Dental clinics
Dental marketing packages: how to compare 2 proposals that look nothing alike
One proposal stops at the click, the other runs to the kept appointment. Price both per booked consultation before you sign either
Dental marketing packages are hard to compare because each agency packs a different share of the work into its price. Map both proposals onto the same 8 steps (offer, ads, landing page, qualifying, first reply, booking, reminders, report), then divide each package's fee plus ad spend by the consultations it books. You get one number per booking.
A package that ends at the click looks cheaper. The steps it leaves out, the first reply, the booking and the reminders, still have to happen and they land on your front desk.
We're Leadflix and we run marketing for dental clinics, so our proposals land on desks like yours too. Below you get a sheet with the 8 steps, the arithmetic, 8 questions to send both agencies and 2 lines to find in every proposal before you sign: who owns the ad accounts and where the ad spend goes.
Dental marketing packages cover different parts of 8 steps
Every new patient who comes from an ad passes through the same 8 steps. A package is the list of steps the agency takes on and every other step stays with you.
| Step | What the proposal should name |
|---|---|
| 1. Offer | Which treatment and what the patient books: a consultation, an exam or a call |
| 2. Ads | Which platforms, who makes the footage, how many new ads a month and the ad spend on its own line |
| 3. Landing page | One page per treatment, who builds it and who tests it |
| 4. Qualifying | The questions asked before a booking and what happens to people who don't pass |
| 5. First reply | How fast, by whom and whether evenings and weekends count |
| 6. Booking | Who books, into which calendar, with which notes |
| 7. Reminders | Who confirms, who reminds, who rebooks a missed visit (how to reduce patient no-shows) |
| 8. Report | Spend, booked and kept consultations and accepted treatment plans, per ad and per treatment |
Go through each proposal and mark every step named, vague or missing. Named means a person, a time or a number and vague means a promise without one.
Most proposals also list SEO, a website, social posts and review requests. Put each under the step it feeds, usually the ads or the landing page and mark it named only when the proposal ties it to booked consultations.
The steps a package leaves out still happen at your front desk
A package that ends at the click hands you steps 4 to 7. Someone at your clinic has to reply, qualify, book and remind, usually the same people who check patients in.
At the dental clinics we run this for, every new patient inquiry gets a text in under 5 minutes, 7 days a week and then a person follows up. If your reception team is already stretched, a package that only adds leads gives you more calls to return and the same hours to return them in.
How to compare agency proposals: price each per booking
The monthly fee tells you what a package costs and nothing about what each booking costs. Add the fee and the ad spend for one month, then divide by the consultations that package books. Until you sign, that count is the agency's forecast, so take it in writing, with what it booked for a clinic like yours last month.
Worked example, not a client result and not our price. Package A costs $2,000 a month plus $3,000 in ads and sends the leads to your inbox. Your front desk books 12 of them: $417 per booked consultation, before anyone counts the staff time.
Package B costs $6,000 plus the same $3,000 in ads, replies to every inquiry and books into your calendar. It books 30: $300 per booked consultation.
| Package | Fee plus ads a month | Booked consultations | Cost per booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, your front desk books | $5,000 | 12 | $417 |
| B, the agency books | $9,000 | 30 | $300 |
| A, if your front desk books 25 | $5,000 | 25 | $200 |
The arithmetic cuts both ways. If your front desk books 25 of package A's leads, A costs $200 per booking and wins. You only know once both are priced the same way and then once more per kept appointment, because a booking that never shows costs the same fee.
Ask both agencies the same 8 questions, in writing
A proposal shows what the agency wants to sell. Written answers to the same 8 questions show how each one works, side by side:
- What counts as a qualified consultation and who decides?
- What counts as booked: a time in our calendar, or a form in your inbox?
- What share of new inquiries got a first reply within 5 minutes last month?
- Who sends that first reply: a person, a text or a call?
- How do you cut no-shows and who rebooks a missed visit?
- How does a booking reach our calendar and which notes come with it?
- Can your report follow one ad to booked and kept consultations?
- Can you split raw leads, qualified leads, bookings, shows and completed consultations, month by month?
An answer to 3 or 7 without a number goes down as vague.
Who owns the ad accounts and where the ad spend goes
Control follows whoever created the account. In Google Ads a client account has one owner and when an agency creates the account from its manager account, Google makes the agency the owner automatically. An admin user of the client account can always unlink it, so make sure someone at your clinic has admin access (Google Ads Help).
At Meta, an ad account can belong to only one business portfolio, so an account created in the agency's portfolio is the agency's (Meta Business Help). Ask both agencies to create the accounts in your clinic's own business portfolio and to work in them as partners.
Google requires an agency that charges a management fee to disclose it in writing before the first purchase and on every invoice and to report "the exact amount charged by Google, exclusive of any fees that you charge" (Google Ads policies). A proposal with one all-in number hides how much of it reaches the ads.
