Insights by topic

Decision frameworks

Most clinic marketing mistakes aren't execution mistakes. They're decision mistakes made before a single dollar is spent. These articles give you the frameworks I use with clinic owners every week: what to spend, which channel fits, when to pause and when to hold.

Google Ads

9 min read

How often should someone touch your Google Ads account?

Touch a Google Ads account faster than its data matures and you make it worse. Touch it slower and you are paying for waste you could have stopped. Here is the schedule my team runs on every clinic account, class by class: what I do daily, what waits a week, what waits a fortnight, and what never waits at all.

Pete Flynn · 22 August 2026

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Google Ads

9 min read

Your ads are getting clicks. Where are the bookings?

When a campaign produces clicks but no patients, the ads are almost never the broken part. Here are the seven checks we run on every underperforming account, in strict order, plus a symptom checker that points you at your account's most likely leak.

Pete Flynn · 13 July 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

One search term pays for the rest

Open the search terms report in almost any clinic account and the same shape appears: a small handful of searches produce most of the bookings, and a long tail spends the rest. Here is how to find your handful, and what to do once you have.

Pete Flynn · 11 July 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

Find the ad that isn't average

Same keywords, same budget, same suburb. Change nothing but the words in the ad and the cost of a booked patient can move by half. Here is the testing method that finds your outlier, and the maths on what it is worth.

Pete Flynn · 9 July 2026

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Decision Frameworks

7 min read

Start the ads before your new practitioner does

A new hire costs wages from day one. Ads take four to eight weeks to mature. Wait and see how they go, and you pay for an empty diary while the campaign warms up. Here is the maths, with a forecast you can run on your own numbers.

Pete Flynn · 6 July 2026

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Decision Frameworks

8 min read

Your first marketing hire probably shouldn't be a hire

A $75,000 marketing hire costs closer to $95,000 a year once super, leave and tools land, and one person is rarely senior at paid ads, content, design and strategy all at once. The fair comparison between hiring, outsourcing and the hybrid most clinics should run.

Pete Flynn · 4 July 2026

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Websites

9 min read

What a clinic website should cost, and what it should earn

Ask five builders to quote a clinic website and the numbers land anywhere from $500 to $30,000. The bands are real, and so are the traps at both ends. Here is what each band buys, what decides whether a site earns its cost, and the ownership terms to demand at any price.

Pete Flynn · 1 July 2026

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Google Ads

8 min read

Your care plan patient is worth more than your one off. Tell Google that.

Most clinic accounts tell Google every booking is worth exactly the same. So the bidding chases whatever is cheapest to win, which is rarely your care plan or funded patient. Here is the small budget way to fix it, and the two tools to avoid.

Pete Flynn · 29 June 2026

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Decision Frameworks

8 min read

SEO or Google Ads first? Wrong question.

Every clinic owner with a marketing budget eventually asks whether SEO or Google Ads should come first. The question assumes they compete for the same job. They do not. Here is what each channel does, and a framework for sequencing them based on your runway and your diary.

Pete Flynn · 27 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

Negative Keywords: The Searches Draining Your Clinic Ad Budget

Google broad matches your keywords to searches like "bulk billing", "physio jobs" and "free exercises for back pain". Here is how I read the search terms report, build a starter negative list, and review it every 72 hours so a clinic stops paying for clicks that will never book.

Pete Flynn · 21 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

How tight to draw your circle: radius and catchment for clinic Google Ads

Most clinics draw their Google Ads radius around how far they wish patients would drive. That is the wrong variable. The price of your auction is set by competitor density, so the densest postcode is the most expensive place to compete. Here is how I choose the circle.

Pete Flynn · 20 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

Which Google Ads Bidding Strategy a Clinic Should Use

Maximise Clicks, Maximise Conversions, Target CPA, Manual CPC. I run Google Ads for over 130 clinics, and the strategy you pick matters far less than the one thing nobody checks first. Here is the ladder I use, and the gate you cannot skip.

Pete Flynn · 18 June 2026

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Websites

11 min read

Why I send clinic ad clicks to a hidden landing page, not your homepage

Two clinics pay the same for the same click. One sends it to a homepage built for everyone and loses most of them. The other sends it to a page that matches the search and keeps far more. Here is the destination decision I make for every clinic I run.

Pete Flynn · 17 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Location vs Condition: The Two Google Ads Campaigns Every Clinic Should Launch First

When clinic owners ask me how to structure their first Google Ads account, I give them the same answer every time: launch two campaigns, a Location one and a Condition one. The split is not a keyword exercise. It is the decision that determines whether your spend finds new demand or just buys clicks you already had.

