A dental marketing plan should fit on one page and answer five questions: how many new patients you want, for which services, from which channels, at what cost, and who does the work. Few owners search for one ("dental marketing plan" gets about 50 US searches a month; "dental marketing budget" and "dental marketing roi" about 30 each, per Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026), but the practices that write one stop guessing.
This template is built for dental offices: insurance-year timing, hygiene capacity, and implant or cosmetic pushes. It belongs to our dental marketing hub; for the general version, see the healthcare marketing plan guide.
The one-page dental marketing plan (template)
| Field | What to write | Illustrative example |
|---|---|---|
| 12-month goal | New patients per month, overall and by service | 30 new patients a month; 4 implant consults |
| Audiences | Who you want more of | Families within 5 miles; adults with missing teeth |
| Services to grow | Two or three, matched to capacity | Implants, clear aligners, children's hygiene |
| Channels | Where each audience finds you | Google Business Profile, website, Google Ads |
| Monthly budget | Per channel, including fees and software | $3,000 ads, $349 software, staff time |
| Owner | One named person per channel | Office manager: profile and reviews |
| KPI targets | Monthly numbers you will check | Cost per new patient under $200 |
| Review dates | Monthly and quarterly | First Tuesday of each month |
Make it yours: copy the table above into any spreadsheet, or print this page (your browser's print dialog can save it as a PDF). The structure is what matters.
HIPAA notes for the plan. Keep the plan to counts and totals, never patient names. Under HIPAA's definition of marketing (opens in a new tab), messages to your own patients about your own health-related services, or about their treatment, are not "marketing" unless a third party pays you to send them. Testimonials and patient photos need a signed authorization. Have your attorney or compliance lead review any campaign that uses patient lists, testimonials or offers before it launches.
Set goals from your numbers: new patients, service mix, chair capacity
Start from capacity, not ambition. Count the open new-patient hygiene appointments and doctor exam slots over the next 90 days. If hygiene is booked six weeks out, a campaign for new-patient cleanings will mostly produce frustrated callers.
Then pick the service mix. A practice with an associate who wants more surgical work might set a goal for implant consults; one with open hygiene days might focus on families. Write the goal as a monthly number for each service so the KPIs have something to measure against. Before setting targets, start with a free audit to see where your website, listing and ads stand today.
Budget: how to size it and split it by channel
Build the budget from your goal, not from a percentage someone quoted at a study club:
Hypothetical arithmetic. Goal: 30 new patients a month. You expect about 18 from referrals, reviews and your Business Profile, and want 12 from Google Ads. Last quarter an ad-sourced new patient cost $200, so ad spend is 12 × $200 = $2,400. Add fixed costs: website and software, any management fee, and staff time for follow-up.
Split what remains by where your patients actually come from, and keep 10 to 20 percent in reserve for tests. The marketing budget calculator runs the same math with your own numbers. Software belongs on the list too; Medfy pricing is $349/month for the base plan, with optional add-ons for ads management and website chat.
The 12-month calendar for a dental practice
| Month | Anchor | Campaign idea |
|---|---|---|
| January | New benefit year for calendar-year plans | Schedule treatment deferred from December |
| February | National Children's Dental Health Month (ADA) | Family and children's checkups |
| March–April | Spring | Whitening ahead of weddings and graduations; sports mouthguards |
| May–June | School year ends | Summer appointments for students home from college |
| July–August | Back to school | Children's exams before the school year |
| September | Fall | Implant and full-arch education |
| October | National Dental Hygiene Month (ADHA) | Hygiene team and prevention content |
| November–December | Benefit year ends for calendar-year plans | Remind patients with unscheduled treatment |
The ADA sponsors National Children's Dental Health Month (opens in a new tab) in February and offers free posters in English and Spanish. The ADHA marks National Dental Hygiene Month (opens in a new tab) in October. Not every plan runs on a calendar year, so check the benefit year before sending reset reminders. Dates and themes change; verify each year. Our dental marketing calendar lists more observances, and these ideas to fill the calendar cover campaigns by channel.
KPIs: new patients by source, cost per new patient, case acceptance
Track a short list every month:
- New patients by source, from the intake question "How did you hear about us?"
- Cost per new patient by channel: spend divided by new patients from that channel.
- Case acceptance for the services you are growing: treatment presented versus treatment scheduled.
- Leads and response time: calls, forms and how fast each was returned.
Impressions, followers and clicks are inputs, not results. For definitions and benchmarks to set up, see our guide to marketing KPIs to track.
Dental marketing ROI as simple arithmetic
Hypothetical arithmetic, not a typical result. A practice spends $5,000 in a month. It gains 25 new patients attributed to marketing, and its own reports show an average first-year production of $900 per new patient. First-year production is 25 × $900 = $22,500. ROI is ($22,500 − $5,000) ÷ $5,000 = 3.5.
Use your own production figures, keep the time window the same each month, and remember that production is not profit. A patient who stays for years is worth more than one year; our guide to patient lifetime value shows how to estimate it.
Reviewing the plan monthly and quarterly
Monthly (30 minutes): compare KPIs to targets, move budget toward the channels with the lowest cost per new patient, and check that every lead was followed up.
Quarterly: revisit goals against chair capacity, update the next quarter's calendar, and decide whether to keep running marketing in-house. Our comparison of an agency vs doing it yourself helps with that call.
Medfy's AI CMO dashboard shows leads by source and sends a weekly brief by email, which gives the monthly meeting its numbers without a spreadsheet export.
Frequently asked questions
What should a dental marketing plan include?
A dental marketing plan needs a 12-month new-patient goal, the services you want more of, the audiences you serve, the channels you will use, a monthly budget per channel, one owner for each task and KPI targets. Add a calendar built around your insurance year and observances such as February's National Children's Dental Health Month, and a fixed monthly meeting to review the numbers.
How much should a dental office budget for marketing?
Build the budget from your goal rather than a rule of thumb. Multiply the new patients you want from paid channels by what a new patient has cost you in each channel, then add fixed costs such as your website, software and any agency fee. If you don't know your cost per new patient yet, start small, track sources for three months and size the budget from real numbers.
How do you measure dental marketing ROI?
Count new patients by source each month, multiply by an average first-year value from your own production reports, subtract what you spent, and divide by what you spent. Use the same window every time. Production is not profit, so subtract clinical costs if you want a truer figure. Implant and aligner cases skew averages, so track them separately.
When should a dental practice update its marketing plan?
Review the numbers monthly and adjust spend between channels as results come in. Revisit goals and the calendar every quarter, and rebuild the plan once a year before your busiest season. Update it sooner when something big changes: a new associate, extra hygiene days, leaving or joining an insurance network, or a new competitor opening nearby.