Have you received a letter or phone call from AHPRA or your local ADA branch, alerting you to your non-compliance with our Advertising Guidelines?
It’s not a nice feeling, and the task of becoming compliant within the timeframe imposed can be daunting.
Fortunately, we’re here to walk alongside you as you make amends.
About Our Advertising Guidelines
Australian Dentistry is a regulated health profession. We are guided by various National Laws, a professional Code of Conduct, and we are required to comply with Advertising Guidelines.
Regarding the guidelines, we believe that most dental folk observe them to the letter, which is the only sensible choice in our opinion.
Others do not. Of this latter group:
- some dentists seem oblivious that the Guidelines even exist
- others allow themselves to be persuaded by their marketing agencies to ignore them (usually because they don’t have enough compliant advertising methodologies in their toolbox)
- while still others seem to take some pride in their deliberate non-compliance, often referring to AHPRA as a “toothless tiger”, or words to that effect.
We’ve had dentists contact us because they’ve seen this tiger pounce! The stress this causes is intense, and it can be magnified when the practice had no idea that they were doing the wrong thing.
The Advertising Guidelines exist to protect the Australian Public from being misled or talked into treatment that they don’t need. And dental practices can definitely be marketed effectively while remaining well within the requirements of the guidelines.
You just have to know how. And we do.
We’re Not Offering Legal Advice
We’ve got many talented people working for Dental Web Strategies, but we don’t have a legal department, and we therefore can’t offer a legal opinion about your situation.
What we do have is a founder who herself is an Australian Dentist, and whose approach to online marketing for dentists has ALWAYS included an insistence in working within the Guidelines as she understands them.
Obtaining your own legal opinion is always encouraged.
We’ll Help You To Identify And Remove Non-Compliant Material, And Replace It With Material That Is Compliant And Effective
It starts with a review of your letter from AHPRA. Then, in consultation with you, we’ll conduct an audit of your website and any other platform that is likely to contain non-compliant material. Once we’ve identified all of the non-compliant material, we’ll help you to remove or modify it.
If you then need to create more website content, we can provide guidance so that you can do it yourself, or develop the content for you.
It’s best that we begin with a conversation. Use the form below to tell us a little about your situation and the best way to contact you.