How much will Google Ads cost my clinic?
Digital marketing expert Laura Moxham explores the value and expense of marketing your clinic on Google
Having spoken to hundreds of businesses, a typical question is: “How much should I spend on Google Ads?”
KNOW THE NUMBERS
Just imagine that for every £1 you invested in Google you received £2 to your clinic. That would be the holy grail – you’d be paying that all day every day, right? According to Google’s Economic Impact Report, that’s exactly what Google Ads can do for a business. Surely then, the question of how much it’s going to cost is simple? Well, unfortunately, it’s not. The secret to being successful with Google Ads (or any other marketing for that matter) is knowing your numbers. So my advice is to do this first, before you embark on any marketing activity.
Knowing the numbers makes your marketing, whether that be Google Ads or not, highly accountable. So rather than thinking: “I’ve heard Google Ads is great for getting new customers; let’s give it a go”, we’re now thinking, “How much do I need to invest to achieve my goal?”
This will enter you into goal-based marketing with transparency. These figures will enable you to have more control over what ‘good’ looks like with your marketing. You just need to work out how much you would need to invest to achieve the outcome or goal for your clinic over a given period of testing time.
So many marketing activities, and in particular Google Ads campaigns, fail because there are no clear goals. The most successful campaigns we’ve seen are those with clear goals to aim to achieve.
With regards to the numbers, at my marketing agency YBA PPC when have our first strategy session with a new client, we ask two key questions:
1. How many new patients or customers do you want?
2. How much are you willing to pay per new patient enquiry?
There are no magical figures here. No right or wrong. It will depend where you want to take your clinic – how fast or how slow the growth – and should ideally come from your business goals.
It’s about knowing your numbers and making a conscious thought process in relation to your marketing.
Let’s say you want 10 new patients per month and you’re prepared to spend £200 per patient as you know they’ll spend £1,000 over their lifetime with you, then your goal would be to spend £2,000 per month to achieve the 10 new patient enquiries.
Knowing these numbers from the outset will allow you to review the return on investment, not the ‘cost’ to your clinic. There’s a big difference. For example the ‘cost’ is £2,000 spend but your ‘return’ is £10,000 revenue to the clinic.
It can be the case that for some clinics they don’t make a profit on the first appointment. It’s really important to consider the spend over a period of time with this patient.
NOW FOR THE FUN PART
Once you know these numbers, then the fun can start. You’ve decided how much budget you want to spend and what you want to achieve with it, now we need to assess if it is possible to achieve with Google Ads.
But here’s the kicker – every clinic advertising on Google is going to be slightly different. From the geographical area they cover, to the treatments they offer and how effective (or not) their website is. The list goes on.
Sadly there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to whether your ad spend budget will achieve your goal. It depends on so many factors.
Here’s my top three success factors to consider before embarking on your Google Ads campaign:
1. Are there enough people searching online for the treatments you offer?
Sounds obvious, but if you only offer a few treatments then you have limitations in the number of people searching on Google. And Google in some situations won’t show your ads if there’s too few people searching.
If you have a wide range of treatments, this will of course help as it will increase the number of people searching, and the number of new enquiries you could attract.
Geography is another consideration here – if you have one clinic in a small local town, you will be restricted by the number of people searching for the treatments you offer and again your ads may not run because there’s simply not enough people searching for Google to show them.
But don’t fall into the trap of widening out the area your ads are shown, as this can often cause wastage in your account. What we found is people will click on your ads, but are unlikely to become customers as they won’t travel outside their home town for the treatment.
If you offer specialist treatments, or if your clinic is particularly sought after, you will find that people are happy to travel further afield and therefore you can confidently show your ads to a wider geographical area.
I recommend playing around with Google’s Keyword Planner Tool to assess how many people are searching for the treatments you offer in the areas you cover.
2. How well does your website convert?
You could have the best Google Ads campaign setup in history. It would be driving the perfect potential clients to your website for exactly what you offer, but if your website doesn’t inspire that person to call and take the next step it’s very much wasted effort and expense.
Don’t get me wrong, the purpose of Google Ads is not to make the sale, but to take the prospect to the next step of the buying process. Its objective is to get them to take action – either to call the clinic to enquire, fill out a form for a call-back or to engage on Live Chat, whatever is appropriate for your clinic. Make sure your website and inner landing pages have a strong call to action that encourages the prospect to take the next step.
3. Why chose your clinic?
Again, you could have the best ad campaigns set up, but unless the ads you show are more appealing than your competitors, you’re likely to become frustrated that they aren’t working. The best advice is to do a search – type in the treatment you offer plus the town you are offering it in and see what your competitor’s ads say. It might be an introductory offer, or that they have free parking, or that their clinic is award-winning. You don’t have to be cheaper than your competition, just more appealing to click on.
As you can tell, there’s a lot of different factors to consider before embarking on Google Ads. It is important not to forget that this is marketing and absolutely nothing is guaranteed but everything is to play for.
When you first start out with your Google Ads campaign, it is possible for it to be immediately profitable, but don’t expect this to be the case. Instead, you should review your goals, have an agreed test period, and sit tight to tweak and improve it through to its success. After all, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it. You’re investing in the long term – to create a sales machine that repeatably and reliably brings you leads on tap.
YBA PPC is offering a free 20-minute strategy session for Aesthetics Medicine readers with Laura Moxham. . Simply email [email protected] quoting ‘Aesthetic Medicine Magazine November 19.’
Laura Moxham is an expert in internet marketing for Google Ads and PPC. She is the managing director of boutique agency YBA PPC, which is recognised as being in the top 3% of agencies within Europe and has been shortlisted in the ‘Best for Growing Businesses Online’ category in the Google Premier Partner awards, due to its high-calibre results from Google Ads.
