State of the Dental Industry
Like most medical professions, job opportunities for dentists will continue to expand over the next decade as a result of population growth, Baby Boomer
retirement, and longer life expectancies. However, while the health care industry is poised to expand by as much as 22% from 2008 to 2018, dentists face
unique growth limitations preventing them from enjoying the same opportunities as nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals. Over the same period
(2008 to 2018), career opportunities for dental professionals will only grow 16%, scarcely ahead of the national average for most other occupations.
Part of this limited growth stems from the nature of the dental profession - 3 out of 4 specialists in the field are solo practitioners, making it difficult for
them to manage full-time, online and offline, dental marketing campaigns to attract new patients.
In addition, a substantial number of dental services are cosmetic or non-essential, forcing many families to delay treatment - especially as the
country edges out of the most recent recession. As dental management consultant, Jim Du Molin, points out:
A lot of families feel Johnny’s braces – and for that matter, just about any discretionary dentistry can wait another year or two, until the economy settles down a bit,
before they go on the line for a $3,600 treatment plan.
However, the biggest obstacle to continued growth stems from how today's patients gather the requisite information they need when selecting providers and
booking new dental appointments. While personal referrals continue to remain crucial for expanding current dental practices, a growing percentage of today's
patients rely exclusively on Internet searches to conduct their medical research.
However, the biggest obstacle to continued growth stems from how today's patients gather the requisite information they need when selecting providers and
booking new dental appointments. While dentist patient referrals continue to remain crucial for expanding current dental practices, a growing percentage of
today's patients rely exclusively on Internet searches to conduct their medical research.
These are just some of the key factors behind Du Molin's assertion that "average dental practice production is down from 15% to as much as 50%."
New Dental Marketing Approaches for a New Type of Dental Patient
What all of this means is that today's dentists must explore more innovative methods for finding new dental patients - patients that have already embraced the reach
and power of the Internet. In any given month, there are more than 70 million Google searches for dental services. Similar mind-boggling statistics exist for
Yahoo, Bing, and the other major search engines.
In short, relying solely on dentist patient referrals or even a rudimentary, un-optimized website is becoming increasingly self-defeating as consumer
expectations continue to evolve in the age of easy-to-access information. Failure to move your dental marketing services online could result in your missing
out on tens of thousands of Internet searches conducted in your city every month.
As a consumer, you already understand this trend implicitly - whether you're shopping for new clothes or holiday vacation packages, those online properties
optimized to answer your questions and provide relevant information are the ones that typically receive your business. This much is true even when you are
researching your own health care options. According to a 2011 report by pharmaceutical market research firm, ImpactRx and digital analysis agency, comScore,
Inc., the majority of dentists and doctors (across the entire health care industry) find their preferred providers through "direct, non-referred access and
natural search" - in effect, Internet queries and related online activities.
Dental patients accustomed to one-stop shopping and unprecedented convenience typically expect the same level of ease when exploring their medical options.
While no single medium should dominate your marketing efforts, any campaign that fails to incorporate online dental marketing necessarily misses out on
countless opportunities for continued growth - in fact, as many as 70 million new opportunities each month, if not more, from Google alone.
The challenges facing the dental industry are not entirely unique - many sectors of the economy continue to face limited growth opportunities as a
result of discretionary budget cuts and changing consumer expectations. However, while most industries have already embraced the Internet as an online
marketing tool for connecting with new consumers, dentistry continues to remain localized and fragmented - a reflection of the sector's entrepreneurial
composition in which 75% of all dentists work independently in private practices.
As a dentist, you should continue to explore every avenue available when connecting with potential patients. High quality service is critical for word-of-mouth
marketing and dentist patient referrals, and your website should provide as much detailed information as possible to aid potential patients in their decision-making.
However, unless you have the resources and technical savvy to intercept a portion of each month's 70 million+ online dental searches, your growth prospects are likely
to mirror the industry's as a whole - that is to say, production could shrink by as much as 15% to 50%, according to industry experts.
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