How to choose a dental marketing agency
Choose a dental marketing agency by what its contract says and what it can prove. You can run ten checks before the first call, like prices on the website, accounts in your name and month-to-month terms. Ask three more questions on the call: who does the work, where patient information goes, and what the monthly report shows. Of 45 US agencies we reviewed in 2026, 33 kept their prices off their websites.
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Ten checks and three questions · Market data from 45 US agencies · Updated October 5, 2026
We sell this service, so read this with that in mind. The checks are the ones we hold ourselves to, and the table near the end answers each one for Studio Smirk, including where we come up short.
How do most agencies score?
Not well. In 2026 we reviewed 45 US marketing agencies that serve dental practices, med spas and medical practices. We also read 39 of their homepages and 39 “best agency” lists.
33 of 45 agencies kept their prices off their websites.
4 of 45 published a real rate card.
0 of 39 homepages promised that you own your website and accounts.
2 of 39 homepages mentioned month-to-month terms.
35 of 39 homepages called themselves #1, best, leading or similar.
26 of 39 “best agency” lists ranked their own publisher first.
Source: Studio Smirk review of US practice marketing agencies, October 1, 2026.
What are the 10 checks?
Each one comes with the question to ask and the answer that should make you walk away. The ten can be checked before the first call; the three after them are for the call.
- 01
Are the prices on the website?
A published price lets you compare before the sales call instead of after it. It also shows the agency has priced its work before meeting you. Among US agencies that do publish, monthly plans ran from about $575 to $2,500 per location.
33 of 45 agencies we reviewed hid their prices. One had a “transparent pricing” page with no figures on it.
What dental marketing costs a month →- Ask
- What will I pay each month, and what costs extra?
- Walk away if
- A price you only hear after a “strategy session”.
- 02
Is ownership in the contract, or only on the sales page?
“You own your website” means little until the contract says what “website” covers: the domain, the code, the hosting, the design, the photos and the accounts.
None of the 39 homepages we read promised ownership. Of the ten agencies we studied closely, four gave less in their contract or on their platform than their copy suggested.
- Ask
- Can I read the contract before we talk, and which clause covers ownership?
- Walk away if
- They promise you own only “your content”, or they control your domain settings.
- 03
Can you leave month to month?
A long minimum term protects the agency’s revenue. An agency that does good work can let you leave with a month’s notice.
2 of 39 homepages mentioned month-to-month terms. Contracts we read included 12-month terms that renew automatically and an exit fee of half the remaining term.
- Ask
- What is the minimum term, the notice period and the exit fee? Does it renew automatically?
- Walk away if
- A minimum term that starts when the website launches, not when you sign.
- 04
How is ad management charged?
A flat fee and a percentage fee can both be fair. What matters is what the percentage is of, whether it is charged on budget you never spent, and whether the agency adds its own charge on top of what Google charges.
One contract we read set the fee at 30–50% of the total budget. That is 43–100% on top of what the ads actually cost. It was also charged during pauses and on budget left unspent.
- Ask
- Is the fee flat or a percentage, and a percentage of what? Is anything charged on budget we do not spend?
- Walk away if
- The agency pays Google for you and sends one combined bill.
- 05
Whose name is on the ad accounts?
Your Google Ads and Meta accounts hold years of data on which searches and ads bring patients in. If they sit in the agency’s name, that history leaves with the agency.
One agency’s terms said it would keep its clients’ Google and Meta ad accounts and not hand over access, because they held its bidding scripts.
- Ask
- Whose name and whose payment card are on the ad account?
- Walk away if
- “We run it through our account.”
- 06
Will your website run on the agency’s own platform?
An agency platform can be convenient while you stay and expensive when you leave, because leaving often means rebuilding the site.
25 of 39 homepages pitched a proprietary platform or dashboard. One studio promised “you own your website” while 22 of 25 client sites we checked ran on its own system. One platform’s terms let only the home and contact pages transfer.
