By Glenn Lombardi
If you’re still running ads in the local phone book, you may want to rethink your current marketing strategy. As the Internet continues to grow and evolve, people are distancing themselves from the traditional phone book and instead are relying on the search engines for their local information.
Here are just a few reasons why you should consider establishing an online presence for your practice:
1. Patients prefer the search engines.
When was the last time you needed to find a local business? Did you look in the phone book? Or did you turn to the Internet to search for the services you needed? When it comes down to it, people are going to choose the route that is the most convenient for them. Access to the Internet via work, home, or mobile devices has made it incredibly quick and easy for patients to get instant information about a local dentist at the exact moment they want it.
2. The Internet converts better than traditional marketing.
A professional, well-designed practice website is far more efficient than traditional marketing, allowing you to present more information — such as photos, videos, patient education, and reviews — that influences patients to learn more about your services and contact your office for an appointment. Space limitations don’t exist on the web, and you have the freedom to provide all the information needed to attract your future patients. With detailed website analytics, including email and phone tracking, you can always study what’s working and what might not be working in real-time for continual improvement.
3. Greater return on investment with a local search strategy.
More and more, the phone book is becoming obsolete as people prefer the search engines as their method of local search. That’s because the search engines are easy to use — presenting people with instant and accurate results for the local information they are looking for.
For less than a thousand dollars, you can launch a professional, robust website for your practice — an “always on” storefront that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to communicate, educate, and attract existing and new patients to your office. With smartphone usage on the rise, your practice will always be readily available to patients anywhere and anytime. Your investment in your website and a local search strategy will benefit you as long as it is running, delivering a steady pipeline of new patients to your office who have found you on the Internet.
Whether or not you decide to abandon your phone book ad is up to you, but one thing is for certain: today, you need an online presence in order to attract the patients in your local area. A professional in dental online marketing can help you launch your website strategy — a more affordable, effective way to reach your patients.
Author bio
Glenn Lombardi is president of Officite, LLC, the No. 1 provider of websites and Internet presence management strategies for the dental community. Officite has built more than 6,000 websites that have generated hundreds of thousands of appointment requests since 2002. To learn more, visit www.officite.com or call (800) 908-2483.
