Checklist
Marketing checklist for dental and medical practices
12 tasks to book more new patients and bring back overdue ones, ranked by return.
- 12 tasks
- First win in week 1
- Free to read
Marketing checklist for dental and medical practices: what goes on the list?
A dental or medical practice marketing checklist has 12 tasks: fix your online booking flow, respond to every review, run a recall/reactivation campaign for overdue patients, and optimize your Google Business Profile for 'near me' searches. Practices that fix online booking usually see new patient calls convert to booked appointments within 1-2 weeks, without any new ad spend.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Factor | Detail |
|---|---|
| Best first channel | Online booking + Google Business Profile |
| Typical monthly cost | $100-250 in tools |
| Time to first result | 1-2 weeks |
| Biggest leak | Overdue patients with no recall follow-up |
Dental and medical practices usually have plenty of potential patients nearby; the leaks are in booking friction, unanswered reviews, and patients who fall off the recall schedule. Those fixes are cheaper and faster than any new advertising channel.
This checklist is built for independent practices with 1-5 providers using a patient management system like Dentrix, Open Dental, or a general EHR. Every task can be handled by an office manager or front desk lead in a normal week.
The checklist
Work down the list, top to bottom.
Ordered by return. Each task names the first step and how you know it's done.
- 01
Turn on 24/7 online appointment booking
A large share of new patients search and try to book outside office hours; requiring a phone call during business hours loses patients to the next practice that lets them book instantly.
First step: Enable online booking in your patient management system or add a widget like NexHealth or Zocdoc to your website.
- Done when
- A test booking can be completed start to finish on your website in under 3 minutes without calling the office.
- Effort
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Free-$300/mo depending on platform
- 02
Respond to every Google review within 48 hours
Prospective patients read reviews and responses before booking, and practices that reply to both positive and negative reviews are seen as more trustworthy and rank better locally.
First step: Turn on email notifications for new reviews in Google Business Profile and write a short, personal reply to each one.
- Done when
- Every review from the last 60 days has a reply, and new ones are answered within 2 days.
- Effort
- 30 minutes/week
- Cost
- Free
- 03
Set up an automated recall campaign for overdue patients
Patients overdue for a cleaning or checkup are a warm list already familiar with the practice, and recalling them costs far less than acquiring a new patient.
First step: Pull a list of patients overdue by 30+ days from your practice management system and send an automated text/email reminder to book.
- Done when
- The recall list has been contacted and at least 5% have rebooked within a month.
- Effort
- 2 hours setup
- Cost
- $50-150/mo (recall/reminder software)
- 04
Optimize your Google Business Profile for local searches
'Dentist near me' and 'family doctor near me' searches drive most new-patient discovery, and a complete profile with accurate hours and photos outranks incomplete competitor listings.
First step: Claim your profile, add interior/exterior photos, correct hours, insurance accepted, and a direct booking link.
- Done when
- Your profile is fully complete and shows at least 25 reviews from the last year.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- 05
Add a post-appointment review request text
Asking for a review immediately after a good visit, while the experience is fresh, generates far more reviews than a generic request sent later.
First step: Send an automated text 2 hours after each appointment with a direct link to leave a Google review, using a tool like Podium or Weave.
- Done when
- You've sent the request to at least 20 recent patients and gained at least 5 new reviews.
- Effort
- 2 hours setup
- Cost
- $150-300/mo (patient communication tool)
- 06
Build a new-patient welcome packet email
New patients who receive clear information about parking, forms, and what to expect show up on time and reduce staff time spent answering repeat questions.
First step: Create a short email sent automatically after booking, covering forms, insurance, parking, and what the first visit involves.
- Done when
- The email sends automatically for every new booking and front desk reports fewer day-of questions.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Included in patient communication tool
- 07
Reduce no-shows with a 2-day and 2-hour reminder
No-shows leave chairs empty that could have seen another patient; automated reminders at two intervals reduce no-show rates more than a single reminder.
First step: Set up automated text and email reminders 2 days and 2 hours before each appointment in your scheduling system.
