How Video Marketing Can Help Dental Practices Grow Their Business

‍

For small businesses, such as dental offices, marketing is a constant problem. A major question is how can you effectively market your business on an affordable budget, without wasting any money. The good news is that video marketing is quickly becoming one of the most effective forms of digital marketing with the highest return on investment.

How is this possible? While it certainly isn’t cheap to create compelling video content that is engaging and looks professional, video also happens to be one of the best ways to communicate directly with potential patients. Video content is more memorable and has a higher rate of engagement. When used effectively, video is one of the best marketing tools at your disposal.

‍

How Your Dental Practice Can Benefit From Video Marketing

The trick to digital marketing is that you need to be aggressive about moving into new spaces and incorporating the hottest trends into your overall strategy. This is because search platforms such as Google and social media platforms are always rolling out new technologies and services and will prioritize content that utilizes these new methods. This is definitely happening right now with video. Google, the owner of YouTube, is populating most search returns with the most relevant videos, often right at the top of the search page.

This means that a dental office that has a modern website with useful video content will see their search engine rankings skyrocket. At the same time, video content is well proven to be more engaging and memorable. A service oriented company, such as a dental practice, relies on the connections they create with their patients. Imagine being able to get a head start on that relationship with high quality video.

Best of all, video is capable of delivering information in a lightning fast, concise, unforgettable manner. It makes it easy to craft message and highlight your values and expertise to potential patients. Options include Q&A videos, informative videos, a virtual tour of your facilities, and patient testimonials. When done correctly, videos will build trust and deepen your relationship with your patients, or even your patients to be.

‍

How To Make Effective Dental Marketing Videos

Of course, as effective as video marketing can be, it’s not easy to get right. If it were, everyone would already be doing it. Professional video doesn’t come cheap, and while the returns can be immense, that up front investment can scare a lot of businesses away. In order to ensure that you are maximizing the value of your video, it’s imperative that you do your homework and follow all the best practices.

There are certain things you should consider when you are making professional video content. Let’s take a look at what I consider are the three most important elements to an effective marketing video for the dental industry.

Consider What Value You Are Providing Your Patients

Just like you wouldn’t give patients a dental treatment that they don’t actually need or has a low likelihood of success, you don’t want to create videos that aren’t going to prove valuable to the people viewing them. This means if all you’re doing is promoting yourself and your practice in your video, people aren’t going to watch them. So what’s the best way to avoid wasting your money in this way?

Think about the video from the point of view of your patient. What kind of content would they be interested in? Well sure, they might like watching celebrity interviews or cute animal videos, but that’s not providing you any value in return. We’re trying to tread the middle ground here. Your patients will likely be interested in videos that answer their common questions about dental procedures and oral ailments. They will be interested in checking out your facilities, equipment, and staff, and learning about what they can expect during a visit. And they might like to view testimonials from satisfied patients in order to reaffirm they are choosing a trusted and friendly dentist.

It should be obvious that by creating content that is valuable to your potential and current patients, you are also creating value for your practice as well. Using videos to earn the trust of your patients will strengthen the relationships you have with them and help grow your business. This is what we call a win-win.

‍

How Will Your Videos Fit Into Your Existing Marketing Strategy?

As you consider making the leap to video, take a moment to assess your current marketing strategy and assets. How will video marketing fit into that? For example, if you are a dental practice that does not have much of an online presence, and your website mostly sits unused, populating it with videos that no one is going to see doesn’t make much sense. Concentrate on building your website first, and then create videos that will fit your new home on the web.

Likewise, if you aren’t using social media yet, you’re going to want to decide which platforms make sense for your business and how video can be most effectively used on them. The videos you make for Facebook won’t necessarily be the same videos that do well on Instagram (and they are owned by the same company!).

SEO is a big part of the marketing strategy for a lot of dental practices. And video is a very effective tool at boosting your SEO. If you already have an SEO strategy in place, work with your SEO person to identify which keywords are important to you, and start making videos with those titles. This will likely be a mix of location-based videos that talk about the communities and neighborhoods you serve, and informative videos on particular topics that coincide with your keywords.

‍

Use A Call-To-Action Whenever Possible

You’ll want to consider carefully what the main goal of each video is, but you’ll also want to end every video (or even sometimes start them) with a clear call to action. Typical call to actions might be asking people to schedule an appointment or sign up for an email newsletter.

Part of effectively crafting a call to action is knowing where on your website the video is meant to exist. Just like each of your web pages should have a call to action, the video on that page should reinforce that call to action. In fact, many of the most effective videos exist purely to be a call to action.

4 Types Of Effective Dental Marketing Videos

If you look at the most popular and most visited dental websites in your area, it’s likely they are already using video effectively. Of course, there are certain types of videos that will yield better returns than others. What follows are the most popular and successful video categories in the dental space. These videos will provide your patients with valuable information and make it possible for your clinic to reach more people.

One of the most obvious types of videos that every dental office needs is a facility video. This video will likely be on your landing page or about us page and is a 2-3 minute tour of your location. You’ll want to focus on what makes it special, what areas of speciality you serve, and why patients should choose you.

Dentists will also be well served with educational videos. These might be in the form of Q&As, or might be organized by topic. Examples of videos you might consider include the following:

• How To Prevent Gum Disease?
• Which Type Of Filling Is Best?
• The Most Common Causes Of Cavities
• When Should My Child’s First Dental Visit Be?

It’s pretty easy to see how these types of videos can be great for your SEO.

Another popular type of dental video is product demonstrations. These might highlight new technologies or equipment you have at your location, or detail what patients need to know about the latest product offerings. These videos, like the educational videos above, allow people to come to your website to answer questions they might have, and because you are providing the answer, it’s more likely they will choose you for their next appointment.

Finally, every dental office should have a section with customer testimonials. Testimonials are one of the best ways for building trust with potential patients and letting people know that your office is reliable and convenient. These videos often tend to be cheaper than the other types of videos as well, because they just involve a single location interview.

‍

How To Create a Professional Dental Marketing Video

While some dentists choose to save money and produce their videos on their own, we highly recommend that dentist offices partner with a professional video production team. When people are choosing a dentist, they want to go to someone that is an expert in their field, with the most advanced equipment and facilities. If they see a video about your practice that is poorly lit and edited, that will not build much confidence in your abilities as a dentist.

To make things particular challenging, the lighting in dental offices isn’t typically very attractive. It is often overhead fluorescent lights with drab backgrounds. A professional video production team will bring in powerful lighting options that will ensure your offices look clean, modern, and comfortable.

Another aspect that you’ll want to highlight is your interaction with patients. Going to the dentist can be a stressful experience for a lot of people, and reassuring them that they will have a friendly face helping them through is extremely valuable. Your videos are also a great opportunity to highlight a particular area of practice you specialize in. For instance, if you are frequently treating children, showcase that in your videos. Or if you're an orthodontist, make that clear via your office tour.

By partnering with a professional video team, not only will they be able to produce appealing, effective video content, but they will also know how best to distribute those videos to maximize your views. They will work with you to tailor videos for various social media platforms, as well as YouTube and other hosting sites.