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Hey again — it's Steve with Healthcare Marketing Vitals!

"What are we testing this month?"

Watch your marketing team's reaction to this simple question.

This week, I'm sharing the exact questions that separate great marketers from the marketers who just want to make a buck (for themselves).

But first: What do you do when competitors start bidding on your practice name?

I’m stumped.

I sure hope this week’s newsletter gives us the answer…

In This Week’s Email:

• [2 min] Brand Protection: When competitors bid on your name (and what to do about it)

• [4 min] Beyond Basic Metrics: Questions that make your marketing team sweat or shine (in a good way)

• [30 sec] 5-Minute Marketing Check: We put together a quick but insightful checklist to help keep you on top of your marketing ROI

QUICK TIPS

Protecting Your Brand on Google Ads: When Competitors Bid On Your Name

1 min. read

Brand keywords are searches that include your practice name or your clinicians' names.

They typically have:

• Lower cost-per-click than other keywords

• Higher conversion rates

• Better quality scores (usually 8-10)

• More motivated patients

That's why it's so frustrating when competitors show up above you in search results for brand keywords.

Here's how to take back the top spot—and what to watch out for.

🎯 Smart Bidding Strategy

Bid intelligently to show up higher on the page and increase the cost for your competitors to bid on those keywords.

• Use Manual CPC for brand campaigns (not automated bidding)

• Set high manual bids (but maintain control of costs)

• Watch your Absolute Top of Page rate closely [Top of Page Rate]

• Target a Quality Score of 8 or higher

⚠️ Important: Any major bidding strategy change triggers a 7-10 day learning period. Expect fluctuations in performance during this time.

💰 Budget Control

• Set bid caps to prevent astronomical CPCs

• Use exact match keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks [keyword match types]

• Track impression share daily for sudden drops

• Schedule ads with your phone number to only run during business hours

• Ads and links to make an online appointment can run longer

⚠️ Watch out: Brand campaigns should have your lowest cost per click. If they don't, something's wrong with your setup.

🛡️ Defense Tactics

Competitors can bid on your brand keywords, but that doesn’t mean everything is fair play.

• Trademark your brand name if you haven't already

• File trademark complaints for competitors using your name in ad copy 

• Create compelling ad copy highlighting what makes you unique—both professionally, and in your treatment philosophy or company culture. Ex:

  • “You’ll always feel welcome”

  • “Our patients love our friendly, communicative staff“

  • “With appointment slots for early birds and late workers alike”

• Use site link extensions to dominate more search real estate

⚠️ Reality check: Even with trademark protection, competitors can still bid on your keywords—they just can't use your name in their ads. [Google's policies]

💡 Pro tip: Check your search terms report weekly. You might be showing up for "[your name] careers" — a search that won’t lead to new patients. Exclude the careers search, but consider creating ad groups, ads, and landing pages specifically tailored to “[your name] reviews” searches.

MAIN CONTENT

Data That Matters: Questions to Ask Your Marketing Team

3-4 min. read

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve audited prospective clients whose current marketing team touts record performance despite a slump in appointments.

This doesn’t mean the marketers are lying.

But it does mean they’re focused on the wrong goals and they’re not answering the right questions.

After all, you want patients not vanity metrics.

Ask exactly these questions to find out what’s going on and hold your marketers’ feet to the fire.

🎯 Patient Acquisition

Start with the basics:

"What's our total cost to acquire one new patient?"

• Should include ALL marketing costs (ads, SEO, offline, etc.) [avg. PAC by specialty]

• This number should decrease over time*

• If they can't answer this, they're not tracking properly

*There are exceptions such as testing new campaigns or new competition in the market raising ad prices. They should be able to explain these.

"How are new patients finding us, specifically?"

• Should track exact sources (SEO, Google Ads, Facebook, referrals, etc.)

• Need clear attribution for each channel

• Must show trends over time

• Important to track both online and offline touch points

"Which marketing channels bring our highest-value patients?"

• Different services have different lifetime values

• Should track patient value by marketing source

• Helps optimize budget allocation

• Consider both immediate and long-term impact

🔍 Campaign Effectiveness

Then dig into marketing efficiency:

"What's our conversion rate for each marketing channel?"

• Industry average website conversion: ~1.8-3.0% [conv. rates by specialty]

• Need proper tracking for all marketing efforts

• Must maintain HIPAA-compliant tracking [relevant HIPAA guidelines]

• Should compare performance across channels

"How does our patient retention compare to industry averages?"

• Should track by acquisition source

• Helps identify quality of patients from each channel

• Critical for long-term practice growth

"What's our return on marketing investment by channel?"

• Should show clear ROI calculations

• Must include all costs

• Consider both short and long-term impact

• Compare effectiveness across strategies

📱 Market Presence

Get an understanding of your visibility in the market:

"How do patients find us online versus our competitors?"

• Should show search visibility & keyword gap [what is a keyword gap analysis]

• Compare social media engagement

• Track online review performance

• Understand overlap with competitors for Paid Ad/PPC campaigns

"How do patients find us in our service area?"

• Should show complete market coverage

• Compare performance in different areas

• Track effectiveness of location-based efforts

• Monitor all patient touchpoints

"How do our different marketing channels work together?"

• Need clear cross-channel strategy

• Should show how channels reinforce each other

• Track combined impact on patient acquisition

• Measure overall marketing effectiveness

🔄 Strategic Growth

Find out what the team is doing to drive even better results, or if they’re resting on their laurels:

"What are you actively testing right now?"

• Should always be testing something

• Need clear success metrics

• Should show previous test results

• Test across multiple channels

"What's preventing us from getting more patients?"

• Should identify specific bottlenecks

• Need clear action plans

• Must be data-backed insights

• Consider all barriers across the marketing funnel [healthcare marketing funnel]

🚩 Red Flag Answers

Watch out if they:

• Can't show exact patient acquisition costs

• Don't consider patient lifetime value

• Haven't tested anything in 30+ days

• Give generic answers without data

• Can't explain their integrated strategy clearly

💡 Pro Tip: Strong marketing teams welcome these questions because they showcase their strategic approach. If you get defensive responses, it's time to reevaluate your marketing partnership.

💪 Taking Action

Schedule monthly reviews covering:

• Patient acquisition cost/cost per acquisition (PAC/CPA) across channels

• Overall marketing strategy integration

• Geographic performance analysis

• Test results and insights

• Next month's growth initiatives

You’ll probably catch your marketing team off guard with some of these questions and that’s fine.

Have them get back to you within a few days with the data.

This will force them to reset and refine their approach.

But you shouldn’t get met with continuous resistance or “non-answer answers”.

If that’s the case then it’s time to find a new team.

Remember: Effective healthcare marketing isn't about impressive reports—it's about profitable patient acquisition and retention. A balanced, integrated approach typically delivers the best results for healthcare practices.