Re-engineering go-to-market for the cloud-based dental software leader by evolving ABM into a revenue engine

The dental industry is rapidly consolidating: DSOs (Dental Service Organizations), valued at $26.9B+, are exploding in scale, complexity, and buying power, fast becoming the reality of modern dentistry. In fact, 1 in 3 new dentists now skip the solo practice route entirely to join these larger, tech-enabled dental companies.

For Planet DDS, the leader in cloud-based dental software, this presented a problem. While solo practices had historically converted well and more quickly, they didn’t move the needle the way DSOs now could. And, enterprise DSOs have much higher obstacles to get to closed-won.

The challenge wasn’t just to improve Planet DDS’s paid media performance. It was to rethink their entire go-to-market engine: who to target, how best to reach them, and how to earn trust from buying committees with long memories and even longer sales cycles.

Scaling your dental group isn’t just about acquiring locations. It’s managing the mess that comes with them: fractured on-premise systems, disconnected patient data, and too many tools duct-taped together. From our interviews and research, one truth stood out: DSO decision-makers weren’t just shopping for practice management software. They needed infrastructure: a stable, but adaptable operating system that could handle multi-location growth. We didn’t need to sell features. We needed to sell a platform they could bet their expansion on.

Lifting Off with Demand Gen 

We started by overhauling Planet DDS’s paid media strategy, tactically and creatively. They needed to show up differently: more direct, more distinct, and more dialed-in to the frustrations of dental decision-makers.

So, we developed a creative direction that fully embraced the brand’s new outer-space-forward identity to boldly go where no Planet DDS ad had gone before. Goodbye clinical stock photos. Enter Arty the Astronaut (their brand character) to give ads a gravitational pull that made Planet DDS impossible to ignore. The result?

• Creative went next-generation. Stellar wordplay and playful visuals led as ad copy dove harder into pain points and benefit-first product education, handled objections head-on, and built trust with social proof.
• Lead volume surged as we streamlined conversion paths, optimized campaigns, made performance-based spend reallocations, and recalibrated the channel mix across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and Gartner.
• Performance improved fast: lower CPLs, stronger engagement, and clearer signals of what content and creative drove the most efficient conversions.

And as pipeline growth began to open doors, bigger opportunities came knocking.

Second-Stage Ignition: Moving Upmarket with ABM

With the demand gen engine firing, Planet DDS hit a strategic inflection point: lead volume was there, conversion rates were strong. But solo practices (while easier to close) weren’t going to fuel sustained company growth. Enterprise DSOs and dental groups were engaging and showing intent, but those high-value accounts driving long-term growth needed a different kind of launch support. Their deals had more friction, more stakeholders, and higher stakes. Paid media alone wasn’t enough to get them to escape velocity.

That’s why we recommended a strategic pivot: an organization-wide shift to laser-focused account-based marketing (ABM).

We had to stop optimizing for lead volume and start building deliberate momentum inside high-value accounts: swapping reach for relevance and hand-raisers for real buying intent. To make it work, we needed full marketing and sales alignment with shared targets, unified systems, and a common definition of success. Together, we redefined the ICP, rebuilt audience targeting and campaign architecture, and restructured the channel mix and tech stack to focus on account progression and pipeline impact. 

To Infinity + Beyond: ABM at Scale

The move to ABM meant rethinking how Planet DDS connected with their ICP. To speed sales velocity, we segmented accounts into three motions:

• 1:1 for strategic enterprise DSOs with fully customized creative, content, and sales enablement
• 1:Few for priority enterprise accounts with similar pain points and needs 
• 1:Many for mid-market DSOs and dental groups that showed early-stage intent

Each tier had its own campaign concepts, content mix, and channel strategy. Budgets and messaging were tailored based on firmographic criteria, journey stage, and behavioral intent. To create Planet DDS’s ABM engine, we:

• Refined the message: Rolled out DSO-specific messaging focused on operational complexity, security, interoperability, revenue cycle pressure, and scalability, all tied back to Planet DDS’s new “Your partner in growth” positioning.
• Co-developed unified ABM playbooks: Ensured nurturing, follow-ups, and paid media efforts worked in sync.
• Set up the ABM stack: A single source of truth for sales and marketing that Integrated CRM, ad platforms, and sales/marketing intelligence to unlock contact-level intent signals and campaign possibilities.
• Optimized paid media performance: Consistently tested, iterated, and created fresh new ad creative, and reallocated spend based on what performed best, including  non-branded search, paid social, and display campaigns.

• Distributed stage-specific content: Delivered assets relevant to different roles and journey stages: buying guides, calculators, case studies, testimonials, e-books, etc.
• Rebuilt attribution architecture: Connected CRM signals with ad and ABM platforms to track account progression and improve conversion insights and feedback loops.

We didn’t just add ABM; we operationalized it. With the right tech, targeting, and tactics in place, we scaled up a repeatable framework to effectively reach priority accounts, influence pipeline, and spur long-term business growth.

Demand gen campaigns built momentum, but ABM changed the trajectory to focused, repeatable growth. We relaunched Planet DDS’s GTM motion, then evolved it to meet the moment and the market they were growing into. Most importantly, we helped them reframe how Marketing supports the business. Account engagement grew. Buyer group influence deepened. Pipeline quality improved. And now? Half of the Top 25 DSOs in the country run on Planet DDS.