Every year, you pour thousands of dollars into digital advertising for dental practices, hoping you’ll attract the attention of new patients for your member practices. But have you ever stopped to wonder whether or not you’re getting a return on your ad spend?
The fact that online advertising is growing, especially among healthcare organizations, is no secret. In the U.S. alone, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry spent more than $11 billion on digital advertising in 2021.1 Globally, experts project that number to grow to $660 billion by 2025.2
You spend your fair share on digital marketing. In fact, some healthcare marketing professionals believe that if you aren’t allocating at least $100 a day on digital marketing, you aren’t spending enough.3 But common knowledge and broad averages aren’t enough when you’re laying out the digital marketing budget for your member practices.
How to Improve Digital Advertising for Dental Practices
When you’re setting goals and budgets for your DSO’s paid advertising, the real trick is determining what a successful ROI looks like and plotting out your PPC spend from there. Today we’re sharing some tips to help you optimize your digital advertising for dental practices. We’ll look at how to ensure your paid search campaigns reach your target ROI and drive the desired number of new patients to your member practices.
1. Diversify Your Ads
There is no shortage of options for advertising online. Really, the number of possibilities leave many marketers befuddled. The best way to address the overwhelm is to cast a wide net and promote on different platforms until you find your top-performing ad buys.
Google and Facebook are obviously reliable platforms to start with. Google accounts for 37.2% of digital advertising and Facebook another 19.6%.4 Google also has two networks to use. The search network offers ads that appear in search results and the display network uses cookies to display relevant ads on other websites. You should invest in both.
Also, take advantage of free online business listings. Not only are these great places to scoop up a few additional leads, but they also improve your SEO. The more you get your name out there, the more likely your pages will be returned in a search for the services you most want to provide.
2. Use Video Content in Your Ads
No matter where you advertise, your goal is to create content that inspires patients to take the next step in their customer journey. Video is a proven promotional medium that people respond to.
According to Forbes, video content increases click-through rates by 96%.5 And what’s even more impressive is that video content is shared 1,200% more often than links and text put together.
How many times have you shared a funny Super Bowl commercial with friends and family? Or the latest TikTok challenge? What about the wedding fail videos you just couldn’t stop posting? Video is probably the #1 type of content on your personal social media feed. Why? Because humans love to be entertained, and video content is the most engaging form of entertainment available.
3. Test Your Ads
Not sure about the design or placement of your ad? Get definitive answers about what your customers want to see by testing your ad copy.
Both Google and Facebook allow users to test two versions of their ads using A/B tests. This is a wonderful tool to use when you’re unsure about the ad design or copy. Just submit the two best versions of your ad and let Google and Facebook do the rest. They’ll provide click-through rates and other response metrics so you can see what works and what doesn’t.
There’s also a way to test your audience. Both Facebook and LinkedIn have a tool that tests your ads on audiences similar to the one you’ve designated to assess ad performance across a broader set of consumers.
Need to adjust your dental digital marketing strategy and ad spend? Dreamscape Marketing can help. Schedule a strategy session by contacting us at 888.307.7304.
For a list of references, please contact us.