By Dr. Glenn Vo, Editor-in-Chief of Dental Lifestyles Magazine

Every year, the Nifty Thrifty Dentists community comes together to recognize the individuals who have made an extraordinary impact on our profession. This year, our Industry Influencer of the Year is someone whose impact on the profession speaks for itself. 

Dr. Anissa Broussard has spent the better part of two decades helping dentists understand that effective marketing isn’t about offering discounts or gimmicks—it’s about authentic connection. And in an era where AI is reshaping how patients find their providers, her message has never been more relevant.

I’ve had the privilege of watching Anissa’s journey unfold over the years, from her early days teaching Facebook marketing to dentists who didn’t even know what a “funnel” was, to her current role leading Digital Floss, one of the most innovative marketing agencies serving the dental industry.

For this edition’s cover feature, I sat down with Anissa to discuss her journey, her philosophy, and why she believes we’re standing at a pivotal moment in dental marketing history.

From Popeye’s Chicken to Practice Philosophy

To understand Anissa Broussard, you have to understand where she comes from. Growing up in New Orleans, she learned her most important business lesson not from a textbook or a conference but from her father’s experience managing a Popeye’s Chicken restaurant.

“My dad walked into what was the least profitable location in New Orleans,” Anissa shared with me. “Employees were stealing chicken, throwing chicken at each other, orders were wrong, and customers were complaining. It was a mess.”

What her father did next shaped everything Anissa would become. He called a meeting and addressed the elephant in the room directly. He told the team he’d noticed chicken was going missing at the end of shifts. Rather than threatening or punishing anyone, he simply said he had a daughter at home to feed—and told them to take the chicken if they needed it for their families. He implemented accountability measures for orders, but he also created an incentive program, putting money from his own pocket toward bonuses when they hit their goals.

Within a year, that location became the most profitable Popeye’s in New Orleans. Al Copeland himself pulled Anissa’s father out of the restaurant to train managers at Popeye’s University.

“The biggest lesson I ever learned, I learned from my dad,” Anissa told me. “When you take care of people, they’ll take care of you.”

Her father also instilled in her a belief that would fuel her ambition throughout her career: “It doesn’t matter where you come from. The only difference between you and anyone else is that they know something you don’t know. When you learn what they know, you can have what they have.”

That philosophy turned Anissa into a perpetual student—and eventually, a teacher.

Twenty Years of Clinical Excellence, Then a Question

Anissa practiced clinical dentistry for two decades, building expertise in complex restorative cases, implants, and veneers. She was heavily involved in the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and built a thriving practice. By most measures, she had achieved success.

Then her practice coach asked her a question that changed everything: “What’s your legacy going to be?”

“I thought about it,” Anissa recalled, “and I realized I wasn’t going to say ‘I’m gonna go prep more crowns.’ I had more to share. That day I said, ‘I’m going to write a book to share with colleagues what I had discovered.'”

That question sparked a journey that would take her from clinician to author to podcaster to marketing expert. She wrote a book about how she built her practice. To promote the book, she started a podcast—becoming the first female dentist podcaster in the industry. And as her listeners grew, something unexpected happened: dentists started asking about her marketing.

“I had 50,000 followers on social media, and I was getting 50 patients a month from $500 in ad spend,” she explained. “I thought that was just normal. But other dentists kept asking me what I was doing.”

One dentist in particular, Dr. Robert Malone from California, was relentless. He kept emailing Anissa, asking her to teach him her social media strategies. Initially, she resisted—she didn’t see herself as a marketing teacher. But a mentor offered her some perspective: if people are asking you for help, you have a choice. Are you going to help them or not?

She chose to help. And that decision set her on a path she never anticipated.

The Russell Brunson Connection and Finding Her Voice

Anissa created her first Facebook marketing course and hosted it on ClickFunnels. Wanting to learn more about the platform, she attended Funnel Hacking Live—and ended up in Russell Brunson’s inner circle.

For those unfamiliar, Russell Brunson is widely considered one of the best digital marketers in the world, having revolutionized how businesses think about online sales funnels. Working closely with him for eight years gave Anissa a masterclass in conversion psychology that most dental marketers simply don’t have.

“We were in Kenya on a bus, and I’m sharing with him how I’m getting 100 appointment requests in one week from funnels,” Anissa recounted. “He’s like, ‘Wait, I didn’t even know you could use funnels in dentistry.’ Next thing I know, I’m featured in his book Expert Secrets and speaking on stage at Funnel Hacking Live.”

But even as her marketing reputation grew, Anissa battled imposter syndrome. A comment from another dentist in a Facebook group particularly stung: “She’s just a marketing girl.”

“That messed me up,” she admitted. “I wanted to prove I wasn’t just the marketing girl—that I understood systems optimization, EBITDA, culture, scaling, all of it.”

So she did. She launched Delivering WOW, a coaching program that helped hundreds of practices grow and scale over 8 years. She created Dentalflix, an educational software platform featuring over 80 industry speakers. She proved, to herself and everyone else, that her expertise extended far beyond social media posts.

But everything she built was leading somewhere.

“This Is My Last Gift to Dentistry”

Three years ago, Anissa was at a small mastermind in Mexico with Russell Brunson, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and Garrett White. There were only twelve people in the room. Russell asked the group what problems their industries were facing.

