Many orthodontists on hearing the word marketing conjure this fear of spending huge amount of money for radio and TV commercial. You don’t need to be an expert before you can successfully market your brand.
In this article we shall be discussing some insider’s revelation of marketing strategies that has led to the success of many orthodontists over the years, while their counterparts are struggling. When you properly apply these few examples, it will help you enhance your new patient flow no matter where you live.
First thing you need to know is that marketing for an orthodontist consists of virtually everything you do in the office, and marketing effectively involves doing a lot of “insignificant” and “unrelated” things correctly and consistently.
Build a Strong Relationship with Dentists
This method is quite old, but really worth it, according to Ortho Synetics 60% of your patients come through the referral of the dentist. There is nothing wrong for you as an orthodontist to show up in person at the office of a dentist who has been referring patients to you. 
Now, it is not seeing that is the important factor here, but bearing gifts like donuts, cookies, lunch, or whatever to his office as a token of appreciation. You don’t need to spend all your time with him alone, a quick smile to the front office staff and hygienists will make a lasting impact.
This will likely strengthen your relationship with him. Also, any patient who was in the office the moment you visited and subsequently referred to you would have had a positive impression about you. It is also important for your team to build a strong relationship with the dentist team. Remember it is doing little and insignificant things in a big way to achieve results.
Develop Patients’ Appreciation Day
Dedicating one day each year for the appreciation of your patients will not hurt you, rather it will help improve your business visibility and generate more trust between you and your patients. For instance, organizing an event where your patients are given tickets to invite others, which will indirectly serve as a form of referral for you.
Also you can also offer patients contest before, during and after the event. This can involve your patients wearing T-shirts with your company or campaign logo on it, or any other form of engaging contest during the event such as guessing how many jellybeans are in a jar. The important thing is the price you give, which in turn will serve as a word of mouth advertisement.
Communicate with Your Patients Electronically
The generation that we are today is dominated by various electronic means of communication. You can utilize all the available channels to reach out to your patients, engage them, and communicate with them while marketing your business at the same time. With the use of emails, text messages, Social Medias you can engage your patients. For instance, taking their phone number to remind them of their next schedule, sharing important tips on how to stay healthy through emails and text messages, and in most cases, sending them a special birthday wish will give them a sense of belonging and importance, which is what every humans want.
Also, engaging them on social media, like answering questions, offering healthy living tips and other important things will not only get you patients that are close to you, but also patients that are far from you. The quality response and solution you provide on social media will boost the confidence your patience and potential patients have in you.
Offer Flexible and Electronic Payment Method
Similar to the previous one, many people prefer to go cashless these days, instead of carrying huge amount of money around with the risk of possibly getting robbed, your patients will appreciate it when you offer electronic and cashless payment method.
On the official website of your business you should consider adding a payment portal, which will allow users pay at home, while the present the print out in your office subject to verification. Alternatively, making use of POS will help reduce the stress of carrying cash as well while decreasing the rate of indebtedness.
In addition to offering an electronic payment method, you should also offer a flexible pricing index. This will allow your patients consider your services cheaper than others. For instance, if a service actual price is £150 you can make it £149.99.
While these are opinions and may seem minor, it has proven to be effective and increase patients inflow in many organizations (for more marketing strategies, click here). It is also a cheaper way to market and advertise your business without necessarily paying for radio jingles, TV adverts and billboards.
