Referrals are the mother’s milk of many dental specialty practices, especially endodontists and oral surgeons. New patient referrals don’t happen by accident. They require some planning and work.

Having dental patients come to you for treatment and consultation, only for them to decline care and not return, is costly and frustrating. It’s a drain on your resources, and it doesn’t benefit the patient. But the good news is that there’s a great deal you can do about it.

Prospective dental patients are using the internet more than ever to research dental specialists. When they search your name or that of your dental practice what do they see?

Many times, marketing efforts are focused solely on attracting new patients to a dental practice, often at the expense of nurturing existing patients. In fact, those existing patients are perhaps your most valuable asset: Unlike potential patients, who must be carefully wooed and courted, existing patients already trust you and value your service.

For any dental practice to flourish, you must develop a steady flow of new patients. But how can you effectively recruit new patients while concentrating on the clinical aspects of your practice? Today’s successful practitioners know the value of using consistent and well thought-out marketing strategies—not only to ensure proper promotion of their business but also to allow them to concentrate on the clinical demands of their practice.

Successful business owners know that a marketing plan is of utmost importance—in good times and in bad. Without a marketing plan, you may find your dental practice is lost, adrift, waiting for a stiff wind to take it somewhere. While many dental specialists work hard to build their clinical skills, they often fail to develop effective marketing skills. As a result, many practitioners have no marketing plan in place. Isn’t it time that you formulated an approach to market your practice to new dental patients? Here are some integral parts of an effective plan:

Many elements of dental marketing are difficult to track and quantify. But many activities can be tracked, and therefore your return on investment (ROI) can be measured. Patient referrals are one of your specialty practice’s most measurable marketing techniques.

When a new patient comes to your dental practice, you are given a precious opportunity to build a relationship of trust that can result in significant advantages for your practice: Not only can you help ensure that your new patient returns again and again for continued treatment but you can also help “train” them to bring new patients to you.

Referrals are a powerful way to build your dental patient base, and your profits. If your practice isn’t getting the referrals it should, consider these tips to help improve your program:

Like other business owners across all sectors, you have probably considered reducing the marketing efforts of your dental practice in response to the current recession. After all, there will always be people in need of health care, no matter the economic environment, so it is only logical to think that you can reduce or cut your marketing budget without impacting your practice.

But before you reduce your marketing efforts, it is important to consider the role of marketing in the viability of your practice. In this article, we will discuss the impact of the recession on health care practices, the role that marketing plays in the viability of clinical health care practices, especially during a recession, and what types of marketing efforts will help your practice survive and even grow during this recession. In fact, after reading this article, you may decide that you cannot afford to cut back on marketing. You may even decide that it is vital to increase your marketing efforts during this period.