How do you prove your marketing works? By calculating return on investment or ROI. It’s a concept that baffles many a practice administrator or hospital marketing director. But it’s a much-needed strategy to ensure your marketing campaign delivers. Here’s how to get started:

Implement measurable goals. Establish your baselines and be specific. Make sure marketing goals align with your practice’s business goals. Take a look at these examples:

  • Unmeasurable goals
    • We want a larger following for our blog.
    • We need more people to schedule appointments.
    • We want new website visitors.
  • Measurable goals
    • Acquire 100 new blog subscribers within three months.
    • Schedule 20 appointments a week for a month via our online scheduling system.
    • Attract 50 website visitors a day for the next quarter.

The more specific you make your goals, the easier it will be to track ROI.

Use conversion tools. Your website should include a variety of easy-to-access forms and links. Include items such as:

  • An appointment scheduler
  • A contact us form
  • Your main phone number
  • CTA (Call-to-Action) buttons with invitations such as “Click to see service fees.”
  • A free offer like a downloadable eBook with health tips
  • A sign-up form for your blog or e-newsletter

Decide how to track and report. Before you begin a campaign, determine the metrics you need to track to measure your progress. How will you track the number of new subscribers or the number of scheduled appointments from your website? Also, decide how to report those numbers. Generate a spreadsheet or discuss reporting tools with a marketing partner or agency.

Establish ROI checkpoints. How often should you check your strategy and see if you’re on track? It depends on the plan. Weekly, monthly, quarterly, midway through a campaign — these are all good options. A marketing agency can help you schedule checkpoints at appropriate intervals.

Every dollar you spend on marketing campaigns should yield a return on investment. The only way to know if it’s working is to establish metrics and invest in reporting tools. We can partner with you to help you connect the dots from developing measurable goals to figuring out how much ROI you’re getting per dollar spent – specifically patient acquisition costs and return. Give us a call to get started.