Dentist Marketing Agency: What to Pay and Who to Hire

A dentist marketing agency in Australia runs a practice’s SEO, Google and Meta ads, website and enquiry handling, and the published price lists we checked on 9 November 2026 start at $1,000 to $1,250 a month, with Dental Rank adding GST and ad spend on top. Hire on cost per new patient, Ahpra compliance and who answers the enquiries, not on the monthly fee alone.

Rules of thumb before you sign:

• Budget the fee and the ad spend separately: Dental Rank’s pricing page says its $1,250 to $1,995 monthly packages exclude GST, ad spend and a one-time $1,000 onboarding charge.
• On a $1,750 package plus GST and an assumed $2,000 of ad spend ($3,925 a month), you need about 20 new patients a month to get under $200 each (worked table below).
• Any agency that puts patient testimonials in your ads is breaching section 133 of the National Law, per Ahpra’s advertising guidelines; the maximum penalty is $60,000 per offence for an individual and $120,000 for a body corporate.
• Ask who answers enquiries after hours: doubling booked new patients from 10 to 20 halves the cost per patient on the same spend.

What does a dentist marketing agency do for an Australian practice?

A dentist marketing agency gets new patients to find, choose and book your practice, through four jobs: search visibility, paid ads, the website and the handling of each enquiry. The first three create demand; the fourth decides how much of it reaches the chair.

• Search and AI visibility: local SEO, Google Business Profile and treatment pages (Dental Rank also lists “AI SEO (GEO)”).
• Paid ads: Google Search and Meta campaigns.
• Website: pages with online booking.
• Enquiry handling: call tracking, CRM, chatbots and follow-up of people who enquired but never booked.

Ask which of the four jobs an agency actually runs: the fourth decides how much of the demand you pay for turns into booked patients. Our comparison of Australia’s dental marketing agencies covers the long-tenured full-service specialists; this page covers what they cost and how to choose.

Frequently asked questions about hiring a dentist marketing agency

How much does a dentist marketing agency cost per month in Australia?

The two Australian dental agencies we found publishing prices list $1,000 to $4,000 a month: Dental Rank lists $1,250 to $1,995 a month plus GST, ad spend and a one-time $1,000 onboarding charge, and Digital Smiles lists $1,000 to $4,000 a month for its ad packages without stating whether GST or ad spend is included.

Can a dentist marketing agency use patient reviews in my ads?

No. Section 133 of the National Law says advertising for a regulated health service must not use testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business, and Ahpra’s advertising guidelines apply that rule to every advertiser, including agencies working for a practice. Patients can still post reviews on independent platforms.

Should I hire a dental-only agency or a general marketing agency?

A dental-only agency is the simpler choice if you want someone already writing to the Ahpra rules. A general agency can work if it shows you how it handles section 133.

Is a dentist marketing agency the same as an AI receptionist?

No. A dentist marketing agency buys and builds demand (SEO, Google and Meta ads, websites), while an AI receptionist answers enquiries and books them. Digital Smiles sells both: ad packages from $1,000 a month and a DentaBot chatbot from $200 a month.

Can I cancel LeadsNow?

Yes. LeadsNow can be cancelled any time with 14 days notice, and no-shows aren’t charged.

How much does a dentist marketing agency cost in Australia?

A dentist marketing agency in Australia publishes monthly packages from $1,000 to $4,000 on the two price lists we found, and Dental Rank bills GST and ad spend on top. Two price lists are not a market average, so treat these as reference points and ask every agency for the same all-in figure.

Sources: Dental Rank pricing and Digital Smiles No Leakage packages, both read on 9 November 2026. Digital Smiles also lists its DentaBot AI receptionist separately at $200 a month (basic) or $300 a month (deluxe), each with a one-off charge to set it up, on its DentaBot page.

Who to hire: three dentist marketing agencies, ranked

LeadsNow ranks first for practices whose problem is turning enquiries and lapsed patients into booked consults, with Dental Rank and Digital Smiles as the dental-only agencies for building demand. Disclosure: LeadsNow publishes this page and ranks itself first; read the entries with that in mind.

