The Dental Branding Quickstart Guide
Have you ever researched dental branding? If you’re here, you might be doing it right now. There’s a lot of advice out there, and it probably sounds pretty similar:
Your brand is an important—no, vital—component of your dental practice’s long-term financial success and patient acquisition efforts, an investment towards setting you apart in the vast ocean of competing oral healthcare professionals, serving as your unfaltering guiding star, your trusted treasure map, your on-board navigation system with a soothing robot voice, your…
Okay, we’ve lost the metaphor here, but you get it.
We wouldn’t blame you if it all started to blend together after a while.
The internet is full of vague, fluffy guides to dental marketing and branding (we know—we’ve analyzed them all. You’re welcome!). In our guide, we’ll review the best available dental branding advice and provide actionable tasks to help you get started in a handy-dandy checklist format. (You can call your checklist a treasure map if it helps.)
What Is Dental Branding?
In a nutshell, your dental brand is just the unique identity that differentiates you from other practices in your area. It’s the reason why a patient should choose you instead of Dr. Bob across the street.
Your brand is a statement about the kind of value, care, and experience a patient can expect when they visit you, and it’s pretty important. A staggering 96% of customers first learn about a local business online, and their impression of your brand is critical.
In the words of regency-era dental marketing expert Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a potential dental patient’s good opinion, once lost, is lost forever. (Jane Austen was definitely talking about dental marketing. Don’t fact-check it.)
Effective, consistent dental branding on your website and online marketing assets influences whether patients make the decision to schedule an appointment. Cohesive colors, aesthetic, and language can increase conversion by as much as 33%.
With all this in mind, we’ve compiled a few key areas to focus your resources and efforts. Think of this as a quickstart guide designed to give you a solid foundation when you aren’t sure where to begin and what will make the most significant impact on your dental marketing efforts.
Define Your Unique Selling Proposition
Your unique selling proposition (or USP) is the reason why your practice is the best choice. To define it, ask yourself why a patient should visit you for dental care instead of any other local dentist.
Patients will certainly encounter many practices offering the same services you do, so what makes your practice special? It could be your mission statement, your prices, your technology, your staff, or your quality of care—or a combination of these!
To craft a great USP, you can follow these steps:
- Take a realistic look at the demographics in your area. Marketing strategies in a suburban neighborhood vs. a busy metropolitan hub will likely vary.
- Identify your target demographics and the types of patients you want to attract. Are you a pediatric dentist focused on a fun, friendly atmosphere? Are you a high-tech family dentist with modern aesthetics? Do you want to create a relaxed, spa-like cosmetic dentistry experience? Understand which demographics you’ll need to cater to.
- Review previous marketing efforts. What resonated with people? What was and wasn’t successful? Identify any ideas that have worked well.
- Figure out what Dr. Bob (or any other practice in your area) is doing. What do you think their USP is? How would you describe their branding?
With this information, you can determine what patients in your area will likely respond to and decide how to meet that need. Everything from your design aesthetic to the tone of your copywriting should reflect your USP.
Successful dental branding communicates your USP at every level, from the color palette to the design aesthetic and even the tone of the copywriting you publish. (Which is why our content is so darn delightful.)
Create a Memorable Logo
Please pause for a moment to enjoy a quick magic trick. Close your eyes. Open your eyes because otherwise, you won’t be able to read this article. Now, pay attention to the image that comes to mind when you think of the words: dental logo.
Is this your card?
In the world of dentistry, there are a whole lot of swishy blue tooth logos.
While this is understandable, it doesn’t make for a very memorable logo. A dental logo should visually distill your identity as a practice. During the design process, keep in mind that a great dental logo stands out when you:
- Keep your USP in mind
- Keep it simple
- Focus on versatility
- Design around uniqueness
- Make sure you can read it
- Avoid trends
- Stay on brand
The message, design elements, colors, and font should all work together to support your USP and dental branding identity. Any time patients see your logo, they should associate it with the positive qualities only your practice offers.
You can use imagery like teeth or smiles in your logo—you are a dentist, after all—but you can incorporate those symbols into a distinctive and memorable logo. The design aesthetic that makes your logo effective will give your dental branding a sense of cohesion.
P.S. If you need help developing a design concept, consider working with a dental marketing company specializing in custom dental logos.
Develop a Strong Online Presence
Just like an increasingly hungry couple trying to decide where to eat, dental patients also perform local Google searches before deciding on a new practice. They’re just probably not so annoyed about it.
Cultivating an engaging, personable, and professional online presence can seem daunting because there are so many different places to focus your efforts: local SEO, a dental website, blogging, webinars, email campaigns, social media, and at least a dozen other things.
Those are all worthwhile marketing focuses, but we’ve narrowed it down to a few standouts in terms of the most essential online spaces for dental branding.
A Beautiful Dental Website
You should invest in a well-designed dental website. Don’t take our word for it, though. The data speaks for itself:
- 76% of people perform an online search before they visit a physical business.
