Hiring a marketing agency is a big decision. You’re trusting someone with your budget, your reputation and, in healthcare, your compliance. Get it right and marketing becomes one less thing to worry about. Get it wrong and you can lose a year, plenty of money and potentially land the practitioner in hot water with AHPRA.
Here are the questions we’d ask if we were choosing an agency for a practice, and what to listen for in the answers.
1. Do you work with healthcare practices?
Healthcare marketing is different. Patients choose providers differently, referral pathways matter and the advertising rules are strict. An agency that works mostly with cafés and tradies will be learning on your account.
Listen for: specific experience with practices like yours, and an understanding of how your patients find and choose a provider.
2. How do you handle AHPRA and TGA compliance?
Your website, ads and social media are all advertising, and the registered practitioner is responsible for them, even if an agency wrote them. You need an agency that understands the rules and checks every piece of work against them.
Listen for: a clear review process. Be wary of: suggestions to add patient reviews to your website, promises about outcomes or a shrug and ‘everyone else does it’.
3. Who actually writes the content?
Some agencies outsource writing to the cheapest provider they can find. In healthcare, that’s risky. Non-compliant claims and inaccurate health information can cause real problems.
Listen for: who writes it, what experience they have in health content and how it’s reviewed before you see it.
4. Who owns the accounts, website and content?
Your Google Ads account, Google Business Profile, analytics, domain, website and content should belong to your practice. If an agency sets them up in their own name, leaving can mean losing years of data or even your website.
Listen for: a clear ‘you own everything’.
5. What will you report on?
Reports full of impressions and rankings tell you very little. You want to know how many enquiries and new patients your marketing brought in, and what each one cost.
Listen for: enquiries, bookings and cost per patient. Ask to see a sample report.
6. What exactly am I paying for?
Make sure you understand what’s included in the monthly fee, how much of any ad budget goes to the platform and how much goes to management, and what costs extra.
Listen for: a clear breakdown, in writing.
7. What are the contract terms?
Some agencies lock practices into long contracts with hefty exit fees. A good agency is confident it’ll keep you through results, not paperwork.
Listen for: reasonable terms and a clear, fair exit process.
8. Who will I be dealing with?
Many agencies win clients with senior people, then hand the work to someone junior who changes every few months.
Listen for: who your day-to-day contact will be and who does the actual work.
9. What would you do first, and why?
A good agency should be able to explain, after looking at your practice, where it would start and why. If the answer is the same package they sell everyone, keep looking.
Listen for: a recommendation that’s specific to your practice, your area and your goals.
Red flags to watch for
- guaranteed rankings or guaranteed patient numbers
- offers to buy reviews or post them on your behalf
- pressure to sign quickly
- vague answers about who owns what
- no questions about your capacity, services or goals
Ask for a review of where you are now
One of the best ways to judge an agency is to ask for an honest review of your current marketing before you commit. You’ll learn how they think, whether they understand healthcare and whether they’re straight with you.
That’s exactly why we offer a free practice growth audit. You’ll get a written review of your website, visibility and advertising, whether or not you choose to work with us. You can also read more about how we work.