Digital marketing for dentists
Dental digital marketing measured in new patients
One plan across search, ads, social and email, judged by what each new patient costs and what they are worth to your practice, not by likes or clicks.
- Cost per new patient tracked
- Enquiry handling fixed too
- One team, every channel
Quick answer
ProntX is a dental digital marketing agency for UK practices. We plan the channel mix around your capacity and treatment goals, fix how enquiries are handled once they arrive, reactivate lapsed patients by email and report cost per new patient by channel. Dental digital marketing starts from £595 a month, rolling monthly.
Most dental digital marketing is sold channel by channel: an SEO retainer here, a social package there, an ads account nobody really owns. ProntX plans digital marketing for dentists the other way round. We start with the patients you want more of and the chair time you have free, work out what a new patient is worth to the practice, then choose the channels that bring those patients at a cost that makes sense.
Who this is for
Independent and group practices that want a single plan rather than four suppliers. It suits mixed practices growing private treatments, fully private clinics with spare implant or aligner capacity, and new practices that need a full book quickly. If you only need one channel, our SEO for dentists or dental PPC pages go deeper.
The problem it solves
Practices often hear that leads are coming in, yet the diary does not reflect it. The usual gaps sit between channels: an ad sends people to a page with no fees, a form arrives at 9pm and is answered two days later, a consultation is booked and never confirmed. Fixing those gaps is often worth more than adding a new channel.
The numbers first
How much should a dental practice spend on digital marketing?
There is no fixed percentage that suits every practice. The useful figure is what you can afford to pay for one new patient, which depends on what that patient is worth over time.
Step 1
Patient value by treatment
A hygiene patient on a membership plan, an aligner case and a full implant case have very different values. We use your fee list and typical conversion from consultation to treatment to estimate what each type of patient is worth over a few years.
Step 2
An affordable cost per patient
From that value we set a target cost per new patient for each treatment group. It gives every channel a clear pass mark and stops budget drifting to whatever has the cheapest clicks.
Step 3
Budget follows capacity
If your implant surgeon has two free days a month, there is no point buying enquiries for ten. We size spend to the chairs and clinicians you actually have, and scale when you add capacity.
Channel mix
Which digital marketing channels work best for dental clinics?
It depends on the practice. Here is how we usually weight the mix for the practice types we see most often; your plan is built from your own data.
| Practice type | Lead channels | Supporting channels | Main goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed NHS and private | Local search and Maps, email to existing patients | Social for team and practice news | Move existing patients to private hygiene, whitening and aligners |
| Private implant or restorative clinic | Treatment SEO and search ads | Retargeting within policy limits, educational video | Booked consultations for complex cases |
| Cosmetic and aligner focused | Paid social and search ads | Instagram content, reviews | Consultation bookings at a set cost |
| New or squat practice | Search ads and Maps setup | Local community social, launch email to registrations | Fill the book in the first year |
| Multi-site group | SEO and ads per location | Central brand content and email | Balance demand across sites |
After the click
Why do dental leads go cold, and how do we fix it?
Mostly through slow replies and unclear next steps. Patients researching private treatment contact several practices; the one that answers first and clearly often gets the consultation.
- Instant email or text acknowledgement for every web and social enquiry
- Out-of-hours enquiries routed to a callback list for the first morning slot
- A short reception script for treatment enquiries, including fees from
- Consultation confirmations and reminders to cut no-shows
- A follow-up sequence for patients who had a consultation but did not start
None of this needs expensive software. Most practice management systems can send reminders, and simple automations cover the rest. Where you want more, our AI development team can build an enquiry assistant that answers common questions about fees, parking and availability out of hours, with every clinical question passed to a human.
We also listen to a sample of tracked calls with your permission. It is often the fastest way to see why one month booked well and the next did not.
Existing patients
Can email marketing bring revenue from patients you already have?
Yes, and it is usually the cheapest growth channel a practice has. Lapsed recalls, unbooked treatment plans and patients who have never heard about your private options are all reachable by email.
We set up recall reactivation for patients who have missed check-ups, gentle reminders for treatment plans that were quoted but never started, and occasional updates about new clinicians or treatments. Messages are written plainly, with no countdown offers that pressure clinical decisions.
UK electronic marketing rules apply. Service messages such as appointment reminders are different from marketing, and marketing emails to individuals need consent or a valid soft opt-in for existing patients, always with an easy way to unsubscribe. Our email marketing team sets up the lists and consent records correctly from the start.
Rules
What limits apply to digital marketing in dentistry?
Professional, advertising and platform rules all apply, and they shape targeting as well as wording. Your practice’s compliance lead signs off clinical claims before anything is published.
Professional and advertising rules
GDC guidance expects advertising to be accurate and not misleading, with practice details, registration information and NHS or private status clear on your website. The CAP Code requires evidence for claims and prohibits advertising prescription-only medicines to the public.
