It’s been almost 8 years since we last talked about the concept of 360 marketing, but given the shakeups in AI content generation, social media user behavior, Google algorithm updates, and so much more, we think it’s more relevant than ever. It’s not hard to wrap your head around the idea of 360 marketing: your marketing effort needs a full circle approach that provides a consistent, authentic message wherever your prospective patients find you.
While the marketing mix both online and offline is forever changing, it’s never a good idea to put too many marketing eggs all in one basket. Let’s look at how an ideal marketing mix might be structured in the coming year!
360 Marketing for Your Online Channels
Search Engine Optimization
Organic (unpaid) traffic from search engines is still the main source of visits for almost all of our clients’ sites. But we gotta let you in on a secret: the Google Gravy Train is headed back to the station. Google has more opportunities to make money when you stay on Google, not when you peel off to go to an independent website. And no surprise, they are making huge efforts to keep users on their platform, including offering up AI answers to search queries, expanding Google Business listings, and more. Sure, people will still reach your website through a Google search, but there’s more “friction” in between than ever before.
What does this mean for organic search traffic on your site? It’s time to stop thinking you’ll experience endless increases forever. In fact, many of our clients are consistently seeing less search traffic, particularly compared to 2021 and 2022. Part of that certainly has to do with heading back to reality after the Zoom Boom and Covid Cash ran its course. But going forward, it’s going to be harder and harder to even keep your traffic numbers steady.
Time to panic? Not really. So far, while we are seeing traffic declines, most practices are not experiencing declines in lead volume on a similar scale. This suggests that traffic quality from Google has actually increased, or if you prefer to be crass about it, fewer tirekickers are making it to your site. We’ve also been able to track increasing call volume directly from Google Business listings, suggesting some of the lost traffic is no biggie at all.
All this said, tactics to stay front and center on Google remain vitally important. Work closely with your marketing team to develop customized, authentic content that simply cannot be replicated by AI and isn’t just a rehash of information that can be found a billion other places on the web. This involves some creative thinking around sharing your treatment philosophy, explaining your pricing structure, highlighting your differences, celebrating your team members, and more. Get to the heart of your own story and share more of it on your site to keep new patients coming your way.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
We’ve been over and over it. Google PPC is simply a necessary evil if you want to be found in the hypercompetitive space of Google search results. Google has a lot of shareholders to feed, and as the aesthetics market takes a bit of a breather, more practices are ramping up efforts to find new patients. Put those things together and it’s a recipe for more expensive ads on Google. Sometimes A LOT more expensive. We continue to try to earn quality leads from PPC at $100 per lead or less, but in many markets, a cost per lead of double or even triple that is not out of the question.
Bigger PPC budgets are not much of an option if you want to stay competitive. But just shoveling money Google’s way is never a good idea, and that’s where our healthcare PPC management expertise comes in. Google suggests all kinds of things to “optimize” your ads but if you aren’t careful, accepting those recommendations will end up costing you money without a commensurate increase in performance. We step in and review ad performance weekly, making adjustments to ensure we are getting the best possible bang for the buck.
Email Marketing
We talk a ton about email marketing and while it might not seem like the sexiest marketing tactic in the world, it continues to offer strong return on investment (ROI). We are pushing clients hard to commit to monthly email marketing blasts, and offer attention-getting news and specials to make it worth someone’s while to open the message.
Speaking of open rates, they can vary wildly by client and even from one send to the next for the same client. But we find that clients who send consistently, with some thoughtful news and specials, often get the benefit of the most people engaging with their email blasts.
If you’re reluctant to start because you have a small list of subscribers, don’t think you can come up with enough news to fill a blast each month, or other reasons, check in with us and let’s knock out the roadblocks. For just a few hundred dollars, you can stay top of mind with your current patients and book plenty of new treatments.
Text Message Marketing
This is by no means a leading edge tactic at this point, but we still struggle to get some clients on board. If you are a provider and think texting offers to your patients is too intrusive, we need to set the record straight. It simply isn’t, so long as those patients have opted in to receive messages.
Does that mean you should be bugging your patients daily or even weekly about special offers? No. Respect their time by sending blasts only when you have something genuinely worthwhile to share, and always make sure it’s a time sensitive offer. Text messages have open rates of 98% on average, and we’ve recently seen clients sell out of many offers they have blasted out over text message. If you’re not doing it, it’s time.
Social Media
Many of our clients have heard the message that to do social media right, you must do it in-house with someone who can regularly capture the surprising, funny and delightful moments that occur within the practice. Ideally, this person also has a finger on the pulse of social media trends and is a whiz at video and photo editing. Consistently posting engaging content on Instagram and Facebook, and exploring other platforms such as TikTok and Pinterest if you’re more daring, is an excellent way to showcase your brand and your excellent results.
We frequently get asked about social media advertising and in our experience, boosting your organic posts on Instagram/Facebook is the best way to spend on Meta, versus dedicated ad campaigns. We’ve found lead generation ads on Meta to be especially poor performers.
360 Marketing: Offline Opportunities
Billboards
Few doctors really want their face alongside the ambulance chasers, realtors and other “larger than life” figures you meet while speeding down the interstate. But don’t dismiss the billboard idea out of hand. We’ve worked with several clients to put trackable phone numbers or site URLs on billboards. We can’t say they’ve been a slam dunk, but at the right price and with the right messaging, a billboard can reinforce your reputation in the community.
Local School and Sports Sponsorships
We’ve seen mixed success with school and sports sponsorships, such as a banner on a soccer field or an ad in the back of a school play program. A few clients swear they have earned business this way, but for others who we have helped with trackable phone numbers and sitelinks, the numbers don’t bear that out. If you have a local cause that’s important to you and a promotional opportunity arises, it’s worth considering. But don’t go out of your way to spend on ads here.
Local Papers and Magazines
This is an easy one. Simply Do Not Waste Money on Print. It’s extremely expensive and we haven’t been able to track a decent return for a single client in the past 14 years. Maybe you did print in years past, and your rep just keeps twisting your arm to continue. Go ahead and let them twist – but don’t give in. Print advertising is dead, dead, dead.
Your Own Facilities
Take a good hard look around your waiting area, treatment rooms and even your building exterior and parking lot. Is 2025 the time to give your physical plant a facelift? In our experience, many practices undervalue the role a first impression makes. That’s not to say that every practice needs to undergo a million dollar makeover, but put a fresh pair of eyes on your office setting and make sure it delivers on the vibes you want your patients to feel.
Staff Investments
Your people really do make the difference, and if you’re only paying lip service to that, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. We’ve been to practices where you could tell the staff felt valued, appreciated, and energized. And we’ve seen offices where you could cut the tension with a knife just while sitting in the waiting room. The mood, demeanor, professionalism and just plain harmony of your staff makes an enormous difference to patient perception. We’d encourage you to think of your staff as one more group you need to market to – and treat them like the talented team they are so that they are inspired to continue to deliver exceptional care.
The Ideal Marketing Mix for 360 Success
Call us a bit biased as web marketers, but we believe 90-95% of your marketing dollars need to be focused on online investments. If you allocate 10% or less of your marketing on some of these offline opportunities, it’s a smart way to ensure your marketing stays well rounded and your prospective patients are seeing and feeling consistent storytelling at every touchpoint.
