Which Dental Marketing Channels Work Best for Multi-Location Dental Groups?

Mastering Multi-Location Marketing: Strategies for Scaling

Dominique: We have a fun episode for you today. Especially if you’re the owner of a multi-local, multi-location practice, right? We know how hard it is to even manage one practice, but when you’re juggling five or even 50, the complexity just goes through the roof.

So, today, Dimitri and I are going to be speaking on how marketing differs when it comes to multi-location practices and really what channels, what marketing channels are the most effective. So, really quick, why don’t we just do some really short introductions to meet? You’re going to introduce yourself.

Dmitriy: Sure. I’d love to. So, my name is Dimitri. I’m the senior media buyer at Markedly Digital. I’ve been here for over a year now. And you know, my background is I have over a decade of digital marketing experience. Things really have changed over time. You know, especially when we talk about small businesses. What they could have done in the past versus what they have to do now.

It’s a completely different landscape.

Dominique: It is. It’s way more nuanced. It’s way more complex. And by the way, my name is Dominique I’m the CMO at Marketly Digital. So, let’s get it going with the first question. From your perspective, why is marketing with a multi-location different or more complex than just a single practice?

Dmitriy: So, it’s a couple of things. If we get into the technical aspect of it, if your locations are close to one another, it’s figuring out how to keep it separate when you’re [the one] actually doing the marketing. If that’s in the Google account, how do things not overlap? You might have different doctors in different locations.

How do you push one doctor’s personality forward in this two-mile radius, maybe a three-mile radius, and then another one in this four-mile radius? That’s one thing. The other aspect is you might have different specials, and again, this is more on the technical side, you might have different specials.

We have one client that actually has, I want to say, nine locations, if I’m not mistaken. Some of them are very close. The one thing they leaned into is if a patient comes in from a neighboring office one when they saw an ad for office two, but they show up to office one, they can service them.

If [Dental Support Organizations] DSOs or multi-locations [operations] don’t do that, that creates another layer you must overcome. And you know, you and I have talked about that before we’ve seen that happen.

Dominique: Yeah, we have. This is a quick tip for anyone who does have this [situation]: if you’re able to service across multiple locations, it will really help your lead flow.

I’ve heard the calls when you have someone who calls up one office—because people are very schedule-oriented and say, “Hey, do you guys have a Friday afternoon available?” And they say, “No, sorry. But maybe our sister office does have that.” I’ve seen them be able to book a lot more new patients versus what Dimitri was saying: if they don’t have any internal connection, they’re unable to eat off of each other’s leads.

And it is more complex. I know that, with one DSO that we serve, we launched two campaigns, and this DSO had the same brand. Different DSOs sometimes have the same brand name, sometimes they don’t. This one did have the same brand name and a very similar office. I think the doctors even went back and forth for this one, and they’re in two towns right next to each other.

We launched the same offer, same funnel, same landing page, same ads. One crushed it for us, ROI was crazy, and the other completely tanked, and we had to pivot from it.

Dmitriy: And you know, that brings up another point. You have to know the demographics of the area. Even in two different towns, it’s like, what is it? What’s the income level? That’s a big thing, too, right? Another thing for dentists is if they don’t take certain insurances, or they say, “You know, we are getting a lot of phone calls, we are getting a lot of leads, but the people are not financially there, they can’t afford certain services.”

It’s also playing to that, figuring out how you market to that. That also impacts what special [offer] you are going to have. Are you going to have different offers for different offices? Even though everything might be under one umbrella, you almost have to treat them like they’re completely different businesses in some respects.

At least in terms of setup, certain things overlap if it is one brand, like the example you brought up, but it’s almost like they’re completely autonomous.

Optimizing Dental Marketing Channels for DSOs

Dominique: Let’s dive into the main point of this episode. What would you say are the most effective channels that DSOs should be thinking about when it comes to marketing?

