Case study · Psychology · Edmondson Park, NSW
Mary set up a Google Ads campaign herself four years ago and never changed it. It ran at about $350 a month and, in her words, was not benefiting the clinic at all. Enquiries came from GP referrers and word of mouth, and the quiet patches had her struggling to keep the business afloat. We rebuilt Google Ads, built landing pages and wired in conversion tracking. By Mary's count, new patient enquiries went from 3 a week to 13, on under $1,000 a month in ad spend. She hired two of her first employees, their caseloads filled, and the books now sit at a steady flow.
ads.google.com / overview
Inside 6 months
13
New patient enquiries in a week
Psychology · Edmondson Park, NSW
3
Enquiries a week, before
Real client. Real numbers.
13
New patient enquiries in a week
Up from 3 before we started, Mary's count
3
Enquiries a week, before
Relying on word of mouth and GP referrers
$350
A month, the old campaign
Set up four years ago and never changed
2
First employees hired
Caseloads filled as the enquiries arrived, her account
Four years, then six months
The campaign Mary set up herself
3enquiries a week
Four years, never changed
About $350 a month, with no real knowledge of how it worked. The only lever she ever pulled was the cost.
The rebuild with Clinic Mastery
13enquiries a week
Under 6 months so far
Google Ads rebuilt, landing pages built, conversion tracking wired in. Under $1,000 a month in ad spend.
The bars are time, drawn to the same scale: 48 months of the old campaign against under 6 of the rebuild. Every figure is Mary's own account from her story, not a tracked ad account number.
The starting position
Safe House Psychology had a basic Google Ads campaign that Mary set up herself four years ago, with no real knowledge of how it actually worked. It ran at about $350 a month and never changed, and the only lever she ever pulled was the cost. Enquiries did not come from Google. They came from GPs and the referral connections she had built over the years.
The rest of the marketing was Mary's own hours. Handing out flyers, dropping them in mailboxes, cold calling GP clinics, emailing potential referrers. She had no way of tracking which of them worked, so the quiet patches arrived without warning and without an answer.
The stress landed hardest around hiring. When a new team member started, Mary had no way of knowing where the next referrals would come from. She relied on hope, in her own words, and it cost her a lot of time and stress.
By the time she reached out to Clinic Mastery, she was struggling to keep the business afloat on inconsistent referrals and work. The team put her in touch with Pete, and three months of help was put on the table at a time when cost would otherwise have stopped her going ahead. She took the chance, right as she took another one: hiring two of her first employees.
What we did
The four year old campaign had never been narrowed to the searches that suit the clinic. We rebuilt it around the people Safe House Psychology actually wants to hear from. In Mary's words, the enquiries became more suitable and specific, which means most of them now convert into bookings. Before, the rare enquiry was so often for a service the clinic did not offer.
Paid traffic needs somewhere purposeful to land. The campaigns got landing pages matched to what the person searching actually wants, instead of sending clicks at a website and hoping.
Flyers, cold calls and emails were untrackable, and that guesswork was the most expensive part of the old marketing. Now the enquiries the campaigns produce are counted. Mary can almost anticipate the influx at the start of each month, and she can see the trend ease towards the end as the budget runs its limit.
Mary says she still does not fully understand how campaigns are set up, and she does not need to. The monthly report tells her what work was done and whether it is working. And when she has a question, she takes it to Pete and it gets worked through, at any time.
From hope to a counted channel
Before, in Mary's words
Relying on word of mouth referrals
No way to trackHanding out flyers, hours at a time
No way to trackCold calling GP clinics
No way to trackEmailing potential referrers
No way to trackNo way of telling which of these brought a client in. She relied on hope, her word for it, and it cost her time and stress.
The build
Google Ads rebuilt
Around the people the clinic actually wants to hear from.
Landing pages built
Somewhere purposeful for every campaign to land.
Conversion tracking wired in
So every enquiry the campaigns produce gets counted.
Counted
Enquiries counted, and a report every month on what was done and whether it is working.
The before list is Mary's own description of the clinic's marketing. The build is the work she signed on for: Google Ads, landing pages and conversion tracking.
The numbers
Every figure in this table is Mary's own count and her own words, not our ad account reporting. A typical week used to bring 3 new patient enquiries. It now brings 13, on under $1,000 a month in ad spend, and the enquiries fit the clinic well enough that most of them convert into bookings.
Metric
Before
After
Change
New patient enquiries in a week
Before
3
After
13
Enquiries that fit the clinic
Before
Often unsuitable
After
Most become bookings
Where the books sit
Before
Quiet patches
After
Steady flow
Monthly ad spend
Before
$350
After
Under $1,000
Knowing what was working
Before
No way to track
After
A report every month
The month, as Mary reads it now
Week one
The influx
Week two
Steady
Week three
Easing
Week four
Quieter
Mary puts the easing down to the ad spend and the limits on it. And she knows that is a setting she can change to suit the clinic, the next time a new clinician needs a caseload.
No figures on this one on purpose. It is the monthly pattern Mary describes in her own words, not a tracked curve.
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.
What's next
Growth at Safe House Psychology is no longer capped by how many referrals the clinic can find. In Mary's words, the question now is how many clinicians she can hire. The enquiry flow eases towards the end of each month, which she puts down to the ad spend and its limits, and she knows that is a setting she can change as the clinic needs. The spend moves when the books ask for it, and the monthly report keeps naming what worked.
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