Orthodontic marketing ideas might seem challenging if you aren’t used to the many exciting and successful online advertising methods available today. There are so many different options that it might be confusing if you aren’t sure where to start. That’s why we’ve broken down the best digital marketing ideas for orthodontic offices.

Each of these ideas can be integrated for your orthodontic office and adapted to meet your unique needs. As a bonus, we included a few common digital marketing myths that deserve to be busted. By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have a better idea of how to market your office successfully.

More Marketing Ideas for Orthodontic Offices [Top 5]

1. Paid Advertising

When it comes to marketing ideas for orthodontic offices, paid online advertising is perhaps the most immediate. That’s because these ads will draw in a large number of viewers by focusing on common search concepts. For example, paid advertisements on social media will:

Target (or retarget) people searching for orthodontists in your area
Place ads on a variety of search sites
Identify useful search terms for your company
Mark keywords that people are trying to find

These ads are designed to redirect people to your website and, specifically, to your service pages. For example, one ad might take a customer to a location page that has contact information for a particular area you are targeting. Another may direct them to your appointment page to make it easier for them to sign up for a consultation or you can create a ‘landing page‘ that is more relevant to your ad. Landing pages are proven to convert more ad dollars to paying customers, so this is the preferred method for payed advertising.

There are several types of ads you can integrate, the most common of which is probably PPC. This term stands for pay-per-click, which indicates how these ads work. You are only charged for these ads when a person clicks on them. This choice is a good one if you don’t have a lot of marketing money because it is one of the cheapest methods available.

2. Anchoring Your Blog Posts

Anchored blog posts are one of the most important strategies for making your orthodontic website stand out. They are designed to attract high-quality patients by showcasing useful content that they can use. For example, many blog posts include information on particular orthodontic problems and how to diagnose them before a visit.

A great blog post is also useful because it makes your website appear alive and current. Search engines try to highlight websites that are active and engaging. Anchored blogs help to make your site feel more exciting and showcases useful updates that make it more attractive to readers.

3. Google Adwords Remains Critical

Google remains the most popular search engine in the world and is probably the way that most of your patients are going to find your site. Therefore, using Google Adwords could be a critical way of making your orthodontic office easier to find by potential patients.

This service lets you research high-quality keywords and find ones that are converting for businesses near you. It will also showcase how often keywords are clicked on in your website and track which are more successful and which you should kill.

4. Social Media Must Be Active

Creating active profiles on Facebook and Instagram is critical in making your office marketing successful. For example, you can showcase deals that your patients can take advantage of that month or discuss local events that are interesting to you.

It is a good idea to make your social media content as in-house as possible. Try to update your Facebook and Instagram sites on your own. This step makes it feel more organic and real and makes you seem like an exciting and approachable doctor.

Also make use of the new feature Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp are rolling out including Messenger and the facility to book appointments with your office directly from the apps.

5. USP Concepts are Important to Understand

Few businesses truly understand the nature of a USP or unique selling proposition. This concept showcases what makes your orthodontic office standout and why people should visit you. For example, if you are an expert at Invisalign, you need to let your customers know.

Fine tune your content to make your USP as evident as possible. Doing so will draw attention to your website and make it easier for potential patients to decide if you are the right orthodontist for their particular needs.

Other Concepts to Consider

A few other marketing concepts to consider include:

• High-quality professional photography

• Attractive patient specials, such as Invisalign deals

• Updated directory listings

• Tracking phone calls

• Live chat options

and 360 degree office tours

The Top 5 Orthodontic Marketing Myths Busted

Now that you have a better idea of how to market your company, it is worth taking a look at some of the most common and controversial myths. These concepts come up every few years and should be ignored as much as possible.

1. Websites Automatically Bring Customers

Many marketing specialists will try to sell you on the benefits of a website without discussing how to make people visit it. This mistake is a problematic one because you might end up spending thousands of dollars to build a high-quality website and get only a few new patients. That’s because you have to add useful and relevant content to the site to draw attention.

2. One Social Media Marketing Technique is Enough

One type of social media marketing isn’t enough to draw attention to your orthodontic office. For example, focusing solely on Facebook advertising will bring you some success but ignores other potentially useful outlets, such as Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. You should also focus on sites like Snapchat to further your advertising spread or at least test them out to see what network is best for you.

3. SEO is Not Important

This myth comes up every few years and has been debunked every time. That’s because people who are used to certain old-fashioned SEO concepts, such as keyword stuffing, go into panic mode when Google and other search engines take steps to minimize its effectiveness. Thankfully, SEO practices continue to evolve and adapt to suit these constant changes. Not all that we were doing 10 years ago applies today and in the near future we will see AI and Blockchain technology making seizemic changes to the SEO industry.

4. Google Isn’t That Important

Google is critical to consider when creating your online marketing methods and SEO. In fact, many of the changes to SEO over the years have been caused by changes in practice by Google. That said, Bing and other websites shouldn’t be ignored either. These groups still attract many customers.

5. Negative Reviews Should Be Hidden

You are going to get negative reviews from time to time. Respond to each of these negative reviews whenever possible. Doing so is a subtle form of high-quality marketing. It shows that you take your customers seriously and are working to address any issues.

Other Myths to Ignore

A few more digital marketing myths that are worth busting include:

Mobile Visitors Don’t Matter

• Mobile Visitors Don’t Matter – Mobile visitors on a high-quality responsive site can convert a huge amount of traffic to your orthodontic practise. From our data collected over the last 10 years we have seen, on average mobile traffic increase from under 30% to over 70% and continue to grow.

Social Media is All That Matters

• Social Media is All That Matters – While social media is important as a way of reaching your customers, its only part of your marketing focus. In reality, very few conversions (new patients) come from social media marketing. Social media should be viewed as a long term branding exercise done by you and your team for best effects, not a Social Media agency.

All Current Events are Good for Marketing

• All Current Events are Good for Marketing – Forcing current events to fit a marketing strategy for your orthodontic office will be seen as an obvious, transparent, and desperate attempt at attention. Use this technique sparingly.

Long-Form Content Isn’t Worth It

• Long-Form Content Isn’t Worth It – Micro content is a useful way of attracting instant attention, but long-form articles give your orthodontic site authority. Use your knowledge to explore information that is important to your customers. The search engines reward long form content over short form content. So it’s a case of go long, or so long!

Use These Techniques Properly

If you serious about the success of your business and see the value of trying to integrate some of these concepts into your orthodontic practise, come and talk to us. We have been helping orthodontist smiles for 10 years with our holistic approach to digital marketing and SEO for orthodontists. Contact us here to get the conversation started.

Marketing Ideas for Orthodontic Offices