Digital marketing expert Laura Moxham explores the value and expense of marketing your clinic on Google
Having spoken to hundreds of businesses, a typical question is: “How much should I spend on Google Ads?”
KNOW THE NUMBERS
Just imagine that for every £1 you invested in Google you received £2 to your clinic. That would be the holy grail – you’d be paying that all day every day, right? According to Google’s Economic Impact Report, that’s exactly what Google Ads can do for a business. Surely then, the question of how much it’s going to cost is simple? Well, unfortunately, it’s not. The secret to being successful with Google Ads (or any other marketing for that matter) is knowing your numbers. So my advice is to do this first, before you embark on any marketing activity.
Knowing the numbers makes your marketing, whether that be Google Ads or not, highly accountable. So rather than thinking: “I’ve heard Google Ads is great for getting new customers; let’s give it a go”, we’re now thinking, “How much do I need to invest to achieve my goal?”
This will enter you into goal-based marketing with transparency. These figures will enable you to have more control over what ‘good’ looks like with your marketing. You just need to work out how much you would need to invest to achieve the outcome or goal for your clinic over a given period of testing time.
So many marketing activities, and in particular Google Ads campaigns, fail because there are no clear goals. The most successful campaigns we’ve seen are those with clear goals to aim to achieve.
With regards to the numbers, at my marketing agency YBA PPC when have our first strategy session with a new client, we ask two key questions:
1. How many new patients or customers do you want?
2. How much are you willing to pay per new patient enquiry?
There are no magical figures here. No right or wrong. It will depend where you want to take your clinic – how fast or how slow the growth – and should ideally come from your business goals.
It’s about knowing your numbers and making a conscious thought process in relation to your marketing.
Let’s say you want 10 new patients per month and you’re prepared to spend £200 per patient as you know they’ll spend £1,000 over their lifetime with you, then your goal would be to spend £2,000 per month to achieve the 10 new patient enquiries.
Knowing these numbers from the outset will allow you to review the return on investment, not the ‘cost’ to your clinic. There’s a big difference. For example the ‘cost’ is £2,000 spend but your ‘return’ is £10,000 revenue to the clinic.
It can be the case that for some clinics they don’t make a profit on the first appointment. It’s really important to consider the spend over a period of time with this patient.
NOW FOR THE FUN PART
Once you know these numbers, then the fun can start. You’ve decided how much budget you want to spend and what you want to achieve with it, now we need to assess if it is possible to achieve with Google Ads.
But here’s the kicker – every clinic advertising on Google is going to be slightly different. From the geographical area they cover, to the treatments they offer and how effective (or not) their website is. The list goes on.
Sadly there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to whether your ad spend budget will achieve your goal. It depends on so many factors.
Here’s my top three success factors to consider before embarking on your Google Ads campaign:
1. Are there enough people searching online for the treatments you offer?
Sounds obvious, but if you only offer a few treatments then you have limitations in the number of people searching on Google. And Google in some situations won’t show your ads if there’s too few people searching.
If you have a wide range of treatments, this will of course help as it will increase the number of people searching, and the number of new enquiries you could attract.
Geography is another consideration here – if you have one clinic in a small local town, you will be restricted by the number of people searching for the treatments you offer and again your ads may not run because there’s simply not enough people searching for Google to show them.
But don’t fall into the trap of widening out the area your ads are shown, as this can often cause wastage in your account. What we found is people will click on your ads, but are unlikely to become customers as they won’t travel outside their home town for the treatment.
If you offer specialist treatments, or if your clinic is particularly sought after, you will find that people are happy to travel further afield and therefore you can confidently show your ads to a wider geographical area.
I recommend playing around with Google’s Keyword Planner Tool to assess how many people are searching for the treatments you offer in the areas you cover.
2. How well does your website convert?
You could have the best Google Ads campaign setup in history. It would be driving the perfect potential clients to your website for exactly what you offer, but if your website doesn’t inspire that person to call and take the next step it’s very much wasted effort and expense.
Don’t get me wrong, the purpose of Google Ads is not to make the sale, but to take the prospect to the next step of the buying process. Its objective is to get them to take action – either to call the clinic to enquire, fill out a form for a call-back or to engage on Live Chat, whatever is appropriate for your clinic. Make sure your website and inner landing pages have a strong call to action that encourages the prospect to take the next step.
3. Why chose your clinic?
Again, you could have the best ad campaigns set up, but unless the ads you show are more appealing than your competitors, you’re likely to become frustrated that they aren’t working. The best advice is to do a search – type in the treatment you offer plus the town you are offering it in and see what your competitor’s ads say. It might be an introductory offer, or that they have free parking, or that their clinic is award-winning. You don’t have to be cheaper than your competition, just more appealing to click on.
As you can tell, there’s a lot of different factors to consider before embarking on Google Ads. It is important not to forget that this is marketing and absolutely nothing is guaranteed but everything is to play for.
When you first start out with your Google Ads campaign, it is possible for it to be immediately profitable, but don’t expect this to be the case. Instead, you should review your goals, have an agreed test period, and sit tight to tweak and improve it through to its success. After all, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it. You’re investing in the long term – to create a sales machine that repeatably and reliably brings you leads on tap.
YBA PPC is offering a free 20-minute strategy session for Aesthetics Medicine readers with Laura Moxham. . Simply email [email protected] quoting ‘Aesthetic Medicine Magazine November 19.’
Laura Moxham is an expert in internet marketing for Google Ads and PPC. She is the managing director of boutique agency YBA PPC, which is recognised as being in the top 3% of agencies within Europe and has been shortlisted in the ‘Best for Growing Businesses Online’ category in the Google Premier Partner awards, due to its high-calibre results from Google Ads.