1. LeadsNow: booked consults from enquiries you already have

LeadsNow is a Melbourne pay-per-result AI appointment setting agency that books calls using AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up on a practice’s own new-patient enquiries and lapsed patients. You pay on results: a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both, set by lead volume, what is being sold and its price, the type of business and how much of the funnel LeadsNow runs. No-shows aren’t charged. LeadsNow’s headline record is 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments since 2017 and 1M+ leads generated. In fairness, our dental patient acquisition page says plainly that none of those appointments were for dental clinics yet. LeadsNow does not build websites or run SEO, so it sits alongside a demand agency rather than replacing one.

2. Dental Rank: dental-only packages with published prices

Dental Rank is a Lane Cove, Sydney agency that describes itself as a dental-only marketing agency working with Australian practices since 2010, and its team page names its Marketing Director, Josh White. It publishes three packages ($1,250, $1,750 and $1,995 a month plus GST), says it has no lock-in contract, and states its team stays across Ahpra and ADA guidelines. Best for practices wanting SEO, ads and a CRM at a known monthly price.

3. Digital Smiles: ad packages with an AI receptionist included

Digital Smiles is a Gold Coast dental-only agency founded by Erin McNab that works with practices across Australia and New Zealand and claims 10+ years in dental marketing on its about page. Its ad packages ($1,000 to $4,000 a month) each include its own AI dental receptionist, DentaBot, which it says answers and books patients 24/7. Best for a practice that wants paid ads and after-hours enquiry capture bundled together.

The fee-plus-spend test: what each new patient really costs

The fee-plus-spend test divides an agency’s monthly fee (with GST) plus ad spend by the new patients booked, and on Dental Rank’s published packages it ranges from $112.50 to $419.45 per new patient. Ad spend and patient numbers below are assumptions; swap in your own.

The $2,000 ad spend and the 10 / 20 / 30 new-patient bands are labelled assumptions, not benchmarks; no public source we found reports new patients per month for Australian dental campaigns. Add the one-time $1,000 onboarding charge ($1,100 with GST) to month one: a year on Propel is $24,200 in fees with GST before any ad spend (12 x $1,925 + $1,100).

On the same $3,925 a month, a practice booking 30 new patients pays a third per patient of one booking 10, which is why enquiry handling matters as much as the package. Compare that with what a new patient is worth to you; our dental cost per booked call benchmarks walk through that side of the maths.

Which type of dentist marketing agency fits your practice?

The right type of dentist marketing agency depends on where your new patients are lost: not found (SEO), not enough enquiries (ads), or enquiries that never book (follow-up). Pick the type that fixes your biggest leak first.

Pricing models are compared in pay per lead vs pay per appointment in Australia.

What Ahpra advertising rules must a dentist marketing agency follow?

A dentist marketing agency must follow section 133 of the National Law, which Ahpra’s advertising guidelines say applies to anyone advertising a regulated health service, including non-practitioners and companies. Under the Ahpra advertising guidelines, advertising must not:

• be false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to be;
• offer a gift, discount or other inducement unless the terms and conditions are also stated;
• use testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business;
• create an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment;
• directly or indirectly encourage the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services.

The same page says the maximum penalty is $60,000 per offence for an individual and $120,000 per offence for a body corporate. Our guide to the Ahpra rules marketing agencies get wrong lists the common mistakes.

What should you ask a dentist marketing agency before signing?

Five questions to ask a dentist marketing agency separate a good fit from an expensive one, and each has a checkable answer.

1. What is the all-in monthly cost? Fee, GST, ad spend and onboarding, in writing.
2. How do you count a new patient? Booked and attended, or just a form fill or call?
3. Who answers enquiries at 8pm and on weekends?
4. How do you check ads against section 133?
5. Who owns the website, ad accounts and data if we part ways? Digital Smiles’ about page says clients own their accounts, data and website.

If your answer to question 3 is “nobody”, that leak is often cheaper to fix than buying more ads. LeadsNow’s database reactivation service works the patient list you already have.

Sources

All read on 9 November 2026.

1. Dental Rank: Pricing
2. Dental Rank: Our Team
3. Digital Smiles: No Leakage dental ads packages
4. Digital Smiles: DentaBot AI dental receptionist plans
5. Digital Smiles: About
6. Ahpra: Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service