3 Ways to Generate More Dentist Referrals with Online Marketing
For dentists, especially specialists, referrals are supremely important when it comes to growing new patient volume. Yet the vast majority of orthodontists, endodontists, oral surgeons, periodontists, and prosthodontists are not leveraging digital marketing channels effectively to drive referrals to their practice.
While it’s true that good ol’ fashioned relationship-building is most important for developing referral relationships for your dental practice, there are many opportunities in online dental marketing to connect with other dentists and stay top-of-mind for future referrals. In this blog post, we’ll cover 3 ways to get more referrals from other dentists using digital marketing.
Connect with Other Dentists on LinkedIn
It’s the world’s most popular social media network for business professionals, and LinkedIn is an invaluable opportunity to connect with other dentists and develop referral relationships. Nevertheless, many dental practices continue to overlook LinkedIn when developing their social media strategies.
There are many ways to stay connected and engaged with other dental providers on LinkedIn (and keep your practice top-of-mind for potential patient referrals), including:
- Growing your network — Every time you meet a dentist in your community, send them a connection request on LinkedIn. By following their activity on LinkedIn, you’ll learn what’s important to then, what’s happening in their life and practice, and be able to engage with them more effectively the next time you cross paths. It’s also important to connect and engage with other dental offices’ practice administrators as these individuals often have influence in directing referrals to other dentists.
- Posting about your practice — Regular posts about your practice on LinkedIn raises awareness and reminds other dentists about what you offer and how you can help their patients. As with any other social media channel, focus on authenticity and spotlight your practice’s people and personality. Other dentists want to refer to providers they know and trust.
- Mentioning other practices — Share the love and “mention” or “tag” other practices when possible in your LinkedIn posts. They’ll appreciate the shout-out and may just send their next patient your way.
- Running LinkedIn ad campaigns — Especially for relatively new practices, LinkedIn ad campaigns are a great way to get your dental office in front of other dentists and begin developing potential referral relationships. From follower-building campaigns to message ads that land directly in other dentists’ LinkedIn inboxes, there are many opportunities to reach potential referral partners without breaking the bank.
Keep in mind that you should have both a personal profile and a business page on LinkedIn, and both are important for driving referrals.
Stay Connected with a Monthly Email Newsletter
Decades after it hit the scene, email remains one of the most effective (and affordable) ways to connect with potential patients — and referral partners for dental practices. Especially for specialists like orthodontists, endodontists, oral surgeons, and others, a regular email newsletter is an excellent opportunity to connect with other dentists and stay top-of-mind when they’re considering referring a patient out to a specialist.
Remember, a referral email newsletter for dentists shouldn’t just remind your contacts about your services and that you’re accepting referrals — it should also demonstrate the authenticity and personality that make your dental practice unique. Consider spotlighting an employee of the month, sharing personal tips for balancing work-life balance as a provider, or discussing an especially interesting or challenging case, among other ideas.
Run a List-Based Retargeting Ad Campaign
If you have an email list of other dentists (you can sometimes get one from your state’s dental board or dental society), consider running a dentist ad campaign via the Google Display Network (GDN) or social media leveraging list-based retargeting to keep your practice top-of-mind for referrals. Most major digital advertising platforms have the capability to serve hyper-targeted ads to people on an email list, but it’s not something most dentists are taking advantage of.
At DentalScapes, we often run list-based retargeting campaigns on Facebook, LinkedIn, and GDN solely designed to remind other dental professionals that your practice exists and is ready to accept new referrals.
Want More Referrals from Other Dentists?
Referrals are the name of the game for dentists in specialty practice like orthodontists, periodontists, oral surgeons, endodontists, and prosthodontists. And while driving referrals to your practice often relies on good ol’ fashioned “boots on the ground” work, there are many opportunities to increase dentist referrals using online marketing. Book a free strategy call with DentalScapes today and let’s see what we can do for your practice.