We Share 6 Effective Ways to Boost Lead Generation for Dentists

Quick Summary

We’ve outlined top strategies to boost lead generation for dental practices. From listing your practice in directories to using paid ads, referrals, and follow-up marketing, each tactic helps attract and convert new patients. At Growform, we enhance these efforts by providing custom, responsive forms that streamline lead capturing, helping you generate more leads and increase patient engagement.

Looking to Attract High-Converting Dental Leads?

As a dentist, you know how important it is to keep new patients coming in. But with over 135,000 dental practices in the U.S., the competition is tough. 

It isn’t enough to rely only on your skills, expertise, and credibility to stay ahead. You need proven ways to attract and keep new patients. 

In this Growform article, we’ll share 6 effective tactics for lead generation for dentists to attract and retain high-converting patients.  

But before that…

Why Listen to Us?

At Growform, we specialize in helping businesses, including dentistries, overcome challenges with lead generation. 

Our user-friendly, conversion-focused forms are designed to improve lead capture and patient engagement. We’ve helped businesses of all sizes see impressive results through enhanced lead generation and conversion rates.

What Is Lead Generation for Dentists?

Lead generation for dentists involves attracting potential patients to their practice and converting them into booked appointments.

It targets those actively seeking dental services by:

• Making attractive offers like free first visits, discounts on services, or helpful tips about dental care.
• Getting the word out by sharing these offers on online platforms and around your local area to reach a wider audience.
• Gathering contact information of prospects through lead generation form builders.
• Converting prospects through streamlined booking, excellent service, and requesting reviews and referrals.

Why Is Lead Generation Important for Dentists?

Lead generation is crucial for dentists because it:

• Builds a Steady Flow of Patients: A reliable system ensures a continuous stream of new patients, reducing downtimes.
• Keeps Your Practice Competitive: Effective lead generation helps you stand out in a competitive field, attracting patients before other dentists do.
• Targets Specific Services: Tailored efforts for services like dental implants or teeth whitening bring in patients who need exactly what you offer.
• Boosts Revenue: A steady flow of new patients fills appointment slots and drives long-term revenue growth.

6 Effective Ways to Improve Lead Generation for Dentists

1. Optimize Your Dental Website

A well-optimized dental website attracts new patients and streamlines lead conversion. Here’s how:

Improve Website Design

An intuitive, responsive, and visually appealing website with clear, easy-to-navigate menus can make all the difference. Make sure to optimize it for both desktop and mobile devices.

Add high-quality images and strong calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage visitor engagement.

Integrate Lead Capture Forms

Effective lead capture forms are key to generating quality dental leads and converting them. Growform’s multi-step forms make it easy to capture patient information.

Simply integrate them into your website, and they’ll guide users through the process.

Add Online Scheduling Tools

Integrate online scheduling tools like LocalMedinto your website. These allow patients to reserve appointments directly from your site, reducing friction and speeding up bookings.

For example, Skyline Dental’s modern web design features appealing visuals, a simple three-step onboarding process, an embedded Google map, and trust badges for credibility.

2. Use Local SEO to Capture Leads Around You

Local SEO focuses on improving your dental practice’s visibility in your area on search engines like Google. This means optimizing for local keywords like “best dentist near me” or “emergency dental care in [city].”

For example, if you operate a dental practice in Houston, use keywords like “family dentist in Houston”, “Houston oral surgeon”, and “affordable dental care” throughout your lead generation website, including page titles, meta descriptions, and content. 

You can also attract dental patients in your area through Google My Business— a free tool that lets businesses and organizations manage their presence across Google Search and Maps. 

Here’s an example of a Google My Business listing for a family dental practice in Houston:

Update your Google My Business listing with correct contact information, office hours, and services. Include high-quality photos and encourage your patients to leave reviews. This boosts your local SEO, improves visibility, and drives exclusive traffic to your website.

3. Introduce Dental Lead Magnets 

Use lead magnets to grab your prospect’s interest and nurture them into clients by offering a valuable resource or incentive in exchange for their contact information.