Pete Flynn · 17 June 2026

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Google Ads

12 min read

Quality Score is the compound interest of Google Ads

Two clinics, same search, same ad position. One pays $3 a click, the other pays $12 to $15 for the exact same click. Quality Score is a price tax, not a grade, and the gap compounds into a moat over six to twelve months.

Pete Flynn · 16 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

How I build a Google Ads account for a clinic

I build every clinic account through three expert lenses that openly contradict each other. The surgeon writes to the searcher's panic, the technician makes it measurable, the architect builds the moat. Here's how all three argue, and how I settle it.

Pete Flynn · 15 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Your Google Ads cost per booking should fall over time, not sit still

Most clinic owners assume their cost per booking is fixed at whatever Google charges. It isn't. A well run account should trend down through its healthy band over the months. Here is what that trajectory looks like and why a flat number is a warning sign.

Pete Flynn · 14 June 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Every working campaign has a ceiling. Here is how to scale past it

More budget does not buy more patients in a straight line. A working keyword set has a ceiling, and shoving money at it just inflates your cost per booking. Real scale is a structural move, not a spend move.

Pete Flynn · 9 June 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

Google Ads is not set and forget. Here's the cadence.

Google is built to spend your budget as fast as possible. A managed account fights that every 72 hours, reviews copy every 7 days, and runs a fresh split test every 14 days. That rhythm, not the initial build, is what separates a compounding account from a stagnant one.

Pete Flynn · 7 June 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Bigger keywords are not better keywords

In almost every clinic account there is a clear winner and a clear loser, and the loser is taking all the budget. Not because it performs. Because it is big. Here is how volume bullies performance, and the structural fix.

Pete Flynn · 6 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Make your Google Ads pay for themselves from the first session

The thing that stops most clinic owners spending on Google Ads is fear. Here is the way I remove it on coaching calls. Set your target cost per booking below the fee of a patient's first appointment, so the campaign pays for itself before you count a single rebooking.

Pete Flynn · 4 June 2026

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Agency relationships

11 min read

Why a clinic only agency beats a generalist

No matter how good I am at Google Ads, there is only so much data I can reason from, and recency bias poisons it. The real edge is pooled de identified data across over 130 clinics. Here is why a solo account or a generalist can never match it.

Pete Flynn · 2 June 2026

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Agency relationships

7 min read

Who should build and own your clinic website

Plenty of clinic owners think they own their website. Then they try to leave their agency and find out they own a login and nothing else. Here's how ownership works, and the questions to ask before anyone builds you a thing.

Pete Flynn · 28 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

9 min read

Add budget or move it around? Run the capacity test first

When a clinic owner wants to chase a new patient type, they ask the wrong question. Not how much budget, but whether they have room. Capacity decides whether you add fresh spend or just move money around and call it growth.

Pete Flynn · 26 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

10 min read

Do Google Ads really well, or do not do them at all

Half hearted spend on a neglected account is worse than not spending at all. I ran a mental budget for ads myself once and felt productive while the account lost money. Here is how to decide whether to spend properly or not at all.

Pete Flynn · 21 May 2026

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Agency relationships

9 min read

Hire an expert first, inherit the asset, then take the keys

A typical agency wants you locked in forever. I tell sole traders the opposite. Hire an expert to build the account and tracking properly, inherit a well built asset, then take the keys within 3 to 6 months. The IP is yours either way.

Pete Flynn · 18 May 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Build both, split it evenly, let the data decide

Most clinic accounts are built on a guess about which campaign will win. I don't guess. I build both candidates, split the budget evenly, and let real bookings decide. Here is the engine underneath that.

Pete Flynn · 16 May 2026

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Google Ads

9 min read

On a small budget, only buy the patients ready to book today

On a small budget you cannot afford to educate the market. You can only afford to buy the people who have already decided to act. Here is the intent ladder I use to decide which clinic searches are worth a dollar and which burn it.

Pete Flynn · 15 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Most clinics spend 0.2% of revenue on marketing. It should be closer to 3%

Most clinics I coach invest a fraction of a percent of revenue in marketing, then wonder why new patients are thin. A healthy growth stage clinic runs closer to 3%, and clinics in an active growth push run higher. Here is what that looks like in dollars.

Pete Flynn · 13 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

7 min read

How to set your clinic marketing budget without guessing

Most clinic owners set a marketing budget by feel. The number that works starts with your patient lifetime value and changes depending on whether you're growing or consolidating. Here's the calculation that changes how you think about every dollar you spend on marketing.

