Healthcare practice marketing, run by a fractional CMO. More new patients who book, accept care and come back.
The front desk is busy, the ad reports look fine, and the schedule still has holes. For owners of dental clinics, med spas, ketamine clinics, psychotherapy clinics, chiropractic and orthodontic practices, we tie your ads, phones and practice software to each new patient, fix the weakest link first and run the plan with you every week. It's the same work that helped one practice grow to 16 locations.
Pick your type of practice.
A dental clinic lives on hygiene recall and treatment acceptance. A med spa lives on memberships and rebooking. A ketamine clinic lives on referrals and intake. A psychotherapy clinic lives on reply speed and clinician fit. A chiropractor lives on care plan completion, and an orthodontist on starts. Each page below is built on that math.
Seven places a practice loses patients it already paid to reach.
Every new patient passes through all seven dimensions, from the first search to the recall text. A weak link in any one shows up as an open chair, an unaccepted plan or a patient who never comes back.
- Problem 01Marketing strategy
Every treatment gets marketed to everyone at once.
Cleanings, implants, aligners, Botox and laser all fight over one small budget. The treatments that carry the practice get no priority. The ads pull price shoppers, and the patients you want book somewhere else. Pick the two or three treatments that fund the practice and market those first.
- Problem 02Marketing data
Nobody in the practice knows what a new patient costs.
The ad platform counts form fills. The phone system counts calls. The practice software counts appointments. None of them agree, so the channel with the best report gets renewed. Say you spend $12,000 a month and see 60 new patients. That's $200 a patient, and you should know it by channel.
- Problem 03Funnel friction and CRO
The phone rings while the front desk is checking someone out.
A patient who can't book on the first call books somewhere else. Missed calls at lunch, no text reply after hours and a form that demands insurance details first all leak patients you paid to reach. Fix the answer rate before you buy more calls.
Where new patients drop out before booking - Problem 04Marketing process
Recall depends on someone remembering.
Hygiene recall, unaccepted treatment plans and rebooking reminders get worked when the team has a free minute. Your current patients are the cheapest revenue in the practice. Without an owner and a weekly cadence, they drift away a few months at a time.
- Problem 05Marketing team
The practice manager is also the marketing department.
Marketing lands on the owner or whoever runs the front desk. Vendors report activity, nobody owns cost per new patient, and decisions wait until a slow month forces them. You might think the agency watches this. Ask them what a new patient cost last month.
- Problem 06Marketing technology
Your systems don't share one patient record, and some share too much.
Practice software, call tracking, reviews and email each hold a piece of the patient. Nobody can see which ad produced a full treatment plan six months later. Meanwhile, an ad pixel on a booking page can pass patient details to Google or Meta. Tracking has to be HIPAA-aware, with no ad pixels on patient pages.
The healthcare practice marketing stack - Problem 07Marketing communication
Every practice in town says gentle, modern and caring.
Patients choose on reviews, convenience and trust. They also bring fears: pain, cost, time off work. Give them a specific reason to pick you and a straight answer to each fear, or they pick on price or on whoever replies first.
How we run marketing for a healthcare practice, week by week.
One loop runs from the first search to the return visit: Inspect, Ideate, Implement, Iterate. We repeat it until the schedule stays full.
- 01
Weeks 1 and 2
Inspect
We pull call recordings, appointments from your practice software, ad accounts and reviews into one view. No patient data moves into ad tools.
The dashboard shows spend, bookings, new patients who showed and revenue by source. You see cost per new patient by treatment, channel and location, often for the first time.
What you getA dashboard of new patients who showed and cost per new patient by treatment, channel and location.
Marketing Impact OSDental practiceInspectMarketing attributionLast 90 days vs the 90 beforeNew patients437+7%Cost per new patient$128+1%Show rate72%−2 ptsRevenue$528,400+7%Source Spend Booked Showed Revenue Cost per patient Google Ads $27,000 180 135 $162,000 $200 SEO $9,000 150 120 $156,000 $75 Meta $13,500 150 75 $67,500 $180 Zocdoc $6,600 60 44 $48,400 $150 Referrals $0 70 63 $94,500 $0 Total $56,100 610 437 $528,400 $128 No ad pixels on patient pages
- 02
Weeks 3 and 4
Ideate
We rank fixes by what they add to production. Most plans start with answering more calls, following up on open treatment plans or building memberships.
Each fix gets an owner, a deadline and an expected result before any money moves. We start at the top of the list.
What you getA ranked plan of fixes, each with an owner, a deadline and the production it should add.