Dmitriy: I think right now, in general, video is king. It used to be content is king. That was always the tagline. I think now the video is king. You have to have the doctors on board because getting their personality out there [is important]. This applies specifically to DSLs because every office is slightly different.

You have a slightly different demographic; they might be looking for slightly different things. If you’re in an office, let’s say, close to different factories, Amazon, for example, you might have people just there to work. Maybe it’s people on the visa, for example, if you’re by Microsoft, so their whole thing is, I just want to get in and get out.

Even when you do the content, even when you do the video, it’s about relating that message. If you’re somewhere where it’s more family-oriented, it’s talking about that. As far as channels, I would say social media [is where people are]. TikTok is up in the air. As of today, we don’t know. It looks like it’s gone.

But obviously, something else always pops up. Give it six months. We’ll let you know about the next thing, the next big thing that you gotta do because this is what it is. But with Facebook and Instagram (Meta), you always want to lean into that. And that’s where the video is great.

You want to create that demand. YouTube is another amazing channel. We’ve been experimenting more with it. And the cool thing about YouTube is, I will caution you, you might look at the numbers, and you’re thinking, man, this is terrible ROI. It’s not doing anything. But the thing about YouTube, it’s like a halo effect.

You might not see the impact of it directly. I put one in, and I got two out. But if you turn off YouTube, other things might start crumbling because it goes back to the omnipresence. People see you everywhere. Turn on YouTube. They see you; they go on social, they see you.

You’re everywhere.

Dominique: That’s always a factor. I mean, as marketers, it would be amazing if it [the buyer’s journey] were as simple as someone seeing the ads, clicking the ads, and then walking to the office.

Dmitriy: Man, my life would be amazing. Yeah, but those days are gone.

Dominique: Yeah, those days are gone.

And video, it’s a little bit harder to attribute. But it does have an impact. You see it in the numbers. You see it in the bottom line. How about Google?

Dmitriy: Yes, Google is the biggest driver, right? So when you look at social media, paid social media, you are creating the demand for yourself.

Because there’s so much video, you’re also bringing this awareness to yourself. Same thing with YouTube. When we talk about Google search, this is where [phrases like], ‘dentist near me,’ ‘dentist who does tooth extractions,’ ’emergency dental,’ or ‘dental implants’ let you speak to the people looking for a solution.

So, Google is a high-intent channel, and that’s the big thing, right? If you want to break them [down] like that. Google is highly intentional. It’s non-interruptive. So, what that means [from the customer’s perspective] is, I have a toothache right now. I’m in front of this laptop. I go on Google. [Type in] ‘dentist near me,’ and then I’m looking at their schedule, I’m looking at their landing page, or I’m looking at their offer, new patient offer.

It’s a great driver. Sometimes again, maybe the cost per lead will be a little bit higher, but you will likely get more qualified leads from Google. Whereas with social, you’re gonna get more volume. Not everybody’s going to be qualified. Some people are not going to be ready to make that commitment.

They’re not going to be ready to actually sign up and come in.

Dominique: Right. And one question we get is, what channel will be better for a DSO? I have two answers to that question. One is that it depends on the structure and the business strategy of the DSO. So, like Demetri was saying, if you have video, and you have someone who can perform video, [the video] only performs as well as the person behind the camera.

Right? So, if you are fighting tooth and nail to get your doctors to shoot a video, you might want to lean more into Google, where you don’t have to have as much content. If you have beautiful offices and team members or doctors willing to shoot videos, you can make this a part of the marketing contract as a DSO. Honestly, you can say, “Hey, we need help with marking in terms of making sure those doctors are willing to shoot videos.”

You know, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram will have more impact. What would you say to that?

Dmitriy: One hundred percent! One caveat I will put is if the doctor is unwilling to do a video, maybe the office manager or somebody who’s very involved in the business, who’s still kind of the face of the business, who’s there most times, maybe they’ll do the video.

