These three types of dentists are killing it with Facebook Ads. If you can’t see yourself in this list, you’re probably making a good decision by minimizing your investment in Facebook Ads for your dental practice. On the other hand, these work great for dentists like these, so if you see yourself in this list and you’re not running Facebook Ads, you’re probably missing out.
Dentists with Consistent Branding and Video
Facebook Ads rock for dentists who have consistent branding and video. When you have a great product, it’s easy to sell the product, and great branding and video are highly effective at showcasing the things that make your dental office unique and desirable. Dentists who run Facebook Ads that are highly branded and unique and use a lot of video see better results than offices that use generic ads.
These dentists also often do better because they understand that these provide fantastic branding value over the long run. We often see offices fail at Facebook Ads because they have unrealistic expectations about the new patient lead generation capabilities. You can’t launch a campaign for a month and expect your office to explode with new patients. Dentists who run Facebook Ads consistently and with quality visuals and messaging start to become known in their markets (assuming that the social media marketing company running their advertising campaigns is targeting the ads properly).
Takeaway: Be realistic about the value Facebook ads bring to your practice. Branding is an important marketing element that often gets overlooked and is way undervalued.
Dentists with a Focus on General Dentistry
Most dentists who are Pro Impressions Marketing members have a focus on quality dental care that goes beyond what the typical American thinks of when they first think of a dentist. But when a dentist is simply trying to capture more general dentistry patients, Facebook Ads can be a great option. The average person on Facebook and Instagram is in a hurry and is unlikely to click on something that requires them to think too much about what they are seeing. If they are in pain, think they need a cleaning, or have some other dental need, they’re more likely to click on an ad that aligns with what they think of as a dentist.
Facebook Ads in this category often portray happy people in a dentist’s office or a smiling dentist in a candid picture. Ads that leverage video still work very well in the general dentistry category, but they have to be short and simple. Video ads or not, advertisements that offer a new patient special of some sort will get more attention, clicks, and engagement. The best-performing Facebook Ads will also highlight the physical location of the office, ensuring that the patient understands that they have found a local dentist.
For dentists wanting to attract a higher caliber patient who is interested in advanced, holistic dental care, Facebook Ads can be a challenge for the same reason that they do well for people just wanting to “put butts in chairs.” There’s more of an uphill battle in showcasing how different your niche dental office is from a chain of dental offices. Our member dentists often want to attract full-mouth patients, TMD cases, anterior aesthetic cases, etc. For all but sleep dentists, when you leverage Facebook Ads for niche dental services, you need to do so with the expectation that it will help your branding and that you will have to “kiss a lot of toads” to find your prince-type patients who are looking for more than a cheap cleaning or free dentistry.
Takeaway: Facebook ads are a great lead generator for general dentists because patients can easily recognize the services you’re advertising. If you’re a niche dentist with less recognizable or higher-dollar dental services, Facebook ads won’t produce as many leads, but they’ll increase your brand awareness and recognition.
Dentists with a Focus on Dental Sleep Treatment
Pro Impressions Marketing has specialized in marketing for sleep apnea dentists just as long as we have for dentists in general. During that decade-plus of trying to help offices find more sleep patients, we’ve found that Facebook Ads work well. It’s easy to imagine someone up at night because they aren’t sleeping well, scrolling through their Facebook feeds, looking for another funny meme, and yet would be very interested to know that there’s an answer to their sleep problem. Top-performing Facebook Ads in the sleep apnea category often use video, showcase the seriousness of snoring and sleep apnea as conditions, and highlight that CPAP is not the ONLY treatment out there. Visuals that show oral appliances do very well, too, because it’s something different.
Marketing agencies that are less savvy in sleep often make the mistake of showing people using CPAP masks—sometimes even showing the person wearing a CPAP mask who is sleeping soundly. This creates confusion about what the sleep dentist offers and can lead to a lack of conversions. Yes, Facebook Ads for dentists who offer sleep apnea treatment can do a great job of lead generation. This is especially true when the ads link to a conversion page with a screening tool such as an Epworth or Berlin sleep screening questionnaire.
The sleep apnea dentists who get the most out of Facebook Ads have also nailed how to handle medical billing for sleep apnea patients. This is true overall, but when an office can easily handle insurance questions and has streamlined its processes, it can convert more Facebook Ad leads into paying patients.
Takeaway: People with sleep apnea convert into patients through Facebook ads when there’s no confusion about what you’re offering. Avoid showing a CPAP machine and stick to what positive outcome the patient can achieve with your treatment.
Get Help From a Seasoned Dental Facebook Ads Agency
When we consult with a dentist, we look at the big picture of what the office is doing. That would certainly include Facebook Ads. Sometimes our advice is to turn them off, at least temporarily. Other times, we make the call to leave them up and running until we have access to more data and can work on fine-tuning the campaign with more effective ads and landing pages. After all, branding is a big part of the value of Facebook Ads.
If you don’t know what role Facebook Ads play for your dental office or see yourself in the list above, and wonder why your dental marketing company isn’t running an effective Facebook Ad campaign, call us now at (970) 672-1212 or contact us online to speak with one of our consultants. We’ll help you evaluate your current marketing efforts and, if appropriate, will present you with a marketing plan that really works.
