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Are you marketing your clinic effectively?

If you think marketing is just for big brands, think again. Every business that wants to be successful needs to be marketing – and that includes dental and healthcare clinics.

Here’s a short guide to marketing, describing why it’s important, which channels to consider and how to approach it for your clinic.

What’s the point of marketing?

For clinics, marketing is one of the ways to connect with your patients, making them less likely to leave your practice and more likely to come to you when they are considering additional treatments. It invites your patients to become familiar with what’s behind the door of the clinic, making visits more relaxed. It also keeps them in the loop about new treatments or services you may offer.

You can also use marketing to tell more people about the treatments and services you offer so that you grow your patient and treatment numbers. A great example is advertising your payment options. Offering payment options gives you a competitive advantage – but only if you tell people about it!

Marketing is not just about selling, it is also about building and maintaining relationships with your patients and demonstrating that you have their care at heart. A monthly newsletter or a blog, for instance, gives you the opportunity to offer advice and to educate your patients.

As a dental or healthcare clinic, you have a unique and enviable position with your patients, in that they already hold you in high esteem because of your standing as a clinical practitioner. Big brand marketers would pay millions to achieve that level of brand love! You have it in the bag and that is what you are building on with your marketing.

Which marketing channels work best?

The channels you use for your marketing will depend on many factors but should be based on where you can best engage with your target audience – your patients and your potential patients. The key channels to consider include:

  • Your website – this is your virtual shop window, used by patients for information and by potential patients to check you out, so make sure it’s up to date, well presented and easy to navigate.
  • Blog posts – use your blog to expand on the benefits of what you offer, with case studies, how-to guides and topical information. This all helps you to build your credentials as a trusted provider.
  • Google ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – make sure you rank in Google for key search terms. You can do this either by paying to appear at the top of searches (paid search) or through managing your website so that it ranks more highly (organic search). It’s worth getting an expert to do an SEO audit to give you a kickstart.
  • Social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok are among the most used social media apps. The more visual ones, such as Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube are great for explaining procedures and showing treatment results. Facebook is good for engagement with a broad demographic.
  • Email and WhatsApp – you already have a database of patients. You can use this to let your patients know of new treatments, special offers etc. We can help you with some templates for advertising your payment options.
  • Newsletters – a monthly newsletter keeps a connection with your patients in between appointments, giving them information about treatments, inviting them to read blogs, passing on clinic news, encouraging them to make appointments and more.
  • Printed leaflets/brochures – a well-produced brochure can be a real selling tool for your services, and it can also help to put across a professional, caring brand image.
  • Point of Sale materials – don’t forget your marketing once patients are through the door. We have found that payment options is one of those aspects of your service that you need to put front and centre, and when you do, it can increase your treatment rates by up to 40%. That’s why we provide point of sale materials to support you.

Six tips to make your marketing more effective

Here are some simple tips to ensure your marketing is more effective:

  1. Think about the bigger picture – what are your goals? E.g. do you want to grow your practice, increase the number of treatments you carry out, increase your value per patient? Put some numbers against these targets and make sure all your marketing links back to them.
  2. Talk about benefits, not just features – for example, if you offer payment options, that’s a feature. The benefit for your patients is that they can have their treatment immediately and then spread the cost of it, rather than having to wait until they have saved up for it.
  3. Always include a Call to Action (CTA) in your marketing – ‘Call us on …,’ ‘Email now to find out more’, Sign up to our newsletter’. Whatever your objective is, make sure you get your audience to take the next step. On your website, offer plenty of opportunities to book an appointment or find out more. Always include a CTA in your emails. Offer lots of chances to engage in your newsletter. Use your social media to get people to click through to your website and blog posts.
  4. Play the long game – consistency in your marketing communications is key. A generally accepted marketing rule is that on average, it takes a prospect seven interactions or ‘touchpoints’ with a brand before they become a customer. Keep your newsletter, blog posts and social media posts regular, keep your tone consistent and treat all your marketing communications as part of one coherent conversation.
  5. Use testimonials in your marketing – what you say about yourself will never be as convincing as what your patients say about you. Put testimonials on your website, use them in your digital and print marketing, include case studies in your blogs and newsletter. Let your patients become your salesforce.
  6. Think about the tone of voice you use in your marketing communications – you are in a great position to explain complex or daunting procedures in a clear and understandable way, and your patients will trust you. Try to spot medical terms that your patients may struggle with and either substitute a more everyday term or explain in clear language what the term means. The most effective way to communicate, both in video and written communications is to imagine you are talking to a single person. This will make your message feel more immediate and relatable, because, after all, each listener or reader is a single person.

At Chrysalis, we believe that marketing for clinics is one of the most powerful and yet underused tools for growth. That’s why we support our payment options with a full suite of marketing support, including free POS materials, WhatsApp and email templates, and tailored website pages explaining payment options. You also have a dedicated account manager who can give you tips on how to talk to your patients about the benefits of monthly payments.  

To find out more about marketing your payment options, speak to your Chrysalis Account Manager today, or contact us using the details below:

https://chrysalisfinance.co.uk/contact-us/  or email marketing@chrysalisfinance.com

Tel: 0333 32 32 230

 

 

 

 

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