How to Get More Patients: Top Strategies to Grow Your Dental Practice in 2025
Most people know they should see the dentist, but far too many still put it off. In fact, only 62.7% of Americans have visited a dentist in the past 12 months. This leaves a big window of opportunity for dental practices to grow. With the right marketing strategy, you can turn hesitation into appointments.
In this article, we’ll cover the most effective marketing strategies to attract new patients and grow your dental practice. Let’s get started!
10 Proven Strategies to Attract More Dental Patients
Know Your Audience
Before marketing your dental practice, understanding your target audience is crucial. While you may serve a wide range of clients, create a clear picture of your ideal patient–whether it’s families, professionals, or seniors – so you can tailor your messaging and services to meet their specific needs.
For example, if you are near a school, consider promoting pediatric care, braces, and cleanings in the area. If you are surrounded by retirees, promote implants and gentle cleanings. By marketing your practice as best suited to fit their needs, you’ll have success.
Enhance Your Online Presence
When searching for local products and services, 86% of consumers use Google Maps, so you need to take steps to ensure your practice is highly visible.
- Claim your Google Business Profile. Google favors up-to-date accounts, so be sure to include all relevant information such as your practice’s operating hours, number, and address.
- Include location-based keywords and phrases that potential patients are most likely to search for, like “dentist in [Your city]” or “[Your neighborhood] dentist”. If your practice has a specialty, these key terms can be even more specified, such as “[Your city] dental implants.”
- Collect 5-star reviews. One of the most important criteria that the Google Maps algorithm considers is the number of 4- and 5-star reviews your practice has received online. Actively solicit your current patients to share their feedback online.
- Claim listings on other review sites like Yelp, Healthgrades, and Angie’s List, and actively manage your account so you can receive an additional boost to your Google Maps rankings.
Invest In Paid Advertising
From physical advertising channels to new digital mediums, dental marketers have a plethora of paid advertising options to choose from. So, let’s discuss some of the best ones to grow your business.
Wellness Billboards
When many dental marketers think of out-of-home advertising mediums, they generally imagine highway billboards, street furniture, or transit displays. While each of these channels casts a wide net and boosts general brand awareness, it is nearly impossible to track engagement and reach of your target audience.
Fortunately, there is an advertising medium that solves this issue: wellness billboards.
Wellness billboards are advertisements prominently featured on wellness kiosks—physical displays that provide free sanitizing wipes— often placed at entrances of supermarkets, retail storefronts, and in pharmacy wait areas. They drive impressive levels of engagement as they encourage shoppers to stop for a moment, take a wipe, and view the sponsor’s message.
Also, wellness billboards can track engagements and reach target audiences through geofencing and retargeting. Geofencing and retargeting are digital tools that track the anonymized mobile data of nearby shoppers, allowing advertisers to easily monitor engagements and send pre-programmed online advertisements to key groups.
Terraboost is an innovator in this advertising medium. Independent studies have shown that 80% of shoppers engage with sanitizing kiosks and 63% recall the sponsor’s ad.
Online Advertisements
Google Ads place your dental practice among the top three search results for keywords of your choosing and location-based searches.
Google Ads are pay-per-click, meaning that you only have to pay when a search engine user clicks through your sponsored link and views your online brand. However, bidding for certain keywords, like “best dentist near me”, can reach as high as $80 per click.
Advertising on social media can also be an effective way to increase online visibility. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, collect user data on key points, including age, interests, search history, and location, providing marketers with unparalleled precision consumer targeting. For instance, a dental practice ad could appear in the Facebook feed of a consumer in their area who recently searched online for dentistry services.
Local Advertisements: Magazines, Newspapers
In 2024, only 26% of American adults say they often or sometimes get news from a print newspaper. While this number is low, it’s much higher for adults above 65, where 43% of adults get their news from print publications at least some of the time.
So, if your target audience consists of middle-aged and elderly individuals seeking dental care, local newspapers and magazines can be highly effective in reaching them at a high frequency.
