All too often, orthodontic practices get so hung up on the “what” of their marketing strategy that they forget about the “who” – and when you don’t have the right target audience in mind (hint: it isn’t just moms!), your content might be wasted on the wrong crowd. Every orthodontic marketing plan should start with the audience in mind. But who is the target audience for the typical orthodontic practice? Let’s discuss the ideal orthodontic buyer personas that should inform your marketing strategy from start to finish.
Orthodontic Buyer Personas
Every product or service has a buyer. In order to make the most of your marketing investment, it’s important to figure out who that buyer is ahead of time and direct your campaigns to their wants, needs, and concerns.
You’ll find the most success gearing your orthodontic marketing strategy to these common decision-makers.
The Concerned Mom
We all know that moms make the medical decisions for their families. This is especially true for elective healthcare options like braces or clear aligners, which is why concerned moms are Orthodontic Buyer Persona #1.
Demographics & Mindset
- Age: 30-50
- Children’s age range: 7-16
- Likely millennials, who prefer texting over calls
- Primarily responsible for family healthcare decisions
- Interested in high-quality, safe, and family-friendly practices
- Values convenience and flexible appointment times
In 2024, you’re often working with millennial moms, and understanding how they operate in the world can help you market toward their needs. For example, this group often prefers texting over phone calls, so you might want to gear your follow-up methods accordingly.
Meet Amy. She’s a millennial mom who knows it’s time for her son to get braces. Many of his friends have already started treatment, and he’s turning 15 next month. As the healthcare decision-maker in the family, she’s researching to find good reviews, asking other parents where they’ve gotten treatment, and getting excited about this photo-worthy and emotional life milestone that shows her son is getting older. Above all, she wants to find a practice that offers the highest quality of care in a safe environment with convenient appointment times that work for her busy schedule.
Strategies for Targeting Moms
When moms begin looking for orthodontic treatment options for their children, they might be swayed by the idea of their children going through photo-worthy life milestones that mark their coming of age, but they’ll also want to hear about the doctor’s experience and treatment philosophy to know what to expect for their kids. Moms are also busy, so emphasizing the convenience factor that your practice offers can be a major selling point. Trust is another key component. Moms don’t want to leave their kids with a doctor unless they feel like they know and trust them. Make sure to present your practice as family-friendly, welcoming, and warm to show you’ve earned your 5-star trust rating.
There are a number of ways moms might find out it’s time for their child to go through orthodontic treatment and where to begin their search. Typically, the most common are word-of-mouth/online referrals, independent searches on Google, and brand awareness ads on social media.
Keeping this information in mind, you should consider the following options when targeting this buyer persona:
- Referral programs: incentivize current patients to refer you to other parents they know
- School sponsorships: work with schools to generate brand awareness where both students and parents meet
- Ads & promotions: get your name in front of potential leads on the social media platforms your patients’ moms are most likely to use
The Relapse Patient
No matter how many times you tell patients to wear their retainers after treatment, many of them won’t. While this can be frustrating from an orthodontic point of view, the reality is that patients looking for retreatment need you to fix their concerns the second time around.
Demographics & Mindset
- Age: 25-40
- Often college-educated and financially independent
- Typically employed, often in professional fields
- Looking for discreet and convenient treatment options
- Concerned with aesthetics and time commitment
- Interested in modern, subtle solutions like clear aligners
Relapse patients fit a wide age range. They’re out of their parents’ households and finally making enough money to make high-investment healthcare decisions, and they’re much more reliable, compliant patients once you get them through the door. After all, if they’re back for another go, they probably learned the hard lessons relapse often teaches.
Let’s take Luke, for example. Luke is a 27-year-old attorney who had braces when he was 15. He hasn’t seen his retainer in years; several of his teeth have shifted back since then, and he misses the results he used to love. Overall, Luke’s biggest holdback is aesthetics. He doesn’t want to go back into traditional metal braces. The time commitment required for another round of treatment also worries him – and he doesn’t want his peers to judge him for getting treatment as an adult.
Strategies for Targeting Relapse Patients
So, how do you get potential patients like Luke to come in for a consultation? Your best bet is to address each of those pain points by emphasizing the effectiveness and convenience of modern orthodontic solutions like clear aligners. You can also highlight ways your practice makes treatment easier for busy schedules or options like limited aligner treatment that require less time overall.
You’ll also want to get their attention with your marketing strategy. More often than not, relapse patients find your office through a self-motivated interest in sourcing solutions to their aesthetic concerns. They might find you through a Google search or a targeted ad campaign, but they’re less likely to ask for referrals.
- Educational Blogs: Teach your patients about the prevalence of adult orthodontic retreatment and what they can expect to ease their concerns.
