How to find more healthcare leads and transform your business

It might be easier than you think to bring a steady, predictable flow of fresh healthcare leads to your business. Our guide has the knowledge you need to drive business growth and unlock revenue.

They say health is wealth. In the context of your healthcare business, we can take that literally. But to keep your appointment book bulging, you need to build a reliable flow of fresh leads.

That’s where your healthcare lead generation activities come in.

Get it right and it’s no overstatement to say that you can drive millions of pounds in new revenue. And as the deepening crisis surrounding NHS waiting lists pushes more people to consider private healthcare, the leads are out there to be won. So let’s win them.

157% increase in leads – without lifting a finger

Advanced warning: this is a weighty article. That’s because we want to give you advice that’s actionable and can actually make a difference to your business. But if you’re just too damn busy, talk to us.

We help healthcare businesses unlock big – really big – results with paid media. Big results like a 157% increase in lead volume for UK Vein Clinic. And 15x ROI for Snatch & Glow. What could we do for your revenue. Come and see how it all works. We may even be able to cover your ad spend.

“The digital strategy the Adbetter team created for us immediately started paying for itself several times over in just the first month, by delivering significant new customer revenue. It also has allowed us to open up our customer base to new audiences that I never thought would be our target audience.”

– Kiana Djazeb, Director & Founder, Snatch & Glow

Pay per click healthcare leads: the benefits and opportunities

It’s accountable. It’s scalable. It can bring a predictable flow of leads to your business. When it’s business growth you’re looking for, it’s hard to look past pay per click advertising. Here are some of our favourite benefits of generating healthcare leads through pay per click.

Find the right people

You know your next customers are out there. And pay per click platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads provide sophisticated tools to help you find them.

Facebook – surprisingly for some – is a particularly potent place for procuring healthcare leads. According to Facebook’s own data, 80% of people use social media to find health information. And one-in-four internet users turn to social media to research healthcare decisions.

Yet no matter which pay per click platforms you opt for, you will have access to sophisticated audience targeting tools. Just a few of the audience variables you can work into your targeting include:

• Age
• Gender
• Hobbies and interests
• Occupation
• Relationship status
• Education
• Online browsing activity

As well as manually adjusting your audience targeting, you can create lookalike audiences based on your existing customer data.

Feed the data into your platform and it will find common denominators in your customers – such as age, income, hobbies and so on – and then recommend a new set of people to target who also have those traits.

Used correctly, these tools can help to make sure your ads are served only to the people who have a high likelihood of being interested in your products and services – keeping your campaign spend lean, mean and efficient.

Focus on a set location

When it comes to healthcare leads, one of the most useful audience targeting features is the ability to target based on geographic location. It’s a no brainer if you are trying to attract visitors to a bricks-and-mortar premises such as your clinic or pharmacy – and you can set your campaigns to display within a set radius of your location, and nowhere else.

After all, if your clinic is based in Aberdeen, there’s probably little value in serving your ads to people in Ashford.

Capture conversion intent

One of the reasons Google Ads is such a powerful pay per click platform is it enables you to get your brand in front of people at the precise moment they are searching for services and treatments that your healthcare business offers.

It’s low hanging fruit. And if you aren’t getting your business displaying prominently in the search results, your competitor’s business might show up instead.

Capture curiosity

What do people do when they are worried about a particular ailment? That’s right. They Google it.

This is your chance to meet people at the genesis of their curiosity – educating them about your services and starting a gentle journey that ends in them becoming a customer.

Generate demand

Pay per click isn’t just about capturing demand, but generating it too. Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are fantastic for raising awareness about your services.

The results are almost instant…

Organic search engine optimisation (SEO) is an essential endeavour. But it can take months, even years, for your efforts to be reflected in the search rankings.

With Google Ads, the results are almost immediate. Armed with the right keywords and enough budget, you can propel your business straight to the top of the search results.

The same is true with social media ads. As soon as your ad is approved (it generally takes around 24-48 hours), your ad is out there working for your business. And you can track your campaign performance in real time.

It’s cost effective

It’s why pay per click is one of the most accountable forms of advertising on the planet. You only pay when someone clicks – and if they’re clicking there’s a good chance they have absorbed your message and are at least half interested in becoming a customer.

Compare that with advertising in a print magazine, for example, where you pay for the placement, regardless of whether people read your ad or not.

