How to Evaluate Your Dental Marketing Agency: A 10-Point Scorecard

I'm going to give you something that no dental marketing agency wants you to have: a scorecard to evaluate whether they're actually doing their job.

I know this is a weird thing for someone who works at a marketing company to publish. But here's my take: if your current agency is great, a scorecard won't hurt them. And if they're not great, you deserve to know before you waste another year and $50,000+ on marketing that isn't working.

After working with 1,500+ practices at Lasso MD — many of whom come to us after bad experiences with other agencies — I've seen every red flag in the book. Here's how to evaluate yours.

The 10-Question Agency Scorecard

Rate your agency on each question from 1-5. We'll tally the score at the end.

1. Can They Tell You Your Exact Cost Per New Patient?

Not impressions. Not clicks. Not "website traffic is up." How many actual new patients did your marketing produce last month, and what did each one cost?

If your agency can't answer this question with a specific number, they're either not tracking it or they don't want you to know. Either way, that's a problem.

Score 5: They report cost per new patient by channel (Google Ads, SEO, social) monthly Score 3: They can give you a blended number but not by channel Score 1: They talk about impressions and clicks but can't connect spend to patients

2. Do They Own Your Accounts, or Do You?

This is the first question I ask every practice that's switching agencies: "Do you have admin access to your Google Ads account, Google Business Profile, website hosting, and analytics?"

If the answer is no, your agency has built a cage around you. They own the assets you paid to build, and leaving them means starting over. That's not a partnership — that's a hostage situation.

Score 5: You have full admin/owner access to everything Score 3: You have some access but they control key accounts Score 1: They own it all and you'd lose everything if you left

3. How Often Do You Hear From Them?

Great agencies communicate proactively. Bad agencies disappear until you chase them.

Score 5: Monthly strategy calls + real-time access to dashboards + proactive recommendations Score 3: Monthly reports sent via email, occasional check-in calls Score 1: You haven't heard from them in 6 weeks unless you reached out first

4. Can They Explain What They're Actually Doing?

Ask your agency to walk you through exactly what they did for your practice last month. Not "we managed your SEO" — what specifically? Which pages were published? Which keywords improved? What was optimized?

Score 5: Detailed activity log with clear explanations of what was done and why Score 3: General summary of activities without specifics Score 1: "We're working on your SEO" with no details

5. Are They Tracking Phone Calls?

Here's a stat that should terrify every practice owner: up to 30% of marketing-generated calls go unanswered during business hours. If your agency isn't tracking whether calls are being answered — and what happens on those calls — they're only measuring half the picture.

Score 5: Call tracking with recording, answer rate monitoring, and call quality insights Score 3: Basic call tracking (counts calls by source) Score 1: No call tracking at all

6. Do They Manage Your Google Business Profile Actively?

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a potential patient sees. It's not a "set it and forget it" asset. It needs regular posts, photos, Q&A management, and review responses.

Score 5: Weekly GBP posts, prompt review responses, regular photo updates, service optimization Score 3: Occasional updates, reviews responded to within a week Score 1: They set it up once and haven't touched it since

7. What's Their Approach to Reviews?

Reviews are the single highest-leverage marketing activity for most dental practices. Your agency should have a systematic approach to generating them — not just "ask your patients."

Score 5: Automated review generation system, monitoring, response templates, and reporting Score 3: They remind you to ask for reviews occasionally Score 1: Reviews are "not really our area"

8. Can They Show You Competitive Data?

How does your practice compare to the top 3 competitors in your market? What keywords are they ranking for that you're not? Where are they beating you?

If your agency can't answer these questions, they're marketing in a vacuum. You can't win a race if you don't know who you're racing against. I talk about why competitive analysis is non-negotiable in another post.

Score 5: Regular competitive analysis with actionable insights Score 3: They mention competitors occasionally but don't do structured analysis Score 1: They have no idea what your competitors are doing

9. How Do They Handle AI and Emerging Search?

AI is fundamentally changing how patients find dentists. Google AI Overviews, voice search, zero-click results — if your agency is still running the same SEO playbook from 2020, you're falling behind.

Score 5: Active strategy for AI Overviews, GEO, schema markup, and emerging search Score 3: They're aware of AI changes but haven't adjusted strategy yet Score 1: "AI? We focus on the fundamentals."

10. Would They Survive a Results Audit?

If you hired an independent third party to audit your marketing results, would your agency come out looking good? Not creative work — results. Patient volume, cost per acquisition, ranking progress, review growth.

Score 5: You'd be confident in an audit because results are clear and documented Score 3: Some results are there, but attribution is fuzzy Score 1: You'd be nervous because you're honestly not sure what you're getting

Your Score

40-50: You've Got a Great Agency. Keep them. They're rare. Make sure you're not underpaying them — great agencies are worth every dollar.

25-39: Room for Improvement. Have an honest conversation. Share this scorecard with them. Good agencies will appreciate the feedback and step up. Mediocre ones will get defensive.

Under 25: It's Time to Move On. You're paying for marketing that you can't measure, can't verify, and probably isn't working as well as it should. Start your search.

Red Flags That Should End the Relationship Immediately

Regardless of score, walk away if you see any of these:

• They won't give you access to your own accounts. Non-negotiable
• They guarantee specific rankings. Nobody can guarantee page 1 on Google. Period
• They can't explain what they do in plain English. Jargon is a hiding place for incompetence
• They blame the algorithm for everything. Yes, Google changes. Good agencies adapt. Bad ones make excuses

How to Have the Conversation

If your agency scored low and you want to address it, here's the script:

"I want to make sure we're aligned on expectations. Can we schedule 30 minutes to review these 10 areas? I want to understand where we're strong and where we can improve. My goal isn't to find a new agency — it's to make sure we're getting the most from what we're spending."

If they react with defensiveness instead of curiosity, that tells you everything you need to know.

The Bottom Line

You wouldn't keep a financial advisor who couldn't tell you your portfolio returns. You wouldn't keep an employee who couldn't explain what they did last month. Hold your marketing agency to the same standard.

The dental marketing industry has too many agencies coasting on confusion and jargon. You deserve clarity, accountability, and results.

If you want to see what accountability looks like, book a discovery call with me. I'll run a competitive analysis of your practice and tell you exactly where you stand — whether you work with us or not.