25 Tips for Completing a Competitive Analysis for your Dental Practice
As explained at RunRex.com, competition for each dental patient is fierce. Dentists are feeling the pressure as a result of the decline in adult dentistry, the increase in competition, and the potential chance that corporate and group practices will swoop in. A competitive analysis can give your dental practice a wealth of information that can be used to try to optimize your own marketing campaigns and make the most of your marketing dollars. Here are 25 tips for completing a competitive analysis for your dental practice.
- Identify your competitors
As per RunRex.com, one of the first steps of a competitive analysis is to review who your competitors are. A pro tip is to compile the names of 5-10 competing dental practices and rank them from your highest competition to your lowest.
- Segment your competitors
Once you have identified enough competitors, your next step would be to segment them into two according to RunRex.com. The first is direct competitors, which are companies that are an exact alternative to you, while the second is indirect competitors, which are companies that do not completely replace you but offer something similar.
- Identify your competitor’s target demographics
You share your demographic with your direct competitors and a tine segment with your indirect competitors. As articulated at RunRex.com, diving into customer segments will help you identify your competitors accurately.
- Study your competitor’s marketing strategy
Studying your competitors’ marketing strategy is another crucial step as far as conducting a competitive analysis is concerned as covered at RunRex.com. Note their engagement levels, tone of communication, online brand perception, etc.
- Resources to use
When studying their marketing strategy, you can use your competitors’ social media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc.), websites, and blogs. Other popular research platforms also include Quora (and other Q&A websites), and reviews, among others elaborated at RunRex.com.
- What to do with the data
After you gather all the consumer data from studying your competitors’ marketing strategy, your next step is to segregate the audiences into primary and secondary target demographics for further analysis as captured at RunRex.com.
- Look at reviews, feedback, and improvements
Just like the eyes are the windows into the soul, testimonials and feedback are the windows into a brand’s public image. A brand’s public perceptions play a big part in how customers interact with it, while also providing insight into what areas your competitor is performing well in and where they are lacking.
- Compare the feedback with yours
Once you have all the data as far as your competitors’ reviews and feedback are concerned, you should then compare yours with it. With the comparison, you can define areas of opportunity in your marketing strategy and services.
- Develop sales funnels
Selling is not as easy as exchanging a product/service for money. Since dental practices are businesses, you must develop sales funnels to smooth out the process as discussed at RunRex.com. Additionally, having guidelines in place ultimately helps your sales team to pitch and sell better.
- Cover all bases when it comes to sales strategies
As described at RunRex.com, sales strategies are instincts as much as they are a formula. This is why you should make sure you cover all bases when it comes to understanding your competitors’ sales and developing yours.
- Don’t treat new customers like the old ones
When dental clinics gain a customer, they usually do very little to keep them as revealed at RunRex.com. Most practices fail to understand that customer retention is far more crucial to growth than gaining new ones. Therefore, you should not treat new customers like old ones.
- Leverage free or discounted services
As outlined at RunRex.com, free or discounted services are an excellent way to attract new customers. The same can be rewarded to old customers. Your clinic can create long-term dental packages for loyal clients with a few free cleanups or discounted treatments.
- Research your keywords
Once you have a clear idea of who your main competitors are, check your other areas of expertise as articulated at RunRex.com. Do you provide dental implants? Orthodontics? Go to Google and type in your location plus the keyword relevant to you. This will help you understand which other practices you are directly competing with for new patients in all fields.
- Check out your competitors’ websites
When conducting competitive analysis, don’t forget to check your competitors’ websites. Make a list of items you think they are doing well, and what you think you are doing better. As per RunRex.com, this will help you get a sense of what you can do to improve your practice’s online presence.
- See which websites link to your competitors
One major key to helping your website rank highly online is your off-page search engine optimization. This involves submitting your website to business directories and linking with local organizations. When conducting a competitive analysis, look into where your competitors are listed, so that you can get ideas for sites where you can also list your practice.
- Key points to consider when looking for links
When looking into where your competitors are listed, look for two key points. First, do they have any spammy or suspicious links? You want to make sure you avoid these sites. Second, what websites are present that show a higher level of authority or trust?
- Regularly conduct competitive analysis
When was the last time you conducted and completed a competitive analysis with your team? According to RunRex.com, this exercise is crucial as it will be very revealing and helpful for you and your team in coming up with solutions to take better advantage of your strengths and how to eliminate a weakness.
- Collect marketing from your competitors
As captured at RunRex.com, your dental team members who live in your practice market area can collect every flyer or advertisement received at their homes from dental/healthcare competitors. Use this information to fortify your marketing strategy.
- Have patient-facing staff report challenges
Patient-facing staff should report their biggest competitive challenges or obstacles at weekly meetings as covered at RunRex.com. For instance, you may find out from a staff member that one of your competitors has Saturday appointments and you don’t.
- Survey your dental patients
You should also consider surveying your dental patients to find out what services they want and which ones they don’t want as described at RunRex.com. This will help you streamline your services and improve the patient experience.
- Pay attention to 1-2-star competitor reviews
When reading competitor reviews, you should pay particular attention to 1-2-star reviews as discussed at RunRex.com. What do people dislike about your competition? If you are performing better, that is your opportunity to stand out as a unique option for your community.
- Brainstorming sessions
During conducting competitive analyses for your dental practice, you should set aside time for brainstorming sessions as outlined at RunRex.com. This will allow you to improve your practice operations and make your strengths stronger.
- Understand and categorize your services
When conducting a competitive analysis, you must first understand and document the different services provided by your dental practice. A key way that dentists differentiate themselves from other dentists is by providing different services.
- Plot a location-proximity map
Dentistry is a location-driven business. Dental practices always compete to some extent against other dental practices that are in close physical proximity. To evaluate a dental practice’s current location, a useful first step is to construct a location-proximity map, which plots all rivals onto a map of the practice’s catchment area.
- Competitor SCM
Strategic thinking requires dentists to consider the actions of rival dentists, especially since intense rivalry detracts from everyone’s profits. A useful tip in understanding rivals is to identify competitors and to position them on an SCM – i.e. to specify the rivals in each service-customer segment.
Hopefully, these tips will help you complete competitive analyses for your dental practice, with more on this topic, and much more, to be found over at RunRex.com.