When we first went in, this client was paying $8,000 per admission from Google Ads alone, had no discernible SEO strategy, and Facebook campaigns were simply wasting money. Another issue was that each of those channels was run by a different vendor, so there was no synergy or collaboration across campaigns, which is essential for driving results.
We took over all aspects of digital marketing in June of 2019. As you can see from the admission graph below, within one month, we saw a 30% increase in overall admissions. Not only that, but we also significantly improved the payer mix with a 40% increase in out-of-network and over a 100% increase in private pay admissions. By September of 2019, there was a 10-fold increase in the number of private pay admissions, all while cutting total digital spend by 30%!
As you can see below, this was accomplished not just with paid spend (though we had reduced Google Ads cost per admission down to $1,875 already), but also using strategic SEO for both regular Google search and local Google search. Google organic traffic more than doubled in the first four months. Organic traffic is one of the best converting sources of traffic for the lowest cost, which was effective in helping us achieve the 30% admission’s growth over time under a reduced budget.
Looking at the call log from those same months, we see at least a 200% increase in the number of VOBs compared to the 5 months prior, with many months seeing 15 good VOBs a week whereas the previous months before we started hardly had any at all and many previous weeks with flat at zero.
Reducing marketing spend by 30%, we also increased admissions by 30% and improved payer mix significantly, all in under 4 months.
This was accomplished in a few ways:
- Completely restructuring, then integration of all digital campaigns.
- Focusing on core messaging and audiences around clinical differentiators, rather than just randomly spraying marketing messages everywhere.
- Optimizing for admissions, not clicks or calls.
- Bringing campaigns in line with industry benchmarks that we’ve developed internally, metrics agencies and internal teams in the space don’t know or have access to (since we have access to over $125 million in pure behavioral health marketing data).
- Operational adjustments and alignment to improve business development and call team performance.
If you’re looking to work with experts that know how to get results specifically for behavioral health, call 800 396 9227, or email us at engage@circlesocialinc.com.