When should you consider hiring a marketing agency for your practice?

When should you consider hiring a marketing agency for your practice?

I am a firm believer in outsourcing as much of your marketing as possible but maintaining some of the creative aspects of marketing. However, the cost of hiring an agency may not make fiscal sense for your practice. The investment can run anywhere from $500-$2,000 per month just for the service, not the advertising expenditures each month.

You may find a few different types of marketing agencies working with chiropractors.

1.     Agency A: You create the content (video, blogs, audio, etc.), and they run and manage all your Facebook ads, Google Ads, Instagram posts, campaigns, email, etc. They continually monitor the performance of your ads and provide you with detailed reporting. Reputable agencies like this will have the biggest monthly investment but typically perform the best for your practice. The combination of the high value of your created content in combination with optimized social media and Google ads management can see a very high ROI and Lift.

2.     Agency B: They distribute canned content via your social media but don’t run your Facebook and Google Ads. They post on your FB business page, Instagram, email, etc. This option is typically the most affordable, but you must make sure the content is congruent with your practice. This option can be effective if you build an audience on those platforms. You could then run a Facebook ad with some of those posts. This canned content will not provide you with SEO benefits.

3.     Agency C: They take your created content and then optimize it and distribute via Facebook business page, Instagram, YouTube, Email, etc., but do not run and manage your Facebook and/or Google Ads. This option is essentially the middle ground of the above 2 options regarding cost and results. You are providing high-value created content, which is great, and it is being distributed on all your channels. You aren’t optimizing the social media or Google ads and traffic, and there is minimal strategy involved.

There are multiple factors to consider before hiring a marketing agency.

·       What can you afford?

·       If cash flow is a concern, consider planning a sinking fund to save up for the first 6 months' cost of the marketing agencies fee. That way, you won’t run into early cash flow issues while waiting for the marketing efforts to bear fruit.

·       Do they have a strong reputation in chiropractic marketing?

·       Are they congruent with your clinic’s standards?

·       Do they regularly communicate and collaborate with you on strategy?

·       Do they provide you with monthly and/or quarterly reporting?

·       Are they consistently monitoring the analytics of your Facebook and Google Ads?

·       Are you seeing proper ROI and/or “Lift,” as we discussed in chapter 10?

·       Can you afford to be patient for 6-8 months before this comprehensive marketing strategy gains traction?

·       Will you be locked into a lengthy contract over 6 months?

If your practice has a revenue of $40,000 per month and there are healthy profits to reinvest into a marketing agency, Agency A makes sense. If your practice collects $15,000 per month, you will not want to spend $2,000 per month on an agency and ad spend combination. You may need to consider Agency C and doing a lot yourself until you grow your revenues and profits further.