advertising realities aox implant casesI’ve gone into the long list of reasons why the public wants immediate implant procedures such as AO4/6, etc.

So, what are the marketing cost ranges to treat 3 full arch cases each month?

Well, before we get into dollar amounts and ranges, there are THREE CRITICAL CONCEPTS unique to specialty implant advertising such as AOX.

Critical Advertising Concepts

#1: The first thing to know is that with marketing/advertising a niche procedure such as AOX is that there is always a minimum budget required to reach a “critical mass” of phone calls so that you have a dependable and predictable flow of cases each month. This refers to getting in front of enough prospective patients that you have sufficient phone calls which lead to sufficient consults, completely dental physicals, and case presentations Ultimately, that means an ongoing case flow for this endeavor to be worth the investment in time, effort, focus, and money.

The dividing line where ongoing advertising of the AOX procedure makes sense from a time and investment standpoint is 3 arches per month. At this level, you as a provider are happy with your results and you have a routine and rhythm to the case flow. You are also at a point where profitability is quite good plus practices advertising to bring at least 3 arches per month routinely see a 10% general dental revenue increase as a “spill-over” from the advertising.
If you are below the minimum budget for hitting this target, it’s predicable that you will likely have wasted effort, time, and money with not enough calls, consults, and cases arriving to create returns worthy of keeping your efforts going.

Where These Concepts Show Up

I personally found #1 to be true for several years early in my implant practice as I tried to ease my way into these cases with insufficient budgets. It wasn’t until I committed to fully funding my case budget and finally having enough phone calls and consult flow did I arrive at a self-sustaining implant practice model that had a return on the time and investment that brought predictability in annual case flow.

Some of our members show up with this same situation – unawares of the real minimum case budget until they pay us do objective research for their market in what the true ad costs are to generate cases.

Others show up with sufficient budgets but they split that budget across too many treatment niches (e.g. implants, Invisalign, veneers) which ultimately creates the same issue. For the later doctors, by simply focusing what they already spend now with us but only for AOX cases, we get them the results they seek.

What About Unknowns?

For those who were never informed of the real budget needed (usually they were sold phony low-ball numbers tossed out buy a competitor to quickly secure a new advertising customer) they either step up to what’s required to get their cases OR they decide this is not really the game for them.

There is also value in objective advice to simply not pursue these cases for these doctors – often thanking us for being honest with our evaluations. Time is money and time spent in vain is time lost so why not get the full facts before launching such a major practice initiative?

Those unaware of this rule, investing too little or incorrectly, also wind on what I call the wrong side of the “implant fun line” when it comes to WHO treats cases. As we delved into previously, fun is one of the top reasons clinicians enjoy seeing these patients and cases.

In any given market, there is a small group of doctors who love on what I call the “fun” side of the implant case line and a much larger group living on the “not fun” side. As you probably have guessed, the fun side of the line is 3 arches or more per month. Most of those stuck on the “not fun” side are there because of not understanding the minimum budget required side and by not understanding other principles past advertising that we will go into shortly.

Click here to have your one-on-one discussion about this with Dr. McAnally.

Full-Arch Program Testimonials

“Thanks to James and the Full Arch (AO4) Program, we treat a full arch case every week. I’m having the most fun ever in my long professional career”
– Dr. Joe M., Virginia

“The Full Arch Program with Medicare Option has given me the implant practice of my dreams.”
– Dr. F. A. Charlotte, NC