There are many ways that you can market your dental practice to potential patients online. Blogging, social media, and case studies are by far the most popular but today I want to throw another one in the mix – dental treatment guides for patients!
Surprisingly, downloadable treatment guides are something that many dentists don’t use, yet they’re an incredibly powerful marketing tool.
We all go online to search for answers from time to time. During our search, we’ll often come across writers/bloggers who have taken the time to create handy guides to (insert your topic of choice here). The fact is that well-written guides are incredibly popular and what’s more, the search engines love them.
To prove a point, here’s a quick scenario…
Let’s say for instance you’ve just taken up beer making. You like the odd beer or two and think it would be great to brew your own. The trouble is that you’re a complete novice and you don’t really know where to start. Therefore wouldn’t it be great if you did an online search and could at least find some basic answers?
Furthermore, what if all those answers were encapsulated in a handy guide entitled…
‘Start Brewing Now – Everything You Need To Know About Beer Making For Complete Novices‘
Chances are that you’d download it quicker than you can say “bottoms up” right?
Now just imagine that instead of beer making, you had a useful guide on your dental practice website entitled:
‘A Novice’s Guide To Teeth Whitening‘ or ‘Everything You Need To Know About Dental Implants But Were Afraid To Ask’
I can pretty much guarantee that this is something that people would be interested in.
Now here’s the rub…
Dental treatment guides for patients can be time-consuming to write. Alternatively, if you hire a dental writer or dental media company to do the job for you, it probably won’t be cheap. What’s more, patient-friendly treatment guides work best when they’re given away (yes that’s right…for free!). So why should you bother?
Here are 4 reasons why you really should…
Dental Treatment Guides For Patients Offer Quick Solutions
When patients are searching online for a particular dental treatment or procedure, they probably have a million and one questions they need answering. Instead of spending the whole day collating information from various places in order to make an informed dental decision, you’ve just given them everything they need in one place – your detailed dental treatment guide!
Straight away, you’ve helped them because you’ve saved them a great deal of time. That’s a big tick in the box for you, and that’s before they’ve even set foot inside your practice.
Dental Treatment Guides For Patients Position You As An Expert In Your Field
For any potential patients considering complex treatments such as dental implants, there’s a lot of information they’ll need to think about. Factors like…
- Why should I opt for implants over other forms of missing teeth replacement?
- What can I expect?
- How much will it cost?
- Will it hurt?
- How long does the treatment take?
are all very valid and understandable concerns. Therefore if you can answer all these points in an open and honest way, you’ve done the job of easing those concerns.
Moreover, you’ve not only built up a level of trust between you and the reader, but it also places you as a ‘go-to‘ expert in your field.
But wait… there’s more! Marketing experts will tell you that people who search for specific information such as that contained within reports or guides are further along the buying cycle. This means that they’re far more likely to take the next step and that’s to either contact you or to seek a consultation.
Dental Treatment Guides For Patients Offer The Perfect Trade-Off
We talked earlier about the fact that for the best results, you’ll need to give your guide away for free. However as you’ve already invested a great deal of time and/or money into compiling it, how is it going to benefit you?
The good news is that there’s a trade-off. For every guide that’s downloaded, that person needs to enter their email address. So even if they don’t immediately jump on the phone and arrange a consultation, you have their email details which you can continue marketing your products and services to.
This might be in the form of a monthly newsletter, an update email detailing what’s new in your practice, or any promotions on special treatments. What’s more, because you know they’ve downloaded your report on say dental implants, you can then laser target your marketing towards these specific areas. Now that really is powerful stuff!
Dental Treatment Guides For Patients Only Need To Be Written Once
Finally, unlike blogs and social media which need continual input, dental treatment guides for patients only need to be written once. They sit on your website for as long as you want where they can (hopefully) be downloaded time and time again. In essence, a well-written treatment guide really is the gift that keeps on giving!
So now you know the power of a quality treatment guide what exactly should it contain?
A good dental treatment guide for patients needs to consist of patient-friendly content. In other words, keep it relatively easy to read and don’t use technical jargon. Put yourself in the patient’s shoes and think about what you, as a reader, would want to see when looking for information on a specific treatment.
How about factors like:
- Basic background Information – Eg, how did the need for the treatment come about and why it’s beneficial to patients?
- What the treatment entails and what patients can expect – Remember, keep it patient-friendly!
- Frequently asked questions – Answer the most common questions patients are asking.
- Case studies and testimonials – You might also want to include some case studies and testimonials from past patients. In addition, how about adding some before and after pictures?
Above all, a good dental report is around 3-4 pages in length and it needs to be easy on the eye. Remember nobody likes to be confronted by a great wall of text, so try to break it down into sections/sub-sections. You can even include some related pictures or images to make it more reader-friendly and scannable if you wish. Finally, and most importantly, don’t forget to add your contact details!
So there you have it. If you still aren’t sure what makes a good report you can always act a little sneaky and download something similar from a competitor so you can see their layout. The difference is that when you come to compiling yours, it will be a hundred times better!
Hopefully, this has compelled you to go out and write your very own dental treatment guide for patients. Alternatively, you can always hire a dental writer to do it for you. Whatever you decide, by thinking outside of the box and trying something different, you’ll stand out from other practices in your area. In the competitive world of the dental industry, this is never a bad thing.
