Orthodontic Practice More Than Doubles Starts in One Year with Strategic Marketing Partnership

When Dr. Yubin Lee opened Smile Studio Orthodontics she had everything in place to grow her budding practice: a modern space, solid referral relationships, and a clear vision for how she wanted to practice. What she didn’t have was online visibility or enough new patients coming through the door.

“I had worked with another marketing firm before,” Dr. Lee said. “They just sent me data, but I didn’t really know what I was looking at. I had no idea if it was actually working.”

After several months of flatlined growth, she began looking for more than just a marketing vendor. She wanted a true partner, one who understood her practice, could help her define what made it different, and drive meaningful patient flow. That’s when she partnered with People + Practice.

The first step was a full brand discovery process. The People + Practice team guided Dr. Lee through an in-depth exercise to uncover her voice, clarify what made her practice unique, and define the types of patients she wanted to attract. That insight became the foundation for sharper messaging and more strategic marketing in a competitive market.

“That was really powerful. It was something I had in mind, but I couldn’t really iterate it. Having that down on paper provided me direction.”

That foundational work formed the “North Star” messaging for what unique value Smile Studio brings to the community and went on to serve as the basis for all communications on the website updates, paid ad strategy, and monthly content planning. But what stood out most to Dr. Lee wasn’t the tactics, it was the ongoing collaboration.

“It kind of feels like we’re working together as a team,” she said. “I give feedback, and Erica always helps me. She gives me ideas, and we talk to each other about how to actually form a full marketing plan.”

Watch a video below of Dr. lee explaining how we helped her practice.

Within 12 months, the results spoke for themselves. Comparing Q1 2024 to Q1 2025:

• Consults went from 28 to 76

• Starts jumped from 16 to 53

• Production rose by nearly $189,000

• Conversion rate climbed from 57.1% to 69.7%

• Child starts increased by 329%

• Adult starts rose by 156%

Even more meaningful to Dr. Lee was the rise in local awareness.

“Even my cleaner came in and said, ‘Oh, I saw you on Facebook,’” she said. “So we’re definitely getting a lot more exposure.”

That support from the People + Practice consulting team extended beyond marketing campaigns. When Dr. Lee had an issue with review management, she reached out to her Growth Consultant, Erica Damman, for guidance.

“She got back to me ASAP and helped me come up with a plan,” Dr. Lee said.

As a part of the holistic services Dr. Lee is receiving, she also met with  People + Practice CEO Dr. Leon Klempner on optimizing pricing strategies, recall outreach, and identifying overlooked opportunities.

“We were trying to figure out how to recall patients, how to reach out to them, and what to do to get more patients in,” she said. “We also talked about how to follow up with doctors after the consult. Things like that were very helpful.”

Looking back, Dr. Lee reflected that it’s hard to draw a straight line from one activity to a certain outcome but the impact of the holistic strategy was undeniable.

““Since I started with People + Practice, my numbers have more than doubled,” she said. “So it’s a big positive.”