Another benefit? When you run pay per click campaigns, you get instant feedback on how your ads are performing. Interpret that data correctly and you can incrementally improve the performance of your ads. It takes a lot of the mystery out of marketing.

It’s easy to control your ad spend

With pay per click advertising, it’s easy to control your ad spend. You can set daily, weekly, monthly or maximum budgets – and hit the pause button whenever you want a breather.

Every penny is accounted for in the performance data laid out for you. So you can see exactly how much bang you are generating for your buck.

Pay per click healthcare leads: an introduction to the regulations

Quite understandably, there’s a lot of red tape when it comes to the promotion of healthcare services. That’s a good thing. It prevents the snake oil charlatans from hawking their products and services to an innocent public and protects the integrity of your industry.

Yet there’s no doubt that the regulations around pay per click healthcare advertising are strict and always evolving. The ability to avoid getting things wrong is half the battle of getting it right. So stay alert.

Don’t play on insecurities

Your ad mustn’t generate or contribute to negative self-perception. That means avoiding the suggestion that there’s a certain body type that your audience should aspire to.

You cannot be perceived to be exploiting people’s insecurities or reinforcing negative stereotypes about body image.

The drugs (and pharmaceuticals) don’t work…

If you want to use your ads to promote prescription medication, you will need written permission from Meta (who own Facebook and Instagram). As for Google, you can only promote over-the-counter medication – and will need certification from them to do so. The names of prescription drugs (or their active ingredients) cannot be mentioned in ad text, landing pages, keywords or source code – with the exception of public health campaigns.

Prescription services can be advertised on Google but you must be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and certified by Google. The same applies for the promotion of services related to abortion. Adverts promoting addiction recovery services are prohibited.

Before and after photography

Before and after shots: for so long they have been the treasured, trusty go-to of healthcare and cosmetics marketers. But you can forget about them for your Facebook and Instagram campaign. They’re banned. And that ban covers not just your ads, but any landing pages they drive traffic to as well.

As for Google, you are permitted to use before and after shots on the landing page that your Search campaign points to – and across the Google Display Network. However if you are using images of past procedures to promote your services, you cannot edit the image in a way that alters or enhances the part of the patient’s body that has been worked on.

For example: in an after shot showcasing a teeth whitening procedure, you cannot digitally manipulate the teeth to look whiter. (But you can edit out the packet of biscuits that somehow ended up on the desk in the background.)

Make every effort to use the same photographic process for both shots. That means shooting from the same distance. Using the same camera settings. Making sure the lighting in the room is the same. The effort will be worth it when you have a catalogue of photography that perfectly demonstrates the results you have achieved for your clients. There’s more about this in our guide to clinical photography for aesthetic professionals.

Be careful with sensitive body parts

Another potentially tricky one – especially if you specialise in cosmetics or plastic surgery – is the use of images showing intimate areas of the body. Cosmetic procedures often focus on breasts, bums and all the rest of it.

But showing those areas in your ads is likely to have Facebook’s regulatory people banging on your digital door faster than you can say blepharoplasty.

Make sure your language is crystal clear

For all pay per click platforms, not to mention the Advertising Standards Authority, clarity of language is a big deal. That means using language that’s appropriate of a clinician – accurately describing the treatments you are promoting, rather than using colloquialisms. (It’s breast augmentation, not a boob job.)

Also avoid making unrealistic claims or false promises – such as “it will knock 30 years off!”. False claims are seriously frowned upon and will likely see your campaign pulled – if it’s even approved in the first place.

You must also avoid marketing your products or services in a way that suggests they are effective for the prevention or treatment of a particular disease or ailment – unless your product or treatment is government approved.

Don’t inflate your medical credentials

You wouldn’t want just anyone taking a scalpel to your derriere – and the authorities agree. That’s why your healthcare business must show that you are appropriately qualified to carry out the procedures you advertise. And there are rules on the use of certain words.

For example, to use the word “qualified” your surgeons must be on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council (GMC) in respect of a relevant surgical speciality, or have been practising cosmetic surgery independently before 1 April 2002, and should hold a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) in plastic surgery or an equivalent qualification.

Meanwhile, in order to be “experienced”, a surgeon must have practised their surgical speciality for at least six years.

You can read more about the rules from the ASA on the usage of specific words here.

Don’t rush your audience into a decision

“While stocks last!,” “Everything must go!, ”“Available until Friday only!”

Creating a sense of scarcity is a time-tested marketing tactic. But the rules say that your healthcare lead generation ads should steer clear of anything that could be perceived as pressuring your audience into a decision.

