of your patients have started to move on, there will be a considerable number who remain concerned about the spread of the virus for years to come.

Take the time to highlight what you’re doing to halt the spread of COVID-19. It shows that you’re serious about the safety and well-being of your patients.

9. Offer a Free Consultation

No matter how insightful your website is, patients are always going to have questions. Getting braces or aligners is a big step to take, and people may have additional queries.

This is why it’s almost become commonplace within ortho marketing to offer a free consultation as a call-to-action.

Go one step further and give patients a choice between an in-person or virtual consultation.

10. Highlight Important Events in the Lives of Your Staff/Patients

Strong relationships lie at the heart of the doctor-patient relationship. Effective orthodontic marketing puts these relationships as the foundation of any campaign.

Some orthodontic marketing tips for building these connections include:

• Celebrating patients who got their braces removed
• A staff member’s birthday
• New members of the team
• Patient of the Day promotions

11. Include Transparent Pricing

Historically, healthcare providers have always avoided listing their prices. The logic behind this was to encourage patients to contact them directly and to stop their competitors from undercutting them.

This trend is steadily shifting as patients consider pricing important, and they want to know about it immediately.

Something as simple as transparent pricing is a marketing point. Many patients won’t even consider an orthodontist without publicly listed prices.

12. Add a Live Chat Option to Your Website

Customer service is a battleground for orthodontists. Patients want immediate information, and they don’t want to wait for you to call them back.

A live chat option linked to your reception desk during office hours is one of the best marketing ideas for orthodontic offices at your disposal.

13. Focus on Gathering Patient Reviews

The importance of reviews cannot be understated. A positive word from a fellow patient outweighs anything you can say about yourself.

Focus your marketing campaign on gathering as many genuine patient reviews as you possibly can. Ask your patients to leave a review. Explain to them why it helps your business and how much it means to them.

Simply hoping a patient will leave a review is not enough. You need to actively solicit reviews on a regular basis in order to elevate yourself above the competition.

14. Harness the Power of Video

Video content is infinitely more engaging than a written blog or images. From patient testimonials to interviews with your orthodontics team, using short, compelling videos will catch the attention of your target demographic.

You don’t need a huge setup to create professional-quality videos. Most modern smartphones already shoot in HD. Basic editing tools are readily available for free online, and they don’t require any real expertise to use.

Start experimenting with different types of videos to change up your social media presence.

15. Invest in Local SEO

Google actively prioritizes local businesses within its search rankings. If you have the budget, start investing in local SEO.

Make sure you have an active Google My Business profile. Create great content aimed at your local community, and optimize it with the right keywords.

It’s a big project, but investing in local SEO can pay dividends. After all, the chances are your ortho marketing campaign is aimed at your city or county, rather than the entire world.

To further enhance your reach, you may even want to experiment with paid advertising on Google and social media.

Conclusion

Spend more time focusing on orthodontic marketing and less time worrying about your practice management software with the help of Cloud 9 Software. Our innovative orthodontic practice management software is the number one choice of orthodontists across the U.S.

Transform your business and take it to the next level by modernizing your digital systems. To learn more about what Cloud 9 Software can do for you, request a free demo now.