Pete Flynn · 12 May 2026

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Google Ads

8 min read

Google Ads and Meta Ads are not the same patient

Google finds the patients who are already looking for you. Meta finds the patients who don't know they should be looking yet. Running both without understanding the difference is the fastest way to waste money across both platforms at once.

Pete Flynn · 11 May 2026

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Lead Generation

7 min read

You're speaking to everyone, tracking nothing, and following up too late

The ad is running. The form fills are coming in. And somehow the diary is still not moving. Three specific things cause the gap between enquiry and booked patient, and almost every clinic I've worked with is getting all three wrong at once.

Pete Flynn · 8 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

6 min read

The ad that talks to everyone talks to no one

Every clinic owner wants more reach. A bigger net. Broader targeting. But the ad that tries to talk to everyone gets read by no one. Going inch wide and mile deep is the only approach that moves the right patient to act.

Pete Flynn · 7 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

6 min read

Your patient doesn't know their diagnosis. Your marketing shouldn't assume they do.

You can identify the root cause of a patient's problem before they finish describing their symptoms. That clinical expertise is exactly what makes writing your own marketing so difficult. Your patient has no idea what their diagnosis is. They only know what they feel. Your marketing needs to start there.

Pete Flynn · 6 May 2026

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Google Ads

5 min read

Your Google Ads will only be as good as the website behind them

You can run a technically perfect Google Ads campaign and still lose most of the traffic the moment it hits your website. The ads are not the variable. The website is. Five things to check and fix before you spend a dollar on paid search.

Pete Flynn · 5 May 2026

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Compliance

8 min read

The AHPRA advertising rules every physio, podiatrist, and chiropractor needs to know

Most physio, podiatry, and chiropractic clinics assume AHPRA's advertising rules are mainly a psychology problem. They're not. Section 133 applies to every registered health profession. Here's where the line is, and the copy that crosses it without anyone realising.

Pete Flynn · 1 May 2026

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Lead Generation

7 min read

Your Google Business Profile is probably your most underrated marketing asset

On mobile, the Google map pack appears before paid ads, before organic results, and before everything else. Most clinic owners are spending hundreds a month on Google Ads and ignoring the free channel that sits above them. Here's what an optimised Google Business Profile looks like.

Pete Flynn · 30 April 2026

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Lead Generation

8 min read

Your intake system is where the enquiries go to die

Most clinic owners measure their marketing by the number of enquiries they generate. The number that matters is how many of those enquiries become booked patients. The gap between the two is the intake system. Most clinics don't have one.

Pete Flynn · 28 April 2026

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Decision Frameworks

8 min read

The highest ROI campaign your clinic probably isn't running

Most clinic owners are spending hundreds a month on paid ads to find new patients while ignoring a database of past patients who already trust them. Patient reactivation campaigns typically cost $0 to $2 per contact and convert at 3 to 8 times the rate of cold acquisition. Here's the system.

Pete Flynn · 27 April 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

Paid marketing is a microphone: what it can't fix

If you turn paid ads on top of a confusing website, a vague offer, slow follow up, or broken conversion tracking, you don't get growth. You get expensive failure. Here are the four foundations to fix first, and the maths on what weak foundations cost you each month.

Pete Flynn · 26 April 2026

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Google Ads

8 min read

Conversion vs conversion action in clinic Google Ads

Almost every clinic Google Ads account I audit is counting things that aren't real bookings. The cost per conversion looks great. The phone tells a different story. Here's how to draw the line, and what real CPA is once you do.

Pete Flynn · 25 April 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

What you can afford to spend on a new patient

Most clinic owners I work with cap themselves at $80 to $100 per new patient because the number sounds high. Their actual lifetime value is between $4,000 and $30,000. The maths reframes the conversation. Here's the calculator and the empty chair logic that changes the answer.

Pete Flynn · 23 April 2026

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Agency relationships

7 min read

The tap that doesn't quite turn off

Almost every clinic owner I sit down with has been told the same thing by an agency: it's like turning on a tap. Three months in, the tap doesn't quite work. Here's why that pitch keeps landing, and the four boxes a real monthly report should tick.

Pete Flynn · 22 April 2026

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Agency relationships

6 min read

Doing your own marketing isn't free

Most clinic owners I talk to assume that doing their own marketing is free, because they're not paying anyone. The math says otherwise. Here's what an hour of your time costs, and the framework I use to decide what to outsource.

Pete Flynn · 20 April 2026

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