Probably the most common request that we receive these days as an award-winning dental marketing agency – Invisalign – how can I do more? A simple question. And, like all the simplest questions, a lot more complex than many think. In fact, it covers so many key areas of practice management and marketing. Invisalign marketing takes a little thought.

Let us consider these in turn.

• • In the Covid world in which we find ourselves, many of today’s consumers have got very comfortable spending time at home on the sofa and not leaving the house. They have items they want delivered to their front door on a daily basis. Why should their orthodontic care be any different? You are going to HAVE to offer remote video consultations. Don’t panic though – these can work well for all parties. The potential patient is more likely to be in a relaxed frame of mind (they might actually listen as they are not in a dental chair!) and not have to waste time coming to the practice. You can zone your/TCOs diary and schedule these video consults at a time of day when you have no clinical requirements. You can do more video consults in a session than face to face. Work with your Practice Manager and team so everyone knows what you are all doing and what is expected of them.

• • Who are you targeting? Before we look at the new people that you wish to attract to the practice, ensure that your existing patient base is aware of what you offer. Email, social media, texts and good old-fashioned letters (remember them?) should be used to convey the benefits of the treatment as well as a compelling offer. In terms of attracting new patients and invisalign marketing, all the research suggests looking at an audience between 25 and 45 and female led (but not exclusively). Which leads us to….

• • • Online Advertising. The best place to start (for this kind of treatment. If were looking at dental implants that would be different and include print media) is Facebook and Google. Make sure that you work with a marketing agency that can advise you on what will deliver the best results for invisalign marketing. Google is great at delivering those who are already looking for a solution – but is not cheap for terms related to Invisalign and invisible braces. Facebook can also work well and we have found video content to deliver the best results. Make sure you have realistic budgets, test, test, and test again and give campaigns time to bed in – around 4-6 weeks. https://www.coronadental.co.uk/pay-per-click/

   

• • Where do you send them from your Facebook/Google Ad? Your website but obviously not the homepage or even the Invisalign treatment page. You need a specifically written and designed page that will dovetail with what made visitors click on the advertisement. They land, see more details and then a contact form/online booking so they can get their consultation sorted. True online booking is preferable as it takes steps out of the process and means it is all dealt with there and then. However, I know everyone doesn’t want to do that so you can have a contact form where they can request a convenient time. If you take this route, your team need to be absolutely ON IT in terms of response time – 24 hours is not acceptable! A good idea would be to consider a chatbot/website concierge service that can take people through a series of questions and pre-qualify leads before they get in touch. Some of the better of these can lead to a 3-4 times increase in terms of converting website visitors.  

• • What kind of promotion are you running? What is going to make someone take action now rather than next year? Maybe you are offering free video consultations or perhaps teeth whitening alongside the treatment. Maybe even money off? Will you run an Invisalign Day or event (in happier times we find that these work very well – having a specific day to focus the mind tends to convert more than an open-ended option).

• • If people phone, which some will do, do your team know about the video consultations, what promotion you might be offering and when these should be zoned? It never ceases to amaze me the number of times that Principals and Practice Managers decide offers and promotions and then fail to inform their team! A tougher question now – are your telephone reception team any good? Have they been trained? It may we worth trying a ‘mystery shopper’ call to your practice (get a friend to do because they should recognise you!) and seeing how they do? If they are not great, and you have not undertaken training, that is not their fault, it is YOURS. How the telephone is answered is one of the most crucial factors in the success of your practice. Why would you not invest in that? We work with many practices in the UK and beyond and one of our best clients has a team of 42 of which only 4 people are allowed to answer the phone!  (None of whom are dentists!) Draconian perhaps but illustrates the importance of getting it right.

• I’m not a clinician so I’m not going to tell you how to run those aspects of the video consultation. However, what outcomes do you think are likely? I think there are 4 likely outcomes:

It appears the patient is suitable and they are keen to proceed. They will need to visit the practice for an in-person consultation – how will your practice manage this workflow?

It appears the patient is suitable but they don’t want to commit to an in-person consultation. Price shopper? More below.

The patient is unlikely to be suitable for Invisalign. Present them with other orthodontic options and if your practice offers them, and the patient would like to, arrange a consultation in person.

The patients are not suitable for Invisalign and you are unable to assist further

How will you manage these workflows?

• Follow Up. I would be a little surprised if you and your practice failed to manage those patients who wanted to book a physical consultation and go ahead with treatment! So, let us assume that those are dealt with – what about everybody else? Many dentists seem to believe that all those ‘leads’ who don’t decide to go ahead immediately are ‘timewasters’ or ‘price shoppers’ (as if EVERYONE doesn’t consider price when making a significant purchase?!) This is not the case. Many are simply at varying stages of the purchasing journey and not all are ready to buy yet. (Or you and your patient journey weren’t compelling enough and they purchased elsewhere? Much more concerning and I refer you back to the importance of training for you and the team). Having invested time and money in these people through your Invisalign marketing, don’t waste it. Whether you have a CRM system or manage it yourselves, these people need to be funnelled into a plan where they will be followed up with email, text and social media content as appropriate as well as phone calls from TCO/Front of House team.

So, as you can see, a considerable amount of thought and effort needs to be put into ‘doing more Invisalign’ and Invisalign marketing.

If you would like to work with an agency that can help you in this goal, then don’t forget that we can provide a FREE marketing and communications audit. To find out more, please visit https://www.coronadental.co.uk/free-marketing-audit/  or call us on 07947 470896.