Dental marketingHome / About / How we keep prices down
How this works
Why we cost less, and what you should check.
Before appointing an agency, check its contracting entity, delivery locations, employment or subcontracting arrangements, invoicing and access to data. The business details in this draft require confirmation.
Confirm the actual contracting entity and delivery team in writing. Overseas access needs a role-specific assessment: a restricted transfer involves a separate recipient, and the appropriate safeguards depend on the arrangement. Do not assume that an IDTA has already been signed or that all overseas access is identical.
- Registered
- Verify the contracting entity
- Delivery team
- Confirm staff and suppliers
- You pay
- Confirm payment arrangements
- Data moves under
- Safeguards assessed for the arrangement
Why the price is different
A UK agency employing a UK team has UK salaries, and those salaries have to come out of your monthly fee. There is nothing wrong with that and it is the honest reason most quotes look the way they do. Our costs are lower because our team is employed in India, so we charge closer to what the work costs us rather than what the market will bear.
The part worth understanding is that we are not a middleman. We are not a UK studio subcontracting to a cheaper supplier and keeping the difference, which is a common arrangement and the one that produces the worst of both worlds: offshore delivery at a UK price, with an extra layer between you and whoever is actually doing the work.
Ask any agency where the work is done
This is a reasonable question to put to anyone pitching for your business, including us. Offshore delivery teams and subcontractors are widespread in marketing. If your current agency does use one, that is not a scandal. But it does mean you are entitled to ask what you are paying for, and whether the rate reflects a London studio or something else.
Data protection, properly
This is the question that matters most for a dental practice, because you hold health-related data and you are the controller of it. Getting it right is a defined, solvable step, not a reason to avoid working with an offshore team. It should be settled before a contract is signed rather than discovered afterwards.
| What it is | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| A restricted transfer | Assess whether there is a restricted transfer to a separate recipient and what safeguards apply. Remote access by an employee of the same legal entity is not automatically a restricted transfer, but security and other UK GDPR duties still apply. |
| The IDTA | An IDTA or the EU SCCs with the UK Addendum may provide safeguards for a restricted transfer. Signing a template alone does not establish compliance: assess the transfer, additional protections and other UK GDPR duties. |
| The data protection test | Formerly called a transfer risk assessment, renamed under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. A written check that protection is not materially weaker after the transfer. The ICO publishes a tool for it. |
| A processing agreement | Separately, an Article 28 agreement setting out what we may do with the data, for how long, and what happens at the end. Every agency should give you one, offshore or not. |
| Keeping clinical data out | Minimise access and information, but assess health inferences too: segmentation by attendance or treatment history can still reveal health data. Agree lawful processing and safeguards before creating a campaign. |
| Who carries the risk | Controllers and processors both have legal duties. Document the actual roles, instructions and appropriate safeguards before access is granted. |
The ICO has said it intends to update the IDTA and the Addendum during 2026 following the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Until it does, the existing documents remain the approved standard.
Payments
Confirm the invoicing entity, currency, bank details, applicable taxes and payment charges in writing. A UK bank account is not proof of service quality or data-protection compliance; these business arrangements remain to be verified.
What to insist on, from anyone
A named UK registered company with a company number you can check. Sterling invoicing. A UK bank account. Clear notice periods. And advertising spend billed to your own card by Google or Meta directly, never routed through the agency, so you can always see exactly what was spent.
Working across time zones
India runs four and a half to five and a half hours ahead of the UK depending on the season. In practice that means work carried out while you are closed is waiting when you open, and there is a genuine overlap through most of your morning for calls. It is worth asking any agency what hours you can actually reach a person, because "we are UK based" and "someone will answer at four o'clock on a Friday" are different claims.
Quality and accountability
The fair concern is not geography, it is whether anyone is accountable. Judge it the way you would judge a UK agency. Ask to see work for practices like yours. Ask for the numbers behind it and whether you can see the accounts. Ask who specifically will be on your account and whether that changes month to month. Ask what happens if it is not working.
Our answers: the case studies carry the clients' own figures and we will screen-share the live accounts. The same salaried people stay on your account. Everything is rolling monthly with thirty days' notice, because a twelve month contract mostly protects the agency.
What stays in the UK
Anything requiring a person to be here. Client relationships and account conversations, filming and photography days at your practice, and sign-off on anything patient facing. Clinical wording, prices and claims are checked before they publish, and you approve them.
Ten questions worth asking any agency
Ours included. If an agency is uncomfortable with any of these, that is the answer.
- Where is the work actually carried out, and by whom? Employed staff, contractors or a subcontracted agency?
- Will the same people be on my account each month?
- What company will invoice me, and what is its company number?
- Will I be invoiced in sterling to a UK bank account?
- Can I see your data processing agreement? Before signing, not after.
- If data leaves the UK, what transfer mechanism do you use? The answer should name the IDTA or SCCs plus the UK Addendum.
- Have you completed a data protection test for that transfer?
- Is advertising spend billed to me directly by Google and Meta?
- Do I own the accounts, the website files and the logins?
- What is the notice period, and what happens on the day I leave?
Questions and answers
Common questions about how we work.
Is it legal for a UK dental practice to use an agency with a team in India?
An overseas delivery arrangement can be lawful. Assess the legal entities, access, processing roles and any restricted transfer before selecting safeguards. Same-entity employee access is not automatically a restricted transfer.
What is the International Data Transfer Agreement?
The IDTA is one possible contractual safeguard for a restricted transfer. Its use requires assessment of the actual arrangement and any additional protections; signing it does not replace other UK GDPR obligations.
What is a transfer risk assessment or data protection test?
A written assessment checking that protection for people's data is not materially lower after the transfer, including whether local laws could override the safeguards. Under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 it is now called the data protection test, and the ICO publishes a tool for completing it.
Who is responsible if something goes wrong with the data?
The practice and agency can each have legal duties. Identify controller, processor and any independent purposes, then document access, instructions and transfer safeguards as applicable.
Do we pay in pounds, and to a UK company?
Agree the invoicing currency, contracting entity, bank details and any payment charges before commissioning work. Do not assume the company or account location from the website wording.
What about the time difference?
India is four and a half to five and a half hours ahead of the UK depending on the season. In practice work done overnight is ready when you open, and there is a working overlap for most of your morning. Ask what hours you can actually reach someone.
Are UK agencies not doing this already?
Many agencies use offshore delivery teams or subcontractors. Rather than assume, ask your current agency directly where the work is carried out and who does it. The answer is often more interesting than the question.
How do we judge quality without meeting the team?
The same way you would judge a UK agency: ask to see work for practices like yours, ask for the numbers behind it, and ask to speak to a client. Where someone sits is a weaker signal than what they have produced.
Related
Where this connects.
Every price, published
Plans from £400 a month with website maintenance included, and a free practice audit.
Patient data and privacy
UK GDPR and PECR for dental marketing, and what to ask any agency about data.
Free practice audit
Start by finding out where you actually stand.
Rankings, website, ad spend and how your enquiries are handled. Written up and yours to keep, at no cost and with nothing to sign. If it says you do not need an agency, we will say so.