But ultimately, we’ve seen the most success when the doctor is on camera. You know, they buy into it and show their personality. If you’ve been listening to us and seen our content, you know what Shannon always talks about, is the personality, right? It’s the buy-in; you have to show up.

You gotta be high energy. ‘Cause, at the end of the day, I’m scared. I don’t wanna go to a dentist. I love you guys, but, you know, at the same time, I love not having somebody dig in my mouth. So, you have to make the person feel comfortable, and it’s more so not thinking about what ultimately you’re trying to achieve, but also what is the other person trying to achieve.

How do I come across to them? If you work with us, the big thing that we provide is scripts. We’ve worked with DSOs especially because, again, they’re all a little bit different, and we provide coaching if somebody’s trying to shoot the video themselves.

The cool thing is, I just want to add this: you don’t have to overcomplicate it. A little selfie video, like you have a little prompt on the phone, you’re good. It doesn’t have to be; don’t get overwhelmed by the idea of video. It doesn’t have to be a crazy production.

Dominique: It’s true, and we’ve seen this literally. We have more than enough data to back this.

Any day, I’m going to prefer something well-produced, for sure. Yeah. But like you said, selfie videos, honestly, they perform just as well. Sometimes better, sometimes better.

Dmitriy: Because it’s more personable.

Dominique: So, for these multi-locations practices and DSOs trying to decide, which marketing channels should we focus on video?

Should we focus on Facebook, or Meta, or Google? How much of a budget? Should we try all of them? How much attention is on each? Energy? Do we really push the doctrine? There are all of these decisions.

What’s the biggest challenge you see with them trying to make the right choice in where to allocate their budget and put their focus?

Dmitriy: Man, that’s a great question. I think, one, if there’s already a demand in your area for your services, it doesn’t have to be very specific to your practice, just a demand for dentists, I would always say Google search. Simply because we can at least gauge if there is demand.

If we are driving the right clicks, you have a funnel built out, and your website is looking good, you’ll get calls. Okay, so now I also have to look at my front desk. How did they handle that?

But video is amazing. If you want to start growing, especially.

So if you’re looking at it and you’re like, I want my business to be two, three times in, let’s say, two years, a year, whatever it is for you, you want to continue expanding, look into video. Because you can demand, generate that demand, and that’s what you want. So allocation, I would say maybe 70/30, 70 towards Google search, start off there.

Thirty to video, start testing things out. It also takes time to figure out what videos connect. What do people care about in that area? And I will say, sit down as a team and figure out the avatar—who actually comes into the office, who do we service the most?

What did these people care about? It’s an exercise you have to go through but with every single practice under the umbrella. Because if you say, well, all of our patients are like this, but your offices are scattered around the state or maybe even between two states, you don’t know.

Because again, as we said, somebody who comes in, they’re 30 years old, and they live next to a Microsoft [facility], you know, they work at Microsoft as an IT, they’re going to be somebody very different than one who’s going to be somewhere in a house, say a wife, kids, or a husband and kids. The decision-makers are different if it’s a woman; she’s deciding for the whole household, a man might, if he’s single again in his thirties, he’s going to decide for himself.

So, that process is different, too.

Dominique: No, you brought up some good points about the challenges. I would say that what you and I have both seen is probably the number one challenge is tracking.

Dmitriy: Oh yeah!

Dominique: And because you’re trying to make these decisions, you want them to be data-driven, right?

But getting clean data can be huge and difficult for one practice alone, let alone when managing 10, 20, or 30 practices. [It’s difficult] to be able to make those decisions of who are the target audiences? What ads are driving the most patient volume? Tracking and actual ROI can be a big challenge, and there are platforms that support that. We have different ways of helping doctors with that, but making data-driven decisions and choosing the right platform in the right channel, I think, is really important.

Dmitriy: No, that’s a great point. To add to that, I mentioned in the beginning that from a technical standpoint, if you have multiple locations and are setting up a Google account, it’s a lot easier to have one Google account per location. One, from tracking billing, may be tight overall, but it’s probably not in practice.

