Pay-per-click (PPC) is an effective form of paid digital marketing, especially when you want or need to work within specific budget constraints. With PPC campaigns, you only get charged when users interact with your ads. PPC is a great way to attract your audience to engage with your website. The most common platforms to host your healthcare PPC campaigns are Google, Bing, Youtube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

These are some of the primary benefits of healthcare PPC:

• Brand awareness: Regardless of whether or not consumers click your ads, they are still being exposed to your brand. With healthcare PPC, your company is highlighted in front of consumers that fit your target audience, which builds recognition.  
• Accessibility: With a healthcare PPC campaign, your practice increases its online presence and puts you in front of potential customers that otherwise may not have heard of or found your practice.
• Targeting qualified leads: There’s boosting lead volume, and then there’s boosting qualified leads. You want to ensure that the leads you receive from your PPC campaigns are a good fit for your practice and have a higher chance of closing. At DAGMAR, we can help narrow down your audience’s demographics to location, age, device type, and more. It’s an effective way to ensure your ads get in front of your ideal consumers. 
• Conversions: Not only do we want consumers to view your ads, but we also want them to visit your website. Why? This increases conversions such as finding your practice, scheduling consultations, appointments, or completing forms.
• Data and insights: The results generated from your healthcare PPC campaigns provide you with an in-depth look into your audience’s behaviors and allow you to optimize your messaging so that it is relevant to them. It also provides you with the ability to look into competitors’ strategies and campaign performance so you can leverage them in the future.

Paid search strategies can include more than one type of ad, such as text ads or Google Ads, display ads, and call-only ads. Here is a brief explanation of each: 

• Text ads contain text. They are often used as retargeting ads, which automatically display for users who have previously searched for a healthcare provider. 
• Display ads appear along the sides, in the footer, or at the top of a web page.
• Call-only ads are displayed only on devices that can place a call.

Taking the time to learn the ins and outs of creating a perfect strategy can be a great investment for your company—and save some hard-earned marketing bucks. However, it will also require additional time to monitor ongoing campaigns, creating consumer-focused content, building landing pages, and reviewing data and campaign results. There are plenty of guides, how-to videos, and resources on the web to guide you. 

In our experience, many clients have attempted to build and monitor their own healthcare PPC campaigns, only to discover that it’s more effective to partner with a more experienced agency that has the capacity to give your campaigns the attention they deserve. At DAGMAR, we have the experience and knowledge to get your campaigns up and running both quickly and efficiently, so you don’t have to.

There are many ways to build campaigns specific to your practice. PPC campaigns are a great form of paid marketing for nearly every business type. We can look into your business objectives and budget to not only determine if PPC is right for you but also to help decide the best elements to utilize. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your needs.

Selecting the right healthcare PPC marketing company is similar to approaching any other type of service provider. Here are some things to be on the lookout for:

• Technical expertise: Healthcare PPC focused marketing agencies should not only have the ability to effectively launch, monitor, and adjust a campaign, but also the track record to prove it. 
• Reputation: Ask for references from the agency’s past or present healthcare marketing clients. You can also research and read online reviews and testimonials.  
• Customization: Since every healthcare provider is different, their PPC campaign strategy should be as well. Work with a healthcare marketing agency that is willing to create a strategy that is custom to your needs, goals, and budget.
• Results: Healthcare PPC agencies should educate you on your audience’s behaviors, perform a competitor analysis, and review your campaign performance. Avoid the agencies that avoid these things.
• Point of contact: Ask who will manage your account and whom you can contact on a day-to-day basis for questions. 
• Reporting: Healthcare PPC campaigns generate a lot of important data. Be sure to ask what your reports will include, what you can expect, and how often you will receive them.
• Contracts: Many reputable healthcare PPC companies work on a month-to-month basis. If a PPC agency asks you to commit to a longer arrangement, be sure to ask why.

Results generated from healthcare PPC campaigns vary depending upon the audience you’re competing for, your offering, your budget and bid strategy, and other factors. Some see positive results within several days of launching a campaign, others can take several weeks. At DAGMAR, we monitor your campaign’s initial performance and adjust accordingly so you see positive results as quickly as possible. You will then see these results in your monthly reports, giving you a big-picture view of how your campaigns have performed over time.

A great benefit of advertising with Google Ads is the ability to determine how much you want to invest in your campaigns. There are several different factors that go into creating healthcare PPC campaigns, and the cost for each can vary.

For example, not all keywords cost the same and it can be wasteful to spend money on the expensive ones. Although Google Ads are free, you pay every time your ad is clicked or generates a phone call.

Paid media is categorized into three types: earned, owned, and paid.

Owned media refers to content such as blogs and newsletters that appear on your healthcare practice’s website.

Earned media is the organic content from outside your practice, such as consumer reviews or articles written about your practice. 

Paid media is exactly that—media that you pay for. This is everything from sponsored and promoted ads on social media to text and display ads on search engines.

It’s important to incorporate all three forms of media when constructing a successful healthcare marketing strategy.