A practical guide to digital marketing strategies that drive patients, talent, and long-term growth for private practices.
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Episode 12 | Watch on YouTube
Most private practice owners think of digital marketing as a tool for attracting patients. Brandon Seigel wants to flip that assumption on its head. What if your digital marketing strategy was designed to attract your next great hire? Or your next referral partner? According to HubSpot's marketing research, businesses that invest in digital marketing see an average return of five dollars for every one dollar spent. The key is knowing which strategy to use, for which audience, and why.
When you map out your digital marketing approach, start by defining your goal, not just your audience. Are you trying to fill appointment slots, recruit a specialist, build referral relationships, or simply dominate your local market? Brandon works with practices that have grown entire cash-pay businesses through a single focused Instagram presence. Others have used podcasts and YouTube channels to attract clinical talent from across the country. The same channels serve wildly different purposes depending on how you aim them.
Search engine optimization is about engineering your website so that search engines recognize it as authoritative, relevant, and local. Every page should have sufficient content around targeted keywords. Your Google Business Profile should be fully built out with categories, attributes, geo-tagged photos, and regular posts. Google's own data shows that 76% of people who search for something nearby on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours. If you are not showing up in local search, someone else is getting your patients.
The cons of SEO are real: it takes time, requires ongoing investment, and the algorithm constantly shifts. Avoid any company that cold-emails you claiming they scanned your website and found problems. Brandon calls this a blanket scam almost without exception. Work only with vetted professionals who understand your specialty and local market.
Search marketing optimization, or paid search, places your ad in front of people actively searching for your services or specialty. The advantage is speed and targeting. The disadvantage is cost and the fact that visibility stops the moment you stop paying. Brandon recommends a minimum meaningful budget, noting that $500 is rarely enough to move the needle in most healthcare markets. For guidance on structuring paid campaigns for healthcare, Google Ads for healthcare offers a compliant framework for medical and therapy practices.
For most private practices with a defined local service area, the Google Business Profile is the single highest-ROI digital investment available. A well-optimized profile with consistent NAP data, geo-tagged images, regular posts, and a steady stream of authentic reviews will outperform far more expensive strategies. Aim for a review rating between 4.6 and 4.8. Counterintuitively, a perfect 5.0 with few reviews can appear less credible than a 4.7 with hundreds of detailed, specific responses.
