Dental marketing strategy: a one-page plan for your practice
A dental marketing strategy is a short written plan that says which patients and treatments you want more of, what a new patient is worth, which channels you'll use in which order, what you'll spend, and how you'll know it's working. Most practices don't need more channels; they need the right order: look after existing patients first (recall and reviews), then the Google profile and website that new patients check, and only then paid ads and social. Below is a one-page version you can fill in, with the US, UK and Australian rules that shape each part.
What should a dental marketing strategy include?
Five parts: a goal, the numbers behind it, your channels in order, the rules you must follow, and a monthly scorecard. Keep it to one page that someone else in the practice could follow.
| Part | The question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | What do we want more of, by when? | 8 more new private patients a month by June; implant consultations doubled |
| Numbers | What is a new patient or treatment worth, and what can we pay to win one? | See the worked example below |
| Channels | Where will those patients come from, in what order? | Recall first, then reviews and the Google profile, then treatment pages, then ads |
| Rules | What can't we say or do? | No incentives for reviews, no testimonials about treatment in Australian ads, no specialist titles without the list |
| Scorecard | How will we know by next month? | New patients by source, cost per new patient, recall rate, reviews and reply rate |
Which patients and treatments should a practice market first?
The ones you have room for and that the practice most needs. Marketing implants when the implant clinician is booked for months wastes money; marketing check-ups when the hygienist has gaps every week fills them.
- List your empty capacity by clinician and day, then the treatments with the best margin.
- Pick one or two priorities per quarter, not ten. A practice that promotes everything is hard to remember for anything.
- UK practices: be clear about NHS and private. The GDC's advertising guidance expects practices to make clear whether they're NHS, mixed or wholly private, and that also decides who you can take on.
- US practices: decide whether you're marketing to patients with particular insurance plans or to self-pay patients, because the message and the landing page differ.
What is a new patient worth to a dental practice?
Roughly: the fees a typical new patient pays in their first year, plus what they're likely to spend while they stay with you. Work it out from your own practice software, not an industry average.
First-year fees for a typical new patient: 600 Share who stay for a second year: 70% Second-year fees: 400 × 0.7 = 280 Value over two years: 880 If you want marketing to cost no more than 20% of that: up to 176 per new patient
Then compare that with what a lead costs. In WordStream's 2026 benchmarks, the median US dental search campaign paid $72.97 a lead, and a lead isn't a booked patient. If half your leads book, each new patient from ads costs about $146 in that illustration, before any treatment is accepted.
Which marketing channels should a dental practice use, and in what order?
Start with the channels that cost least and work fastest for your own patients, then build what new patients see, then pay for reach.
| Order | Channel | Why here | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recall and reactivation of existing patients | They already trust you, and messages cost almost nothing | Below |
| 2 | Reviews and the Google profile | It's what new patients check first, and replies are the easiest gap to close | Local SEO for dentists |
| 3 | A page for each treatment | Searches for a treatment need a page about it | Dental website design |
| 4 | Referrals and the local community | Word of mouth and other clinicians, at low cost | — |
| 5 | Paid search | Fast and measurable for specific treatments, but stops when you stop paying | Google Ads for dentists |
| 6 | Social media | Trust and reminders, rarely the main source of new patients | Dental social media marketing |
Replies are worth singling out. In our 2026 study of 588 dental practices, the median practice replied to 82% of its newest Google reviews, lower than any trade we measured, and got 13.8 new reviews a month. Our dentist review reply templates keep replies privacy-safe.
How do you bring back patients who are overdue for a check-up?
With a recall system that sends a reminder when each patient's interval is up, a second one a few weeks later, and a phone call after that. NICE guidance in England says the interval should be set for each patient: from 3 to 24 months for adults, and no more than 12 months for under-18s.
Keep recall messages about the patient's care. The rules change once a message starts selling:
| Recall or reminder | Once it promotes something | |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Under HIPAA, messages for a patient's treatment, and describing the practice's own health services, aren't “marketing” | A message the practice is paid by a third party to send is marketing and needs the patient's authorisation first |
| United Kingdom | NHS England's guidance says appointment reminders and clinical recall aren't direct marketing | Adding an unrelated offer, such as whitening, makes the whole message direct marketing, which needs consent by text or email under PECR |
| Australia | Keep reminders factual, with no offer | Commercial messages need consent, must identify the practice and must include an unsubscribe option under the Spam Act |
How much should a dental practice spend on marketing?
