Case study · Psychology · Croydon North, VIC
Scott is a speech therapist, not an advertising agency, his words, and marketing at Eastern Therapy Hub ran however he saw fit. As the clinic branched into psychology, occupational therapy, music therapy, art therapy and counselling, he tried an ad board in a shopping centre car park, dabbled in Facebook ads, and settled on Google Ads as the best fit for an allied health clinic. The traction was half decent, the return was not, and by his own read the ads were costing more than they generated. We took over the Google Ads and wired in conversion tracking. By Scott's count, new patient enquiries went from 5 a week to 15, on $1,000 to $2,500 a month in ad spend. The books sit at a steady flow, psychology went from struggling for referrals to much better, his words, and the surprise was the weight it took off his mind.
ads.google.com / overview
6 to 12 months in
3x
New patient enquiries
Psychology · Croydon North, VIC
6
Disciplines under one roof
Real client. Real numbers.
3x
New patient enquiries
From 5 a week to 15, Scott's count
6
Disciplines under one roof
Psychology to art therapy, one ads budget
$2,500
A month in ad spend, at most
His range: $1,000 to $2,500
Steady
Where the books sit today
Scott's word: steady flow
The week, before and after
Before, a typical week
5new patient enquiries
Now, a typical week
15new patient enquiries
Drawn in groups of five: each group is one whole former week.
A typical week went from 5 new patient enquiries to 15. The week did not get longer. It just started holding three times as much.
Scott's own count of new patient enquiries in a typical week, not a tracked conversion figure.
The starting position
Scott McNabb is a speech therapist, and he is upfront about the rest: no training in marketing, no background in advertising, and a clinic that had never really needed either. Then Eastern Therapy Hub branched out, into psychology, occupational therapy, music therapy, art therapy and counselling, and marketing suddenly needed real money behind it. He was doing it however he saw fit, his own words, and struggling a little because he had never done it before.
The list of what he tried will sound familiar. An ad board in the local shopping centre car park, some Facebook ads, social media built on relationships he already had within the industry, which was fine and good except that he can't know everyone. The clinic settled on Google Ads as the best fit for an allied health clinic, and got half decent traction from it. Not the return he wanted for what was going in, though, and by his own read the ads were costing more money than they were generating.
Psychology forced the decision. The clinic was struggling to generate referrals in that discipline, and a constant stream of client referrals was the whole point of getting serious. What nearly stopped him was the baseline: the clinic had never spent money on marketing, so anything he spent seemed like a lot, coming from zero dollars. It took developing an understanding of what companies usually spend on advertising to give the budget its financial weight.
Sleep never took the hit. He got onto it quickly, realised this was not his area, and outsourced it. Time is really precious to him, his words, and he was very happy to hand this area over sooner rather than later.
What we did
The campaigns he built himself had traction without return. We rebuilt the account around the clinic's disciplines and the people each one actually serves. Psychology, the discipline that had struggled hardest for referrals, is the one Scott names as much better since outsourcing, and he says it has been really helpful for the other disciplines as well.
Scott's read on the old ads carried a hedge: costing more than they were generating, because they were not optimised, he didn't think. Conversion tracking replaces the hedge with a count. The enquiries the campaigns produce are measured, so the question of what the spend is doing has an answer.
Eastern Therapy Hub is not one campaign. It is psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology, music therapy, art therapy and counselling, sharing one ads budget. The thing that surprised Scott once it was running was the ability to sync funds into different campaigns and adjust them fairly quickly, his words.
Google changes its policies and the way it does ads, and Scott finds that confusing sometimes. He is grateful to be able to just pass it on to someone who knows better, in his words. The part he asks us to keep doing is the monthly updates on what was worked on. Keep that coming please, his exact words.
One budget, six disciplines
The ads budget
$1,000 to $2,500a month, Scott's range
Psychology
Struggled hardest for referrals before. Much better since, Scott's words.
Occupational therapy
Fed from the same budget.
Speech pathology
Fed from the same budget.
Music therapy
Fed from the same budget.
Art therapy
Fed from the same budget.
Counselling
Fed from the same budget.
No fixed split is drawn here on purpose, because there is not one. The part that surprised Scott is that funds sync into different campaigns and adjust fairly quickly, his words, so the money sits wherever the books need it next.
The spend range and the six disciplines are Scott's own answers, not our ad account reporting.
The numbers
Every figure in this table is Scott's own count and his own words, not our ad account reporting. A typical week used to bring 5 new patient enquiries and now brings 15, on $1,000 to $2,500 a month in ad spend. The books sit at a steady flow, and the change he names first is not a number at all: the weight it took off his mind, not having to worry about this area of the business.
Metric
Before
After
Change
New patient enquiries in a week
Before
5
After
15
Referrals for psychology
Before
Struggling to generate
After
Much better since
Monthly ad spend
Before
Costing more than it generated
After
$1,000 to $2,500
Google's policy changes
Before
His to decode, confusing
After
Passed to someone who knows better
Marketing on his mind
Before
A worry he carried
After
A weight off it, his words
From zero dollars to a line in the budget
Where the clinic started
$0ever spent on marketing
Measured from here, anything Scott spent seemed like a lot, his words. The number was not big. The baseline was zero.
Where the ads budget lives now
$1,000 to $2,500a month
What moved him across the gap was not courage, it was context: developing an understanding of what companies usually spend on advertising, his words, put financial weight behind the line in the budget. That line now returns 15 new patient enquiries in a typical week, his count, and a steady flow in the books.
The $0 baseline, the spend range and the enquiry count are all Scott's own answers, not our ad account reporting.
Outsource your marketing to someone who is better at it than you. You are good at running a clinic, but you're unlikely to also be a marketing whiz, so hand it over to someone who is.
What's next
The plan from here is the one Scott asked for in his own answers: keep the monthly updates coming, keep that coming please, his words. The spend stays inside his $1,000 to $2,500 range while the enquiry flow holds, and funds keep syncing between the disciplines as the books ask. Psychology keeps getting fed, because that is the discipline that made him get serious in the first place. And the area of the business he used to worry about stays off his mind, which is where he wants it.
Ready when you are
We'll show you what your clinic's version of this looks like.
Tell us about your clinic. We'll come back with a one-page plan: which patients to target, which to skip, and what 90 days should realistically deliver.
More testimonials
Before working with Peter, I honestly knew very little about marketing, Google Ads or how to run effective campaigns. He has made a world of difference to our clinic’s online visibility, which has had such a positive impact on our growth. Peter is fantastic to work with. He explains everything clearly, is always happy to answer questions and genuinely looks after your ads as though they were for his own clinic. I have felt very supported throughout the entire process and would highly recommend him to any clinic owner wanting to improve their marketing and grow their practice.
Pete has been running two separate campaigns for us for two different disciplines and has managed to substantially increase leads, improve lead quality and reduce our overall ad spend all at the same time. It's been really successful for us and we're super grateful for his help.
Yeah, look, I've really enjoyed working with Peter. He's a good operator. He understands the industry and understands the market. You know, he changed my AdWords campaign, made it more beneficial. So overall, I was very happy with his interjection into what we were doing. And yes, I'd highly recommend him.
More stories
Looking for our general approach? See how we run Google Ads for psychology clinics.