- Ask
- If I leave, what do I get: the code, a full export, or nothing? Who chooses the hosting and DNS?
- Walk away if
- A ban on exporting the design, or photos you cannot take with you.
- 07
Is the proof named, dated and checkable?
Real results name the practice, give a number with the date it was measured, and link to a site you can visit today.
35 of 39 homepages called themselves the best, #1 or similar. At one agency, 9 of 23 practices it named had since moved to other agencies or closed, and some of their quotes were still on its site.
- Ask
- Can I see three practices like mine, with their websites, and speak to one?
- Walk away if
- Unnamed case studies, “up to” figures, or star ratings with no reviews to read.
- 08
Can AI assistants read the agency’s own website?
An agency selling AI search should pass the test on its own site first. You can check in a minute: look at its robots.txt and llms.txt.
7 of 45 agency sites we reviewed blocked every automated visitor. One that sells AI search blocked every automated request we sent, even one that identified itself as a regular browser, on 98% of its pages. 16 of 37 had an llms.txt file.
- Ask
- Has your own site been tested with AI crawlers? Can I see your robots.txt and llms.txt?
- Walk away if
- AI search sold with no method, no price and no examples.
- 09
Will they also work for the practice down the street?
An agency that markets your nearest competitor cannot fully help you outrank it.
Some agencies promise one client per city in their sales copy. Check whether the contract says the same.
- Ask
- Do you work with any practice in my specialty in my area? Is exclusivity in the contract?
- Walk away if
- A territory that is promised on the call and missing from the contract.
- 10
Do they know your specialty?
A family dentist, an implant practice and a med spa sell different things to different patients, under different rules on claims and before-and-after photos.
Of the 45 agencies we reviewed, 22 were dental-led, 13 aesthetic-led and 10 multi-specialty. Agencies that serve both dental and aesthetics rarely appear on dental “best agency” lists.
- Ask
- How many practices like mine do you work with now? Which procedure pages have you written?
- Walk away if
- Pages and examples that are the same for every specialty with the name swapped.
Three questions for the first call
- 11
Who does the work, from where, and when can you reach them?
The person on the sales call is not always the person who plans your campaigns or writes your pages. Where the team sits decides the hours you can reach them.
- Ask
- Who will plan and do my work, where are they, and what hours can I call them?
- Walk away if
- A senior name on the sales call, and someone else doing the work after you sign.
- 12
Where does patient information go, and will they sign a BAA?
Form entries, call recordings and lead lists can contain patient information. Under HIPAA, an agency that handles it for you needs a business associate agreement (BAA) with your practice.
- Ask
- Where do form entries and call recordings land, in whose accounts, and will you sign a BAA before you touch any of it?
- Walk away if
- Patient form entries sent to the agency’s own inbox or software, with no BAA.
- 13
Does the monthly report show patients, or only traffic?
Impressions, rankings and clicks are easy to report. What an owner needs is calls, form requests and booked consults, by source, and what each one cost.
- Ask
- Can I see a sample report? Where does each number come from, and is it counted in my accounts or yours?
- Walk away if
- A report of rankings and traffic with no calls or bookings in it.
How does Studio Smirk score?
Eight yes, five partly. Hold us to the same standard you hold anyone else to.
