The economy is changing. No duh, right? And while it may seem like there’s loads of bad news and plenty of challenges ahead, we see several opportunities for practices that are looking to take advantage.
Part of the reason some of the biggest tech company shares have been hit hard this year is the pullback in ad spend from major advertisers, such as Coke, Disney and Walmart. If the big guys and gals don’t think it’s the smartest time to pay for ads, why would it be any different for your little mom and pop medical practice?
A few reasons to up your game on PPC:
- From what we are seeing, demand for cosmetic procedures remains strong. While almost no one is still seeing the explosive growth in consultations and procedures that happened from mid-2020 through the spring of 2022, the aesthetic market is still much larger than it was before the pandemic. We think this is a long-lasting shift in consumer interest and priorities. Simply put, there are more people searching for cosmetic procedures, and that means that your advertising can reach a wider audience on social media and in web searches.
- Aesthetic consumers are being a bit more selective and thoughtful. This translates into them needing more touchpoints and reminders about your brand before taking the next step and scheduling a consultation or a procedure. A prospective patient may first learn about you through a Google search, where they see your ad, see your practice in the Map results, and see details about the procedure they are considering in the web results below. This helps to reinforce that your practice is a top player. If they then also see messaging from you on Facebook or Instagram, it further helps to showcase your brand and help you stay top of mind, so when they are ready to take the next step, they know where they will turn.
- The procedure focus may be shifting. For the past year, we’ve moved much of our client’s online marketing focus to nonsurgical procedures, for the simple reason that most clients’ surgical schedule is already booked out for months. No sense adding fuel to the fire. But with consumers starting to stretch out the buying process and the much higher margins associated with surgical procedures, we see opportunity in selectively advertising high-dollar surgical services.
- Particularly on Facebook, the emptying out of larger advertisers makes it easier for your practice to reach more eyeballs. For instance, if you want to reach women aged 35-55 within 20 miles of your practice, it can be cheaper to do so since not as many advertisers are competing for that demographic. In recent weeks, we’ve seen increased reach and conversions for several clients, without additional ad spend.
How Much and Where to Increase Budget
There’s no hard and fast rule for how much additional spend is appropriate in the new PPC marketing landscape. A much better guide is to set targets for how many consultations or bookings your practice is looking to achieve for any given procedure. From there, you can gauge whether you are meeting or falling short of that target. For instance, if your surgery schedule is already booked out 4 or 5 months, it makes sense to seek out patients for your highest-margin procedures, and/or the procedures you most like to perform or most want to be known for in your market. We can help with this exercise and can review budgets in light of the findings.
In terms of where to increase budget, the main choices are Google or Facebook/Instagram. Again, the choice here will depend on your goals and your procedure focus. Given Google ad regulations, it can be very difficult to advertise brand-name treatments such as BOTOX. Similarly, Facebook isn’t a fan of nudity, so advertising breast and body procedures can be more difficult on the platform. Another consideration is the search volume related to the procedures you want to advertise. Procedures that are highly searched make for better Google Ad performance compared to procedures that require more education and promotion, which is better handled through social platforms.
A Shift Back from Nonsurgical?
As mentioned above, a big emphasis of online marketing over the past few years has been to promote nonsurgical services. But how long can these flip-flopped priorities last? The reality is that competition is high and margins are lower for nonsurgical. And one way or another, surgery schedules are likely to normalize. Possibly at a higher level than pre-pandemic, but likely at a lower level than the scorchingly hot periods fueled by Zoom, rocketing 401(k)s and stimulus payments.
Being an early mover back into PPC spend for surgical procedures is one way to plan for this shift. But as you know, PPC spend is an immediate investment, and competing practices may soon follow. This is why it remains important to focus on a 360 approach to online marketing, where you continue to lay groundwork for earning top Google organic rankings, have an engaging social media presence, encourage rave reviews, and maintain a website that portrays your brand in the best possible light. We think the practices that continued to make smart marketing investments over the past couple of years are in the best position to weather what could perhaps be a more challenging landscape in the years ahead.
