Google and Dentistry

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half!"

The above quote is from a renowned American retailer named John Wanamaker, and beyond the so-called word of mouth recommendation, the notorious "boca a boca," investments in patient acquisition in the Healthcare sector nowadays constitute a complex journey facing the numerous touchpoints where you and your brand may be found. However, one of them, in particular, is extremely powerful, and knowing it tends to be fundamental to the success of your business, and yes, we're talking about Google.

It's commonplace nowadays to say that your business needs to be on the internet. Being a service provider in the healthcare industry, owning a company, your office, or clinic needs to be indexed in a way to be "found by Google." It's also common for professionals to pay more attention to other social media platforms such as Instagram with postings, content creation, seeking engagement and followers to add value to their brand, their company, and even to satisfy their ego. I won't deny that Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are relevant tools for the development of your business, and if you're generating content on these platforms, great, you're on the right track. And you're also aware of how much of your time is invested in generating this content. And being an investment, it's important to seek to measure its return, correct?

But let's go back to Google, a tool that is sometimes neglected or often underutilized given all the resources it can offer. For example: What's the likelihood of someone looking for a specific service going to Google to consult information about that demand? Someone looking for aesthetic services; harmonization; implants; or perhaps needing a 24-hour emergency service? It's possible to imagine someone on their smartphone right now doing searches with these inquiries on Google, isn't it?

The Internet and the arrival of new technologies have influenced significant changes in human behavior and consumption patterns. Thus, we now discuss the Customer Experience in every micro-moment they interact with the brand and the service from the moment of consideration. And it's in this context that I would like to draw attention to two tools, Google My Business and Google Ads, within the Google platform. In short, Google My Business is a way for you to register your company to be indexed in Google searches while Google Ads is a platform for you to advertise in order to increase the visibility of your company/brand in searches conducted within the platform as well as the exposure of your services in ads on Google partner sites.

Specifically speaking about Google My Business, this is a free tool responsible for displaying your company in Google search, Google Maps, and Google+. It can be easily set up to provide your geolocation on Google Maps; your business hours; contact information; parking availability; clinic photos; specialized services; team and professionals; integration with Google Street View, as well as comments and feedback from people who have used your services and can share their experience. In general, Google My Business is a free propagandist on the world's largest search platform where you can provide a series of information that tends to influence the future customer to somehow contact your company. Having Google My Business set up for your Clinic is a way for you to have your company impacting potential customers who interact with Google when searching for dental services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and working well, this tool can bring you new patients almost every day. Remember that its setup is quite simple and intuitive, and you can do it through the following link (Google Business Profile – show your business on Google).

A second tool you can use is Google Ads, which is a platform that can be activated to intensify your online presence through different types of ads where, in the case of Dentistry, the most used is the Search Network, which is basically an ad format conditioned to a search for keywords that are parameterized and conditioned to Google's search engine; ideal for making your clinic appear on the first page of the search engine or at least show up as a suggestion for a certain topic searched. Google Ads is a paid resource, however, unlike our retailer John Wabamaker, the platform allows you to have total control over where and how the money is being spent, being able to have reports on reach, number of times the ad was displayed, number of clicks, profile, etc. Google Ads, although simple and intuitive to set up, requires some knowledge and if you're not willing to venture, there are many companies that can create the media planning according to your dissemination strategy and ad type. If you want to venture and create a test ad, you can also do it through the following link (Google Ads – Get more customers with easy-to-use online advertising). I reinforce that one of the most important things about Google Ads is that ROI and how much you will spend are predictive and measured so it is highly recommended that you understand the possibilities of this tool well.

Bill Gates once said that in the future there will be two types of companies, those that do business through the internet and those that will be out of business. If you have a business, you need to present it to Google; it needs to know about it. Working on Customer Experience is a fundamental factor for the success of any business, creating a simple experience at the Customer's Consideration and providing agile and capable service at the first contact moment certainly tends to be the watershed between a thriving business and another that isn't. Word of mouth has a limit; the yellow pages will be a thing of the past, no matter how good your product or service is, it needs to be found and in this digital and connected world, Google is if not the most important, certainly the most relevant to be present.

Tip: If you want to learn more about Google and Customer Journey, check out the courses below. And if the topic made sense, leave your comment.

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