Two, going back to your point, tracking multiple conversion points for multiple offices can get overwhelming. What are the actions that you’re tracking? Is it people filling out the form? Once you start setting up more than one account, more than one practice in a single account, you have to make sure you name everything correctly and that the right code goes in the right place.

The problem is, if you don’t do it correctly the first time, it can be a headache to figure out! Like, how do I clean it up? So, if you do everything individually, per account, like Facebook, sometimes breaking it up, that’s where tracking also ends up working better.

Dominique: Yes, it has a big impact. And what would you say about SEO? Where do you think SEO fits into the big-picture strategy?

Dmitriy: That’s a great question. I’m not the SEO person; the mind. But I will say, But …

Dominique: You’re a Google mind.

Dmitriy: Listen, I’m a Google mind. When somebody sees that post, and it says, sponsored, that’s me. That’s my thing.

But SEO and sponsored ads work off of one another, right? SEO for dentists takes a while. With SEO, it might be a year to really build you up and dominate an area. At the end of the day, you want to take over.

Google gets you there a little quicker because you’re paying for people to see your ad at the top right away. SEO takes time for growth. But once you have both of them firing, all of a sudden, somebody looks up ‘dentist near me,’ you might pop up organically, your site comes up, or somebody sees your ad.

So it’s kind of like a two-headed monster. If we start getting into other channels, say you’re also on Facebook, or someone says, “Oh, I saw you on my Instagram,” “Oh, I saw you on YouTube,” it’s amazing what that does. And, you know, this is a little bit of a side note, but one great example is Dr. Saba, right?

He always said, “You know, because my face is everywhere on video when a patient comes in, it’s a lot easier to connect with them quickly. And then explain the service, and they trust me.” Because, as humans, we operate on the fact that the more we see somebody, the more we begin to develop trust.

Even if it’s not in person. But yes, SEO is still something you need.

Branding, Content, and Strategy Insights

Dominique: Yeah, you definitely need it. I don’t do SEO either on a day-to-day basis. But working with Kelsey, our initial director of SEO, what we’ve picked up is how it fits into multi-location specifically depends on the brand strategy or how the business is structured in DSOs. What are they focused on? Do they have the same name across the board?

Other DSOs have maybe five under this name and five under another name. And then others keep the original name and website they purchased with that practice. It makes a big impact. If you’re doing separate brands, then you’re going to need separate websites for each practice, which will make your SEO a little bit more complex.

But probably our favorite strategy for SEO for multi-location is to focus on the brand, and there are cool tools that you can use, like dynamic keyword insertion and dynamic landing page insertion, where you can write one page for service, and it will connect to all locations. And so, in that way, you can put all your SEO juice behind the brand itself by having location pages.

The brand might be Blue Dental, right? But then you have a location for this office and for each of the others. Each practice has different targeted keywords for those specific locations. That’s on the back end, but it’s probably the best strategy that we’ve seen.

Dmitriy: Yeah, absolutely. And even to add to that, paid ads. If we want to have something as simple as ‘dentist near me,’ it’s always good to have a branded campaign at the same time, right? So, if there is an office that’s called Blue Dental and you’re in that area, you also want to bid on those keywords and have ads that speak to your brand.

Because maybe they’ll land on your landing page or on your website, but the person is not ready. They want more research. You want to be able to pop up in the beginning, at the top, if your SEO is still getting built up. Because sometimes you don’t come up for your name, especially if it’s a common name for a business.

All of a sudden, somebody else is coming up.

Dominique: That’s a good point. We talked a little bit about creating content, creating video content for dental practices. How would you say that a multi-location practice can create content that resonates while maintaining brand consistency across this entire region?

Dmitriy: It’s a great question. I think that also depends on the marketing director at the DSO because they’re in charge of the brand. So, their vision has to resonate with that. One thing that I would say, and it’s not super complicated, is if your brand is family dentistry, have kids’ toys somewhere in the shot. It can be small things, right? It doesn’t matter which office you go to.

