The six-point readiness check
Go through them honestly. Google profile claimed, complete, with a photo from this quarter. Reviews — at least a few, with the newest from this month. Profile that says what you treat and how to book. A destination — one page about the exact procedure you are advertising, not a homepage.
Reply speed — an automated first reply within a minute and a human within the hour. Attribution — one column at reception recording where each new patient came from. Miss any two of those and the campaign will underperform for reasons that have nothing to do with the ads.
Selling products or courses alongside the clinic?
Shopify is the quickest way to put a store behind your name — try it free.
When ads are the right first move
A new clinic with no patient base and a lease to pay. A specific procedure with a short decision cycle. A seasonal window you cannot afford to miss. In those cases the speed is worth the premium, and content is the thing you build alongside rather than before.
The rest of the time, the cheapest patients available are the ones already searching your name and the ones your Google profile can reach for free. Spend a month capturing those before you bid for strangers.
What ads cannot fix
A phone nobody answers. A clinic with no capacity for more patients. A procedure priced far above the local market with nothing published to justify it. A reputation problem visible in the first search result. Spending on any of those accelerates the problem rather than solving it.
Which is why we start every doctor engagement with the readiness check rather than a campaign — and occasionally conclude that the honest recommendation is to fix reception and spend nothing this quarter.