You’d never walk into an exam room, skip the intake, ignore the imaging, and start prepping a tooth based on a hunch.
You’d never tell a new patient, “Let’s just try some things and see what happens.”
And yet… When it comes to marketing, that’s exactly what most practices do.
They start treating before they’ve done the workup.
A website here. A new logo there. A few months of SEO. An ad campaign someone said was working in another market.
Or, my all-time favorite: “We need to post on social media and do Facebook ads.”
When I hear that—or something like it—my questions usually go something like this:
- Why do you think you need to do that?
- Who is your audience?
- What do you want them to do when they come into contact with you?
- Who told you that posting on social media and advertising on Facebook was going to help you achieve your marketing objectives?
- What was their interest in you following that “advice”?
- Do you know what your marketing objectives are?
“The why is what we should have been focusing on.”
Most of the calls I have with doctors and their teams start the same way: with a feeling that something’s off—but no name for it.
Different cities. Different teams. But some version of the same realization always finds its way into the conversation. It usually doesn’t start that way. It starts with the surface issues:
Marketing feels scattered. The phone’s not ringing like it used to. The team is tired. A few things have worked: social, PPC, SEO, maybe a magazine. But none of it is holding.
This one came about halfway through a strategy call.
I had just walked them through our process. Just an outline of how we slow things down and get underneath the noise. Audience. Story. Message. Why it all exists in the first place.
And that’s when the doctor’s wife, who runs the practice, said:
“Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed to admit it now. But I didn’t realize the why was what we should have been focusing on. I was so busy, I kept thinking, I just need someone to make one piece of content…”
She’d done what most people in her position do. What everyone tells them to do: pick a tactic. Fill the feed. Just get something out.
Here’s what our clients have told us after they realized they’d skipped the diagnosis:
“We’re spending all of this money on marketing and we don’t know if it’s working or if the people who are doing it really understand what we are doing.”
“The phones are ringing—but it’s not who we’re trying to reach.”
“We spend all this time educating… and then they say no because their insurance doesn’t cover it.”
“There’s nothing on the site that shows why we’re different.”
“We sound like a generic dental office. That’s not us.”
“Our practice has evolved so much, but our brand hasn’t.”
“Every time a new patient calls, I’m figuring out how to explain it.”
“Patients say how life-changing it is, but that’s not what they see before they come in.”
“We’re doing social and ads… but it doesn’t feel like us.”
“None of our training or philosophy shows up in our messaging.”
“It doesn’t look bad—it just doesn’t look like us.”
“Even our long-term patients say they didn’t know we offered that.”
“We’ve never said what actually sets us apart.”
This isn’t failure. It’s drift.
What is the diagnosis in marketing?
In marketing, strategy is the diagnosis and the treatment planning. You won’t get your best results without it.
When we talk about strategy, we’re not talking about a color palette, a tagline, or a content calendar (although all of those things are important and are covered in the strategy process).
We’re talking about the part most practices skip: the thinking that comes before the doing.
Here are six core areas I suggest you think through before you say yes to another marketing effort. (These are the topics we cover in our one-day strategy sessions.)
1. Origin Story – What’s your story, and why should anyone care?
Every practice has a founding story. But most are told like résumés. We’re looking for the real reason you built this the way you did. What sparked the change? What are you still protecting? What do you refuse to compromise on? Patients don’t buy what you do. They buy what you believe. Your story needs to be felt—not just read.
2. Audience – Who are you really trying to serve?
Not demographics. Mindsets. Who gets you? Who needs you? Who’s not showing up at the practice that should be? This is where we stop chasing “everyone” and start building for the people who will actually value what you offer. Your marketing messages can’t communicate clearly if they aren’t being shared with the right people.
3. Current Situation – What’s working? What’s not?
Sometimes we pause here for longer than expected. This is where the guesswork starts to clear. What’s already in motion that’s aligned? What’s feeling forced or misfired? You can’t plan effectively if you don’t take stock honestly. This is clinical intake—but for your brand.
4. Brand Identity – WHY / HOW / WHAT
Most practices try to go straight to the “what”—services, procedures, technology. But your brand starts upstream. If you’ve read Start With Why by Simon Sinek, you know the framework:
- WHY – What do you believe?
- HOW – What’s your framework or philosophy?
- WHAT – What do you actually offer?
Your HOW is especially important. It’s where you define how you do things differently. How you diagnose. How you treat. How you engage. This becomes your filter—not just for marketing, but for decisions across the board.
5. Messaging Patterns – Hook → Story → Offer
You can’t build a compelling message if you don’t know how to structure one. That’s why we use the framework: Hook → Story → Offer.
Hook draws attention. Story builds trust. Offer moves people to action. If you haven’t read Kendra Hall’s Stories That Stick, it’s a great place to start. We use her work often in framing how practices can share patient stories and team philosophies in a way that builds clarity and resonance.
6. Discipline and Consistency – Are your actions aligned or scattered?
You can have the best intentions—but if your team can’t execute with consistency, the message won’t hold. We ask one hard but clarifying question here: What are you willing to do with discipline for the next 6–12 months to move toward your goals? That’s what turns ideas into structure. That’s what separates momentum from motion.
And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
What this work produces
Here are the written materials that typically emerge from a full strategy process. Yours may vary slightly, but these are the foundational pillars we believe should be in place for any brand to communicate with clarity and consistency.
Think of it like a treatment plan for your message—something your team can refer back to as decisions, campaigns, and questions arise.
- A clearly written origin story
- Profiles of your primary audiences
- A defined and organized WHY / HOW / WHAT
- A messaging system built around Hook → Story → Offer
- Campaign ideas aligned to real goals—structured, not brainstormed
- A clear picture of your goals—and the specific actions your team is willing and able to take over the next 6–12 months to reach them
This isn’t a brochure. It’s a reference point.
A map. A message spine.
Something that helps you move forward with alignment instead of improvisation.
If you’d like to see an example, email me. I’ll send you one.
Why strategy matters more than ever
If you’re feeling the pressure, you’re not imagining it.
The market has changed. DSOs are spending more than ever on marketing. They blanket regions with mass media, polished funnels, and cut-rate offers.
Digital marketing companies are pushing hard-sell tactics that benefit them more than they benefit you. And all of it is designed to get you to skip the strategy and jump straight to the spend.
But in an era of constant noise, strategy is not optional. It’s how you protect your message, your money, and your future.
You don’t need to outspend a DSO. But you do need to out-align them.
That means building a message that actually fits your philosophy. It means showing up with consistency and clarity—not just more content. And it means creating a brand that isn’t interchangeable.
Because in this landscape, brand is the only thing they can’t replicate.
Your voice. Your values. Your philosophy of care. When that’s missing, your ads underperform, your content drifts, and your practice starts to feel like a commodity.
But when it’s clear? You become unmistakable.
That’s what this work is for. Not to keep up—but to stand out.
A final thought
Before you run the next campaign, ask yourself: Does this reflect the story we actually want to tell—and who we’re saying it to?
Skipping the diagnosis is expensive. Doing it right isn’t flashy. But it’s what holds everything else together.
If this landed for you, it might be time to slow down just long enough to get clear.