You can offer something like:

• Free Dental Health Guides: Downloadable resources engage potential patients who are in the research phase. For example, an ebook about how to maintain excellent oral hygiene at home provides valuable information in return for contact details. 
• First-Time Patient Discounts: Offers like “$50 off your first cleaning” or “Free X-rays for new patients” strongly motivates people to choose your practice over another. This discount motivates them to share their email addresses or phone numbers.
• Free Dental Checkup or Consultation: Free initial consultations, especially for high-value services like orthodontics or cosmetic dentistry, let you engage with prospects directly and build a trusting relationship.  
• Webinars or Live Q&A Sessions: Host online events where potential patients can ask dental-related questions to position your practice as an expert in the field. More importantly, these events encourage participants to register, making it easy to collect their contact information.

Whether you’re capturing prospects’ contact information or the dental treatment they’re interested in, you need the right tools to do it effectively. That is where our no-code, drag-and-drop form builder comes in. 

At Growform, we help dentists like you create customized responsive multi-step forms that capture leads’ information effectively. You can either build from scratch or use our appealing dental templates. You can alsoembed these forms easily into any page of your website.  

4. Leverage Paid Ads

Paid advertising is a powerful way for dentists to generate leads by targeting specific audiences and encouraging them to take action. There are two key types of ads that work well for dental practices: 

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads: PPC ads, like Google Ads, let you bid on keywords like “emergency dentist near me”, appearing at the top of search results to attract ready-to-book patients. Flower Mound Dental, for instance, targets this keyword to capture high-intent leads.

• Meta Lead Ads: They capture patient contact information directly through pre-filled forms, offering precise targeting and retargeting without needing a landing page. For instance, a Texas dental group saw a 19% rise in new patients per provider using these campaigns.

To optimize your paid ads, target specific areas to attract local patients, and use eye-catching images or videos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Also, test different promotions, like referral bonuses or seasonal events, to find what drives the most leads.

Additionally, regularly track your performance to refine your keywords and targeting, and improve your ROI.

5. Ask for Referrals and Reward Patients 

Word of mouth remains a powerful tool for generating dental leads, even in today’s digital world. You can encourage referrals by encouraging your current patients to refer friends or family, especially after successful treatments.

Also, use a referral reward program that offers incentives, like discounts or free cleanings, to both the referring and new patients. For example, Total Health Dental Care (THDC) implemented this strategy by offering cash bonuses for employees and complimentary dental exams to patients.

This led to over 170 new patient referrals within the first few months of launching their program.  

In case you’re already running a referral program, you can improve it by: 

• Simplifying the process by keeping options to share a link, mention your practice, or hand out referral cards.
• Highlighting your referral program in your clinic, on your website, and through emails, so your patients know about the rewards.
• Using our integration with Referral Rock to streamline the entire referral process. With this feature, you can track referrals automatically, reward distribution, and easily manage referrals.

6.  Apply Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital marketing can go a long way in attracting more leads. Companies like Progressive Dental Marketing offer specialized lead generation services to help dental practices grow more effectively. 

Here’s some strategies to implement:

Content Marketing

Creating valuable content can educate your patients and build their trust in your expertise. Write blog posts, guides, or FAQs on oral health topics to increase your visibility online and engage your audience. 

Implement SEO strategies to ensure your content reaches a wider audience. By targeting relevant keywords and optimizing meta tags, headings, and image alt text, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook create room for engaging with patients, showcasing success stories, and promoting services.

Post regularly and use targeted ads to maximize your reach and brand awareness to potential patients. 

Email Marketing for Follow-Ups

Whether it’s sending appointment reminders or promoting new dental services, email marketing can enhance patient engagement and retention. You can use our email marketing templates that encourage form completion, effectively capturing more leads by asking questions strategically.

To enhance your digital marketing efforts, we offer integration with MarketingPlatform,  which lets you create forms and automatically send captured leads to MarketingPlatform.

Enhance Lead Generation for Dentists with Growform

Mastering lead generation for dentists requires a mix of different strategies like SEO, paid ads, referrals, and follow-up marketing. Together, they help attract and convert potential patients. 

At Growform, we enhance this process with our powerful multi-step form builder that captures lead information seamlessly. Embedding our forms on your website ensures an easy, user-friendly experience for prospects, attracting more leads and boosting conversion.

Enhance your lead generation strategies today with our 14-day free trial.