Dental Marketing and Dental Advertising: They’re Simply Not the Same

If you’re focusing solely on dental advertising, you are missing out on a host of opportunities.

The terms marketing and advertising often get used interchangeably, but in practice, they are hardly related. Successfully attracting new patients and turning that one-time business into repeat business depends on understanding the difference. If you have been asking yourself “dental marketing vs dental advertising?” and struggling to find answers, this quick guide should clear things up.

What is Dental Marketing?

Every interaction between your dental practice and a patient is a component of marketing. In some cases, this will encompass concrete details like the way your office staff answers the phone or the list of services you offer.

In other cases, it will rely on more diffuse elements like the way your logo looks or the layout of your waiting room. But in subtle yet powerful ways, all of these cues establish an image of your practice in the minds of your patients.

What is Dental Advertising?

Rather than being a comprehensive strategy for representing your practice, advertising offers a single statement of value, typically through conventional media. As a result, advertising tends to be brief, disposable, and shallow, meaning that it can attract new customers, but not do the heavy lifting necessary to keep them coming back.

It is also impersonal, even if you act as your own spokesperson because it makes no effort to connect with patients face to face.

So what’s the Difference?

To make it clear just how different dental marketing vs dental advertising really is, imagine these scenarios:

• You advertise that you offer the lowest prices. You market that oral health is essential at any price.
• You advertise that you’re great with kids. You market the same fact by setting up kid-friendly spaces and training your staff to work with young patients.
• You advertise that you perform cosmetic dentistry. You market that a nice smile has a huge effect on self-image.
• You advertise for a month. You market all day every day.

If it sounds like marketing is more complicated and requires more work – it does. But it also benefits your practice in more significant ways. When you advertise effectively, the phone rings off the hook for a week. When you market effectively, your first-time patients turn into long-term patients, bring in their kids, tell their friends about you, and take their lifelong oral health seriously. Which sounds more important for the overall success of your practice?

It’s Time to Take Dental Marketing Seriously

Now that we have put the debate over dental marketing vs dental advertising to rest, it’s time to begin developing a marketing strategy for your practice. If you take these initial planning stages seriously, you will see results faster, and for a lower cost.

To hit the ground running, make sure you request a free digital marketing consultation.]