A comScore report revealed that for the three-month average period ending in April 2012, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices.
comScore, the global leader in measuring the digital world further projected that the number of mobile Internet users will surpass desktop users by 2014.
Google currently dominates mobile search market with 96.9% of mobile users searching on Google.
What does this mean for your dental practice marketing?
Making sure your dental practice has a mobile presence will give your dental practice a competitive advantage for attracting local patients by instantly introducing those patients to your dental treatments in a mobile-enhanced way.
As more and more location-based apps appear on the market with mobile users utilizing them to find businesses within a certain geo-targeted area of where they live or work, coupled with reviews from people they know, mobile devices will quickly become the new Yellow Pages on steroids.
According to marketing firm Web.com Group Inc., a study of small business owners found that 84% of the small businesses with a mobile presence report increases in new business activity directly related to their mobile tactics.
Mobile search users don’t tend to look for specific locations, but are looking to mobile search to find the location nearest them. If you think about how busy everyone is these days, it would stand to reason that consumers have become hyper-local when they only have so much time to handle personal business.
If a consumer can choose a dentist that is in route to their home, or just around the corner from their office, that convenience may be the deciding factor in going with a new dentist. Now that mobile users can look at business locations on their mobile map based on where they are, their preferences become clearer.
This is much different than in the past when choosing a dental practice through work insurance was based on a paper list of dentists, with potential patients looking for a familiar street name near them, but having no real idea where the dental practice was located until their first appointment. Now they can make this decision right from their smart phone based on a GPS reading.
Whereas a desktop user may be interested in reading where you went to school, or how much you love playing golf, the mobile user will be looking for a quick list of your treatments, your office phone number, directions, and your hours of operation. . . and, they want an introductory new patient coupon offer to make it more affordable.
And even if you want to say that most of your business is still referral — think about how that referral will happen. One patient will tell the other, and that patient will probably search for your practice on their mobile phone looking for your contact information.
Having a dental practice website that is mobile phone complaint is more important to your dental marketing plan than ever before.
Jim Du Molin understand this shift in dental marketing. The Internet Dental Alliance New Patient Portals include a full set of specially-designed smart mobile marketing pages. This means that every person with a mobile smart phone, iPad or other tablet can easily view your practice information or site from any location.
Click here to learn how IDA can support you with dental mobile marketing to insure that your dental practice isn’t left behind in this new booming Internet trend.
