Every day we receive consultations from health professionals who are looking for new ways to increase the volume of patients in their clinics.
There are several techniques for attracting more patients to a clinic or office. It all starts with understanding the consumption journey of a person who seeks a health service.
Anyone looking for a health service (doctor, dentist, etc.) goes through phases or stages until actually scheduling an appointment.
These phases range from the person’s awareness of a problem or desire, the search for more information to the choice of the potential service provider.
This concept of a consumer journey is often ignored by healthcare professionals who (badly) guided by pseudo marketing gurus and digital marketing agencies, end up focusing all their efforts on those who are ready to buy now.
It turns out that only 5% of the audience that is impacted by a spread is ready to make an appointment at that time. And they are still contested by almost every other competitor in their industry.
Therefore, we remember that it is necessary to have 3 types of medical and dental marketing strategies to attract more patients, namely:
Marketing strategies for those ready to buy (5%)
Marketing strategies who are looking for more information (30%)
Marketing strategies for those who are not even thinking about seeking a health service (65%)
Now that you are aware that the impact of your medical and dental marketing campaigns will only activate those who are within the 5%, it may be asking: “What to do with the other 95%”?
Lead capture for medical and dental clinics
You need to have marketing strategies in your clinic that speak to the audience that is ready to buy and also strategies aimed at the audience that is at the top of the research and even those who are not even thinking about hiring a service like yours.
In this article we will specifically address how to capture more leads within the profile of people who are at the right time to buy.
We have several other articles here on our blog that address how to capture leads that are still at the top of your buying journey.
Just to be on the record, a warning: Never focus your energy on only those who are ready to buy now. Have marketing strategies for your clinic that are constantly communicating and presenting your work proposal to those who are not yet ready to hire you.
3 ways to generate more leads for your medical or dental clinic
Patients, patients and more patients. Who doesn’t want that? Who doesn’t want to have a busy schedule of good patients?
From now on you will discover 3 ways to capture more leads for your clinic, increase the visibility of your business and attract more private patients.
First of all, it is necessary to make clear what a lead is. A lead is a person who has been impacted by one of your clinic’s forms of advertising and who wants to know more information.
It may be that he is ready to schedule an appointment or not. In any case, that person will be closer to the moment of decision and what you do after expressing his interest will determine your success next.
Follow now how you can capture more leads within the sales funnel of your medical or dental clinic!
01 – Boosting sponsored posts on Instagram
Especially if your clinic works with some kind of aesthetic treatment, being on Instagram makes perfect sense.
But pay attention: Social media management does not convert! Posts that talk about treatments, something very institutional has little effectiveness in attracting new patients.
Instagram can be an excellent channel for capturing patients if your clinic works with targeted campaigns and offers.
Making a post about types of dental devices is something very institutional, with no sales appeal. There, i said it!!
You need, within the ethical rules of your council, to have campaigns of sponsored posts that make the patient see an opportunity, a real opportunity and that lead him to click and learn more information.
The famous “drag up” works, as long as you observe some very important requirements:
A – A real offer
B – A targeting for a specific audience. Example: Class A / B young adults who do not wish to demonstrate that they are using an orthodontic appliance. An opportunity for Invisalign.
C – A creative, that is, the art of the image that will be driven, captivating, professional, that arouses attention.
D – A timeframe, that is, a well-defined time limit for the offer to be taken advantage of.
E – A copy, that is, a well-prepared text, without appeal, but highly intuitive and that motivates the person to click.
Last but not least, what will make the person who clicked on your advertisement actually schedule an appointment is the degree of perceived value and the level of care you will receive from there.
Having a person trained to respond promptly to those who enter your campaign is essential.
Draw up a list of objections that patients usually have (price, term, payment terms, if it will hurt, if it is safe, etc., etc., etc.) and create scripts with answers to all these objections so that the person responsible for attendance is ready to attend.
Understand, the amount to be invested in the boost is directly proportional to the number of patients or financial volume you intend to move.
Do not believe these proposals that “I invested R $ 50.00 and achieved a turnover of R $ 50,000.00”. You are not silly, right ??