Platform targeting limits
Google treats health as a sensitive category, which restricts some audience features such as uploading patient lists for ad targeting. Meta has also narrowed health-related targeting. We plan campaigns around search intent, location and content rather than personal health data.
Reporting
How do you know which channel brought the patient?
By tracking every enquiry to its source and matching it to what happened next. One monthly report shows cost per enquiry, per consultation and, where your system allows, per started treatment.
Each channel gets its own tracked phone number and tagged links, and online booking is tracked where your software allows it. Reception records a simple outcome for each new enquiry. The result is a report a practice owner can read in five minutes, showing which channels are paying for themselves. We do not report followers or impressions as results, because they do not fill chairs.
Attribution is never perfect. A patient may see an Instagram video, search your practice name a week later and then call from the Maps listing. We show both the last touch and the channels involved earlier, and we ask new patients at registration how they heard of you. Combining those views gives a fair picture of which channels to grow and which to pause, rather than crediting everything to brand searches.
Pricing
How much does dental digital marketing cost?
ProntX digital marketing for dentists starts from £595 a month ex VAT. Multi-channel plans for busy private clinics usually cost more, and ad spend is always paid by the practice straight to Google or Meta.
| Plan | Typical monthly fee | Usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | From £595 | Strategy and tracking, local search, monthly email to existing patients |
| Growth | Typically £1,100 to £1,700 | Adds search ads or paid social for one or two treatments, enquiry follow-up setup |
| Full practice programme | Typically £1,800 and up | SEO, ads, social and email together, call reviews, multi-site reporting |
Final price depends on channels, number of practices and treatments. Rolling monthly, no lock-in.
SEO and AI search
from £595/month
Local and small business SEO, GEO and AEO included
What is includedPPC and Google Ads
from £450/month
Management fee. Ad spend is paid direct to Google
What is includedStart with a free practice growth audit, a personal video from the ProntX team covering your search visibility, ads, social and how your enquiries are handled, delivered within 2 working days.
How it works
What happens after you get in touch
- 01Free audit
We review your site, search visibility, ads and competitors, then send a short video walkthrough with the quickest wins.
Request audit - 02Plan and price
A one-page plan with goals, channels, timeline and a fixed monthly price. No surprises later.
See prices - 03Launch in weeks
Tracking first, then quick wins, then the bigger builds. You see progress in the first month.
See our work - 04Report and grow
Monthly report in plain English: leads, sales, cost per result and what we do next.
Talk to us
Same industry
More for dentists
FAQ
Dental digital marketing questions, answered
Still unsure? Ask us anything. We reply within one working day.
What is dental digital marketing?
It is the use of online channels such as search, Google Ads, social media, email and your website to attract and keep patients. Good dental digital marketing treats these as one system, so every channel sends people to the right page, every enquiry is answered quickly and results are measured in new patients rather than clicks.
How much should a dental practice spend on marketing?
There is no rule that fits every practice. A better approach is to work out what a new patient is worth for each treatment, set a cost per patient you can afford, then fund the channels that hit it. A practice with spare implant capacity can justify far more spend than one with a waiting list for check-ups.
Is a specialist dental marketing agency better than a general one?
What matters is whether the agency understands GDC and advertising rules, health targeting limits and how patients choose a dentist, and whether it reports on bookings. Some specialist agencies sell fixed packages that ignore your capacity. ProntX combines dental experience with a full in-house team for search, ads, social, email and websites.
Why are we getting leads but not new patients?
Usually the leads are answered too slowly, reach the wrong person, or are not followed up after a consultation. Unsuitable enquiries from loosely targeted ads are another cause. We track each enquiry through to its outcome, review a sample of calls and fix the handoff before adding budget.
Can we email patients about private treatments?
Often yes, within UK electronic marketing rules. Appointment reminders are service messages, while promotional emails to individuals need consent or a valid soft opt-in for existing patients, plus a clear unsubscribe link in every message. We review your consent records first and keep promotional and clinical communications separate.
How long before digital marketing brings results?
Paid search and paid social can bring enquiries within weeks of launch. Email to existing patients often works in the first month. SEO and reviews take longer, usually several months, but they lower your cost per patient over time. Most plans combine a fast channel with a slower compounding one.
Do we keep our accounts if we leave?
Yes. Your website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts, analytics and email lists stay in the practice's name throughout. Ad spend is paid by you directly to the platforms. Contracts are rolling monthly, so you can leave with your data and history whenever you choose.
Who checks that our marketing is compliant?
We write to GDC guidance, the CAP Code and platform policies from the first draft and flag anything uncertain. Final sign-off on clinical claims, images and fees rests with your practice's compliance lead or principal dentist, because they hold the professional responsibility.
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