Top Dental Growth Strategies To Scale Your Practice

Struggling to scale your dental practice? You’re not alone. The dental industry is growing at a blazing-fast pace, and keeping up with the many changes is quite the challenge. You’re facing increased competition, and today’s patients expect top-notch dental services.

Below, learn some dental growth strategies that can help you grow your dental practice, attract new patients, and boost your bottom line.

Maximizing Patient Retention and Loyalty

After finding patients, dental offices must work hard to keep them engaged. Here’s how to encourage patients to stick around at your dental practice.

Building Long-Term Patient Relationships

For dental practices to succeed, they must stop thinking of existing patients as just another number. Patients crave personalized experiences and will give their business to practices that provide them.

Little things like remembering patients’ names and offering personalized patient care go a long way toward ensuring loyalty. And, of course, the happier patients are, the more likely they’ll recommend your dental practice to others. Naturally, that means more growth for you!

Utilizing Automated Appointment Reminders and Follow-Ups

Struggling with no-shows and late arrivals? It’s tough to grow your dental practice if current patients aren’t showing up for appointments. Not only that, but patients who don’t get regular dental care are at a higher risk of cavities and gum disease.

If you follow up with patients and send reminders only via phone calls, you’re missing the mark. Many patients prefer to communicate with dental practices through email and text instead of the phone. That’s good news because you can use your dental office communication system to ensure patients don’t miss any visits.

Expanding Digital Marketing and Online Presence

Has your dental marketing gone digital yet? If you’ve only been using direct mail to reach potential patients, check out these dental growth strategies to up your game.

Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Local Visibility

You may not be an SEO wizard, but even small tweaks to your site can boost website traffic and get your dental practice seen by more prospective patients. For website optimization, try sprinkling local SEO keywords throughout your website content, such as “dentist near me” and “dentist in [your city].” You can also buy Google Ads targeting these keywords for a quick traffic boost. Many practices find they’re far more effective than print ads for marketing and growth.

If your dental office has good Google reviews, your website is the place to showcase them. Reviews are a strong form of social proof, and posting them on your website helps patients make informed decisions about your practice.

Leveraging Social Media for Patient Engagement

Is your practice using social media channels to reach patients? Developing a social media presence is a key part of growth strategies for dental practices, so if you’re not on Facebook, X, or other channels yet, now’s the time to make your move.

To develop your dental marketing social media strategy, figure out where your patients hang out online and set up accounts on each platform. Don’t start marketing your services right away, though. Instead, post educational tips, such as how readers can know if they have cavities, and engaging content, like photos of your team members, commemorations and awards you receive, etc.

Need help creating social media posts to attract potential patients? We’ve got you covered.

Streamlining Operations To Improve Patient Experience

Experts say that when you want to grow a dental practice, it’s crucial to focus on streamlining your operations. Here’s what you need to know for dental practice growth success.

Online Scheduling for Greater Convenience

Too many dental practices rely solely on phone calls to make appointments and send appointment reminders. Many patients would rather email or text your dental practice to set appointments, which is why it’s smart to offer online scheduling.

Online scheduling boosts patient satisfaction and helps streamline dental practice management. With an appointment booking system, your team members will spend less time wrangling appointments and sending follow-ups, giving them more time to focus on your growth strategy.

Implementing Digital Forms for Streamlined Check-Ins

When patients arrive at your practice to see a new dentist, you ask them to fill out an intake form. It can take patients 15 minutes or more to fill out these forms, which slows down the onboarding process and increases wait times for others.

Savvy dental practices know that paper forms have become obsolete and offer digital forms to new patients instead. This increases patient satisfaction and cuts down on processing times for your team.

Investing in Technology To Improve Service Delivery

Want to score more patients and boost your practice’s cash flow? Try adding tech to your dental marketing strategy.

Adopting Teledentistry for Remote Consultations

Pros in the dental industry know that certain individuals, such as the elderly, homebound patients, and those living in rural areas, may be harder to reach than others for dental care. These patients often can’t make it into the office, putting them at risk of serious dental problems that require advanced care strategies.

Teledentistry is the solution. This tech enables dentists to connect with patients remotely, making patient communication and care easier for everyone. If your patient base is of advanced age or lives primarily rurally, teledentistry may make sense to incorporate into your dental growth strategies.

Incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Improved Diagnostics

Have you ever wished for a dental assistant who could help you diagnose patients and create personalized treatment plans? With artificial intelligence, your dental practice can have just that.

AI tools can diagnose dental problems, provide treatment plans for new patients, and even assist with patient billing. On top of that, they can reduce administrative burdens for your practice, so they’re well worth investing in as part of your marketing strategies.

Fostering Stronger Patient Relationships With Reviews and Feedback

Local businesses near you rely on online reviews for growth success, and that applies to your practice, too.

Encouraging Positive Patient Reviews

When new patients visit your website, they may wonder, “How do I know I can trust this practice?” This is especially true if you’re setting up a new practice or shifting to a new location.

Positive reviews provide the proof patients need to entrust their dental care to your practice. To get reviews for your business, ask every patient to provide feedback that highlights your extensive experience. You should also create a business listing on Google where patients can leave reviews. And don’t be afraid to ask for patient referrals, too.

Responding promptly to negative reviews is equally important for your practice’s reputation. Dentists can contact unhappy patients and offer a solution, such as a refund or discount on their next service.

Using Feedback To Improve Services

When you’re trying to grow a dental practice, feedback from patients is as good as gold. Your dental office can use that feedback to see where you’re going wrong and then focus on improving your services to boost patient acquisition.

Ask your dental marketing team to create a survey to hand out to patients before they leave your practice. Your survey could ask questions like:

• How long did you wait to see the dentist?
• Were you happy with the service you received from the team?
• What, if anything, would you change to improve the patient experience?

Take Your Practice Growth to the Next Level in 2024

Whether you seek new revenue streams or are trying to set up a brand-new dental business, the above dental growth strategies will help you get there. Incorporate a healthy mix of old-school customer service and cutting-edge tech into your dental marketing strategy for the strongest chance of success.

Ready to streamline operations, improve patient retention, and grow your practice? Get a demo of Weave today to see how our all-in-one platform can help.