Dental Internet Marketing Casts Bigger Net for Dental Care Providers Looking for New Patients

Dental internet marketing provides larger results for less expenditure when it comes to obtaining new patients as dental professionals and other health-related practitioners are finding in their search to supplement recurrent patient turnover within their offices in the current, unstable economy.

Dentists and doctors have long relied upon word-of-mouth "loyalty" referrals from existing patients in addition to recommendations from their professional colleagues rather than turning to traditional marketing and advertising methods that had a bad stigma within the healthcare sector. Beforehand, and before accepted technological innovations as internet dental marketing, such referrals were not so difficult to get as most individuals worked less hours, enjoyed a work-life balance and could actually socialize a lot more with their friends and neighbors who might pass on a referral to a good local dentist or doctor.

In the present era of Facebook and Twitter, a bad economic climate and the unfortunate necessity for a lot of people to either labor twelve-plus working hours at one job or take several employment positions in order to make standard ends meet, there is no opportunity for individuals to really meet up with one another face-to-face in social settings. This trickledown effect has impacted many businesses, especially those who've solo medical and dental offices.

Medical doctors and dentists have been struggling just as hard as many non-medical professionals lately despite the preconceived idea that all health care professionals already have thriving practices. When people aren't just losing their jobs but their health coverage too, this ends up with reliable patients making a smaller amount of, if any, trips to their dentists and doctors. This, in turn, forces doctors to search out new patients for their own financial survival.

Even so, attempting to gain patient recommendations from current patients is not really as feasible as it was formerly in the past, because of the aforementioned causes. Many clinical doctors and dentists, who had been wary of using professional medical and online dental marketing to market their services prior to now because of its unprofessional stigma, now want to know if financial resources put towards conventional radio and television advertisements is actually worth the expense to enhance their exposure while potentially endangering their professional reputations.

"That truly depends. 99 percent of the time, the answer is 'no' it is not," says Helmut G. Flasch, a dentist internet marketing account manager and the chief executive officer of Doctor Relations, Inc., a dental consulting firm based in Canoga Park, CA. "It may appear like a wise decision to pay for a radio or a television spot since it reaches lots of people, but it really doesn't go a long way mainly because the majority of the people listening or watching are probably not local to the location where the dental practitioner bases his office. It is not like a Wendy's or perhaps a Starbucks, that has several locations."

Mr. Flasch goes on to state that although there can be an occasional exception to this rule, for the most part, standard dental advertising in television and radio spots is too expensive for the limited end result it provides to a solo or small dental practice wishing to increase its patient base. "Don't advertise," he says, "instead, have your local community to refer you by getting included in local district events and getting acquainted with its leaders." Mr. Flasch believes that frequent exposure to area activities builds up a dentist's recognition and increases his visibility when he's seen as a humanitarian, rather than a health-related entity, who is truly interested promoting and assisting local causes. This method is referred to as "Un-advertising."

"Working along with the community provides a dentist a chance to get his information out there individuals who might be looking for dental services on down the road. While doing so, he's offering something back. He encounters new people, he helps his community and it costs him hardly any," states Mr. Flasch.

Learn more details on helpful dental internet marketing tactics contained in Helmut G. Flasch's book, "Double Your Business and Not Your Troubles."