Should a clinic use its practice software's tools or hire automation and marketing help?
Many clinics pay for features they never switch on. Outside help pays when things need connecting, building or measuring.
- Can our office manager set this up?
- What does outside help add?
- How do we choose someone?
Start with the reminders, recall and forms already in your practice or communication software if someone on the team has time to set them up well. Bring in outside help when you need systems connected, custom booking or forms built, marketing tied to patients who stay, or regular tuning and reporting. Everything should be set up in your own accounts.
Choosing the route
| Need | Built-in | Outside help |
|---|---|---|
| Reminders and recall | Usually enough | Optional tuning |
| Online booking connected to schedule | Depends on software | Helps |
| Missed call measurement and overflow | Limited | Helps |
| Marketing tied to retention | No | Helps |
| Custom integrations | No | Needed |
How to choose
Ask for a written scope, examples, who does the work and how results will be reported. Avoid anyone who sets things up in their own accounts.
How we look at it at ShoutEx
ShoutEx is a team of marketing, automation and development specialists. If your software can do it alone, we'll tell you. Our dentists guide covers the marketing side.
- Packages sold before looking at your data.
- Provider-owned accounts.
- No reporting.
- Unclear who does the work.
- Built-in features first.
- Written scope.
- Your ownership of accounts.
- Monthly results.
What dentists and regulators say
Here is what dentists say.
Dentists remain responsible for ads created by third parties, so choose help that knows the rules.
Read the RCDSO article →Community summaries describe recurring themes in public threads, not individual posts. Vendor pages describe vendor claims, so test them on your own calls.
Read next
Go deeper in the ShoutEx guides, or check the sources behind this answer.
We'll show you what your software can do and where we'd help.
Book a call →Follow-up questions
Do you work with our dental marketing agency?
Yes. We can focus on systems and share tracking data.
Can you build custom booking?
Yes, where existing tools don't fit.
Do you work outside Ontario?
Yes. Rules differ by province, so we adjust.