Presented by Simpli.fi & TNT Dental
New Year, new you, right? The same could be said for your dental practice, and TNT Dental is looking forward to helping you get there! We’re excited to roll out a new TNT Dental Marketing Education Series, designed to help YOU learn more about the latest trends in dental marketing and what you can do to grow your dental practice!
We’re bringing the top professionals in their fields to you via an interactive webinar, to share tips and tricks of what you need to know to enhance your dental marketing efforts. This first series, “ Using Geofencing & Other Data-Driven Techniques for Growing Your Dental Practice,” will be one of eight installments sprinkled throughout the year for YOU, our clients.
We kicked things off this month with David McBee, the Director of Training at Simpli.fi, and more importantly, a prominent figure in the world of internet marketing. He broke down the myriad of ways dentists can utilize targeted display to stay in front of the right audience and get new patients. Read on to learn more about how this powerful marketing technology works and how it can work for your practice!
Retargeting
Targeted ads are delivered to you because of your interests. It’s a good experience because the internet is free and you see ads relevant to you, BUT it’s also good for the advertiser because they’re wasting less money on customers who aren’t interested in buying their service. Just remember, the goal is to get ads in front of relevant prospects.
Part of determining what you’re interested in and what kinds of ads you see can be attributed to what McBee calls “digital breadcrumbs.” When you’re online, you leave “breadcrumbs” that become part of your digital profile.
According to McBee, marketers can leverage data via these breadcrumbs through the following means:
Online Behavioral Data Based on Keywords
If someone visits a site, you associate them with a level of interest in what that site is offering. By understanding their interests, you can then target them with ads relevant to their interests.
Geo-Location Data
As you might remember from our “Making Geofencing for Dentists Work” article, with geofencing, you can draw a boundary around your competitors; if someone enters that boundary with a smartphone, marketers can then show them your ads. But, how can they find you? You know that question that pops up anytime you download an app – the one that asks for your location. Most people grant that access, so remember, anytime you walk into a location, you leave a digital breadcrumb.
Demographic Data
You’re familiar with this – it’s categorizing consumers by identifiers such as gender, age, income, etc.
This information can be compiled by various sources and then used by marketers to create relevant audiences:
- Offline Purchase Data: E.g. credit card behavior, mortgage, taxes
- Publicly Available Data: E.g. county recorder, public record data sources
- Self-Reported Data
Targeting Capabilities
You can target potential patients with ads in several ways:
Site Retargeting
This is aimed at targeting the people who’ve been to your website. Did you know that 97% of first-time visitors to your site don’t take action? Site retargeting then enables you to show those individuals ads of your practice even when they’ve left your site.
Search Retargeting
You can target people who are searching for your specific industry. You know they have an interest in dental services, so why not show them a relevant ad?!
Keyword Contextual Targeting
This allows you to hone in on people just reading about your industry. They’re not going to read information about dentistry if they don’t have some type of interest or need, so it’s important to get ads in front of them, too.
Geofencing
This location-based tactic enables you to target patients through several methods:
Create a Target Zone Around Competitor(s)
If someone enters that zone, you can show them your ads, but then, if they then enter the conversion zone around your office, you can capture that info, too – it’s conversion in action! Just think – about 90% of people keep their location services on, so this really enables you to capitalize on this method.
Time-Specific Ads
You can target potential patients at a particular event that might tie in with your practice.
Addressable Feofencing
Considered the “next generation” of direct mail, you can use this method to drill down and even target a list of specific addresses, showing them ads across all connected devices in that area!
Consider using this tactic in tandem with traditional direct mail, to provide a one-two punch of connecting with your potential patients.
Demographic Targeting
Target individuals with ads based on factors such as income, age, gender, etc.
Offline Purchase Behavior Targeting
You have the power to place your ads on random sites targeted to potential patients, based on their online behaviors.
Mobile Thinking
When you consider people spend seven out of 10 hours on the web via mobile devices, you have a huge opportunity to get in front of people. You can show ads on smartphones, desktops/laptops, websites, and apps that show ad-supported videos and on connected TVs – the iron is hot, so it’s time to strike now! The metrics on measuring increases in web traffic to increases in the customers walking in your door are supported through these methods, so make sure you consider how you can “think mobile” when building your marketing strategy. Just think most businesses are only spending 13% of their media budget on mobile advertising, so you have a great opportunity to capitalize on this potential! Contact TNT Dental today to review your marketing practice’s budget and incorporate data-driven technologies into your mobile advertising!
About the Author
David McBee is an internet marketing speaker, educator, and consultant. As one of Google’s first Certified AdWords Trainers, he is adept at SEO, paid search, social media and display advertising. He shares his knowledge of targeted display and Geofencing with thousands of business owners each year.
