PRACTICE MARKETING: CUT THROUGH THE NOISE AND CONNECT WITH PATIENTS

You’ve honed your skills, hired the talent and established a state-of-the-art office. Now, it’s time to wait for the patients to come flooding through your doors. In a perfect world, this is how things would work. But any experienced practice owner knows that, frustratingly, it takes more than offering outstanding care to connect with patients.

While practice marketing has always been a pain point for dentists, it’s arguably never been more challenging. Most doctors have accepted that the days of relying on word-of-mouth referrals alone are behind them, and that buying ad space in the local paper won’t do much to move the needle. But even if they’ve “gone digital,” the endlessly evolving nature of technology means that many of the marketing strategies considered cutting-edge just a few years ago simply won’t cut it today.

FROM SEEDS TO TREES

Although the landscape may be more complex and competitive than ever, not everything about dental marketing has changed. According to Joshua Gindea, DDS, co-founder and executive vice president of DoctorsInternet – a marketing company made by and for dental professionals – “85% of new patients still come from patient referral.” Given this, he urges owner dentists to think about growing their practice through the analogy of “seeds to trees.”

The best website in the world won’t do much for your business if no one can find it. At its most basic, search engine optimization (SEO) – specifically, local SEO – involves tailoring your practice website to ensure it shows up when someone searches for dental services in your area. Many factors determine the visibility of your site on search engine results pages, including the quality, relevance and structure of the content it contains. The criteria for effective local SEO are also constantly changing as companies like Google adjust their ranking algorithms, and the pace is picking up with the emergence of new,AI-driven technologies.

Not only is SEO complex, but the margin for error is slim. Research shows that most people don’t look beyond the first few links they’re shown on Google, and almost no one makes it past the first page of results. That’s why, as Dr. Gindea said, “The goal is always to get to the top of page one of Google’s search results. Otherwise, you might as well be on page 27.”

3.      A STEADY FLOW OF POSITIVE PATIENT REVIEWS

In the digital era, online reviews are just as valuable as word-of-mouth referrals.

According to research cited by the Yale Center for Customer Insights, 90% of consumers consider online reviews to be as trustworthy as personal recommendations. As Dr. Gindea pointed out, reviews also influence search engines’ “opinion” of your business. “A consistent flow of reviews is the number one thing Google looks at when ranking your practice locally,” he shared.

While implementing a system that lets you request feedback from patients via text or email is a good first step, in Dr. Gindea’s experience, this alone leaves too much to chance – what if patients don’t respond, or worse, leave a negative comment that goes unnoticed? In either case, “you’ve lost control of the process,” he said.

A more hands-on approach to review generation and reputation management is essential to both building trust with patients and the credibility needed to climb to the top of search rankings. As a baseline, Dr. Gindea and his team at DoctorsInternet target ten quality patient reviews each month for each practice they work with. They also leverage tools that monitor a practice’s reputation online and enable doctors to address any critical feedback before it affects their credibility and visibility.

THE RIGHT PARTNER

Once you’re clear on what it takes to promote your practice online, the next challenge is actually doing it. Every facet of online marketing – from web design and SEO to reputation management – is a unique discipline that can take years to master. Most practice owners, however, want to devote their bandwidth to being the best care providers they can be.

“As dentists, we’re fortunate that what we do tends to make us a living, but it’s rarely because we know how to run a business,” Dr. Gindea said. “Ask a dentist what they learned about business in dental school, and you’ll usually get a blank stare.” So, the question isn’t really whether you need a marketing partner – it’s what to look for in one. A few qualities are worth prioritizing.

Industry expertise. A general-purpose digital marketing agency may know the ins and outs of SEO and content creation, but dentistry has unique needs, constraints and dynamics that require specialized knowledge. Your marketing partner should know the difference between different dental treatments and, more importantly, understand how patients think about and search for them online. This expertise is what ultimately determines whether you end up with an invisible digital footprint or one that catches the eye of search algorithms and prospective patients.

Customer service. “It always bothered me when I’d spend an hour explaining my practice to someone at a marketing company, then call back three days later and get a completely different person,” Dr. Gindea said. Not unlike the patient experience, a lack of continuity or clarity can leave you feeling like you’re starting from scratch every time. A good partner, on the other hand, provides a dedicated point of contact who knows your goals, your market and your history. The right representative will always be ready to pick up right where you left off, and communicate ideas, insights and accomplishments in clear terms – not just hand you reports full of jargon.

Proactivity. The best dental marketing partners bring ideas and opportunities to the table and are prepared to adjust course when the landscape inevitably shifts. They also know, as Dr. Gindea reminds us, that “the easiest patients to get back are the ones that have already been to your practice.” A proactive partner works directly with your front desk staff to implement internal marketing strategies that strengthen existing patient relationships and drive recall and referrals. In short, they’re always looking for ways to plant and water the seeds that help your practice grow.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Change remains one of the only certainties in dental marketing. The strategies that seem sound today will likely need a second look tomorrow, and staying relevant requires ongoing investment. Yet, as Dr. Gindea has observed time and time again, “When dentists look to cut expenses, the marketing budget is often the first to go.”

In his experience, that’s one of the costliest mistakes they can make.

Although there’s no set rule for how much you should allocate, consensus is that a healthy marketing budget sits between 3% and 10% of your total revenue. Big picture, Dr. Gindea offers the following: “Think like a business owner. You have to spend money to make money – but spend what’s appropriate for your market.” A small-town practice may make do with a well-maintained website and a steady stream of reviews, while one in a major city will need a bit more volume to cut through the noise.

In either case, the key is staying the course – and the good news is that you don’t have to navigate it alone. With the right partner, you can alleviate the pain points of practice marketing and see your practice thrive through whatever comes next.

To learn more about how Patterson can help power your practice marketing efforts, click here:

REFERENCES

_{Chapekis A, Lieb A. Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results. Pew Research Center. pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/ google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/}

_{DoctorsInternet. How much should I spend on marketing? doctorsinternet.com/how-much-should-i-spend/}

_{OpenAI. AI as a healthcare ally. January 2026. cdn.openai.com/pdf/2cb29276-68cd-4ec6-a5f4-c01c5e7a36e9/OpenAI-AI-as-a-Healthcare-Ally-Jan-2026.pdf}

_{Yale Center for Customer Insights. The power of digital word of mouth. September 11, 2020. som.yale.edu/blog/the-power-of-digital-word-of-mouth}