- Done when
- Reminders are firing for all upcoming appointments and no-show rate is tracked for comparison next month.
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Included in most scheduling software
- 08
Launch a patient referral thank-you program
Referred patients trust the practice before they even walk in, and a small thank-you (gift card or discount) encourages current patients to keep referring.
First step: Ask front desk staff to note when a new patient mentions a referral, and send the referring patient a $10-20 gift card.
- Done when
- At least one referral has been tracked and thanked this month.
- Effort
- 1 hour/month
- Cost
- $10-20 per referral
- 09
Add treatment-specific landing pages for high-value services
Patients searching for specific treatments (Invisalign, dental implants, a specific specialty) convert better on a page speaking directly to that need than on a generic homepage.
First step: Write one page for your highest-margin service covering what it is, cost range, and how to book, and link it from your homepage.
- Done when
- The page is live and appears in Google Search Console for the treatment search term within 4-6 weeks.
- Effort
- 4 hours
- Cost
- Free
- 10
Run a local Google Ads campaign for high-intent searches
Searches like 'emergency dentist near me' or 'accepting new patients' show clear intent to book now, and a well-targeted campaign converts at a lower cost than broad awareness ads.
First step: Set up a Google Ads campaign targeting your 3 highest-intent keywords, limited to a 10-mile radius, with a $15/day budget.
- Done when
- The campaign has run 14 days with at least one tracked booked appointment.
- Effort
- 3 hours
- Cost
- $15-30/day
- 11
Segment and email patients due for a specific procedure
Patients flagged for a specific upcoming need (crown follow-up, annual physical) are easier to convert than the general patient list because the message matches their exact situation.
First step: Filter your patient list by treatment plan status and send a targeted email or text to those due for that specific procedure.
- Done when
- The segment has been contacted and at least one patient has booked as a result.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Included in patient communication tool
- 12
Track new patient source and no-show rate monthly
Knowing whether new patients come from Google, referrals, or insurance directories tells you where to put the next dollar, and no-show rate shows if reminders are actually working.
First step: Add a 'how did you hear about us' field to intake forms and pull no-show rate from your scheduling system each month.
- Done when
- You have a written breakdown of new patient sources and a no-show percentage for the last month.
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
Mistakes
What goes wrong most often.
Requiring a phone call to book any appointment
Practices that only accept phone bookings lose patients who search and decide outside office hours. Adding 24/7 online booking is one of the cheapest fixes on this list and directly captures demand that already exists.
Letting negative reviews sit unanswered
An unanswered negative review signals to future patients that the practice doesn't engage with feedback. A calm, professional reply within 48 hours, even without resolving the issue publicly, preserves trust for anyone reading it later.
Only marketing to attract new patients, not recall existing ones
Existing patients overdue for a visit are the cheapest source of revenue a practice has, yet many spend heavily on new-patient ads while recall lists sit untouched. Fix recall automation before increasing ad spend.
Questions
The things people ask about this list.
What's the first marketing task a dental or medical practice should do?
Turn on 24/7 online booking. It captures patients who decide to book outside office hours and can be set up in a few hours using your existing patient management system or a booking widget, often free or low-cost.
How much should a small practice spend on marketing tools?
Budget $100-250 a month for patient communication and recall software combined. That typically covers automated reminders, review requests, and recall texts, all of which reduce no-shows and reactivate existing patients.
Do dental and medical practices need paid ads to grow?
Not immediately. Fixing online booking, reviews, and recall for overdue patients usually brings in more appointments per dollar than ads. Add local Google Ads once booking friction and review volume are already solid.
How long until a practice marketing checklist shows results?
Online booking and review responses can show results within 1-2 weeks as new patients find and book more easily. Recall campaigns for overdue patients typically take 3-4 weeks to show a meaningful rebooking rate.
What's the biggest revenue leak most practices ignore?
Overdue patients with no recall follow-up. These are patients who already trust the practice but simply haven't been reminded; automating recall texts recovers a meaningful share of that lapsed revenue at low cost.
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