5 Marketing Company Red Flags That Could Cost Your Practice Thousands
Some marketing companies promise growth but deliver little more than long contracts and rising costs. Before you commit, it’s worth knowing the key red flags that can quietly drain thousands from your practice without delivering results.
June 1, 2026 · 3 min read
We recently worked with a doctor who had locked into a long-term contract with a marketing agency at a cost of over $100,000! Twelve months in, he had nothing positive to show for it and the marketing company had no answers. Practice growth was stagnant while expenses were up!
Unfortunately, many dentists have told us a similar story, while others are currently suffering without knowing it. Marketing companies are happy to charge, but results are few with little accountability.
We recently interviewed Ryan Strachan of DDS MediaPro for a refreshing take on marketing companies. Keep reading to find out the five biggest red flags of incompetent marketing companies!
Red Flag #1: They Can’t Tell You Where Your Patients Came From
Ryan’s first recommendation is ask your marketing company exactly how many patients came from each marketing campaign. A competent partner will have live tracking of all marketing efforts using lead forms and call tracking software, tagging every inquiry by source. This provides direct answers of exactly how many new patients are attributed to each campaign and what the cost of each acquisition is, to determine which strategies are most cost-effective.
Red Flag #2: They Hide Your Ad Spend Behind a Flat Fee
Many agencies charge a single flat fee for paid advertising, pocketing an undisclosed management cut while putting whatever’s leftover toward actual ads. Instead, Ryan recommends having your credit card attached to any ad spend with management fees charged separately to bring transparency to the marketing efforts. Reputable partners have a distinct budget for ads such as $1,000 per month plus a clear management fee, such as 20% to 25% of ad spend.
Red Flag #3: Your Google Business Profile Is Half Empty
This is the single most common, most damaging, and most easily fixable problem in dental marketing. If your profile is missing service categories, doctor credentials, accurate holiday hours, or procedure tags, Google won’t recommend you. Patients searching for “dentist near me” or “same day dentistry” on Google Maps won’t see your practice. Ryan recommends auditing your practice profile this week and filling in every available field accurately.
Red Flag #4: You’re Locked Into a Long-Term Contract Protecting the Agency
Long-term contracts protect the agency, not you, as the unfortunate doctor above discovered. Often a dentist signs a contract with a great salesperson, only to be passed off to a mediocre service rep merely a week later. Agree to the shortest contract term possible, or even better hire an agency that works on a month-to-month basis, ensuring they’ll work hard to keep your business.
Even worse, some agencies hold your domain hostage when you try to leave, demanding tens of thousands of dollars to release what should already be yours. Verify in writing that you own your domain and all associated marketing materials prior to signing a contract. Also, be certain that you don’t grant full administrative rights to a marketing agency.
Red Flag #5: You Can’t Get a Timely Response
The most common complaint we hear isn’t price or even results; it’s responsiveness, or lack of it! Simple requests often take a week and monthly strategy meetings simply disappear! According to Ryan, a staggering number of dentists switch to his company because of this problem. A good marketing partner meets with you or one of your staff members monthly to walk through what’s working, what isn’t working, and where the budget should shift to based on results. If paid search is producing 5 new patients while SEO is producing 20, more effort should be placed on SEO and less on paid search.
We like Ryan’s approach since his company has no long-term contracts and seeks to earn your business each month by producing great results, a refreshing change for a marketing company.
Ryan Strachan provides marketing services to dentists through DDS MediaPro. To learn more about Ryan’s services at DDS MediaPro, including a free practice audit, contact him directly at rstrachan@ddsmediapro.com or fill out their contact form. As always, we received no compensation from DDS MediaPro. We reached out on behalf of a client and found their approach to marketing refreshing.