3 Successful Examples of Dental Ads

Some good news for dentists is uncovered in TEGNA’s new e-book – Checking the Pulse of Today’s Healthcare Consumer. While 46% of consumers delayed or avoided medical care due to the pandemic last year, this year is shaping up differently: more consumers are planning routine dental care visits than last year.

As consumers continue their return to in-person appointments, now is the perfect time to get in front of audiences with the right TV ad campaign. After all, TV advertising is still an extremely effective way to attract new patients and can also remind those you haven’t seen in a while to come on in.

Brace yourself. Here’s our guide for successful TV ad campaigns for dental practices.

An Overview of Dental Advertisements

When it comes to attracting new clients, it’s important for dental offices to consider how they plan on marketing their businesses. With great local advertising options to choose from, such as out-of-home, newspapers, paid search, or local news, it can be difficult to determine where to begin.

TV advertising remains one of the top ways traditional dental and cosmetic dentistry brands can generate business and should always be considered when putting together a great media plan. TV ads are visual mediums, usually 15 to 30 seconds long, that tell a brand’s story and show off its products or services with the goal of getting the viewer to take action. 

TV ads also allow dental brands to build brand awareness among a national audience or connect to live and local audiences. By creating emotional connections, leveraging the power of celebrity, or leaning on nostalgia, TV ads can help a brand get the phones ringing and get people visiting the brand website or brick-and-mortar location. 

How Can I Promote My Dental Service?

There are numerous channels for promoting dental services. Any great media plan will consist of numerous touchpoints. Dental services should also focus on channels that target hyper-locally, such as TV, local news sites, local newspapers, and billboards.

In the world of TV advertising, there are several types a brand can consider. Depending on your brand goals, you can utilize 15-to-30-second spots on Broadcast, Streaming, and Digital platforms. These spots can be national or local (find out which is right for you) or a combination of both.

There are more than a mouthful of other ways to advertise your brand using TV advertising.

With TEGNA stations, for example, Lifestyle shows bring viewers informative and entertaining content, which is not limited to product and service overviews, patient education, and creating awareness about a cause in the community.

For example, FastNewSmile partnered with TEGNA’s Good Morning Texas to provide its target audience with high-quality, informative, and entertaining content, which brought in tangible results and a great business outcome.

“Good Morning Texas is like hitting the jackpot. Our office phones go absolutely insane, which is exactly what we want to hear,” says Riad Almasri, Founder and prosthodontist at FastNewSmile. “During consultations, I’ll ask new patients how they heard about us. They’ll say something like, “I saw your interview on Good Morning Texas a year ago, and I’ve been following you since.”

There are also content sponsorship opportunities, including traffic, weather, and sports segments within local news broadcasts and event sponsorship opportunities to strengthen your dental brand’s place in the local community.

Multi-Platform Advertising Campaigns

On top of TV advertising, these integrations can also be seen digitally, repurposed for streaming TV, or digital channels in the form of Pre-Roll video ads, display and banner ads, high-impact units, or within native content. There are also options to integrate content into popular podcasts – ranging from true crime to sports.

With these digital opportunities, you can extend your dental brand’s reach with new audience-targeting capabilities. For example, TEGNA AudienceOne leverages first-party audience data from TEGNA station websites and apps to help advertisers make meaningful connections with high-value customers.

Best Practices for Dental Ads

Based on the findings of Checking the Pulse of Today’s Healthcare Consumer, a dental brand’s marketing and advertising messages should do the following:

• Encourage the return to in-person care. Reassure consumers with the benefits and perks of the in-office experience. For example, you can use TV’s visual medium to show off visual displays with predicted – and short – wait times and elevate awareness of how this tech will improve the overall patient experience. ​
• Increase transparency around costs to help avoid sticker shock. Explore payment plan options to help consumers better afford costly procedures or highlight a sliding scale for those without insurance.
• Communicate key differentiators. You have a major opportunity to highlight competitive differentiation using cross-platform video storytelling. Consider lifestyle integrations with trusted TV partners to help contextualize the hospital’s critical role in its community.​
• Partner with local news organizations. Local news channels are a vital way for communities to receive patient education, and 60% of consumers who get health information from local news trust brands that advertise in its content. These stations have earned the trust of their viewers to amplify​ your message at scale.
• Tell an important story. When audiences become captivated and emotionally connected to an ad, it improves brand awareness, ad recall and increases purchase intent. Before the pandemic, creative that performed well told a patient’s story. During the pandemic, the best-performing ads focused on health and wellness – things like how to keep yourself safe. In 2023, we’re seeing that viewers want to hear a caregiver’s perspective as much as they want to hear the patient’s. 

3 Dental Ads That Work

At TEGNA, we know how to make our advertising partners smile. The following examples are just a few of the creative spots we’ve helped create for dental brands nationwide.

FastNewSmile Educate on the Benefits of Dental Implants

Cornerstone Dentistry Communicates Key Differentiators

Gasser Dental Implants Tells an Important Story on Arizona Midday

Start Advertising Your Dental Brand With TEGNA Today

Large audiences, trustworthy content to align with, high recall, emotional connections, extended reach, and opportunities to create more than just a regular commercial are just a few of the factors that make TV advertising so effective for dental brands. Advertising, especially alongside trusted local news broadcasts, reaffirms a brand’s place in the community and showcases that your brand can also be trusted with the right amount of frequency and exposure to target audiences. By aligning with the unique content opportunities that TEGNA offers, your healthcare brand has an opportunity to be the talk of the town.

TEGNA delivers proven results through simplified multi-platform advertising solutions that connect your business to the audiences that matter most via Broadcast TV, OTT Advertising, and Digital Solutions, including Targeted Display and Retargeting,​ as well as campaign measurement ​and optimization with ​TEGNA Attribution. ​TEGNA stations also offer a variety of customizable content sponsorships, as illustrated above.

Let’s get in touch if you’re thinking of amplifying your dental brand’s TV efforts or joining TEGNA affiliates to serve the greater good of our communities.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do dentists get clients?

TV advertising remains one of the top ways dental brands can generate business and should always be considered when putting together a great media plan. TV ads are visual mediums, usually 15 to 30 seconds long, that tell a brand’s story and show off its products or services with the goal of getting the viewer to take action.