Advertising with Yellow Pages has dominated the medical industry for decades, but as medical marketers, we’re seeing fewer and fewer results for the same expensive cost. If you are running or have ran ads in the Yellow Pages, chances are you’ve noticed this trend too; an increase in Yellow Page spend does not equate an increase in new patient bookings. What’s even more common is that medical practices who use paper advertising really don’t even know how their ads are performing. Unless you’re investing in a call-tracking software like CallRail, there’s really no way to tell where your leads are coming from and whether or not your paper advertising dollars are being well spent.
Read more about call-tracking and how we use it to maximize lead generation for our clients in this cool case study we were featured in.
Underperforming or “broken” ads is a common reason medical practices re-evaluate their marketing strategy. For many medical practices, traditional advertising make up most of their marketing budget and if their ads are not working, it’s like throwing money in the trash. In many cases, that’s thousands of dollars (or several new patients) a month. The good news is, that story doesn’t have to be yours anymore.
Facebook advertising reaches more people for less than a quarter of the cost.
A Yellow Page ad may or may not be seen by the recipient, and depending on the location of your practice and the size and placement of your ad, the cost of running it can be anywhere between $1,250 to $5,000 per month and is a full year commitment.
When you advertise through Facebook, your ad has the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of people and is guaranteed to be seen several times per person over whatever time period you decide for only a few hundred dollars. If you’ve only advertised with Yellow Pages, this may come as a surprise to you, because we’re talking less than 50¢ per potential potential patient lead in most cases and you only pay for click actions on your ad, not views.
Facebook advertising allows you to target the right patient.
One of the most beneficial advertising strategies Facebook offers (and the trickiest for medical practices to master) is the ability to target your ideal patient in more detail than their geographical location, something Yellow Pages is unable to do.
Facebook allows you to create ads with your ideal patient in mind while remaining HIPAA compliant. You can do this by creating a strong patient profile, writing and designing ads specifically for them, and then adjusting your advertising settings so only people who fit that profile will see those ads.
Facebook will tell you if your ads are driving traffic before it’s too late.
After you submit your ad to Yellow Pages, it can be months before you see any results, if you see any at all. With Facebook advertising, there’s very little lag between the time your ads run and the time your phone rings. You can see how many people saw your ad and how many took the next step by visiting your website or Facebook page. If after a few days, you’re not happy your ads’ performance, you can make changes to an existing campaign or stop it and use the rest of your month’s budget to create a completely different one.
Are your ads bringing you enough new patients?
Medical advertising is a big investment and if your advertising efforts aren’t resulting in new patients, give us a shout. We’ll review your current advertising strategy and tell you what you’re doing well and what could be done differently to help you turn more prospects into patients.
