Marketing launch checklist for a new UK dental practice

Disclosure. This site is published by the company behind Dental Mastery, which works with UK private and mixed practices on marketing and enquiry follow-up. Everything here works with or without any supplier.

A new practice has one chance to open with a full first month, and most of the marketing that decides it happens before the doors open. This checklist covers marketing only. It is not legal, regulatory, clinical or financing advice, and where a regulatory step affects marketing timing I point you to the regulator.

Why the order matters

Each step depends on the one before. Advertising is wasted without somewhere to send people; a website is incomplete until the team and prices are settled; enquiries collected before opening are only useful if you were allowed to keep and contact them. Work through the steps in this order, and use the practice marketing launch planner to give each one an owner and a date.

1. Treat the opening date as provisional

In England, anyone providing a regulated activity must be registered with the Care Quality Commission, and it is an offence to carry one on without registration ^{[3] [4]}. The CQC also says to submit the application only when everything is in place to start providing services, including the location and staff ^[4]. Practices in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland may need to register with their own regulator ^[4], so check with the regulator for your nation.

For marketing, the consequence is simple: until registration and the premises are confirmed, say "opening soon" or give a month, not a firm day, and do not book treatment appointments against a date you cannot yet guarantee.

2. Name and domain

Settle the practice name before signage, stationery or the website are ordered. Google asks businesses to represent themselves on Google as they are consistently represented and recognised in the real world, across signage, stationery and other branding ^[5], so a name that differs between the sign and the website creates problems later. Register the domain in the practice's own name, on an account the practice controls, and set up a professional email address on it at the same time.

3. Website with the required information

The General Dental Council lists what a practice website must display ^[1]:

• the name and geographic address where the dental service is provided;
• contact details, including an email address and telephone number;
• the GDC's address and contact details, or a link to the GDC website;
• the complaints procedure, and who patients can contact if not satisfied (the relevant NHS body for NHS treatment, the Dental Complaints Service for private treatment);
• the date the website was last updated;
• for each dental professional named, their professional qualification, the country it comes from, and their GDC registration number.

A new practice often recruits up to the last week, so build the team page so it can be updated quickly. The GDC expects the website to be updated regularly so that it reflects the people at the practice and the services offered ^[1].

4. Price list

The GDC standards require clear price information on practice websites and in practice literature, so that patients do not have to ask, and a simple price list displayed in reception or the waiting area ^[2]. Agree your fees early, because they feed the website, the reception list and every launch advert at once.

5. Enquiry capture before opening

Interest arrives before you can treat anyone: from signage, local word of mouth and the website. Capture it on a waiting list rather than losing it. If you plan to contact people by email or text with marketing, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations generally require their consent first ^[9], and "electronic mail" in those regulations includes text messages ^[8]. The pre-opening enquiry capture and launch timeline covers how to set this up, with a week-by-week plan.

6. Google Business Profile timing

Google lets a business that has not yet opened create a Business Profile and set a future opening date, up to one year ahead; only the year and month are required ^[7]. Once the date is entered and the business is verified, the profile shows on Google 90 days before the opening date, and you can publish posts, photos and a description in that period. Customers cannot post reviews or photos until the business is officially open ^[7].

Google's eligibility rules say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours to qualify ^[6]. Use the real address of the practice ^[5], and only publish opening hours that you will actually staff.

7. Launch advertising

Launch adverts carry the same obligations as any others. The GDC requires advertisements and practice publicity to make clear whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private, and not to create an unjustified expectation about results ^[1]. Start paid advertising only once the website, prices and enquiry handling are ready, and set the budget against the appointments you can actually offer in the first weeks. The first 90 days guide covers pacing spend to the diary.

The most common weak point I see in a launch is not the advertising but what happens after someone gets in touch. If you want help with that side, Dental Mastery's enquiry handling and follow-up is where I work with practices.

8. Measurement from day one

Decide before opening how you will record where every enquiry came from, and test it. A launch month without that record cannot tell you which spend to keep. On the website, analytics and advertising tags store or read information on visitors' devices, which needs clear information and consent unless one of the narrow exceptions in Schedule A1 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations applies ^[10]. Put a consent banner in place before the first advert runs, and check that optional tags wait for consent.

At a minimum, record for every enquiry:

• date and time, and whether it was a call, form, email or walk-in;
• where the person says they heard about the practice;
• whether it was answered, and how quickly;
• whether an appointment was booked and attended.