Capture leads for your clinic through cross promotions
Is there a gym near your clinic that serves a public similar to yours? A beauty salon? A doctor (if you are a dentist), or a dentist (if you are a doctor) who meets the same public profile?
Capturing leads is neither cheap nor fast. It would be great to work with a list of qualified people, that is, who have the profile of your audience, right?
Yes, you will find lists like that in potential business partners. But, remember, why would someone give him his client list?
There is only one valid answer: Why is he going to make money!
And how do you make a partner make money? In two ways:
01 – Increasing the number of his clients. In that case, you would pass your base on to him.
02 – Increasing the benefits of his clients (current and future). In this sense, everything that your clinic can add value to the partner’s client, will increase the circulation of wealth for everyone (you, the partner and the patient).
In practice, capturing leads for your clinic using a partner’s customer base is an excellent deal.
You will not need to build the list that will already be ready. And you don’t need anything grand or miraculous to make sales happen.
A client of ours, a chain of franchises focused on aesthetic body treatments, has partnered with a major dental clinic in the city of São Paulo.
The aesthetic clinic patients received a simple WhatsApp message. Something like:
“In August, you XXXX customer are our guest to receive a free dental evaluation at YYYY clinic free of charge. Enjoy, limited promotion until XYZ day. Present this message at the time of booking.”
The dental clinic took care of all the logistics, such as importing the database of the aesthetic clinic and triggering the message.
The result? Of a total of 17,000 messages sent, 123 patients scheduled an appointment. 89 attended and 62 underwent some procedure, generating a total revenue of R $ 78,000.00 for the clinic. Total investment cost: R $ 1,900.00. Seems like a good deal ??
Understand, through well-established partnerships everyone wins. Take the case of the aesthetic clinic. Their patients received a “gift” or added service. The clinic did not have any disbursements and its image of added value grew a lot in the perception of its clients.
The dental clinic had a real financial gain from a very assertive and easily measurable dental marketing action. This is dental results marketing.
Now stop and think: How can you implement this in your clinic? Thought? Now go to the action.
03 – Events and fairs an inexhaustible source of new leads for your medical or dental clinic.
How much money did you fail to earn because you were not present at that fair that involved your local community?
If you are a franchise chain or have units spread over several regions, how many opportunities have you missed by not participating actively in fairs and events?
See, we are in the pandemic, but it will pass (amen) and fairs and events will happen again. Some online, but many in person.
In addition, events at the national level, if you are a local service provider you can participate and even create events that are attractive to your target audience.
As an aesthetic medicine clinic (dermatologists) in the city of Salvador that promotes once a month the so-called “Coffee with your dermatologist”.
Once a month, people from the clinic’s operating region, usually women who own stores in the region where the clinic is located, are invited to a pleasant breakfast with the clinic’s dermatologist team.
In this playful moment, the latest skin care techniques are presented, rejuvenating treatments, doubts from the present businesswomen are clarified and also … scheduled consultations!
You may be thinking, “How am I going to invite these people?” It sounds incredible, but how mental barriers hinder the development of a business. The answer: Simply asking if they are interested in participating.
How many people need to be approached? It depends directly on how many people you want to have at the event: 5, 10, 50 ????
See, we are not talking to you doctor or dentist knocking on door to door. It is necessary to have a strategy and who implements it. If you are here you have already tried everything (Google, Instagram, etc.) and despite the gurus you follow on the internet swear that everyone is on the internet, you know that is not enough, right ??
It is no use, to make money, to have a clinic with an agenda full of good patients, more than ever new strategies, commercial boldness, implementation and, of course, investments are needed.
Conclusion
Leads are people who are interested in your work. These leads may or may not be ready to make an appointment today.
Here we list 3 ways to generate leads for your medical or dental clinic. Understand, these are not actions for amateurs or for those who are not willing to invest to earn, to grow in revenue and profit.
But they work. We know it is, because the last 24 years have seen success repeat itself more and more. But, you have to want to do it.
If you want to take your clinic to the next level, attract private patients and increase your profit, get in touch. Maybe we can help you!
Senior Marketing