KOPYA NG SALIN 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.149 --> 00:00:02.672
All right, welcome back to the dental marketing mix.
00:00:02.672 --> 00:00:03.632
I'm Dan Bryan.
00:00:03.632 --> 00:00:14.519
I'm the co-founder of Dental Scapes, and this is the show where we cut through the noise and talk about what's actually working and what isn't in dental marketing right now, 2026.
00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:20.621
No fluff, no theory, just real actionable insight for practice owners who want to grow smarter.
00:00:20.621 --> 00:00:22.943
Today, folks, I want to ask you something.
00:00:22.943 --> 00:00:26.807
When was the last time you asked ChatGPT for a recommendation?
00:00:26.807 --> 00:00:28.778
Probably not too long ago, right?
00:00:28.778 --> 00:00:34.551
Maybe you asked it to help you find a vendor or research a product or figure out which service was right for you.
00:00:34.551 --> 00:00:36.942
And you probably got a clear, confident answer.
00:00:36.942 --> 00:00:44.344
And maybe right below that answer, you noticed a new sponsored placement from a brand you've never heard of before.
00:00:44.344 --> 00:00:47.085
That's new and it matters for your practice.
00:00:47.085 --> 00:00:53.898
ChatGPT now has over 500 five zero zero million weekly active users.
00:00:53.898 --> 00:00:56.320
That's not a niche audience.
00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:04.322
That is a massive share of the population actively using AI to make decisions, including decisions about where to get dental care.
00:01:04.322 --> 00:01:14.025
And as of early 2026, as we've reported on this show previously, OpenAI opened the door to paid advertising directly inside that experience.
00:01:14.025 --> 00:01:21.957
We're in the very beginning of this, and dental practices that understand it now have a real window of opportunity that won't be open forever.
00:01:21.957 --> 00:01:25.868
So today on the show, we're going to talk about what ChatGPT ads actually are.
00:01:25.868 --> 00:01:42.487
are how they work, what we've seen so far, including the parts that are genuinely exciting and the parts that are meh still pretty rough around the edges, and why getting in early could give your practice a meaningful competitive advantage before everyone else catches up.
00:01:42.487 --> 00:01:44.058
And I want to be up front.
00:01:44.058 --> 00:01:48.552
At Dental Scapes, we've been in this platform since the early days of the rollout.
00:01:48.552 --> 00:01:54.879
We're already running chat GPT ad campaigns, which means everything I'm about to share isn't just what we've read.
00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:56.718
It's what we've lived firsthand.
00:01:56.718 --> 00:01:58.150
So let's start with the basics.
00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:04.031
ChatGPT ads launched in the US in early 2026, reaching users on the free tier.
00:02:04.031 --> 00:02:05.581
The format is straightforward.
00:02:05.581 --> 00:02:16.794
When a user asks a relevant question and ChatGPT generates a response, a sponsored placement can appear, clearly labeled in a subtly tinted box below that response.
00:02:16.794 --> 00:02:19.256
It's not interfering with the answer itself.
00:02:19.256 --> 00:02:21.556
OpenAI has been very firm on that.
00:02:21.556 --> 00:02:24.008
The AI gives you its honest answer.
00:02:24.008 --> 00:02:26.681
And then a relevant ad may appear underneath it.
00:02:26.681 --> 00:02:29.212
That distinction is actually important for trust.
00:02:29.212 --> 00:02:36.146
And so far, user dismissal rates have been low, which tells you something about how non-intrusive the ads actually are.
00:02:36.146 --> 00:02:40.099
Now, here's where it gets interesting for dental practices specifically.
00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:45.174
The targeting system is not keyword-based like Google Ads, it's contextual.
00:02:45.174 --> 00:02:53.025
Instead of bidding on terms like dentist near me or invisalign cost, advertisers write what OpenAI calls context hints.
00:02:53.025 --> 00:02:54.406
This is plain language.
00:02:54.406 --> 00:02:58.066
They're descriptions of the types of conversations where their ad should appear.
00:02:58.066 --> 00:03:09.771
It might be something like, quote, when users are asking about straightening their teeth or improving their smile, the system will then match your ad to relevant conversations based on those signals.
00:03:09.771 --> 00:03:19.536
That's a genuinely different way to think about reaching potential patients because you're showing up inside a conversation where someone is actively researching.
00:03:19.536 --> 00:03:22.368
They're not just browsing or scrolling past something.
00:03:22.368 --> 00:03:30.894
Now let's talk about the reality of where this platform is right now because it's still very early and there are some legitimate friction points you need to know about.
00:03:30.894 --> 00:03:33.335
For one, access is not instant.
00:03:33.335 --> 00:03:40.979
When Chat GPT ads first rolled out, getting in required applying through OpenAI's business portal and waiting for approval.
00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:42.680
We went through this process ourselves.
00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:47.122
The review and onboarding experience was, well, let's just call it unpolished.
00:03:47.122 --> 00:03:48.032
There were delays.
00:03:48.032 --> 00:03:52.145
Communication from OpenAI was definitely inconsistent.