- Meta & Google Ads: Create a mixed ads campaign to generate interest and brand awareness, combat pain points, and interrupt users in their search queries.
- Share Reviews: Broadcast patient reviews that speak to the ease, convenience, and aesthetic possibilities of retreatment at your practice.
The Busy Professional
The “Busy Professional” is very similar to the “Relapse Patient.” The difference is that the professional might not have had treatment in the past. While their priorities and concerns are the same as the relapser – aesthetics, time, stigma – their motivations are often more complex, so it’s important to understand this patient segment independently.
Demographics & Mindset
- Age: 25-45
- Often in demanding roles with limited time flexibility
- Concerned with career impact and appearance
- Seeking efficient, fast, and discreet treatment options
- Often motivated by self-improvement or career advancement
- May respond well to transparent pricing and clear treatment timelines
Patients who are interested in treatment because of career goals usually feel this way because they lack the confidence to excel in the workplace without a straight smile. They see the appearance of their teeth as a barrier to success, which often adds a layer of urgency and strain to their treatment motivations.
Take Laura, for example. As a Director of Communications, she’s always in the spotlight representing her company. Because she didn’t get orthodontic treatment as a teen, however, she feels self-conscious about her smile. Still, she’s working 50 or 60 hours a week – she is worried she doesn’t have time to go to appointments, and even if she did, she knows she can’t show up at a board meeting with braces.
Strategies for Targeting Busy Professionals
Career-minded individuals like Laura are self-motivated to find treatment, just like the Relapse Patient. Similar methods can work for both groups, but the goal is to emphasize speed, efficiency, and convenience for this group even more so than with relapsers.
- Targeted Ads: Create ads geared towards the professional’s pain points to show how you address them, and change your target demographics to fit the income level and lifestyle of this audience segment.
- Local SEO: Because they’re looking to find vetted options quickly, prioritizing your local SEO strategy for keywords like “clear aligners for adults” could rank you higher in their eyes as well as Google’s.
- Transparent Pricing: Display your pricing on your website or lead pages to make it easier for busy professionals to get the information they need to move forward quickly.
The Bride, Groom, or Graduate
Milestone moments like weddings, graduations, class reunions, school picture days (and the list goes on), are all motivators for looking and feeling your best. When potential patients consider their future photo-ops, they are often at a point where your messaging could sway them to get treatment, so market accordingly.
Demographic & Mindset
- Age: 18-35
- Planning for a specific milestone (wedding, graduation, etc.)
- Seeking impactful, aesthetically focused results
- Willing to invest time and money for a special occasion
- Motivated by confidence and the desire to look their best in photos
- Responds well to messaging around self-care and celebration
The majority of patients in this category are aged 18-35. This age group includes teenagers and young adults who are preparing for significant life events like graduations, weddings, or professional milestones, and their goal is to straighten their smiles before these events.
Consider Alex. Her parents are asking her to think of a high-end, luxury item that she might want as a gift for college graduation. She wants something that will really make an impact on her graduation photos and stand the test of time, and because she’s treating herself, she’s excited to invest her time and energy into the journey—so long as she’s ready in time to celebrate graduation day.
Strategies for Targeting Brides, Grooms, & Graduates
Like Alex, patients interested in getting treatment before a major life milestone are in it for the aesthetics, but the emotional investment is much greater than other demographics. They’re willing to work for an impactful smile reveal as long as the timing is right.
Tapping into the “reward yourself” or “self-care” mindset can give you ample room to market to this group. You need to make them feel like they stand apart from the rest of your patients because of their upcoming life milestones. Lean into the celebratory nature of the event and use the following to get more leads in this segment.
- Use Specific Messaging: Don’t be afraid to create ads or promotions specific to brides, grooms, or graduates. Doing so will catch their attention and make them feel connected to your brand for seeing them.
- Highlight Before-and-Afters: Big reveals and showy before/after shots are what this group is after, so show off some other smile reveals with similar stories for this group.
- Share Brand Awareness Ads: This group is likely looking for ways to improve their upcoming life milestone, but they might not know that orthodontic treatment is the path they want to take. Create the need by sharing brand awareness ads or promotions specifically for brides, grooms, or graduates.
Map Out Your Lead Journeys with Neon Canvas
While it’s a good idea to strategize for each individual persona, you’ll also need a diverse marketing mix to get the most out of your investment and guide your leads from awareness to conversion. This includes a strong local SEO presence, digital advertising, content marketing, and more to make your brand stand out.
So, if you see your to-do list piling up, we’re here to take a load off. Click here to find out how we can simplify your marketing goals.