Optimize Your Website
We discussed optimizing your dental practice for Google Maps, but there’s a lot more to ensuring your business is placed in the top search listings. Thorough search engine optimization involves conducting research to identify high-intent keywords and then tactically placing those keywords throughout titles, meta tags, and content featured on your website.
Publishing blog content and articles on topics related to dental concerns, such as “What to Do for a Toothache” and “How to Know if You Need Dental Implants,” can also be immensely beneficial in driving organic online traffic. Google’s algorithm ranks businesses based on their perceived Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. So, by publishing informational articles and blogs, you’ll build authority and increase organic search traffic.
Build a Social Media Presence
Social media marketing can also benefit your dental practice, as it provides another touchpoint to communicate with your patients. Share tips, behind-the-scenes photos, and patient success stories— putting a friendly face on your practice that builds trust and maintains patient interest between appointments.
Offer Special Promotions or Discounts
Targeted advertisements that address the pain points of prospective patients are highly effective, but often, those pain points are associated with the costs of dental services. In other words, everyone loves a good deal, regardless of the business.
Consider creating discounts and promotions that are relevant to specific groups within your target audience. For example, create a back-to-school kids cleaning promotion that appears in the social media feeds of parents in your area.
Alternatively, you could offer discounted services on dentures and tooth replacements at your local nursing homes and care centers. And of course, we can’t forget the most common discount format: the new patient special.
Encourage Reviews from Patients
Reviews from satisfied patients are a critical asset for building trust quickly and should be used to their fullest extent. We discussed how online reviews can increase your visibility on search platforms, but they can also help in a variety of other ways.
Consider featuring some of the best patient reviews on your company website. Prospective patients who visit your website will see these referrals and view your dental practice as reputable.
Social media posts are an excellent medium for showcasing patient testimonials. Repurpose standout reviews from your website on social media to help reinforce your reputation.
A few good words can go a long way!
Engage with Email Marketing
Acquiring new dental patients through email marketing can be challenging, but this marketing channel can be beneficial for patient retention. The first step to a successful email marketing campaign is to segment your recipients based on factors like treatment needs, appointment history, and demographics.
With a segmented email list, you can send personalized messages, such as appointment reminders, follow-ups, or aftercare tips, that bring value to patients. Consider creating a newsletter with tips for oral care, exclusive offers, and highlights your community involvement.
Start a Patient Referral Program
Happy patients are your best promoters, and a great way to attract new patients to your practice through word of mouth. Patient referral programs incentivize existing patients to spread the word and refer friends, offering discounts, a gift card, or even a simple thank-you.
What’s unique about word-of-mouth marketing is that new patients are more likely to place trust in your practice more quickly since it was referred to them by a friend or family member.
Get Involved in the Community
Community involvement is a proven way for dental practices to increase brand recognition, build trust, and attract new dental patients.
So, let’s take a look at some of the best community outreach methods you can use to get more patients to your dental clinic. These dental marketing ideas don’t cost much aside from time, labor, and care.
- School presentations: Provide valuable information by covering topics such as the importance of oral hygiene and proper brushing and flossing techniques. Try to find creative ways to win over students, parents, and teachers during these presentations.
- Free dental screenings: Organized either once or twice each year, offering free dental screenings is a fantastic way to advertise your practice as an active community member and gain new patients.
- Health fairs: Operating a booth at a health fair will help you disseminate important oral health information, as well as distribute brochures and pamphlets on the services your practice offers.
- School supply drives: Hosting school supply drives at your practice that allow patients to donate items to local schools will foster goodwill and show your commitment to the community and education.
Ready to Get More Dental Patients?
At Terraboost, we have worked with countless dentists to grow their practices through smart, hyper-local targeted advertising. Our wellness boards are placed in over 49,000 high-traffic retail locations across the U.S., such as CVS, Walgreens, and Food Lion, ensuring that your message will be seen by thousands of residents in your community every day.
Want to see how Terraboost wellness billboards can work for your dental practice? Contact us for more information today!
