Over Half of Dentists Advertise in the Phone Book: Survey

Dental Marketing in the Yellow Pages

There are many different avenues for dentists seeking to actively market their dental practices. The telephone book has historically been a valuable source of new patients. Given this, our most recent poll asked dentists: As part of your dental marketing, does your practice advertise in the Yellow Pages with a display ad?

Of the dentists responding to this survey, 61% responded yes, their dental practice markets itself through the Yellow Pages. The remaining 39% reported that their practices do not do any telephone book marketing.

A dentist's geographic location was highly correlated with their yellow pages advertising. Rural dental practices are far more likely than urban ones to spend money on phone book advertising. In fact, 3 out 4 rural dentists reported taking out yellow pages ads, whereas less that 1 out of 2 urban dentists did.

Here are some comments from our dentists:

• "I think it's fine as long as it is done tastefully." (Illinois dentist paying $400/month)


• "Not a fan of Yellow Page ads. Seems demeaning to the profession." (Colorado dentist)


• "Life would be easier if no dentists were paying for advertising." (California dentist)


• "Antiquated and worthless compared to well positioned website." (Washington dentist)


• "Even though the cost is high, it pays for itself over and over month after month." (Florida dentist paying $9000/month)


• "I have the same ad in two different regions of Massachusetts, urban and country. The ad in the country accounts for 50% of new patients. The urban ad less than 1% of new patients." (Massachusetts general dentist paying $1000/month)


• "Mandatory. Line listings = Losers!" (Texas dentist paying $1200/month)


• "It's a necessary evil... You have to at least be in the yellow pages in order for patients to find you... The number of full page ads dentists place is ridiculous!" (Michigan general dentist paying $275/month)


• "May not even be necessary. We are tracking calls from the display ad, and rates are amazingly low." (Florida pediatric dentist spending $1500/month)


• "Less and less effective year by year." (Connecticut general dentist paying $300/month)


• "I believe it has been worth the expense so far." (Louisiana orthodontist paying $1200/month)


• "Advertising in the Yellow Pages has never attracted the right kind of patient for me; they have always been very price sensitive and not quality-conscious." (California dental implantologist)


• "Everybody does it, thus it offers no differentiation." (Texas general dentist)


• Read more dentist comments or leave your own below!

Plus, check out the complete yellow pages marketing survey results.