Why You Should Market Your Orthodontic Practice Differently than a Dental Practice

While both dental and orthodontic practices have to do with caring for people’s teeth, there are very important distinctions between the two. As such, it only makes sense that your marketing strategies as an orthodontic practice vary from the marketing practices a dentist would choose. 

Dentistry and Orthodontics Are Viewed Differently

Pretty much everyone knows they need to go see a dentist on a regular basis to take good care of their teeth. In the same way that someone moving to a new area would look for a good doctor close by to them, they would also just as quickly look for a good dentist near them. 

While you as an orthodontist know very well how beneficial getting orthodontic treatment will be for good oral health, it just isn’t viewed as an essential aspect of oral health like dentistry is. In fact, a lot of your marketing strategies should include content that informs people how important straight teeth are for long-term health. That being said, you will also want to focus more on the cosmetic benefits of choosing your practice than a dentist would. 

Orthodontics Has More Specific Buyer Personas than Dentistry

Since dentistry is widely viewed as such an essential part of everyday health, dentists can easily get away with simply targeting everyone near them, regardless of the buyer persona. The only thing they may take into consideration is demographics if they are targeting a very specific region or neighborhood. On the other hand, orthodontists need to heavily gear their marketing towards parents of teens and pre-teens since that is their bread and butter. 

When it comes to other buyer personas, such as college students or older adults, your marketing will focus on the advantages of having straight teeth for confidence and the convenience of using systems like Invisalign. You’ll also need to make information about early orthodontics very visible on your website and other marketing channels if you offer it since many people don’t know about how important it can be. 

You’ll Need to Market to Dentists

One major part of marketing yourself as an orthodontic practice that differs from marketing a dentist office is that dentist referrals are very important to you. Most dental offices do not offer orthodontic treatment, so they’ll need to refer their patients to someone they trust. You need to successfully market yourself to dentist offices in your area and convince them to add your practice to their referral list. This means creating marketing materials, whether it’s a presentation you show during a meeting or a brochure, that use technical language you wouldn’t necessarily use when marketing directly to prospective patients. 

On top of figuring out how your marketing will vary from dentist offices, be sure to focus on marketing to your local demographic while emphasizing what makes your practice special to secure new patients for your practice.