00:03:52.191 --> 00:04:02.877
And in some cases, advertisers who applied in January and February didn't get real traction until April or May, when a self-serve ads manager quietly opened.
00:04:02.877 --> 00:04:06.098
The UI itself has been clunky, to put it mildly.
00:04:06.098 --> 00:04:13.473
If you spent time inside Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager, you understand what a mature platform looks like and is capable of.
00:04:13.473 --> 00:04:16.834
ChatGPT's ads manager is not like that.
00:04:16.834 --> 00:04:17.654
Not yet.
00:04:17.654 --> 00:04:21.899
It's a three-tier structure of campaigns, ad groups, and ads.
00:04:21.899 --> 00:04:24.961
Which is familiar enough, but the options are
Load full transcript
very thin.
00:04:24.961 --> 00:04:32.355
As of now, there's essentially no demographic targeting, no behavioral audiences, no interest segments the way you'd find on Meta.
00:04:32.355 --> 00:04:41.439
And as of now, geographic targeting only goes down to the country level, not the city, not the zip code, not the radius around your practice.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:49.879
That's a significant limitation for a local business like a dental practice, and it's something OpenAI will almost certainly address, but it's a real constraint right now.
00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:54.732
There are contextual hints you can give to work around that, but we'll talk about that another episode.
00:04:54.732 --> 00:04:58.353
We've also seen instances of sloppy contextual matching.
00:04:58.353 --> 00:05:04.396
Because the system is still learning, ads have shown up in conversations where the contextual fit was loose at best.
00:05:04.396 --> 00:05:12.120
If you run a campaign and you're not monitoring it closely, you could end up paying for placements that have nothing to do with dental care or your ideal patient.
00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:14.281
That's the nature of a new platform.
00:05:14.281 --> 00:05:16.504
The guardrails just aren't fully built yet.
00:05:16.504 --> 00:05:19.531
And I'll be honest, the results so far, they're mixed.
00:05:19.531 --> 00:05:22.362
Some early advertisers are seeing strong engagement.
00:05:22.362 --> 00:05:49.288
There's a data point from Critio looking at LLM referred traffic that found that users coming from AI platforms converted at roughly 1.5 times the rate of users from other channels, which makes intuitive sense because someone who just had a conversation with ChatGPT about teeth whitening and clicked a link is probably more primed to act than someone who passively scrolls through a bunch of links.
00:05:49.288 --> 00:05:51.209
And maybe clicks on a search result.
00:05:51.209 --> 00:06:02.163
But for those success stories, there are also advertisers who struggled with attribution, with volume, and with making sense of what performance actually looks like in a system that's still figuring itself out.
00:06:02.163 --> 00:06:06.584
So is this a platform you should dive all in on and bet your marketing budget on?
00:06:06.584 --> 00:06:07.754
No, not yet.
00:06:07.754 --> 00:06:10.334
But is it a platform that you should ignore?
00:06:10.334 --> 00:06:11.115
Absolutely not.
00:06:11.115 --> 00:06:12.165
You can't afford to.
00:06:12.165 --> 00:06:16.584
And here's why the timing matters think about what early Google ads looked like.
00:06:16.584 --> 00:06:30.295
If you were running dental ads on Google in 2020 or excuse me, 2003 or 2004, before every practice in your market was fighting for the same clicks, your cost per click was a fraction of what it is today.
00:06:30.295 --> 00:06:37.372
Early movers learned the platform, built the playbook, and established visibility before competition drove prices up.
00:06:37.372 --> 00:06:40.985
Well, that same dynamic plays out on every new ad platform.
00:06:40.985 --> 00:06:46.408
Facebook ads in 2011, Instagram in 2014, TikTok a few years ago.
00:06:46.408 --> 00:06:47.870
Early is cheaper.
00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:49.569
Early is less competitive.
00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:54.932
And early means you're building institutional knowledge that has compounding value over time.
00:06:54.932 --> 00:06:57.793
ChatGPT, of course, is not a new social network.
00:06:57.793 --> 00:07:00.514
It's something different and arguably more powerful.
00:07:00.514 --> 00:07:04.314
It's a platform where people go when they are actively seeking answers.
00:07:04.314 --> 00:07:05.814
That's intent-based.
00:07:05.814 --> 00:07:11.403
And intent-based advertising has historically been the highest performing channel in dental marketing.
00:07:11.403 --> 00:07:16.247
Which is exactly why Google search ads have been such a workhorse for the industry.
00:07:16.247 --> 00:07:32.028
Chat GPT ads have the potential to operate in that same high-intent space, but with significantly less competition right now and with cost per click or CPCs that are likely to increase substantially once the platform matures and more advertisers flood in.
00:07:32.028 --> 00:07:38.452
So the practices that get in now, even with modest budgets, even while the platform is still rougher on the edges.
00:07:38.452 --> 00:07:41.875
are going to learn things that simply can't be learned from the sidelines.
00:07:41.875 --> 00:07:43.475
What messaging resonates?
00:07:43.475 --> 00:07:46.257
What context hints drive quality clicks?
00:07:46.257 --> 00:07:50.199
How do chat GPT referred visitors behave on your website?