Any promotions must be given a timeframe that’s long enough for your audience to weigh up the risks and make a balanced decision.

Don’t mention credit…

Offering financial credit to help your patients pay for their treatments? Probably best to avoid mentioning that on Facebook and Instagram. Meta is seriously strict on anything that could be interpreted as financial services – and it can make getting your ad approved incredibly difficult.

Further reading…

There’s more. A lot more.

• The Advertising Standards Authority maintains an extensive guide on the rules relating to the promotion of cosmetic interventions. You can read it here. 
• The Committee of Advertising Practice have something similar here. 
• And there’s more on Facebook’s health and appearance advertising policy here. 
• Meanwhile you can find out more about Google’s policies for healthcare advertising here.

At this point, we need to be clear that this stuff has to be taken seriously. If you don’t comply with the regulations, your journey to transform your business through pay per click advertising will be over before it’s even started.

Of course, you have a business to run. And keeping on top of the ever-evolving regulations is time consuming. So, feel free to ask us for some insight.

Branding, creative and execution: a few tips

People are rightly discerning when it comes to making choices about their health. And they are quick to judge. If your messaging and branding isn’t right, they will go elsewhere – regardless of how good your services are. When it comes to healthcare, careless branding equals careless service in the eyes of the consumer.

Here are some tips for nailing the look, feel and execution of your ads.

Stay away from stock photography and videography

In the era of smartphones – when you have a photography and editing studio that fits in the palm of your hand – there’s almost no excuse for using stock visual assets. Your brand will benefit from having visual content that is authentically yours.
Some tips about clinical photography for aesthetic professionals are here.

Always remember your reader

Too much marketing is devoid of empathy. Imagine yourself reaching out to an audience of one and build a connection between that person and your brand.

Put yourself in your reader’s position. Think about their doubts and fears. Their ambitions and desires. Address your reader directly with “you” focused messaging.

Be mindful of the fact that many people are guarded about their health and appearance. Respect the issues your reader is seeking to address may be a source of very personal negative emotions such as fear or embarrassment.

When all is said and done, good marketing is about human connection.

Stay snappy

No matter what pay per click platform you are using to generate healthcare leads, you have a second or two – sometimes less – to pique the curiosity of your reader.

Keep things short, sharp and punchy with a crystal-clear message.

Embrace social proof

When it comes to healthcare marketing, customer testimonials can be particularly persuasive. Anything that helps to reduce uncertainty in your audience and bring more clarity to the decision-making process is going to work in your favour.

You want your customer testimonials to feel as natural and authentic and unforced as possible. If you are filming your customer, consider positioning the camera off to the side – so the subject isn’t staring straight down the lens.

And if you can try to gather customer testimonials that show how you overcame a customer’s obstacles or doubts before obtaining the desired results.

Showcase your credentials

When it comes to healthcare, the ability to demonstrate your expertise is always going to be well received by an audience set to ‘vigilant’. Your qualifications, certifications, awards or membership of relevant industry bodies should be clearly signposted.

Types of creative and marketing angle

Sometimes you can get big wins by approaching your healthcare lead generation from a different angle. Let’s imagine you run an aesthetics clinic. You’re not restricted to promoting specific treatments.

Anything that helps to promote your competence and credibility as a practitioner should be considered.

Here are some ideas:

• Welcoming shots of your clinic or behind the scenes content
• Tours of a new clinic or practice location
• Staff stories about how they became qualified or career achievements
• A video compilation that reveals a day in the life of an aesthetic specialist
• A myth buster that reduces anxiety about certain treatments or calls out bad practice
• Brand promotions that focus on your values and mission
• A spotlight on any relevant guarantees that you offer as part of your practice

Embrace specificity

Google rewards relevancy. Consider creating separate campaigns for each of the key products or treatments that you want to promote. These ads should drive traffic through to landing pages that are highly relevant to each ad – and nothing else.

Done correctly this will improve your quality score – a measure of how relevant your ads are to your website. And a better quality score tends to mean you pay less when bidding for keywords.

A nuanced approach is best for your social media advertising too. Promoting specific treatments or products – with separate campaigns for each – rather than your business in general allows you to zero in on highly targeted audiences, which is likely to enhance your campaign performance.

Lead quality v lead quantity

What would you rather have: lots of half-interested leads or a few really interested leads? The answer will differ from business to business – and it’s important to know what matters to you.

