Revamp Your Dental Website To Get Your Piece Of The Millennial Money: How To Win Over The Digital Generation
Unlock the Largest Demographic in the Country to Your Dental Practice with a Killer Website
As a dental practice owner, there could be one group of people your dental marketing efforts are overlooking and that's the millennials. According to Statista, Millennials are now the largest generation group in the U.S. with an estimated population of 72.24 million and 13.8 million in the UK, with 7.9 million in Canada. Born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers as the biggest group, and they will continue to be a major part of the population for many years.
But what does that mean to your practice? Serious cashflow!
But that generation requires a bit more strategic effort if you want to become the go-to dental practice for all Millennial needs. Baby Boomers and Gen X are known to choose and stay loyal based on convenience, price, and familiarity.
However, Millennials require a complete digital marketing campaign that includes brand building, and most importantly, reputation management, along with a modern and useable website, and (almost most importantly) video marketing.
That may seem like a lot of work to snag your share of your local Millennial demographic, but what choice do you have if you want your practice to thrive for years to come. Millennials are aging up, and that means they’re looking into more expensive cosmetic dental procedures. In truth, this generation is changing the face of dentistry.
What Procedures Are Most Popular With Millennials?
This generation has spent much of their adult lives making decisions to compensate for an overall lack of funds, but that’s beginning to change. Millennials are pushing to make more money, build up their savings, and even begin to invest.
And now, they’re looking to feel better about their oral health (it is a form of self-care, after all).
According to the data, here is where the millennial generation is spending their money, which centers heavily around smile makeover procedures:
- Professional teeth whitening
- Cerinate one-hour porcelain veneers
- Tooth-colored fillings
- Teeth reshaping
- Same day crowns
- Porcelain tooth inlays and onlays
- Cosmetic tooth bonding and contouring
Can your practice afford to send hundreds of millennials with their credit cards ready to your competitors each year?
Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing by not actively marketing to them.
Just how do you go about targeting millennials? It all starts with your dental website…
Millennials are undoubtedly the first true digital generation, and as such are arguably more tech-savvy than any other age group. As a dental practice looking to target this group, it stands to reason that one of the fundamentals is to have a great looking, modern, informative, and professional website.
Remember, millennials spend an average of 14 hours a day online, so they'll know what a well laid out dental website should look like; but what should it contain?
How to Build a Dental Website for Millennials: What You Must Have To Attract Them
Informative Engaging Content
A good dental website needs to be content rich with text that engages with the reader. It needs to be professional but patient-friendly with plenty of helpful information about procedures, answers to popular dental questions, and information and pictures about you and your team. In terms of dental SEO, content needs to be well-optimized, but not to the detriment of the text. Pages should also contain a relevant call-to action.
Let’s get into some specifics here, so you can plan out your content strategy (or hire Akzis VIP, and we’ll handle it for you).
So, we know that millennials are the number one source of smile makeover patients right now, and that’s not likely going to change anytime soon. And we also know that that generation will go to your website and look at everything you have on smile makeovers – if you have less than your competitors, you’ve lost them.
You’ll need a page detailing the smile makeover process with clear social proof (testimonials, videos, imagery, etc.) and you’ll want to include a video (at least one, preferably more) on the process itself along with the answers to the commonly asked questions.
We also advise dental clients to include a quick video, three minutes in length, taken with a phone, so it appears more personal and explains what they should expect in a smile makeover consultation including the dental exam, dental images that will be taken, and a brief explanation of billing procedures and costs.
Social Media Cannot Be Ignored - That's Where Your Target Audience Is Right Now
It may come as a surprise, but while 91% of US millennials use some form of social media daily, only 30% of dental practices regularly carry out dental marketing using social media platforms.
If you want to attract this digital generation, then you must advertise in the very places where your target audience is likely to hang out. We’re talking platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are a must, but don't forget others such as Pinterest, Snapchat, and Facebook.
Having relevant social media links on your dental website, it's a great way to show people that you are active across a variety of platforms where they can connect and engage with you if they wish.
Good Searchability & Strong SEO
Although dental office marketing should never be solely about optimization, the benefits of having a Google-friendly website are obvious.
And if your practice doesn't have a highly optimized Google Business Profile by now... stop reading and either hire experts to do it for you or get started on it yourself because without it your dental practice has no hope of appearing on Google Maps, Google Search, Google Posts or anything else relating to Google.
For example, the term 'Dentist in Richmond' is Googled on average 1,800 times per month. While not every searcher will be specifically looking for a dentist, potentially that's 21,600 customers a year that could be attracted using a well-optimized website.
Okay, so those searching may not all be aged between 26 and 41, but it stands to reason that because millennials are the first true digital generation, they are far more likely to be searching for a dentist online than their older counterparts.
Video Content Is Everything with Millennials
Did you know that over 80% of all successful internet traffic is now video based? Videos are something that millennials tend to respond to, more so than content; so, if you're looking to attract this demographic, then videos need to be an important part of your dental website. So, what do you make your videos about? Some suggestions include:
- A quick video that introduces your office and support team so potential patients can put a face to the voice on the phone or the email signature.
- Meet the doctors and discuss your professional background and give it a glimpse into your private life, thereby making you relatable.
- A tour of your dental practice, focusing on the newest technologies you have.
- Patient reviews and testimonials that can be a mix of photos displayed and integrated video snippets.
- An honest and transparent conversation about billing and possible payment plans (very important to millennials).
- Patient-friendly explanations of procedures (one video per procedure)
- Answering popular FAQ's.
- Short videos (also good to post on social media) that discuss what to expect and how to prepare for upcoming consultations and procedures.
The important thing to remember is not to make them as overly slick and sales orientated. Instead, concentrate more on genuine, honest videos that portray a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. You want your videos to appear a bit amateurish – not quite TikTok-quality, but not up to par with a professionally produced YouTube video for a major brand.
Now, all this effort may seem daunting, and it can be especially for busy professionals but remember that Akzis VIP is always here to take this off your shoulders allowing you to go back and focus on your patients while we focus on the growth of your practice.
If you decide to go in alone, just keep in mind that by having a well-designed, well-optimized professional dental website, complete with engaging patient-friendly content, links to social media, and video presentations, you're far more likely to grab a slice of the over 72 million millennials than your competitors.
Successful businesses never stand still; so, to stay ahead of your competition, put the wheels in motion to implement the changes necessary and see the difference it can make to your dental business.
