Your Front Desk Isn't Your Practice's Marketing Team (And That’s Okay)
- Roar Iverson
- Jun 20
- 4 min read
Let’s talk about the accidental marketers sitting at your front desk.
We are encountering this more and more: a sharp, younger receptionist who’s good with Instagram, knows how to make a Canva graphic, maybe even dabbled with TikTok… and suddenly, they’re in charge of your practice’s entire digital presence.
It usually starts off casual:
“Can you post something for Valentine’s Day?”
“Maybe make us one of those Reels?”
“Can you figure out how to boost this Facebook thing?”
Before long, your front desk team - the same people who are juggling phones, insurance questions, and new patient paperwork - are now also expected to be strategists, content creators, and digital analysts.
And let’s be real: the tech savvy receptionist can't replicate an entire practice marketing team.
Why This Happens
There’s definitely some logic behind it. Younger staff tend to be more comfortable with technology. They’re quicker to figure out how to update the website header or resize a photo. They use social media in their personal lives. And the practice manager is already swamped, so it feels like a natural extension.
But there’s a HUGE gap between using social media and building a marketing strategy that brings in new patients consistently.
Just because someone knows how to post a story doesn’t mean they understand how to:
Target a high-intent audience on Google
Track form completions and phone call conversions
Build a funnel that moves a patient from awareness to booked appointment
Monitor drop-offs in Google Analytics
Optimize your SEO for specific services you offer
It’s the difference between someone who can whip up a smoothie and someone who runs a restaurant kitchen. One is fun and spontaneous. The other is systemized, tested, and built for results.
The Hidden Cost of Misplaced Marketing
A private dental practice we recently audited had been running Facebook and Google ads for Invisalign. The front desk team set up the campaign, to their credit, they were trying to help. But every single ad pointed to the website’s homepage.
Not the dedicated page they had on Invisalign. Not a landing page that touched on the subject. Just... their homepage.
The results?
Over $3,000 in ad spend
Loads of clicks and traffic
Bounce rates over 70%
2 Booked consultations
This isn’t unusual. We see it all the time: good intentions, sub-par execution, and limited visibility into what’s actually happening on the backend.
Let People Do What They’re Good At!
Receptionists, especially the ones taking initiative on marketing, are GOLD. They’re often outgoing, creative, and resourceful. We have had the opportunity to work with many of them who should consider a role shift to marketing. But that doesn’t mean they should carry the weight of both reception and growth.
They’re already:
Answering phones
Managing intake
Handling patient complaints
Dealing with schedule changes
Prepping charts and insurance info
Fielding walk-ins and no-shows
That’s not a slow day. That’s barely manageable, and they have been taking on with a smile. You know exactly which employee I am talking about here!
So now imagine trying to learn how to interpret ad performance, optimize your Google Business Profile, or A/B testing the website on their lunch breaks? All without any formal or informal training in Marketing…
It’s a lot.
And when you put that kind of pressure on someone who wasn’t hired or trained for marketing, three things happen:
The results suffer.
The employee gets burned out and confused.
Nobody wins.
Why This Matters to Your Bottom Line
Marketing isn’t a "nice to have" anymore, it’s one of the most critical levers you can use to grow your practice consistently.
Let’s do some rough math:
Say you run a campaign for a $3,000-per-patient service: Invisalign, CoolSculpting, implants, etc. A well-structured campaign might get leads for $100-$175 each. With a proper funnel, maybe 10–20% convert.
But a poorly structured campaign with no tracking, no targeting, and no landing page?
Those same leads could cost you $400+ with a 3-5% conversion rate.
That’s hundreds of dollars, per patient, leaking out of your budget because someone didn’t know where to send the traffic or how to track performance.
Scale that across 3–6 months and you’re looking at thousands in wasted spend, not to mention the lost revenue from patients who never booked because your website was too slow or they could not find what they were looking for.
And even organic efforts (social media posts or blog articles) if done without strategy, often become invisible. Not because your front desk isn’t trying, but because they’re not being set up for success.
So How Do You Get Alignment on Your Practice Marketing Team?
You’ve got options. Here’s what we recommend:
Option 1: Give Real Training
If you’ve got someone young, motivated, and excited to learn, that’s awesome. But don’t assume proximity to the internet equals marketing ability. Invest in actually training them! Send them through a course on local SEO, basic Google Ads, or patient acquisition funnels. Give them the tools to actually be effective. If they are truly excited to learn, help them do just that! They will reward your practice in kind for years to come.
Option 2: Split the Load
Let the front desk handle light tasks; maybe social content or gathering testimonials, and then outsource the technical stuff. Set up systems where they can participate without forcing them to owning it all. Give them clarity on what success looks like, and what’s out of their lane.
Option 3: Outsource It Altogether
At some point, you stop DIYing your taxes and hire an accountant. Same principle here. If growth matters to you, and it should, invest in someone who can make sure your spend is actually getting you somewhere. We work with practices all the time that are spending on marketing but don’t know what’s working. Once we plug in real tracking and data-backed strategy, the shift is immediate.
Final Thought: It’s Not About Blame. It’s About Alignment.
Your receptionist didn’t go to school for marketing. They weren’t hired to be a strategist. They’re helping however they can, and that’s admirable.
But if you’re serious about growth, visibility, and new patient acquisition, you can’t build that on good vibes and Canva posts alone.
Support your team. Invest where it counts. And let everyone operate in the lane where they actually shine.
That’s how you stop wasting money and start seeing real results.
Whether you want to upskill your marketing rockstar, or are ready to let the pros take on your marketing, Book your 30 minute discovery call today!
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