Marketing your dental practice means more than creating websites, brochures, and catchy ads. These are the tactical elements of a solid integrated marketing strategy. But to be effective, you need to know if they’re working.
So, how do you know if your tactics are on target or epic train wrecks? You won’t unless you keep track of the metrics produced from your efforts.
Measuring your marketing effectiveness comes down to three key numbers (and other supporting ones, but we’re going in for the kill with the biggies). Without them, you’re flying blind, wasting time, and wasting money. These numbers aren’t magical, but they do reveal a lot about how well your tactics are working.
Your first metric is cost per lead. How much do you spend (ads, email blasts, pay-per-click campaigns, etc.) to reel in each lead? A lead is a prospect who fills out a contact form or is mutually engaged in a phone call with your front office. Virtual window shoppers to your websites don’t count, although it’s still important to leave a good impression.
If you spend more to attract leads than what those leads may potentially spend at your establishment, it’s time to either cut spending or try a new strategy or marketing message.
Next is cost per acquisition. This is the step where you catch your lead and usher them through the doors of your practice as a new patient. The cost per lead and cost per acquisition are added up and compared to the value (or profit) that the new patient produces. If your cost exceeds your value your strategy needs adjusting.
The final metric in this trio is the lifetime value or return on investment (ROI) of each client. Once a patient chooses your practice, you can begin to calculate the revenue this person generates. This includes the same-day value, then 30- and 90-day figures.
Balancing these metrics while trying to do dentistry can be difficult, but tracking them as best you can to gauge their effectiveness is crucial in understanding if you’re on the right track. Marketing dental practices is what we do, so if you’d like to see what’s possible for your practice and get the best ROI, we encourage you to schedule a complimentary Practice Discovery Call. The only thing it will cost you is a bit of your time.