00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:53.050
How do they convert compared to Google or MetaTraffic?
00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:57.062
That institutional knowledge is genuinely valuable and it takes time to build.
00:07:57.062 --> 00:07:58.934
So what should you actually do?
00:07:58.934 --> 00:08:01.586
Well first don't wait for perfect.
00:08:01.586 --> 00:08:09.694
The platform will improve, geographic targeting is going to get more granular, the UI will mature, The matching will get smarter.
00:08:09.694 --> 00:08:11.634
But this is something I can guarantee.
00:08:11.634 --> 00:08:17.398
The window where early movers have an advantage, well, it's open right now, not when all of that is finished.
00:08:17.398 --> 00:08:21.189
Second, treat this as a learning budget, not a performance budget.
00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:26.963
We're not in a place where you should expect Chat GPT ads to replace your Google ads or Meta spend.
00:08:26.963 --> 00:08:36.865
What you should expect is that allocating a small controlled test budget, maybe a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, will teach you things that put you ahead of competitors.
00:08:36.865 --> 00:08:38.405
Who are still waiting to get in.
00:08:38.405 --> 00:08:41.489
Third, please think carefully about your context hints.
00:08:41.489 -->
00:08:49.125
Because this platform doesn't have keyword targeting like Google, the way you describe your audience and their intent is the most important lever you have.
00:08:49.125 --> 00:08:51.456
It's actually one of the only levers you have.
00:08:51.456 --> 00:08:56.330
So think about the actual questions that your prospective patients are asking Chat GPT.
00:08:56.330 --> 00:09:03.014
Questions about cost, about pain, about specific treatments like implants and Visaline or emergency care.
00:09:03.061 --> 00:09:07.504
Write your context hints around those real conversations that are happening already.
00:09:07.504 --> 00:09:13.087
And fourth, and this is really important to keep in mind, be ready for the experience to still be a little rough.
00:09:13.087 --> 00:09:16.440
Apply early because the application and approval process can drag.
00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:18.251
Dentalscapes can actually help you with that.
00:09:18.251 --> 00:09:22.875
Don't expect the same polish you're using or used to from Google or Meta.
00:09:22.875 --> 00:09:24.605
Monitor your campaigns closely.
00:09:24.605 --> 00:09:31.924
Like I said, if you want help navigating it, work with someone who's already doing this for dental practices because that learning curve is steep.
00:09:31.924 --> 00:09:34.937
And time is one of those things you just can't get back.
00:09:34.937 --> 00:09:38.971
That's actually something that separates Dental Scapes, our agency, in this moment.
00:09:38.971 --> 00:09:43.173
We didn't wait for Chat GPT ads to become mainstream to start figuring them out.
00:09:43.173 --> 00:09:48.438
We were in early, we're managing live campaigns, and we're building the playbook in real time.
00:09:48.438 --> 00:09:50.941
Most dental marketing agencies aren't there yet.
00:09:50.941 --> 00:09:52.442
That's not a knock on anyone.
00:09:52.442 --> 00:09:54.683
This platform is new and fast moving.
00:09:54.683 --> 00:10:01.610
But it does mean that if you want a partner who's already navigated the access, process, work through the targeting quirks.
00:10:01.610 --> 00:10:09.807
And knows about dental-specific campaigns and what they look like on this platform, we can offer that from day one rather than learning on the fly.
00:10:09.807 --> 00:10:10.769
And on your dime.
00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:13.211
Look, this is genuinely new territory.
00:10:13.211 --> 00:10:18.815
Chat GPT ads are not fully baked and we're learning alongside every other marketer in the space.
00:10:18.815 --> 00:10:25.623
But I'll say this, every major paid channel that exists today was confusing and limited and imperfect when it first launched.
00:10:25.623 --> 00:10:35.840
Practices that have the strongest digital presence 10 years from now, they'll be the ones that made smart bets early, not the ones that waited until everything was figured out and crystal clear.
00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:50.659
If you're listening and want to understand how Chat GPT ads fit into your overall marketing strategy, or if you want to just talk through whether now is the right time to test them for your practice specifically, consider booking a free strategy call with us at dentalscapes.com slash start.
00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:55.335
We'll take a look at where you are, where you want to go, and what the right moves are.
00:10:55.335 --> 00:10:55.934
Right now.
00:10:55.934 --> 00:10:56.645
All right.
00:10:56.645 --> 00:10:58.907
Thanks for listening to the dental marketing mix.
00:10:58.907 --> 00:11:07.751
If this episode was helpful to you, I would genuinely love it and appreciate it if you would leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
00:11:07.751 --> 00:11:11.232
Give us a thumbs up on YouTube, wherever you're listening to this.
00:11:11.232 --> 00:11:14.535
It takes less than a minute and it means way more than you know.
00:11:14.535 --> 00:11:24.020
This podcast exists to help practice owners and practice administrators like you cut through the noise, and every review helps us reach more dentists who need to hear this stuff.
00:11:24.020 --> 00:11:25.596
I'll be back next time with more.
00:11:25.596 --> 00:11:27.052
Take care and talk soon.