| Check | Studio Smirk | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| Are the prices on the website? | Yes | Every plan, website and add-on is published: plans at $1,200 or $1,800 a month per location, websites from $3,990. Pricing → |
| Is ownership in the contract, or only on the sales page? | Yes | You own everything, in writing. Every account is in your name from the first day. The terms → |
| Can you leave month to month? | Yes | Thirty days’ notice ends it. No minimum term, no exit fee, no auto-renewal at a price we never showed you. |
| How is ad management charged? | Yes | $900/mo. We build and run your Google search ads and Local Services Ads in your own Google Ads account. This price covers ad budgets up to $10,000 a month. Above that, we charge 9% of what you spend on ads. We add nothing to your Google Ads bill. |
| Whose name is on the ad accounts? | Yes | In your name, with Google billing your own card. We are added as users, and removed when you leave. |
| Will your website run on the agency’s own platform? | Yes | We have no platform of our own. Sites are built on code you own and hosted in your own account, billed to you by the host. |
| Is the proof named, dated and checkable? | Partly | Every client is named and every number has a date. Two are dental practices in Bangalore, India. The third is a former functional medicine client in Delhi, India, shown without numbers. Our work → |
| Can AI assistants read the agency’s own website? | Yes | Our website lets in the AI tools of ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google by name. Every page can be read without running extra code. Our llms.txt file uses the same prices as this page. Our llms.txt → |
| Will they also work for the practice down the street? | Yes | We will not work for the practice competing with you for the same patients. |
| Do they know your specialty? | Partly | Dental practices come first: general, cosmetic and implant. We have no med spa or plastic surgery client. |
| Who does the work, from where, and when can you reach them? | Partly | Aditya Kaushal plans and does your work with a small team, and he is the person you talk to. Calls run Monday to Saturday, up to 1:30pm Central (2:30pm Eastern). There is no US office or US phone number. Hours, email and how you pay → |
| Where does patient information go, and will they sign a BAA? | Partly | Patient information stays in your own systems: forms and booking are set up in your accounts. If our work ever needs to touch patient information, we sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with you first. We have not signed one yet, so there is none to show you. |
| Does the monthly report show patients, or only traffic? | Partly | On both plans, the report compares your Google ranking with the top three practices near you. With Google Ads, it also shows the cost of each booked consult, using your front desk’s booking count. The report, plan by plan → |
Where are we weaker?
No US client yet. If you need a reference from a US practice before you hire anyone, we are not the right choice yet.
The studio is in Bangalore, India. Every account we work in is online and in your name, so nothing needs anyone in your office. Aditya has spent 8 years working with US buyers, at Hiration and before that Edureka. Nothing is outsourced.
We are on no “best agency” list. Most of those lists rank their own publisher first. We would rather be judged on the checks above.
We are small. Two new practices start at a time, so there may be a wait before yours does.
Questions about choosing an agency
How much should a dental marketing agency cost?
Among US agencies that publish their prices, monthly plans ran from about $575 to $2,500 per location in 2026, not counting what you pay Google for ads. Ours are $1,200 or $1,800 a month per location.
Are “best dental marketing agency” lists reliable?
Treat them as advertising. Of 39 such lists we read in 2026, 29 included the company that published them and 26 ranked that company first. Some were copies of each other with only the publisher’s slot changed. AI assistants build their answers to “which agency should I hire?” from these same lists.
Should I sign a 12-month contract with a marketing agency?
You do not have to: month-to-month agencies exist. If you do sign a term, check when it starts, whether it renews automatically, and what leaving early costs.
Is it a red flag if a marketing agency guarantees results?
Read it closely. Only 2 of 39 agency homepages we read made a guarantee, and the terms behind them were not published. Google’s rankings and AI answers are outside any agency’s control, so ask what the guarantee covers and what you get if it is missed.
What does “you own your website” actually mean?
The domain is registered to you, the hosting account is yours, the code and design can move to another host, and your photos and pages come with you. Ask which of those the contract covers.
Should I hire an agency that only works with dentists?
Experience matters more than the label: whether they have done work like yours, can show it, and know the rules on claims and before-and-after photos in dentistry.
What should I ask on the first call with a marketing agency?
Get the contract and the price in writing before the call. On the call, ask who will do your work, where patient information goes, what the monthly report shows, and for a practice like yours you can speak to.
Tell us about your practice
Ask about a plan, a website or anything else.
- Aditya reads every message. He plans the work and does it, with a small team.
- A reply the same day. By email, from hello@studiosmirk.com.