“I tried marketing before and it didn’t work… I wasted all my money! I dumped thousands into marketing agencies, got zero patients, and all I have to show for it is a lighter bank account!”
Heard that before? Maybe you’ve said it. Most mental health clinic owners have been burned by agencies that talk a big game but deliver nothing. It’s a delicate balance because the industry is always changing, and with online advertising, mental health is highly regulated.
If you’re running a TMS, ketamine, or psychedelic therapy practice, you know generic marketing doesn’t cut it. Here are the top reasons why TMS and psychedelic practice owners have failed before with marketing agencies.
Improper Setup and Implementation
They slapped together ads without researching your patients, people struggling with depression, PTSD, or anxiety. But most of the time, the marketing is not bespoke, it’s generic and the same ad is running across multiple clients, sometimes even with overlapping geography. Yikes.
On top of that, the reason implementations fail is due to a lack of tracking and accountability. You should always make sure you have access to the ad accounts and can see the numbers in the platforms natively. Any data mapped to third-party tools must match.
No Open Line of Communication
Most agencies give you cryptic “reports” or ghost you entirely. No updates, no strategy calls, no clue where your money’s going. Marketing is ALIVE! Trends change, real-time news stories influence consumer behavior, and every single business is different.
A successful client relationship is one where there are regular touchpoints and feedback is given. Are we liking the types of opportunities coming into your world, what is happening in the sales process, which ads are people referencing, etc.?
All of this happens in face-to-face (or Zoom-to-Zoom) communications. When feedback is given, both parties can make pivots for the best performance.
Lack of Industry Expertise
Most run-of-the-mill agencies have no idea about mental health, let alone TMS and ketamine treatments. They don’t understand mental health patients’ fears or FDA regulations for TMS and ketamine.
They treat your clinic like a pizza shop, using one-size-fits-all tactics that miss the mark.
At Beyond Marketing, we’ve been in the space since 2018. We understand the insurance intricacies for TMS, and the difference between IM and IV ketamine, to say the least! In addition, we work with a group of Industry Insiders who can help you outside of direct marketing with your business.
Lack of an Established Sales Process
Even if you got leads, your staff wasn’t trained to close them. Leads piled up, but your calendar stayed empty because no one knew how to handle objections, nurture opportunities, or book appointments.
I’ll have an entire blog on this alone soon.
Embracing and committing to mastering a sales process is essential for every success, including yours. If you haven’t considered that up until now, here’s your invitation! You’re late to the party, but better late than never!
The most successful companies we work with have dialed-in sales teams (who literally dial the phone) and book leads and move them into appointments. Failure to solve this area of your business will keep you on the hamster wheel indefinitely.
Next, it’s really important to understand the expectations in working together. First, let’s start with the risks. Blog coming soon.