With us, the ad accounts and the CRM that holds your patient conversations are your clinic's and they stay with you if you leave.
Patient data and ad claims: your clinic answers for both
Ask each proposal which patient data it uses and where that data goes. In the US, HIPAA applies when the agency uses patient information for ads, lists or retargeting and HHS's guidance says that, with limited exceptions, "the Rule requires an individual's written authorization before a use or disclosure of his or her protected health information can be made for marketing" (HHS). In the EU and the UK, GDPR requires a written processor contract with any agency that handles patient data for you (GDPR, Article 28).
Tracking tools count too: in 2024 Sweden's data protection authority fined 2 pharmacies 37 million and 8 million kronor for passing visitors' personal data to Meta through the Meta pixel (IMY).
Your clinic's name is on every ad. The FTC's compliance guidance for health products sums up the law in 2 principles, "Advertising must be truthful and not misleading" and "adequate substantiation for all objective product claims". It also says the FTC has acted against "ad agencies" as well as the companies they advertise for (FTC). Ask which person signs off each ad against these rules and get that step written into the proposal.
Dental packages need 3 lines a general agency leaves out
A general agency can run ads for a dentist the way it runs them for a car dealer. A dental proposal needs 3 more lines.
Results per treatment. An implant consultation and a check-up are worth different amounts, so ask for bookings counted per treatment, in the report and in the price per booking.
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Sam, who owns Gamla Staden Tandvård, is in one of our 3 client films.
Financing in the qualifying questions. The ADA notes that patients who don't budget for treatment may put it off or decide against it. More of them accept the treatment plan when they know financing exists (ADA, Patient Financing Options). For implants or aligners, the proposal should say where financing comes up: in the ad, on the page or in the first reply.
Front-desk capacity. Ask who answers when 30 new consultations land in a month and what happens when the front desk is with a patient.
When the narrower dental marketing package is the right buy
If your front desk already replies within minutes, books with notes and reminds every patient, steps 4 to 7 are covered. Then a package for steps 1 to 3 can be the better deal and the comparison comes down to the ads, the footage and the report.
That's also the case to bring to both agencies: show them your reply times and your booking numbers and ask what each package adds on top.
To pick which agencies write the proposals, use the 7 tests for a marketing agency for clinics. The arithmetic behind cost per booking is in why cost per lead is the wrong number to optimize for.
Straight answers to common questions
What should a dental marketing package include?
All 8 steps from the offer to the report, or a clear line saying which ones stay with you: the offer, the ads, a landing page per treatment, qualifying questions, a first reply within minutes, booking into your calendar, reminders and a monthly report of booked and kept consultations per ad. Any step the package leaves out lands on your front desk.
How do I compare two marketing proposals for my clinic when the packages are so different?
Put both against the same steps, from the offer to the kept appointment and mark each step named, vague or missing. Then divide each package's total monthly cost, fee plus ad spend, by the consultations it books. The package with the lower fee can still cost more per booking once your front desk does the steps it leaves out.
Is ad spend included in a dental marketing package?
It depends on the agency, so ask for the fee and the ad spend on separate lines. Google requires agencies that charge a management fee to disclose it in writing before the first purchase and on every invoice and to report what Google charged without their fee. The ad spend should go into ad accounts in your clinic's name.
Who owns the ad account when an agency runs my ads?
Whoever creates it controls it. In Google Ads, a manager account that creates a client account becomes its owner, though an admin user at your clinic can unlink it. At Meta, an ad account belongs to one business portfolio only, so create the accounts in your clinic's own portfolio and give the agency partner access.
Is an all-in-one dental marketing package better than buying services separately?
It depends on what your front desk already covers. An all-in-one package takes on more of the 8 steps for one fee, while separate services can cost less when your team already replies within minutes, books with notes and reminds every patient. Price both per booked consultation, then per kept appointment and pick the lower.
Who is responsible if the agency's ad breaks the advertising rules?
Treat it as yours, because your clinic's name is on the ad. The FTC says it has acted against ad agencies as well as the companies they advertise for, so a breach can reach both. Ask which person signs off each ad against the rules and get that step written into the proposal.
Should I pick the agency with the lower monthly fee?
Only after pricing both per booked consultation. A lower fee can mean fewer steps and the steps it leaves out cost you staff time and missed bookings. If your front desk already handles those steps well, the lower fee can be the right pick.
Can I bring another agency's proposal to the call?
Yes. Bring both, with the agency names covered if you prefer. We mark the 8 steps on each, price both per booked consultation and give you a clear plan, whether or not we work together. The call is free and takes 30 minutes.
Author
Oscar Cruz
Founder, Leadflix
Leadflix started when our founder, Oscar Cruz, saw that most gyms and trainers were terrible at marketing and started fixing it. Clinics and home improvement came next, where 1 new customer is worth enough that the math changes: fill the calendar and the business grows. 80+ businesses, $7M in client revenue and 40,000+ sales appointments later, that is still the whole job.
Articles by Oscar