Invisalign Google Ads Marketing In London – Some Observations

Using Google Ads for orthodontics promotion – things to consider before you begin

As a supplier of ads services for dentists across the UK, we are often contacted to discuss the viability of using ads for promoting high-value treatments such as orthodontics and implants. The viability question is quite tricky and there is no simple answer; for example in areas where there is a lower level of competition, Google Ads can be very useful indeed and the payback quite excellent.  However, in areas where competition is much higher then it gets a whole lot trickier.

To illustrate my point, let’s take a look at an example of Google Ads for Invisalign in London and what you should expect if you wish to start advertising there.

Monthly budget

To begin I have to stress that you can’t launch a dental ad campaign and have it professionally managed for £500 per month, particularly so in an area with high competition. Click budget alone, per treatment type, would typically be well north of £1000 per month, often two or three times this level. Then add around £500 for a typical management fee and you can see that a substantial budget is required.

Click costs

Typical “top of results” click costs for high-value treatments such as Invisalign in London will range from a few pounds to £10 or more depending on various factors. Well-established accounts with good ad rank and quality scores, will have lower overall click costs; whereas accounts which are less well-established will need to bid more for those high ad placements.

Therein lies a bit of a conundrum for when you start advertising, as it isn’t a level playing field. You may need to bid high to establish yourself and to progressively build better ad ranking and quality scores. Where you are competing against mature accounts with big budgets, this can be difficult to achieve.

Competition from the “big players”

This is also a key issue to understand before stepping in, particularly with respect to Invisalign. It goes without saying that this is a very competitive market but we now have two very large organisations themselves who are very active in the ad space, more so than ever before.

A few years ago, Smile Direct Club started to use ads very aggressively nation-wide with particular focus in London and larger cities. However, they are now pretty much ubiquitous if you search for anything associated with clear aligners and teeth straightening. Historically Invisalign was not so active with ads and left individual dentists and affiliates e.g MiSmile, to do the main leg-work.  However, the dominance of SDC appears to have forced Invisalign to up their ad game in direct response which has made it increasingly difficult for independent dentists to break through.

To illustrate, if I look at several London ad accounts we manage, I see the ad impressions share between SDC and Invisalign.co.uk at just over 70% on average. All of the smaller businesses have ad impression shares way lower than this. So where the two big players are showing their ads 5 or 6 times more frequently than the smaller players, it’s not hard to work out the results.

Can independent dentists compete with the big players?

When it comes to Google Ads, it is increasingly expensive to compete when we have a couple of dominant players with huge ad budgets and casting very wide nets. However, with a realistic budget (thousands not hundreds per month) and with diligent account management, you can still make headway – however don’t expect it to be easy and for the Invisalign floodgates to open. The initial objective is to pay back the ad spend, build the account maturity and then push on to realise return on investment of a few fold. More than this is unrealistic, at least initially, so patience is essential.

Summary

Using Google Ads in highly competitive areas and for very popular treatments such as Invisalign is not for the faint-hearted . You should understand the implications, begin with a sensible budget and recruit some experienced assistance to help. It won’t be easy but you can still achieve good paybacks given time and patience.

On the other hand, if you fancy having a dabble with a few hundred pounds and a DIY approach, chances are you will be disappointed as the “big beasts” are already entrenched and very difficult to displace.

If you would like more information or a no-obligation discussion, please get in touch with the ad team at Dental Media on 01332 672548.