The choices you make when you run ads online can mean the difference between expanding your business or learning a costly lesson. Every campaign is as unique as its target audience, and this is very true for dentists who want to run online advertising. Starting with these basic tips, you should be able to avoid wasting budget on advertising that won’t bring you patients.
Keep It Local
With many forms of online advertising, you have the ability to target your ads to users within a specific geography. Consider your current base of patients and how far they travel to reach your office. Use this as a basic guide for your targeting settings. If your office is located in an urban area, your targeting radius might be as small as 10 miles. If you’re in a rural area, that radius might expand to 30 miles or more.
Retarget Potential Clients
If you’ve ever shopped online, you’ve probably seen an ad that follows you around the web, urging you to return and complete your purchase. These are called “retargeting ads” or, when done poorly, “stalker ads”. By placing a bit of code on your site, ad networks can identify your visitors and serve them an ad for your practice. When used sparingly and appropriately, they can provide an excellent means of drawing users back to your site and turning them into patients. Budget spent on clients that have already expressed an interest in your practice can offer a better potential for conversion.
Use Extensions
Dentistry is a local business, so you should try and provide as much information as possible in your advertising to show people where you are. Google offers a number of ad extensions that can make your ads stand out from the competition.
Patients want to know what you can offer them, how they can reach you, and where you’re located. A well constructed ad can give them all this information before they even reach your web site.
Above all else, make sure to monitor your ads for performance and make adjustments as necessary. You’ll get better results, and you might gain some important insights about what your patients want most from your practice.
