Building a brand for a dental clinic — what I learned
Starting from zero digital presence and working toward something that actually connects with people. The unexpected lessons from working in a traditional industry.
When I joined Brook Lane Dental Surgery, the brief was simple in theory: build a digital presence. In practice, it was one of the most interesting creative challenges I'd worked on.
Here's the thing about healthcare marketing — and I think this applies to most traditional industries: the instinct is often to be safe. To be professional. To say the expected things in the expected way.
But safe content doesn't connect. And it doesn't convert.
The constraint is the creative brief
Working in a regulated industry meant I couldn't say certain things, couldn't make certain claims, and had to be careful about how results were framed. That felt like a constraint at first.
It turned out to be a creative brief.
When you can't rely on bold claims, you have to rely on story. And every practice, every team, every patient journey has a story worth telling. You just have to find it.
The NASDAL award
The clinic had already won the NASDAL DCby1 Practice of the Year 2025. That's a significant recognition in the dental industry — but almost nobody in Felixstowe knew about it.
My job wasn't to create the story. It was to tell it to the right people in the right way.
Community over content
The work I'm most proud of at Brook Lane doesn't live on social media. It lives in local preschools.
We started visiting preschools to teach children about oral health — the Tooth Fairy events. Something that had nothing to do with metrics and everything to do with being genuinely useful to the community.
But here's what's interesting: that community work generated more word-of-mouth than any of our digital content. People remembered us because we showed up where it mattered.
What traditional industries actually have to offer
I came into healthcare marketing with a digital-first mindset. What I left with was something more nuanced: the best brands aren't built online. They're built in real relationships, real experiences, real communities. Digital is just how you tell the world about it.
Traditional industries have the most interesting stories. They just need someone to tell them.