If your practice sees kids and you have a stuffed animal somewhere [in the video], a mom or a father are going to see it and they’re going say, “Oh, okay, cool. I can bring my kids.”

Dominique: Your brain will subconsciously connect.

Dmitriy: Exactly. There’s a lot of small things—I love the science of marketing, the psychology of it. It’s always answering the question, why? So, with your brand, the questions are: Why is your brand important? What is your brand trying to accomplish?

And even though the services might be different, there’s probably something overall that’s overarching across the brand that you can put into it. It’s not just about the logo, the colors, while they’re important, there’s usually some idea that you’re trying to get across, and that’s what you want to do.

Dominique: So, clarifying that idea while still bringing in enough individuality from each practice, right? This can be the doctor, a team member, or even local signage. And factoring in that unique audience for that area—like we talked about—their income and interest levels, and are they close to a major corporation?

Dmitriy: Different things like that, I’ll factor in. Let’s say there is a town square somewhere named John Smith Town Square. Everybody knows it by name. So, you can make an ad saying, “Hey, we’re two minutes away from John Smith Town Square,” or “We’re around the block [from John Smith Town Square],” because the people, if they’re local say, “Oh, I know where this is at.”

And now, all of a sudden, you’re part of a community. At the end of the day, you want to be a superstar in your community. You want to ‘own dentistry’ in that five-mile radius. Where it’s established that [your practice] is the dentist in this five-mile radius, then you expand.

Dominique: Would you say there are common mistakes that DSOs make when they’re trying to manage all these campaigns, different channels across multiple locations?

Dmitriy: Yeah, the first thing on the technical side is combining everything. [When they’re not combined], your metrics are muddy. I’ve seen that, and it’s such a headache to untangle.

Let’s go back to running multiple locations out of Google. If your conversions and everything are not set up right the first time, your data is already bad. Now, the platform itself, the algorithm, the AI, is optimizing incorrectly.

Dmitriy: Let’s say you are getting some results. You see that people are coming from Google. But you realize you messed up the setup and say, Let me fix this. Once you start fixing it, you’re going to have a dip. You’re going to have a month where performance is going to be bad.

And that might mean you lose a lot of patients, or new patients don’t come in. You have to be prepared for that.

I have seen that happen where, you know, there’s a Google account. I’ll come in and see it is a little off. I’ll say [to the client], “Just so you know, we’ll keep running this, but we’re going to start building everything out correctly.” I think that’s a big one. That’s probably the number one thing I will say.

It still goes back to tracking. It still goes back to metrics and not knowing your numbers. If you’re looking at everything as a whole, a holistic view, but you don’t break it down by location,

Dominique: By location, right. And it’s a delicate balance of not letting each individual practice dictate the strategy too much. You have to kind of maintain that balance, what strategy, what offers, or if you’re going to be using videos. But then, at the same time still including them enough so that it becomes personalized. It is a delicate balance.

When it comes down to it, you want to use all marketing channels. Like you said, make data-driven decisions in terms of which one you want to focus the budget allocation based off of data and also based off of the capabilities and assets of each location and it’s goals, right?

Dmitriy: Goals, right? Maybe there’s a practice that is amazing. It’s skyrocketing, but then there’s one struggling, and you really want to in the next six months get this one to catch up. So, yeah, goals are important.

Dominique: No, that’s awesome. That’s some really good data.

Thanks for that, Dimitri. I hope you guys enjoyed that. I hope you’re able to get some value from that.

We have loads of other content in terms of helping establish practices, and multi-location practices grow when it comes to their marketing, both internal and external.

So, smash that subscribe button and check out what else we’ve got. And if you want to reach out to us to chat, we’re always happy to chat.

Dmitriy: Absolutely. All right. Thank you.

Dominique: Peace guys.