Dentistry has undergone a significant transformation over the recent decades. There are not only technological advancements but other changes also. For instance, many dental practices are getting more female walk-ins now than men. But why? In this blog, find out what has triggered this change and what dental marketing strategies can help you leverage this trend.
According to a paper published in 2016 by Women’s Health Victoria, women and men have different oral health risk factors, conditions, and ways to use healthcare.
The report also listed the following information:
- Women are more prone to decayed, filled, or missing teeth.
- Women may be at a higher risk of gum diseases due to hormonal changes linked with puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.
- Women tend to experience an increased risk of gum disease and tooth decay because of raised levels of estrogen and progesterone.
- Eating disorders are more common in women than men, leading to tooth decay, erosion, and gum disease.
- Women are likelier to experience domestic violence than men, leading to injuries to the face, neck, and head impacting their dental health.
- Over one-third of women defer dental visits because of the cost factor. Besides, rurally-based, disabled, or older women face accessibility challenges.
Other than these factors, gender-based stereotypes cause body image issues in women, hurting their oral health.
These reasons are enough for dental practices to market themselves specifically to women. But the question is, how to do it esthetically and effectively?
1. Women are more responsive to health information – Women need a little more prompting to seek medical help for their oral health.
Once they understand the benefits of caring for their teeth and gums, they typically remain more vigilant than men.
Dentists can focus on sharing more health-promotion messages. It’s a great way to inform female patients about why it’s important to get dental checkups at certain life stages, like during pregnancy or menopause.
However, it is crucial to approach these issues sensitively in your online or offline marketing campaigns.
2. Focus on promoting women-specific services – Most dentists agree it’s necessary to market dental-specific services to women.
Many women may experience oral and dental issues during major hormonal transitions. Progesterone and estrogen levels fluctuate throughout women’s lives, exposing them to gum diseases, tooth decay, tooth loss, and other similar problems.
Doctors generally advise post-menopausal women on osteoporosis medications to undergo dental treatment in advance to avoid possible complications.
Any dental practice looking to promote services to expectant mothers should consider contacting local GPs, gynecologists, and antenatal care centers for referrals. They can also reach out to patients battling osteoporosis through local doctors or bone-density clinics.
3. Create a female-friendly space at your practice – It takes more than technical expertise to cater to female patients. Sometimes, women are more comfortable visiting female dentists. Some women are more willing to go to dental practices with childcare facilities or on-site parking.
Other than that, having more female staff often works well in attracting female patients. Besides, cheerful, clean, and carpeted waiting rooms can improve the overall experience for your female patients and bring more walk-ins.
4. Focus on catering to families – Family-focused dental care can get your practice more women patients who are likely to be loyal to you. Highlight affordability with patient-centered treatment at your practice, and you’ll see more women bring their families along.
5. Consider cosmetic dentistry – One promising way practices can expand their female-centric base is by offering cosmetic dentistry. Since more women seek such services, it can become easier to market your practice and get better responses.
Though the reality is a bit different, plus there’s a downside to offering cosmetic dentistry. Getting rid of severe dental problems such as tooth decay should be a priority, but women spend their money on braces or veneers instead. These procedures can cost a lot, leaving women with no money to pay for fillings or other services.
6. Try making it affordable – Affordability is often a problem for most women, which is why they neglect their dental health.
Offering dental payment plans to women can be a game-changer for your practice. Marketing availability of financial assistance can get more women motivated to visit you. Promoting this more effectively to women, specifically from low-income groups, can attract more attention to your brand.
Similarly, do your best to get good word of mouth because women talk!
Trying all these options is great, but remember that a marketing strategy without online ads won’t get optimal results. Dental social media marketing mainly includes regularly posting engaging content to your social profiles, interacting with followers and users, and running targeted ads.
Facebook Ads For Local Awareness
One of the best ways to optimize social ads is to target specific people in your area. For instance, if your practice is in Pennsylvania, you wouldn’t want to spend money on displaying your ads to female audiences in California. There’s no good in that.
Facebook’s local awareness ads are wonderful to reach local women looking for dental practices like yours.
Google Ads For Better Searchability
Google Ads can improve your practice’s searchability since they are a powerful dental marketing tool to generate a steady flow of new high-value patients. Women looking for a dental practice like yours will get to see your ad at the top of the search, which is good news for you.
Instagram Ads For Building Brand Awareness And Drive Conversions
A study shows that ad recall on Instagram is 2.8x higher than on other social networks.
Also, according to Statista, Instagram has more women users than men in the United States, making it the perfect platform to market your practice. With women being more active on Instagram, leverage it to your advantage. Showcase your expertise and skills by sharing images and videos of before and after treatment, patient testimonials, clinic tours, and so on. Instagram is one of the best platforms to build brand awareness and get more prospects for conversions.
Moving Forward
Every practice can get the best out of marketing dentistry to women, but it’s all about carefully strategizing and taking action.
As mentioned earlier, dental businesses cannot overlook social media when the target is to explore all aspects of marketing. But social media marketing is easier said than done. You must dedicate time and effort, closely evaluate how your content is doing, and stay updated with trends. Since there’s a lot of work to do, social media automation is the best call for dental practices.
A marketing app like Practina is a good choice because it’s a low-cost system. You can save money by getting Practina instead of hiring the services of generally expensive dental marketing companies.
Practina can automatically create and publish content suited to your page and help improve user engagement. The Practina dashboard makes it easy to manage all your social platforms, track performance, plan content, schedule it, and do more from one place.
Practina can help you run ads in under 5 minutes even if you have never done it before. Create lead forms and get instant notifications when a patient shows interest in your ad. It can help you connect with potential patients faster than your competitors.
Practina is here to make the lives of dental professionals easy.
