Facebook advertising and these strategies have really helped our clinic. It's given us a steady stream of patients that are the type of patients that we want, in the areas that our podiatrists specialise in. And the patients are responsive to the techniques that we specialise in to get them better.
Sally Powell
The Foot & Ankle Clinic
Get more qualified patients for YOUR clinic using Facebook ads WITHOUT wasting your time doing it yourself
My team and I recently had had the privilege to work with an amazing healthcare clinic in Darlington. The clinic is known for treating foot and ankle conditions, ranging from ingrown toenails through to plantar fasciitis and everything in between. They specialise in getting great outcomes for people suffering from foot & ankle pain. And they have a small team of Podiatrists to treat their patients and get them better.
They had a really good patient database but had a goal to serve more people who needed their help and grow their business.
The outcomes they got for their patients (who were often in severe pain) using advanced techniques, was second to none, but no matter what they tried, getting new patients in the door was a challenge for them.
They had done courses about how to grow and market their clinic and as a result had all the optimal systems in place for expansion, but the marketing was proving harder then they first thought.
They hired an agency who promised them the earth but unfortunately didn't deliver. They were left frustrated, confused, and left wondering whether new patients could be found on Facebook and wanted to know how Facebook advertising actually worked for patient lead generation. But they had enough on their plate with running the clinic and were about to give up on online marketing.
When we first started working with The Foot & Ankle Clinic, they didn't have a real strategy in place and were hoping for the best. The previous agency they had hired, had them mistakenly believe that it took months to see a return from Facebook ads.
In just 8 days of launching their first campaign for the clinic, 55 appointment requests were made for their specialised foot & ankle pain services resulting in a 2699% return on ad spend. From there we turned things around for the clinic by producing a consistent flow of new patients every week.
I don't know about you, but I'd say that's a pretty amazing result for a podiatry clinic. And just as a heads up, we also partner with and love working with Physiotherapists and Osteopaths.
Now I’m about to walk you through exactly how it was done. I’ll reveal the offer, the ads, the landing pages, the follow-up strategies, what had the biggest impact on the success of the campaign, and what I’d do differently next time.
Before the rollout of any new Facebook campaigns, we ran a full audit on the ad account and previous marketing campaigns.
I know not every clinic runs Facebook ads, but for those who have, some of the things we look for when running such audits include:
In our initial findings, we discovered that the clinic had run Facebook ads with an offer that was not very compelling, targeting a general audience, was not using video despite having a collection of informative videos on their Facebook page, and the ads sent people to their website (which is never a good idea with direct response paid advertising).
We also found their were no follow up systems in place, nor was there any tracking in place to know how the ads were performing (other than knowing leads were not coming in the door).
So we determined very quickly that a new offer needed to be created, video ads needed to be produced, landing pages needed to be setup, an email follow up sequence setup, and a tracking and reporting solution introduced.
Get more qualified patients for YOUR clinic using Facebook ads WITHOUT wasting your time doing it yourself
Now that the existing strategy and campaign had been properly assessed it was time to build a brand new digital marketing funnel and Facebook ad campaign.
The Target Audience
The very first step before running any ads on Facebook is to identify the service to be advertised and match it with the type of patient who is likely to be in need of this service. Without doing this, ads will never produce leads and a return on ad speed is unlikely. In this case, the clinic knew that they wanted to continue advertising their foot and ankle pain services that their clinician's specialised in.
Previously the clinic had unsuccessfully run ads targeting very broad and general audiences. They had also tried targeting what's called a lookalike audience based on their website visitors. However in our experience, this never goes well for local healthcare clinics who want to attract people from their local area only.
Following a detailed discussion with the clinic owners, we were able to identify the types of people who typically come in to see them for foot and ankle pain treatment. We were then able to generalise this type of patient and match them with specific targetable interests on Facebook.
As an example, one of the patient types who typically came in to see them were cyclists over the age of 40 years and living fairly closely to the clinic. So using the the sophisticated ad targeting functionality we were able to target people interested in cycling to show Facebook ads to.
Once multiple interests groups were identified for targeting, we split them out to test which ones generated the most leads and the best cost per lead for the clinic.
The Irresistible Offer
Without doubt, the second and most crucial step in setting up a Facebook ad campaign, is to come up with an offer that is irresistible to the people the ad is shown to. And when the right offer is shown to the right target audience, the success of the campaign is pretty much guaranteed.
The thing to realise is that while people can be targeted on Facebook, they are not actively searching for help with their pain on the platform. Therefore the offer has to grab their attention so that they stop scrolling through the newsfeed or watching other videos and pay attention to the ad.
Because the clinic was wanting to promote foot & ankle pain treatment, we decided to offer first time patients an initial assessment at a heavily discounted rate rather than promoting the treatments directly.
Why? Because people on Facebook did not know the clinic and there was no trust build between the clinic and Facebook at this stage. The best way to build trust with potential patients is to invite them into the clinic and have a conversation with them BEFORE offering treatment services.
The offer we setup was an expert foot and ankle pain assessment for only £19 discounted from £95. This provided an incentive for people who needed help to relieve their pain, to come in to the clinic without commiting to treatment. Once people came into the clinic, they assessed them, recommend a full treatment plan and booked people in for treatment who wanted (and needed) it.
