Whether you’re opening up a new pediatric or family-focused dental practice, or looking to grow your existing dental practice, marketing plays a huge role in creating brand awareness and driving new families through the door. This post is full of things to keep in mind for both the start-up and established pediatric dental practice!
Pediatric Branding for Dental Offices
Perhaps the most important piece of the pediatric puzzle is establishing a brand that kids and parents alike can resonate with. You want something that differentiates you from the competition, is easy to recall, and gives off a warm, welcoming feel! For a start-up or rebranding transition practice, we recommend starting with:
Pediatric Dental Practice Naming
The name of your pediatric dental office should reflect your ideal patient. One of the first things to decide is whether your practice will cater only to kids or if multiple providers will accommodate family appointments for patients of all ages. Confirming whether your ideal target audience is a patient looking for a pediatric practice or a family practice will influence the naming and subsequent brand look and feel.
Using local landmarks, geographic features, recognizable neighborhoods, practice culture and values can all play a role in helping to develop a recognizable brand for your kid-focused dental practice.
Lastly, (and perhaps most importantly) have fun with it! Loving your brand and taking chances on things that feel right when it comes to your practice name will help you land on the perfect fit. That feeling of fun will permeate through your brand and stay with your practice into the future.
We offer free practice naming assistance! Find out more about our practice naming philosophy.
Logo Design
Your logo is the first taste of your pediatric dental office for future patients and families. Including memorable and fun fonts, colors, and name will create brand recognition for your practice and immediately click for parents looking for a new dental home for their children or family.
Useful Print Pieces
Consistency in your marketing elements is important. Anything that patients interact with (your website, business cards and physical office) should reflect your brand accurately and with consistency. Pieces like stationery, referral marketing cards, business cards and others should serve purpose in your practice and carry your brand as a reminder to parents.
Stationery
Pediatric and family practices handle communication with patients of all ages – and stationery is one of the most simple but useful tools in your toolbox when it comes to helping families manage appointments and notes. Don’t underestimate how useful these pieces are, especially as they’ll put your contact information right in the hands of your patients to help with future appointment setting or follow-up questions.
Referral Marketing
We like magnets and dental report cards as easy take-home items for current patients to keep your brand top of mind for those hygiene check ups! These pieces can also be used in conjunction with local school visits and move-in packs for new neighborhoods or apartment complexes that offer family amenities. Our recommended starting pieces for a kid-focused practice are:
Direct Mail
For our pediatric practices, we recommend one of our specialty direct mail pieces.
Grand Opening Supersized Postcard
If you’re a start-up, our grand-opening postcard is always best practice. A grand opening dental postcard gets your practice directly into the hands of people in your community. We send this out a few weeks prior to the practice opening to help generate some buzz and get new patients on the books before doors open. Not only does this give you a leg up on generating new patients, but it allows you to get a feel for how direct mail will perform in your area before moving on to a larger piece.
8-Panel Mailer
After running a postcard for a quarter or two, we recommend moving to a larger piece to feature your office and treatments (and perhaps a special or two). The 8-panel direct mailer is perfect and eye-catching in the mailbox! It’s the right fit for a family practice, with adequate room to feature kid-focused philosophy and amenities in addition to other practice offerings. You can make this piece your “something for everyone” mailer, which is great for a start-up dental office.
4-Panel Mailer
A 4-panel dental direct mailer is a great piece for specialty dental practice. Smaller than our 8-panel mailer, the 4-panel has the right amount of room to focus on a couple of offerings like a pediatric only office or an orthodontic practice.
Digital Marketing
Pediatric Dental Website Design
An up-to-date and freshly designed website is key to making that first impression online. Many of your future patients will interact with your website prior to contacting your office. A relevant site that is easy to navigate on all devices, conveys the values and services of your practice, and shows up on search results is key to attracting your ideal patients before your competitors.
Visit our specialty dental practice website gallery to see more!
Find out how you could get a free pediatric dental website with us!
Pediatric Dental SEO
The process of optimizing your pediatric specialty website presence should not be part of a one-size-fits-all solution. Your target audience, location, competition in the pediatric space and ideal patient should all be taken into account with your SEO plan.
Often, marketing companies will miss the mark on advertising for pediatric practices and cast the net too wide by targeting general dental terms. Being direct about who your pediatric or kids-focused dental practice serves creates high-value leads for your office.
Pediatric Dental PPC
Targeted pay-per-click advertising is a great way to get in front of the families and parents you want to see your ad online. You can reach houses and areas that might be a bit further from your practice and get ahead of your competition while your new website is still gaining traction.
It is often the case that pay-per-click advertising can generate valuable new leads for established practices as well. Your competition will likely be investing in attracting new patients continuously. Stay ahead of the curve by starting PPC early and continuing. Your budget can always be adjusted to meet your pediatric office’s specific needs!
Pediatric Dental Social Media
Connecting with the community is important for any dental practice, but we especially see the need for this for pediatric dentists – and there are so many opportunities to do so! From school visits to family community events and tips for parents, documenting and sharing these experiences online is a helpful way to connect with new parents and stay relevant for your existing patient base.
Dentist Reviews
Nowadays, everyone reads reviews before choosing a dental practice, especially when it comes to parents looking for someone to care for their child. Having an automated system in place from the beginning will help you gain traction with the best online referral systems out there. Letting patients (and parents) know at their appointment that an e-mail or text is coming with a review request can also help improve the chances that those requests will be opened and a review left.
Create your own comprehensive pediatric dental marketing plan or meet with one of our account managers for a tailored recommendation!