Work it out from the number of new patients you want and the most you can pay for each, rather than a fixed percentage of revenue. Using the illustrative figures above, 8 extra new patients a month at up to 176 each is a marketing budget of up to about 1,400 a month.
- Put the first money into channels 1 to 3. They cost mostly time and keep working.
- Test paid search on one treatment for two or three months, and judge it on cost per booked patient, not clicks.
- Keep a line for the phone: an unanswered call or slow reply to a booking request loses a patient you've already paid to attract.
Which advertising rules shape a dental marketing plan in the US, UK and Australia?
All three countries treat fake reviews as unlawful; the UK and Australia also restrict how you describe clinicians and use patient comments.
| Rules that change the plan | |
|---|---|
| United States | The FTC's rule on reviews (in force from 21 October 2024) bans fake reviews, incentives tied to a positive review, undisclosed reviews by owners or managers, and suppressing negative reviews, with penalties of up to $51,744 per violation when issued, adjusted each year. Public replies that confirm someone is a patient can breach HIPAA: in 2022 a California practice, New Vision Dental, paid $23,000 over details in its review replies. |
| United Kingdom | The GDC expects your GDC number wherever your name appears in advertising, clear NHS or private status, and no specialist titles unless you're on a specialist list. The CMA's fake reviews guidance bans fake and undisclosed incentivised reviews and showing reviews selectively. |
| Australia | The ACCC says fake reviews and editing or removing genuine negative ones breach the Australian Consumer Law, and undisclosed incentivised reviews are likely to mislead. Ahpra bars testimonials about clinical aspects in advertising, requires offers and discounts to state their terms, and warns against advertising that encourages unnecessary use of health services or creates unreasonable expectations, such as before-and-after images. |
Google's own policy applies everywhere: ask every patient for a review, the same way, with nothing in return, and don't ask only the ones you expect to be happy. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do you know if your dental marketing is working?
Check the same few numbers on the same day each month, and change one thing at a time.
| Measure | Where it comes from | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| New patients by source | “How did you hear about us?” at booking, plus UTM-tagged links | Which channel to grow and which to cut |
| Cost per new patient, per channel | Spend ÷ new patients from that channel | Whether a channel pays for itself |
| Recall rate | Patients due who booked ÷ patients due | Whether your existing patients are slipping away |
| Reviews a month and reply rate | Your Google profile | Whether you're keeping pace with practices nearby |
| Calls answered | Your phone system or call tracking | Whether marketing is being wasted at the front desk |
Flexi Local's done-for-you plans for dental practices run the Google profile, review requests, privacy-safe replies and treatment pages, with a monthly report. Get a free audit to see your Trust Score, how your reviews compare with nearby practices, where you rank on the map and how you show up in AI answers.
Sources
- Flexi Local, State of local reviews 2026: 588 dental practices in the US, UK and Australia, checked 26–27 Oct 2026
- WordStream: 2026 Google Ads benchmarks (dentists and dental services, US), checked 15 Nov 2026
- NICE: Dental checks, intervals between oral health reviews (CG19), recommendations, checked 15 Nov 2026
- US HHS: Marketing (HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance), checked 15 Nov 2026
- NHS England Transformation Directorate: What is and isn't direct marketing (updated Nov 2024), checked 15 Nov 2026
- ACMA: Avoid sending spam (consent, identify, unsubscribe), checked 15 Nov 2026
- ACCC: Scrutiny of influencers and businesses for misleading advertising and online reviews continues (7 Dec 2023), checked 15 Nov 2026
- US HHS: Resolution agreement with New Vision Dental ($23,000), checked 15 Nov 2026
- General Dental Council: Guidance on advertising (effective 30 Sep 2013), checked 15 Nov 2026
- Ahpra: Summary of the advertising requirements (reviewed 2 Sep 2025), checked 15 Nov 2026
- FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, summarised by Morgan Lewis, checked 15 Nov 2026
- CMA: Fake reviews guidance (CMA208, 4 Apr 2025), checked 15 Nov 2026
- Google Maps: Prohibited and restricted content, Rating Manipulation, checked 15 Nov 2026
Citing these figures? Please link to this page. If you spot a figure that's out of date, email hello@flexilocal.com.
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