“I told him dentists need help with marketing—not just getting leads, but building authority and understanding conversions,” Anissa said. “And in that moment, I heard something clearly: ‘If you don’t help your colleagues with marketing, who’s going to do it?'”

That’s when Digital Floss was born. And Anissa sees it as her ultimate contribution to the profession.

“I’ve realized that everything I’ve done has been a prerequisite for this,” she explained. “Being a dentist for 20 years, building a coaching program, creating software, working with Russell on conversions—all of it prepared me to build this agency.”

What makes Digital Floss different, according to Anissa, comes down to two words: heart and head.

The Heart and Head Philosophy

“Marketing in dentistry is broken,” Anissa stated bluntly. “And the reason it’s broken is that the heart has been taken out.”

She sees most dental marketing falling into one of two traps. Some agencies focus purely on lead generation—running Google ads, chasing clicks, competing on price. Others focus on branding—beautiful photos, nice logos—but without any strategy to actually convert that awareness into patients.

“It’s not just heart, and it’s not just head,” Anissa explained. “It’s both. And when people understand that, magic happens.”

The “heart” side of Digital Floss’s approach centers on authentic content. Every client goes through a copy call with a human copywriter who captures their voice, their story, and their passion for dentistry. That conversation becomes the foundation for everything—scripts, social posts, website copy, video content.

“We’re tapping into the soul of the doctor,” Anissa said. “When a patient sees that content and goes to do their due diligence, they’re not making a decision based on price anymore. They’re saying, ‘I’m not going anywhere else.'”

The “head” side is where strategy comes in. That heartfelt content gets distributed everywhere—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Google. Geo-targeted ads ensure it reaches the right audience. Funnels capture leads. Automations nurture those leads until they book. AI agents follow up on treatment plans and recover accounts receivable.

“When you don’t have good content, you have no choice but to lead with discounts,” Anissa observed. “That’s why so many agencies do it. But when you have content that creates emotional connection, you don’t need to compete on price.”

Three Marketing Eras—And Why This One Matters Most

Anissa has lived through three pivotal moments in marketing history, and she believes the current AI revolution is the most significant yet.

The first came in 2001, when websites were just emerging. A friend’s sister, studying computers in college, told Anissa she needed a website. She didn’t even know what that meant. But she built one anyway—possibly the first dental website in Birmingham, Alabama. Eight years later, she was number one on Google.

The second came with Facebook. While other dentists dismissed social media as frivolous, Anissa dove in. Within two years, she had 50,000 followers—all organic, because Facebook ads didn’t exist yet. When ads finally launched, she had an unfair advantage that competitors couldn’t replicate.

“Early adopters win,” Anissa emphasized. “And we’re in that window right now with AI.”

She’s not just talking about ChatGPT as a writing tool. She’s talking about a fundamental shift in how patients find providers. AI overviews on Google. Recommendations from ChatGPT and other large language models. A world where the first three or four practices that establish authority in a given location and specialty may lock in that advantage permanently.

“These AI systems are looking at everything,” Anissa explained. “Not just your website—your reviews, your social media content, your presence across every platform. And here’s what’s fascinating: AI doesn’t want to read other AI. It’s looking for human content.”

That insight shapes Digital Floss’s entire approach. Human copywriters create the content. Doctors deliver the message on camera. The AI systems reward authenticity.

The results speak for themselves: 80% of Digital Floss clients rank at the top of Google, AI overviews, and maps—many without spending a dollar on Google ads or traditional SEO.

Building the Future, One Morning at a Time

Every morning at 9 a.m., Anissa holds a tech call with her development team. She dreams out loud. They tell her what’s possible. Then they build it.

“We’re creating custom AI ambassadors for each practice,” she shared, clearly excited. “We take the copy call transcript, analyze the emotional tone of the doctor’s voice, and train AI systems to communicate in that exact tone. So when an AI voice receptionist calls a lead one minute after they submit a form, it sounds like that practice—not some generic bot.”

These AI agents can pre-qualify patients for financing, book appointments, follow up on treatment plans, and recover accounts receivable. And because they’re handling those tasks, the human team members can focus on what matters most.

“Mr. Joe walks in, and instead of the front desk being buried in insurance verification and AR calls, they can say, ‘How’ve you been? How’s your family? Let me get you a cup of coffee,'” Anissa said. “That’s bringing heart back into dentistry.”

Why She’s This Year’s Industry Influencer

When I think about what makes someone truly influential, I come back to impact. How many lives have they touched? How many practices have they helped transform? How many dentists are better off because this person exists?

By that measure, Anissa Broussard stands alone. She’s taught thousands of dentists how to market authentically. She’s built coaching programs, software platforms, and now an agency that’s pioneering the integration of AI with human-centered marketing. She’s maintained her clinical practice with over 20 team members, still understanding firsthand what it means to be a dentist in 2026.

But more than any of that, she’s stayed true to the lesson her father taught her at that Popeye’s restaurant in New Orleans: take care of people, and they’ll take care of you.

“I don’t see myself as an influencer,” Anissa told me. “I see myself as a guide—helping colleagues understand the changes happening in marketing so they can thrive.”

That humility, combined with genuine expertise and a relentless drive to innovate, is exactly why she’s our Industry Influencer of the Year.

Connect with Dr. Anissa Broussard

To learn more about Digital Floss and how they’re helping dental practices get seen authentically, visit digitalfloss.com.