Dental Industry Marketing: 3 simple yet strategic steps to getting better leads online

Get a better bang for your marketing buck by focusing on the details

There’s nothing more frustrating for a marketing executive, brand manager, or product manager than spending your marketing budget on a campaign that drives a ton of traffic to the company website, only to find out after the fact that you’re unable to effectively capture (or quantify) the leads. Without the ability to measure return on investment (ROI), it’s impossible to judge whether your marketing efforts are a success or a failure.

To avoid this all-too-common scenario, make sure there’s a solid, tested plan in place for capturing each and every inbound lead. Here are three ways to ensure success from the very start.

1. Build an optimized landing page

First, be sure that the company website or marketing automation software is equipped to support a templated landing page design that can be replicated over the course of multiple campaigns. A landing page is the first entry point and often one of the initial first impressions a prospect will have of the company’s product or service. And because the landing page could be the only opportunity to connect with them, it needs to perform well.

The headline needs to deliver exactly what the user was promised. The content should be concise and catchy—think a bulleted list with short, 2–3 sentence paragraphs before and after. And inform first, then sell. Pushy, overly “salesy” landing pages turn users away.

2. Use an effective form and call to action

There should be a form on the landing page where the user provides his or her information, but not all forms are created equally. A great deal of thought should be given to the design and usefulness of the form—it is essentially the vehicle through which you’re capturing each lead.

What’s more, remember that internet users, particularly those on mobile devices, don’t like to fill out lengthy forms, so ask for the minimal amount of information possible—name and phone number, perhaps email address. And remember, the user doesn’t know what to do. You have to tell them, so the call to action needs to be clear and prominent. Schedule a demo. Download. Call today. Sign up now.

3. Offer a downloadable asset

Entice your audience with a thought leadership piece that can be downloaded in exchange for their contact information. Items like white papers, eBooks, and tip sheets are commonly used and help readers feel as though they are getting something worthy of exchanging their contact information for.

Content like this accomplishes two things:

• It helps generate more leads for the sales team to nurture.The reader may not be ready to buy yet, but this gets the sales process started.
• Builds trust and authority, positioning the company as an opinion leader within the industry.

Once there’s a solid foundation in place for capturing online leads, there’s one more critical step: Double check that the leads do in fact reach the sales team as expected through an e-mail generated to a unique e-mail address or via an integration with your company’s CRM software. Testing that the leads actually go where intended is absolutely essential.

Once that’s confirmed, it’s time to advertise. Keep the ads as targeted to your ideal audience as possible to get the best ROI, and work with professionals to ensure your online marketing campaign continues to fill the sales funnel with consistent, high-quality leads.

Naomi Cooper is CEO & Co-Founder of Doctor Distillery. She served as vice president of marketing for 1-800-DENTIST for nearly a decade. Cooper co–founded Doctor Distillery in 2015 to consistently deliver quality leads to dental companies via a unique mix of online marketing mediums.

Naomi is a sought–after speaker who will be lecturing at the 2016 American Dental Association Annual Session, and a dental industry opinion leader. She can be reached at [email protected].

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