The Facebook Ad
For healthcare clinics, the best way to introduce your clinic to people on Facebook is to do it with video. Videos are not only more engaging then still images, they can also take people on a journey from not knowing the clinic at all, to knowing that the clinic can help, to wanting to come in for an initial consultation.
While the clinic was producing very informative video content and posting it to Facebook before we started working together, the videos were not strategically planned.
The first thing we did was leverage the existing content and turn it into highly strategic video ads.
Following a detailed discussion with the clinic we prepared a video outline and script based on their existing video content for the clinic owner to record.
The ad featured the video and a strong call to action to get the initial assessment for only £19. As you can see above, it also generated a lot of likes, comments and shares which helps to let Facebook know that the ad is popular. In return, Facebook rewarded the clinic with cheaper clicks which drove the cost per lead down significantly.
The Landing Page
After people clicked on the ad they were taken to a landing page. If you are not familiar with a landing page, it is a single web page that does not connect to the main website. It's purpose, in this case was to capture lead details. Anything else is a distraction and lowers conversion rates.
The landing page that we build for the clinic featured the video from the ad again and was designed to look like the clinic's main website.
The copy was written following a discussion with the clinic that tapped into the mind of people in pain. Also included were a clear list of the types of people who would benefit from the assessment, what was included in the assessment, how people would benefit from the assessment, video testimonials, and clear calls to action to "request an expert assessment."
When people clicked on the call to action button, they were asked for their name, email, phone number and a brief description of their problem to qualify them as legitimate potential patients.
Once their details were collected, an automated email was sent to reception with instructions to call the patient lead to book them in for the discounted assessment. At the same time they were also added to a lead database that they clinic could access at any time.
The Bonus Offer Page
By requesting an appointment by filling in the form on the landing page, the potential patient had expressed interest in the clinic to help them relieve their pain BUT that does not mean they automatically book in for an appointment.
This is where the bonus offer page locks them in. We built a bonus offer page that people see immediately after they fill in their details on the landing page.
The page encourages people to secure their appointment time online or by calling the clinic directly with an incentive that they receive when they do so. In consultation with the clinic, the bonus offer in this case was a free spikey ball that people could roll under their foot to help with their pain relief.
By offering this incentive, the clinic was able to fill their booking calendar with new patients without having to do anything.
The Follow Up Sequence
The final step in setting up the campaign for the clinic was setting up a follow up email sequence that automatically sent to patient leads that had still not booked in after seeing the bonus offer page or were uncontactable by phone when reception called them.
To do this, we gained access the clinic's email marketing service and set everything up. We integrated it with the landing page, wrote the copy and correctly sequenced the automation so that people would stop receiving the emails once they booked in.
The focus of the emails was to educate the patent leads about how they could have their pain relieved and to showcase several testimonials from happy patients. Nothing speaks higher volumes to potential patients than previous patients who have already successfully been through treatment and now living pain free lives.
Want to know another automated email sequence designed to further educate people about their conditions and how they can be treated that gets patient leads coming in that would have been otherwise lost? Request a free patient lead generation strategy tailored to your clinic and we'll determine whether it's appropriate to adopt.
After just 8 days of launching up the band new campaign, 55 people completed the form on the landing page at a cost of just £5.48 per lead. Of those 55 people, a percentage of them were converted into patients resulting in a 2699% return on ad spend.
The secret source was the irresistible offer that really appealed to the target audiences. This coupled with the bonus offer and follow up sequence kept new patients booking in.
We set up fortnightly online meetings on Zoom to catch up, go over the statistics for the previous period, and jointly develop future digital strategies for other services that they offer. As with every clinic we partner with, the fortnightly catch up's with the Foot & Ankle Clinic are beneficial for both the clinic and us.
In the meantime, the patient leads strongly continued over the following 12 months, allowing the clinic to reliably and predictably keep their booking calendar full with new patients who needed help for foot and ankle pain - the service their clinician's specialise in.
The clinic continues to grow today.
It's important to mention here that the clinic offers a quality service that genuinely helps it's patients with foot and ankle pain to get better using advanced techniques. That’s important. If you’re trying to promote a service for your clinic that is not proven to get patients outcomes, or if there is no demand for it, it really doesn’t matter how good your ads and digital strategy are.
We can't wait to see what our next healthcare clinic client brings in!
If you're needing help with attracting the right type of patient into your clinic, schedule a 15 minute chat on Zoom with me to see if it makes sense to take the next step.
Get more qualified patients for YOUR clinic using Facebook ads WITHOUT wasting your time doing it yourself
As the leader in Facebook advertising for Healthcare Clinics, Tim Lumsden Online is a boutique agency specialising in digital marketing strategies and running Facebook ads.
“We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars on fine-tuning our Facebook lead generation strategies, so you don’t have to. For 6 years, we’ve provided businesses with highly effective patient acquisition services that don’t cost an arm and a leg that allow you to serve more patients and drive real, profitable growth. Is it time for us to help you too?”
Tim Lumsden
Founder - Tim Lumsden Online
Case studies are based on real results we get for our clients but the results are not typical. Results heavily rely on the clinics ability to convert the leads into patients. Having said this, similar results are possible for your clinic.
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