Launching Your Practice? Curve Dental® Software Will Help You Build a Strong Foundation
Following our January 2025 blog, How Can I Effectively Market My New Dental Practice?, this blog provides more practical advice for new dental practices, highlights common marketing mistakes, and offers actionable insights to help you establish a successful, sustainable marketing strategy. Whether you’re just opening your doors or looking to refine your approach, these tips will help you connect with patients and grow your practice effectively.
Avoid Common Dental Marketing Mistakes
Avoid these common marketing pitfalls to maximize your return on investment (ROI):
Don’t neglect local SEO. Dental SEO influences a practice's online visibility, patient acquisition, and overall success. Ignoring SEO can mean missed opportunities to attract and convert new patients—and to sustain the loyalty of current patients.
Don’t go for months without updating your website. Consistently add fresh blog posts, patient testimonials, and educational videos to keep your website engaging and boost its SEO rankings. Regularly review your website for outdated information! Consider highlighting any new services or technology your practice adopts and featuring staff spotlights to add a personal touch.
Don’t ignore social media engagement. Regularly post engaging content such as dental tips, patient testimonials (with permission), behind-the-scenes looks at your practice, and special promotions. Promptly respond to comments and messages.
Don’t overlook data tracking and evaluation of your marketing. Don't overlook data tracking and evaluation of your marketing. Regularly review platform analytics to understand which campaigns and channels deliver the best results. Beyond tracking the leads that arrive, track the quality of those leads (how well they align with your ideal patient persona and target market). Track how many of those leads are converted to booked appointments. Monitor your monthly lead conversion rate (number of booked new patients divided by the number of new patient calls) and your monthly marketing cost per new patient cost (marketing expenditure divided by the number of new patients). Use this information to help you decide when and how to allocate your marketing budget as you go forward.
Remember to revisit brand alignment. Periodically review your marketing to ensure it aligns with the values and mission that define your practice. Involving your team in a discussion about the current state of brand alignment will yield insights. Refine marketing to attract patients who share your priority values. For example, if your practice is health-centered, you want your marketing to attract patients who want to keep their mouths optimally healthy. Keeping your branding consistent and value-driven ensures your marketing efforts resonate with the right audience.
Align Your Marketing with Your Brand, Budget, and Desire for Dental Practice Growth
Marketing your new dental practice goes beyond attracting patients; it’s about building a foundation that reflects your brand’s values, aligns with your budget, and supports sustainable growth. Whether your focus is on offering personalized care, advanced technology, or a family-friendly environment, your marketing efforts should communicate these priorities while maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
To ensure your marketing supports your goals, consider your practice's unique circumstances, including competition, patient demographics, and growth stage. For instance, fee-for-service practices may need to invest more in campaigns that appeal to patients willing to pay out-of-pocket. By taking a deliberate approach, you can create a strategy that balances value-driven branding, cost-consciousness, and measurable growth.
Understand Your Market and Differentiate Your Practice
Effective marketing begins with understanding the community your practice serves. Conducting a thorough market analysis helps identify patient needs and local competition. You can stand out in a crowded market while staying true to your core values by highlighting your unique selling points—perhaps your use of innovative technology, your patient-first philosophy, or eco-conscious initiatives.
Set Goals that Reflect Growth and Brand Alignment
Whether you aim to enhance patient acquisition, improve retention, or boost your online presence, your goals should guide your marketing efforts and budget. Some sources report private general dental practices spend 2.2% to 5% or more of their annual revenue on marketing, but the exact amount you decide to spend depends on your practice's stage of growth and priorities.
New dental practices must allocate sufficient funds to build awareness and attract patients. Marketing agencies recommend spending between 20% and 30% of gross revenue on marketing during the early stages. For practices facing stiff local competition, closer to 30% might be necessary, while those in less competitive areas may find 20% sufficient. If your practice is so new that revenue figures are unavailable, projected gross revenue can be a starting point.
As your practice matures, marketing goals will evolve. Initial campaigns might focus on brand awareness and later efforts target specific objectives, such as introducing new services or improving patient retention.
Established practices with the human resources and facilities to grow their customer base are more likely to spend 4% to 7% of their annual revenue on marketing until they reach capacity. For example, a practice generating $1,000,000 in yearly revenue might spend $40,000 to $70,000 annually or $3,000 to $5,000 monthly, depending on market competitiveness. In some months, they may boost spending on ad campaigns to meet specific goals.
Curve Dental® Helps Dental Practices Meet Their Goals Faster
Curve Dental’s practice management solution revolutionizes patient experiences by offering tools that ensure every interaction is personal, efficient, and engaging. By streamlining processes like online appointment scheduling and digital forms, Curve makes it easy for patients to book and prepare for visits, enhancing convenience and satisfaction. Automated reminders and personalized messages foster patient engagement, while features like SmartFill help fill cancellations promptly, maintaining a steady flow of appointments.
Moreover, Curve's integration with AI technologies like Pearl’s Second Opinion® and Bola AI® boosts diagnostic precision and efficiency, further enhancing the patient care experience. The software's robust review management tools ensure positive patient feedback is encouraged and addressed, building trust and attracting new patients. Social media and text message marketing through Curve also play a vital role in keeping practices connected with their audience, fostering trust and loyalty.
In essence, Curve Dental® helps new practices establish a stellar reputation quickly by creating a seamless, personalized patient journey that encourages engagement, reviews, and referrals.
Join over 80,000 dental professionals who trust Curve Dental’s cloud-based all-in-one dental practice management platform to lead the way in creating amazing patient experiences, growing patient engagement, and building a practice that thrives in every way. Schedule your personal demo today!