Brand exposure is all well and good. But many businesses waste a lot of time and money trying to convert prospects who have very little purchase intent.

Going beyond the click

For the vast majority of pay per click campaigns, the ad is just the start of the journey. The aim is to encourage the click.

So what happens next?

An intro to landing page best practice

If you are driving traffic to your website, you should have specific landing pages for each of your healthcare lead generation campaigns. Landing pages are a separate science of their own. But here’s a mega-brief rundown of some key considerations.

• Design and copywriting. Your landing page should feel like a continuation of the ad your visitor clicked. Your design should be optimised for mobile and feature a compelling proposition above the fold.
• Create a closed journey. Single-mindedness is a strength when it comes to landing pages. Limit navigation options and stay focused on one clear call to action.
• Utilise social proof and trust signals. Use customer testimonials to build credibility and trust in your company. If applicable, utilise trust signals such as industry accreditations, qualifications or awards.
• Gather data. This is key, it warrants its own section. The next one. After the next bullet.
• Remember your GDPR obligations. For your forms that means having a tick box that gets people to actively opt in to your comms. Be clear about who will be contacting your lead and how they will be contacted. You must also provide a link to your full privacy policy.

Gathering data: take your lead on a diagnostic journey

The main aim of your landing page is to gather information on your lead. And the more information you can gather, the better. For healthcare products and services, you can get results by creating a form that prompts your lead to choose their own diagnostic path.

Ask questions about their condition, ailment or chosen outcome. Then you can guide them towards the most appropriate course of action.

This will arm your sales team with invaluable insight on your leads. And it signals to your customers that you are serious about personalising their patient outcome.

Measurement and tracking

Test, test and test again (and again) From the images you use to the words you choose, your pay per click platform will give you the option to submit multiple variants for each constituent part of your ad.

It’s an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up.

Your platform will measure the performance of the different copy and image combinations – then preferentially serve the ad variants that statistically have the best chance of getting the right results for your business.

It’s not a precise science – and you need to be serving your campaign to a large audience for the algorithm to gather meaningful data. But it’s a useful tool for making efficient use of your ad spend and getting insight on what converts.

Think of it as entering a raffle. The more tickets you have, the better your chances of winning.

Performance tracking: measure the metrics that matter

Your pay per click platform(s) of choice will spit out useful data on how your campaigns are performing. Pay attention. If you can identify trends in the ads that are getting results, you can optimise for success.

However, insight on what’s happening within the pay per click environment is just the start. To drive the really exciting, transformative results, you need to be able to track all points in your customer acquisition journey, from first click to first purchase and beyond.

This requires getting your performance tracking set up to provide full visibility into onward KPIs from your ad – such as consultations booked, new patients, and revenue generated. And that’s not easy.

Which is why you should consider…

Letting us take care of everything for you

Getting significant results with pay per click takes time. It takes tenacity. It takes technical expertise. Constant iterations. We know because this is what we do day in, day out. We can quickly nurse your campaigns towards high conversion. 

We know the paid media tactics that get results. We know what levers to pull and when. And we share all of that insight with you – via clear dashboards and custom reporting. Sounds good?

Ask us for a free proposal. You deserve it for reading to the bottom of this article. We’ll lay out the results you could expect in the first three months of working with us. And if we like the sound of your business, we’ll offer to cover your ad spend. Let’s get started.

>> Adbetter: officially an award-winning PPC agency

You may also be interested in:

We’ve written a lot about this stuff. Take a deep dive into an article that interests you.

Healthcare:

>> Lead generation for healthcare businesses
>> Lead generation for doctors: the undeniable benefits of PPC
>> Google ads for healthcare: 22 actionable tips for success
>> Google ads for doctors: the business case and the challenges
>> Facebook ads for healthcare: 28 tips for nailing your campaign – with examples
>> Google ads for doctors: the business case and the challenges
>> Google remarketing: is it possible for healthcare brands?

Aesthetics and med spas:

>>Marketing your aesthetic clinic
>>How to grow your medical aesthetics business with digital marketing
>>Ad regulations for medical aesthetic clinics
>>Facebook ads for plastic surgeons: big opportunities, big regulations
>> Cosmetic surgery PPC: skyrocketing leads through Google
>> Med spa ads: 12 tips to drive rapid growth
>> Private clinic ads: what are the best treatments to promote via PPC?

Frequently asked questions