Marketing Impact OSDental practiceIdeateThe plan, ranked by impactGains per month- 1Confirm every booking by text and callMeta bookings have a 50% show rate.+20 new patients+$24,000 revenue
- 2Move $1,500 a month from Google Ads to SEOSEO costs $75 per new patient. Google Ads costs $200.+12 new patients+$15,000 revenue
- 3Answer every call before the third ringMissed calls book somewhere else.+8 new patients+$10,000 revenue
- 4Ask for a review at checkoutMore reviews lift your rank on Maps.+4 new patients+$5,000 revenue
If the plan holds+44 new patients a month
- 1
- 03
From week 5, biggest fix first
Implement
Your team, your vendors and ours make the changes: call handling, online booking, your Google Business Profile, a page per treatment and follow-up on every plan a patient didn't accept.
Every task has an owner, a due week and a status.
What you getA work list with an owner, a due week and a status on every change.
Marketing Impact OSDental practiceImplementThe work2 of 4 done- Two-way confirm texts 48 and 2 hours outFront desk lead · Week 1Front desk leadWeek 1Done
- Move $1,500 a month from Google Ads to SEOAgency · Week 2AgencyWeek 2Done
- Overflow calls to a second lineOffice manager · Week 3Office managerWeek 3In progress
- Review request at checkoutFront desk · Week 5Front deskWeek 5Next
Monday check-in Every open task gets a status. A late one gets a new date and a reason.
- 04
Every week, with a review every 90 days
Iterate
Every week we compare spend to new patients who showed, production and return visits. Then we move budget between treatments, seasons and locations.
Every 90 days we put the numbers next to where you started. Zachary writes a short review that ends with the next decision. When you add a provider or a location, the playbook goes with it.
What you getA before-and-after of your numbers every 90 days and a review note that names the next decision.
Marketing Impact OSDental practiceIterate90 days laterBefore → after- Cost per new patient$128$106−18%
- New patients437530+21%
- Show rate72%81%+9 pts
Cost per new patient by monthZachary's reviewNew patients went from 437 to 530 on the same $56,100. Show rate went from 72% to 81% once every booking got a confirm text. Next: start recall so these new patients book their next visit before they leave.
The numbers that show whether new patients stay.
- Cost per new patient by treatment
- Booking rate on new patient calls
- Treatment plan acceptance
- Recall and rebooking rate
- Production per marketing dollar
- Active memberships
The right level of help for where you are.
Most single-location practices start with the Marketing Impact Roadmap, about four weeks to find where new patients leak and what each fix is worth. Growing and multi-location groups move to the Fractional CMO Retainer for weekly leadership. Practices without a marketing hire choose the Fractional Marketing Team, so campaigns, vendors and reporting run without the owner.
Compare all fractional CMO servicesBrands we have worked with
- Renken Dentistry
- Schaefer Dental Group
- Galleria Oral Surgery
- Art of Dental Marketing
The Marketing Impact OS for Healthcare Practices
The Full Step-by-Step Guide to a Proven Patient Acquisition System. Where new patients come from, where they drop between the first call and the first visit, and how to keep the schedule full. The workbook comes with it.
What is in the book →The 2027 Marketing Impact Report for Healthcare Practices →Frequently asked questions.
What does a fractional CMO do for a healthcare practice?
You get a senior marketing leader for part of the month instead of a full-time executive. For a dental clinic or med spa, that means setting budget by treatment, holding vendors to cost per new patient, fixing how calls are answered and tying every ad dollar to the practice software. Zachary Ellison, the #1 lifetime-ranked fractional CMO on Upwork, leads that work with the team.
Which healthcare practices do you work with?
Dental clinics, med spas, ketamine clinics, psychotherapy clinics, chiropractors and orthodontists, including cosmetic dentistry, oral surgery and aesthetic practices. They share one model: a first visit turns into a plan, and returning patients carry the margin. Other private practices that work the same way can fit. Hospitals and health systems are outside what we do.
How is this different from a dental or med spa marketing agency?
An agency runs channels and reports the clicks and leads from its own ads. A fractional CMO sits above every vendor. We check their claims against booked appointments and production, then move money to what fills the schedule. Many practices keep their agency. The difference is that someone now checks the work.
Can healthcare advertising stay compliant?
Yes, if the rules are written down before anything runs. Health claims, before-and-after photos, reviews and patient data all carry limits. We keep ads and pages within platform policy and state guidance, keep ad pixels off patient pages, keep protected health information out of ad tools, and have your team approve every claim before it goes live.
How much does a fractional CMO cost for a dental clinic or med spa?
Pricing depends on scope: how many locations and providers you run, and whether you want hands-on campaigns or strategy only. We quote after the assessment call. Ongoing work with a practice runs month to month with no setup fees. The Roadmap is a defined project of about four weeks.
Where to next.
Start with your free Marketing Impact score.
It takes a few minutes. You get a score from 1 to 5 on each of the seven dimensions of your marketing and see where to start. If you’d rather talk first, book a free 30-minute call.