- 62% of users ignore businesses without an online presence.
- Opinions about a website form after just 0.05 seconds.
- 38% of users leave poorly designed websites.
- When it comes to health-related websites, design accounts for 94% of a user’s first impression.
- One study found that 46% of users based their opinion about a website’s credibility because of its visual appeal and aesthetics.
Aside from design, your dental website needs to be lightning-fast and feature user-friendly navigation.
An Active Social Media Presence
Social media is the best place to connect with patients on a wider level. Post graphics that support the design aesthetic of your website and logo, share educational information, and humanize your brand by spotlighting staff or getting a little silly, if you’re brave. Engaging with comments pushes your content further, giving you more visibility and increasing your reputation as an authority.
Short-form video content remains an exceptionally effective way to engage with patients and show that you’re not a regular dentist—you’re a cool dentist.
We recognize that knowing what to post on social media is tricky. Check out some of our guides for ideas. They’re brilliant.
28 Dental Social Media Ideas for 2024
Dentist Social Media Ideas For Your Inner Swiftie
Instagram Reels and TikToks for Dentists (Webinar)
Lots of Five-Star Reviews
Because we know you love data as much as we do, here’s some more: 84% of the public trust online reviews when helping them make decisions, and 88% of dentists surveyed by the ADA Health Policy Institute said they receive patient reviews online. Patients rely on reviews so heavily in their decision-making process that you really can’t afford to neglect them.
Encouraging new patient reviews and responding as they are posted are both excellent ways to increase your online reputation and boost your SEO. Have staff ask happy patients for ratings, create a Q.R. code linked to your Google Business Profile and print it out to post in your office, or offer a small discount on future services for a positive review.
You can also use automated dental reputation management software to send text and email review requests to patients and to reply automatically.
Use Professional Photography
Generic images and photography are, by definition, bland. Invest in a photo shoot to capture pictures of your staff and your office.
You can use these photos in all marketing materials, but they’ll really stand out on your website and social media posts.
Effective dental branding can help you seem personable and professional and differentiate you from the multitudes of other practices using stock imagery. Custom photos add authenticity to your marketing and can show off the aspects of your practice that you want to emphasize.
Think beyond headshots! Think about your USP and ask your photographer to take pictures that support it:
- Photos of staff using technology can support a brand that emphasizes modernity and cutting-edge treatment.
- Capture images of staff interacting with patients to emphasize that your practice values forming relationships (but get consent first!).
- If you’re a pediatric dentistry practice, pay special attention to areas with kid-friendly interior design or take a cute picture giving a patient a high five.
Professional photography has so many uses in dental branding! It’s an investment that pays off many times over in terms of how photos affect patient perception of your practice.
Bonus: Where Dental Marketing Experts Come In
Wait, don’t click away yet! Yes, we’re about to recommend you contact a dental marketing company to help build your branding, but we have a good reason: we want to help you succeed.
Dentists are busy, and dental marketing is a full-time job. Developing a successful brand is possible for every practice, and we can help, freeing you up to do what you do best—providing exceptional dental care.
A dental marketing company with experience in branding can create and execute a branding strategy that incorporates your practice’s strengths and unique appeal. My Social Practice gives you access to powerful data-driven tools, talented graphic designers and copywriters, and a team that understands what it takes to help dentists succeed.
The Bottom Line: Dental Branding 101
As a quick recap, we recommend you start your dental branding journey by focusing on these four action items:
- Define your unique selling proposition
- Create a memorable logo
- Develop a robust online presence
- Use professional photography
If you’re a dentist looking for help establishing a brand, you can apply the concepts in this guide to build an excellent foundation. If you’re not a dentist looking for help establishing a brand, wow, thanks for reading. That’s super nice of you.
Now we present you with your very own Dental Branding Quickstart Checklist because you’ve earned it:
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I brand myself as a dentist?
Effective dental branding should consider the overall message and unique qualities of your practice and communicate them through all marketing materials. Your logo design, dental website, color palette, font selection, graphics, copywriting, and social media presence should all reflect that core message and support your dental brand.
How do I market myself as a new dentist?
Start by creating a solid dental branding strategy. Identify your target patient base and collect information about competition in your area. Invest in SEO to help boost your website to the top of Google search results, and make sure your dental website is beautiful and lightning-fast. You can also contact a dental marketing company for a marketing campaign tailored to your needs.
Why hire a dental marketing agency?
A reputable dental marketing agency gives you access to experts who understand how to help a dental practice be found and chosen by potential patients. Look for a company that offers SEO services, social media tools, reputation management, website design services, and logo design and provides support and communication throughout your campaign.
About the Author: Megan Nielsen is an SEO strategist and the Grand Overlord of copywriting at My Social Practice. My Social Practice is a dental marketing company that offers a full suite of dental marketing services to thousands of dental practices throughout the United States and Canada.
