Kareo and PatientPop are now Tebra. Learn more

PatientPop

ROI runaround: How physicians can spot evasive marketing vendors

Are your medical marketing vendors being less than transparent with results?

Concentrated surgeon using a laptop in hospital against blue data

Medical marketing is essential for independent healthcare practices, particularly those that have recently opened or are in a competitive area. If you’re short on time and resources — as many small- and mid-size practices are — you’re likely tapping third-party vendors. This might mean working with one vendor to manage your website, another to handle your paid search advertising, and yet another for creating social media content.

With so many marketing techniques available to businesses — and so many agencies offering specialized services — outsourcing your marketing might bring you peace of mind. In fact, research has shown that small business owners who outsource their marketing are more satisfied with results than those who do marketing themselves or who delegate to an internal team.

But how do you know if your vendor is actually giving you the biggest bang for your buck? Here are a few signs your medical marketing vendors could be skirting transparency when it comes to performance.

Related: The Busy Doctor’s Guide to Marketing a Healthcare Practice

Performance Data Is Inaccessible

It shouldn’t be a chore for you to gain insight into your online presence and digital reputation, monitor your practice growth, and measure the impact of your marketing initiatives on your practice. If you can’t easily access important metrics like number of website visitors and number of appointment requests at any time, or you can’t interpret a complicated spreadsheet or graph without having to call someone, you’re in the dark regarding return on investment (ROI).

Vendors Offer Vague Information Only

If you reach out to your vendor for clarification and insights, you should expect specificity in their reporting. But that doesn’t always happen.

You need a vendor that can easily show you your return on investment. Metrics should be easily accessible as well as easy to understand. For PatientPop customers, the dashboard is really easy to read. Customers can see their web performance, online reputation metrics, and more all-in-one convenient place.

Look: Marketing SEO Terms Every Healthcare Provider Should Know

Vendors Misinterpret or Cloud Data

With modern technology and data tracking and a sea of information at marketers’ fingertips, it’s easier than ever to gain insights. But an inexperienced or cagey marketer can make comparisons between two different metrics — say last month’s website bounce rate to this month’s successful conversions — and draw the wrong conclusions.

You can judge for yourself how performance is going if your vendor presents not only their data takeaways but the data itself.

Vendors are Unresponsive or Fail to Take Initiative

You always want to have the option to speak with a support representative. And you should expect quick responses to issues that come up for you, as well as a steady stream of information, including fresh ideas for ways to boost website views and conversions, or about software product updates and new releases that could benefit your healthcare practice.

A proactive, customer service-oriented vendor will take calls, respond promptly to your requests, make data readily available and easy-to-read, and provide regular performance snapshots.

PatientPop Marketing for Doctors

PatientPop is unlike other medical marketing vendors most physicians have worked with in the past. PatientPop delivers a complete growth platform to healthcare practices, from helping to attract patients online to sending appointment reminders and managing post-visit feedback

Are you ready to discover the PatientPop difference? Schedule a free demonstration with us today!

Free Practice Scan

Get an instant assessment of your practice's online marketing, visibility, and website performance.
PatientPop
PatientPop is the leader in practice growth with the only all-in-one solution that empowers healthcare providers to improve every digital touchpoint of the patient journey. As experts in the healthcare technology space, PatientPop makes it easy for providers to thrive in the consumerization of healthcare and promote their practice online, attract patients, and retain them for life.

The combined power of Kareo and PatientPop

As leaders in clinical, financial, and practice growth technology, Kareo and PatientPop have joined forces as Tebra to support the connected practice of the future and modernize every step of the patient journey.

Learn more