How to Market Dental Services Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Melissa LuVisi
July 2, 2020 | 3 min read

As we venture into the post-COVID-19 world, what should dental practices focus on and how can you effectively market your services? What can you do to you serve your patients better while maintaining a healthy cash flow?

In the near future, many people will be wary about getting preventive care at a dental office. As such, you should focus on the role of teledentistry (learn more here) and patient education to stay top of mind and foster relationships while acquiring and retaining more patients. 

Three Key Focuses For Dental Marketing Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tailoring your marketing message to focus on things that people are most concerned about right now will be the key to capturing your audience’s attention. 

Eva Sadej, CEO of Flossbar Inc., shared with us the results of the focus groups they conducted with millennials. They found that the top reasons people seek dental care are fear, vanity, and wellness. 

 

Let’s look at how you can position your marketing message based on these three factors:

Alleviate Fear With Preventive Care

People get scared when something hurts. Right now, fewer people are making dental appointments for preventive care due to COVID-19 and this will lead to more dental emergencies down the road. 

Your patients may even be aware of the risks but they’re not comfortable visiting a dental office yet. You can add value, build trust, and stay top of mind by empowering patients with information to take better care of their oral health.

For example, you can offer teledentistry consultations to help patients design their at-home dental regiments and recommend products they can use to maintain oral health. You can also help parents make sure that their kids are taking care of their teeth, e.g., by gamifying dental care with cool products.

Appeal To Vanity

Healthy teeth make us look good. When people are stuck at home, they tend to feel frumpy and bored. Some may be staring at themselves in the mirror… and, others, on Zoom. They want to feel good by improving their appearances and you can tap into such vanity psychology to promote offerings such as cosmetic services, whitening systems, ortho products, and veneers. 

For instance, you can offer cosmetic dentistry consultations virtually via a teledentistry module that’s part of your dental practice management software. This will allow you to consolidate workflows, patient records, billings, and patient communication so you can deliver a seamless patient experience and increase cost-efficiency. 

Also, take the opportunity to line up patients that need in-person visits and schedule the appointments right away so you can hit the ground running as soon as you reopen.

Promote the Oral Health Link To Immunity

If a person has an infection in their mouth, the toxins from the bacteria can go straight into the bloodstream -- constantly attacking the immune system and weakening their immunity.

With immunity being a buzzword thanks to COVID-19, you can capture your audience’s attention by educating them about the importance of preventive care and highlighting the relationship between oral health and the immune system.

Create educational content and share it via email with your patients to stay top of mind and build trust. Include a call-to-action in these emails, such as a link to your online booking system to schedule a preventive care appointment, to encourage the readers to take action.

Support Your Marketing With the Right Technologies

To maximize marketing ROI, you need the right infrastructure so patients can take action and follow through to engage with your services. By supporting your marketing efforts with cloud dental software, you can make sure that patients are getting the support they need to maintain their dental health.

Book a demo now!

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