In the face of adversity

When it comes to COVID-19, Adrian Duffy discusses ways to make the most out of a bad situation.

There is no doubt that the coronavirus will have a drastic effect on most dental clinics and businesses alike, but instead of focusing on the negative, I want to look at the opportunities that a potential lock down/temporary clinic closure could bring for the practice owners.

Dentalbooster has worked with dentists for years, and most clinic owners find it hard to allocate what they would see as sufficient time on their business plan, improving their online presence or any type of marketing in general.

In this article, I will share with you some items you can work on during this difficult time, and also offer some great value to dental clinics looking to improve things drastically over a short period.

Keeping busy and remaining positive now will give you the best advantage to recover and grow when this difficult time is over.

Time for an upgrade

There is a large percentage of dental clinics in Ireland that have somewhat outdated websites.  These may be slow loading, not mobile friendly, missing up to date information, have unattractive old-fashioned designs or have poor visibility in Google, resulting in few enquiries. 

Dentalbooster is offering clinics in this position a special discounted package for an all-inclusive logo, branding and website package, where it fast tracks the work with the aim to complete it in three to four weeks. We can take advantage of this abundance of available time and work closely with you during the intensive process via remote video calls. This will ensure that when this virus is under control and you are back open, you are more ready than ever to compete in your local market.

Review your business plan and optimal treatments

It’s always good to look back at the past six to 12 months and review which treatments brought in the most revenue for the clinic. It is also important to think of which treatments you would like to focus on in terms of resources-used/enjoyment/profit-generated and put a plan together to aim to generate more of these patient leads. 

Try to figure out where these patients came from (word of mouth, search engines, social media, ads) so you can analyse which marketing methods are working for you, and which are not.  Each of these optimal treatments need to have their own individual page on your website to ensure you aim to dominate the market and gain visibility on Google, this will ensure focused patients who are interested in your optimal treatments.

Remote working

If you have staff who are working remotely, you can keep them busy with a number of tasks.  For example, they can review and improve the treatment pages on your website related to their speciality, create useful FAQ pages and useful blog posts, create videos explaining treatments or videos introducing themselves. 

There is always a vast number of possible improvements in terms of online presence, and the Dentalbooster team can help you to assign tasks that will make a difference for your dental clinic’s growth.

If your staff are at home and willing and able to learn, it’s a fantastic idea to use this time as an investment in your staff’s skills.

There are a number of online training programmes you can purchase that focus on graphic design, planning, social media, ads and marketing strategies. However, if a more personal approach is desired, then Dentalbooster can also provide one-on-one remote training on these topics.

Blogs are a great way to explain a treatment, discuss the differences between two treatments, and educate the reader by answering frequently asked questions related to a specific treatment. Blog topics are handpicked for Dentalbooster’s clients by doing market research, ensuring that they are writing about topics that are most searched for on Google.

This, in turn, helps the article rank well on Google and generates new patients over time. Spending time writing on these topics will pay dividends in the future and you may well have staff members who could write the blog posts for you.

Think positively

‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity’, and I believe this is the case here.

I think it is very important to think positively during this uncertain time and look at this current change of climate as an opportunity and adapt to it as best we can.

Special offer: save 35%

Dentalbooster is offering Irish Dentistry readers 35% off an all-inclusive logo, branding and website package. Using remote video calls, the team aims to complete the work in three to four weeks. To take advantage of this discounted deal, call +353 (0) 1 903 8188 and quote ‘Irish Dentistry’.