Paid Advertising

Online advertising entails buying ads on search engines or social media sites to drive traffic to your website, typically on a pay-per-click basis. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising – aka search engine marketing (SEM) – gives dental offices the fastest way to get new patients by targeting people looking for the dental services they offer.

And it does this at exactly the right time – when these potential patients in your locality are seriously considering getting a new dentist. Online ads also raise the profile of your practice brand image.

When it comes to online advertising, there are many platforms to choose from. But which is best for your dental office? One thing’s for sure when weighing up the pros and cons of various ad platforms. you can’t afford to ignore Google Ads.

Why Dental Businesses Choose Google Ads

Formerly Google AdWords, Google Ads gives dental offices a powerful online marketing tool on the most popular search engine in the world.

The Google advertising platform enables you to focus specifically on the people in your geographic area looking online for the types of dental services you provide. You bid on keyword phrases and only pay when someone clicks on your ad. You can organize your budget as high or low as you like by setting a maximum cost-per-click for each keyword.

Google Ads gives you top rankings in Google search results pages immediately. Organic search engine optimization (SEO) can take months before you see any benefits. You can also measure and track how your ads are performing, allowing you to make adjustments to ensure maximum return on investment.

Google Ads also allows you to customize your marketing campaign to match your specific business needs.

Rather than relying completely on Google Ads, you might want to consider advertising your practice on Microsoft search engine sites as well.

Combining Microsoft Advertising with Google Ads

Microsoft Advertising in the form of Bing Ads may not immediately spring to mind. However, advertising on Bing has a huge reach. Because Bing is part of the Microsoft brand family, your Bing ads will also appear on Yahoo and AOL platforms and partner sites.

Like Google Ads, Bing Ads operates on a pay-per-click basis and offers a keyword research tool. But with Bing, you’ll get less competitive bidding on keyword phrases. This results in optimal positioning of your ads for higher click-through rates and less expensive costs per click – on average one-third cheaper than using Google Ads.

If you’re already using Google for your online paid advertising, you can easily plug your Google Ads campaigns directly into Bing Ads.

Widely regarded as an effective alternative to Google Ads, Bing advertising can also work well for dental offices in conjunction with Google Ads.

Advertising on Social Media

Besides Google Ads and Bing Ads, other advertising platforms to consider come in the shape of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Facebook Advertising

Many people using desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones constantly log on to Facebook, which also offers nifty targeting technology for advertisers. Facebook ads basically work on a pay-per-click basis but you can also choose cost-per-impression (CPI) – paying every time Facebook shows your ad regardless of whether anyone clicks on it.

The most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook offers a variety of ways to target your prospective patients, including geographic and age range demographics, and it’s relatively straightforward to measure how your Facebook marketing campaign is performing.

Instagram Advertising

The visual appeal of photos and videos is much stronger than the written word, which makes image-sharing platform Instagram a good option for dental offices. Instagram ads tend to get higher conversion rates and cost lower per click than other PPC advertising platforms. Potentially, this equates to more patients for less investment.

Instagram advertising options include photo ads, video ads, and Instagram Stories – viewed by over 250 million people every day.

YouTube Advertising

Like Instagram, the video-sharing platform YouTube gives advertisers a way to connect with prospective patients on an emotional, visual level. It’s also highly cost-effective. A further benefit of YouTube advertising is that you can target your audience by geographic location, parental status, age, and gender.

Studies have found that a large number of Americans search online for health information, and dental videos are particularly popular. YouTube enables you to engage with these people with a range of advertising options, including text-based ads as well as videos.

LinkedIn Advertising

LinkedIn is the world’s largest network for professional interaction, so advertising on this platform can establish and develop a consistent, businesslike presence. You may find that your competitors are failing to appreciate the advantages of LinkedIn advertising in attracting a large professional audience, which can help your practice to maintain a trustworthy reputation that can ultimately result in more referrals and repeat patients. With an affordable format similar to that of Facebook, LinkedIn offers two types of advertising – traditional ads and sponsored updates. Both can work for dental practices.

Overcoming the Challenges of Using Online Ad Platforms

Dental PPC ads have a major advantage over conventional dental advertising – they specifically target people interested in acquiring dental services.

Online advertising platforms can give your office impressive results – a solid return on investment in attracting new patients through your practice door. However, running a pay-per-click campaign isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time and effort, and the processes can be complex, especially if you don’t have specialist online advertising skills.

Now you know which platforms provide a good option for advertising, you may be wondering how you go about setting up and running a results-oriented PPC campaign. That’s where DentalROI can help.

We’re specialists in dental pay-per-click advertising and, as our name suggests, getting our clients the best possible return on their advertising investment. Contact us now if you’d like to know more about the benefits of partnering with our online advertising experts.