• 2
• Dental Marketing ,
• 21 May

Starting any joint venture with an unknown company is always a risk. It is especially true for the dental profession.

Unlike some other industries and websites, dental practices depend heavily on their reputation. In the end, you would never allow an inexperienced dentist to fix your teeth.

This makes it very sensitive to any feedback.

If you hire an unknown dental marketing company, you won’t know what you’re getting. Given how this organization will have access to your sensitive web data and will manage your online reputation, all sorts of issues may occur along the way.

Unfortunately, avoiding any promotion is also not a solution.

Today, companies rely heavily on dental internet marketing, search engine optimization, and social media marketing. It is tough to start a new dental practice or to expand the business without any marketing assistance.

As a way of avoiding all these potential issues, you need to be able to asses a dental marketing company.

Here are some tips and tricks that will allow you to do just that.

Start with the initial research

There are lots of marketing companies on the web and needless to say, you will have to do proper research.

Organizations working in this field always try to present themselves as the “best in business.” Given they know a lot about marketing, most of them can make it seem that way.

Your task is to sift through all the results and find marketing companies that are true to their word. It’s not about appearance but about substance and results. So, here are some things that will help you out:

Online reviews are the best indicator of whether a company is efficient or not. Keep in mind there are fewer reviews in niche businesses such as this There might be only a dozen reviews, so this is not always the best indicator. Make sure to consider the number of people who commented as a way of making the correct assessment.

Good companies will have a lot of online mentions and appearances. Of course, these mentions will also vary, but you need to read them and make the best out of them. Whether we’re talking about guest posts, mentions on other blogs, projects they’re involved in, you have to browse through many results. Of course, these mentions shouldn’t be on their own site.

How long are they in business? What are their prices? If their prices are really low, or if they’re not in business for a long time, this might be a red flag. Naturally, there are also bad companies who are charging a lot, but it is really rare for popular companies to be cheap.

By doing this initial research, you will at least learn more about the major players.

Of course, every company is a separate entity, and they may vary in terms of service quality. Also, even if they’re good, there might be certain things they’re bad at. It is usually not a clear cut, but you should try to reduce the margin of error, at least.

Focus on dental marketing

Although you might think that every marketing agency is the same, there is a big difference between companies based on their specialization.

Being an expert in the dental field is not the same as being an expert in the medical field. While these industries might be similar scientifically, they are entirely different marketing-wise.

First and foremost, every industry or niche has its players. There might be even some unspoken rules in terms of competition, do’s, and don’ts.

Even though they might be competition, companies often stick to each other and have a certain dose of respect for their peers. But to inexperienced people, this becomes obvious only after starting to work in a particular niche.

Marketing companies that have worked within a field for years have intimate knowledge or the market. They know the competitors, news outlets, products, and services, as well as everything else that might have an impact on your campaign. This makes it much easier and more efficient to run a marketing campaign.

The same goes for dental practices. When hiring a new marketing company, make sure they are specialists in your niche.

Here are three of the ways you can determine this:

Everything on their website is focused on dental marketing. Here, I’m not only talking about the design but also the way they’re offering services. If they’re always talking about dental marketing without mentioning any other industry, this shows they are focused on one thing. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working with different niches or industries, but it reduces the odds of it.

It is much better if the management of the company is connected to dental professionals. While this isn’t always crucial, it shows they have previously worked within the industry. Keep in mind that sometimes, these marketing experts are using different names such as clients’ names.

Analyze their content. If the company is only talking about dentistry, this is a clear indication that they specialize in this field.

Check their previous clients and projects. Have they worked with other dental companies? Do they have it displayed on the site or at least somewhere else? All of these things have to be considered.

Marketing professionals usually have lots of different experiences during their careers. The profession is such that they’re often jumping from a profitable to a profitable industry. Still, that doesn’t reduce the fact they have to specialize in dental marketing.

Availability of different services

Internet marketing involves various processes.

Some of the standard services that companies are offering include:

Content creation

Email marketing

Email outreach

Link building

SEO

Competition research

Social media marketing

Video creation and marketing

Facebook, YouTube, Google Ads, and so on.

Each service is specific and meant to accomplish a different goal.

Why is it essential for a company to have different services?

While it is tough for one company to perform various approaches, it is still possible. In the end, it all depends on the people they’re hiring. Having all these services in one place makes your job much easier.

First, if one of the approaches doesn’t suit your needs, you can simply change the package during a month and start doing something else without additional costs.

If you want an all-in-one service, like SEO and social media marketing, you can get everything in one place without having to rely on several service providers. This way, you can save a lot of money and time.

Being proficient in several marketing methods also allows management to make better long-term decisions. If a particular thing isn’t working for your business, the project manager can adjust strategy on the fly and suggest something different.

Of course, you might want just one type of service. If you already have something in mind before hiring a company, then this tip isn’t as useful.

Responsiveness and the ability to communicate

Now, you might not think that responsiveness is very important when hiring a dental marketing company. In the end, all you have to do is pay for your package and relax. Wrong!

When it comes to small and medium businesses, there is a lot of hands-on approaches. Often, you will discuss things directly with the marketing manager trying to figure out the best strategy.

In the end, no one knows your company better than you. In fact, most dental practitioners prefer having a proactive role.

Today, marketing experts are easily reachable via Skype and other similar programs and applications. Furthermore, lots of them have separate phone lines or even call centers where you can reach them.

Also, some of them will have a virtual assistant on site ready to assist people who have spent considerable time reading content on the website.

Responsiveness isn’t only a sign of goodwill; it is a sign of professionalism and excellent customer care. It is something that can quickly check through the initial conversation.

Responsiveness and availability are especially crucial to dentists who are outsourcing their services to another time zone.

Flexible prices

Although some of the marketing companies have prices shown on their site, that doesn’t mean there is no option to negotiate.

In the marketing world, prices are a very relative thing. There are a lot of factors that impact the price of the service.

For example, the reputation, the track record, how long they’ve been in business, and so on. But, as mentioned previously, price doesn’t have to be related to the quality of service.

When looking for your next dental marketing company, make sure they have flexible prices. Packages are not that important as you probably have some ideas of your own; packages are only used so that a company looks more professional.

You simply shouldn’t buy something that doesn’t suit your needs. Instead, find a company that allows you to negotiate the prices and purchase only the services you actually need. Being able to change services during a contract is also a plus.

In conclusion

Finding the right dental marketing company for your dental practice can often be a choir.

Besides everything mentioned in this article, you also have to find people who are easy to cooperate with. Marketing projects may take months and even years, so having a good team beside you is a must.

No matter what, try to take a proactive approach from analyzing the companies to day-to-day planning. You’re the one who leads the company; marketing agency is just there to help you out.

If you have any questions regarding this article, make sure to contact us at any time.

We’re always happy to help!