A total brand overhaul for a pain management clinic is the latest addition to Afflecto’s healthcare marketing portfolio. Our team worked with the doctor to rename his practice, develop a new tagline, and create a robust brand package. That was then used to create print collateral, social media templates, and a new website. Just because Dr. Stynowick focuses on neck and back pain doesn’t mean his branding had to be all vertebrae and x-rays.
INDUSTRY: Orthodontics AGENCY SERVICES: Paid Search, Remarketing, and Programmatic Advertising
What do you do when your client says they need to reduce their digital marketing budget, but still get the same results? You pivot and drive even more leads! Being a good marketer requires one to be willing to change directions, adapt, and use data to revise your plans. And that’s just what the Afflecto Media team did when our client made that call. Find out how our team was able to increase leads, drive more new patient starts, and generate more first-time callers than before despite the decreased budget. Keep reading to find out how we accomplished this task.
CLIENT
Orthodontic network in the St. Louis metro area with six offices under three different practice names.
CLIENT CHALLENGE
For nearly two years, our client had been successfully using digital marketing to increase awareness and drive leads for their orthodontic practices. However, after purchasing additional practices to grow their Dental Service Organization they needed to reallocate budgets to fund onboarding the new practices. The reallocation led to a 46% decrease in their digital marketing spend.
AGENCY OBJECTIVE
Afflecto was tasked with continuing to drive new patient leads with a reduced digital advertising budget. Spend less. Drive the same quantity – if not more – leads. Got it!
AGENCY SOLUTION
We opted to reduce awareness tactics in order to focus the majority of the budget on conversion efforts. This didn’t mean removing all awareness advertising. Supporting awareness is crucial to ensure your marketing reaches people throughout their decision-making process. And the decision-making process for dental and orthodontic decisions can take some time. So it was imperative that our client remain top of mind.
Our past social media advertising and digital display efforts had increased brand awareness for all ortho practices and resulted in an increase of 41% (on average) new website visitors. With demand and attention for these practices established, we knew that a continuity approach to brand awareness would be enough to sustain brand recognition. This allowed us to allocate more dollars to conversion tactics.
Even with these changes to the media plan, additional tweaks were necessary to ensure we reached our lead goals. We knew continuing to use Google Ads and Website Remarketing was the way to go, but how could we rethink our approach? We shifted our strategy to hone in on people who had a higher propensity to convert sooner rather than later.
A NEW SEARCH ADVERTISING STRATEGY
This meant fine tuning our Search targeting to focus only on people making a decision about ortho treatment now; and excluding those who were considering future treatment options. To do this we honed in on the top ten long-tail keywords. These type of keywords are more specific, less competitive, and attract a smaller, super relevant audience. They were the keywords that not only drive a lot of leads, but the ones that turn into new patient starts. They were not necessarily the least expensive, but they were the most effective.
If you can convert higher priced keywords more than the less expensive ones you tend to spend less overall for the same amount of – sometimes more – conversions. Or, in this case new patient starts.
We also focused on website visitors who did not make an appointment or call. Since they had demonstrated a high level of intent it was likely they’d remain interested for the foreseeable future. And convert to new patient starts faster than other groups. These people saw our remarketing ads – both digital display and video – while online. The Afflecto team as able to remarket to this audience using their excusive programmatic partner.
THE RESULT
After six months of the new digital plan being in place we were able to drive more leads with a smaller budget for all orthodontic offices. They also increased new patient starts and first-time callers. Sometimes less can be more.
The year-over-year starts for all six offices were positive with an average of 63% increase in new patients at each location.
The new plan increased calls from an average of 385 per office to 675 calls per office. Additionally, there was a 89% increase in first-time callers to all offices.
Online ‘Contact Form’ submissions from their websites increased 13% (on average) across all six offices.
Contact Afflecto
Interested in driving leads with a smaller budget? Maybe you want to fine-tune your digital marketing plan? Afflecto has extensive experience with developing strategy and running successful digital campaigns. Our experienced team would love to talk to you about your business goals. Let’s chat! Contact Afflecto Media Marketing today.
We talk to a lot of business owners who declare themselves ‘not good writers’ and feel like they have no idea where to start when it comes to creating social content. Little do they know, they are usually sitting on a goldmine of industry knowledge, product details, testimonials, and other information their customers are dying to know!
When social media isn’t your full-time job, it’s difficult to dedicate the time it takes to come up with new post ideas on a daily or weekly basis. If you’re ready to upgrade your business’ social media game, but not sure where to start, this how-to is for you. Take a look at our three easy steps that will tell you how to plan a year’s worth of social media content in no time! Before you know it, this important to-do will be crossed off your to-do list for good! Follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Determine Your Goals
The first step is to determine what you want from this exercise. Social media feels like a necessary evil for many business owners. They spend way too long agonizing over how often to post, what to say, and how it should look. The best way to get started is to understand how your social media presence fits into their greater business goals.
Before you sit down to create your social media content plan, think about what you want to accomplish in your business. A good idea is to ask yourself a few simple questions. What are your marketing goals? Do you want to hire more people? Get your brand in front of a wider audience? Bolster sales of a new product or service? Highlight events or promotions throughout the year? Outlining these kinds of high-level objectives will help focus your content and make sure it’s actually serving a purpose.
Answering these questions is a great way to get a better understanding of topics to address in your social content.
Step 2: Write Your Copy
Ah, now for the fun part! Writing social posts can be intimidating, but with our Content Creation Grid, you can create dozens of posts in a matter of hours! This tool will save you a lot of time. On one axis, think about the focus of your social media content – perhaps a feature of a specific product, a fun historical fact about your business or industry, or an example of how someone uses your service to better their life.
The other axis is the format addresses the variety of content types you can use on social media. This is how you will present your ideas. You might consider writing it out as a blog post or whitepaper, creating video content, or maybe choose something interactive like a quiz. Different people like to engage with different kinds of content, so it’s important to shake things up. What you will find is that one piece of content – such as a blog – can become many types of social posts. For example, a blog can be shared, but also become a video for Instagram Reels, a .gif for an Instagram post, an infographic on LinkedIn, AND a carousel of facts on Facebook.
The powerful tool we call the Content Creation Grid is the easiest way to create different types of content…quickly. With this tool, you can mix and match your focus and format to create 100+ pieces of content without reinventing the wheel 100 different times. Have ideas for other focuses or formats? Feel free to add your own! And the good news is that you can get started today by downloading this free social media tool today. We’re happy to share!
Our free templates will help you, your Social Media Manager, or whomever you have working (or not working) on your social media content. You’ll be amazed at the type of content options you are able to plan out.
Step 3: Create Cohesive Graphics
Social media posts need graphics, so the next step is to create graphics for your ideas. There are many things your graphics need to be – compelling, creative, but most importantly, cohesive. When people see your social content, they should instantly know it’s coming from you based on the look and feel of the content.
When creating your social graphics, think beyond throwing your logo over a stock image. Build up a collection of fonts, colors, banners, and more to give your posts a custom feel. Be consistent with the filter you use, and feel free to recycle templates that do a good job showcasing your message.
Not comfortable with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop? No problem! Canva is great for business owners who are looking for a simple, easy-to-learn design tool.
Bonus Tip: Fill Up Your Scheduler
Congrats, you’re well on your way to creating enough content to last your business for the next year! However, a year’s worth of social content does your business no good if it sits on your desktop. Another best practice for ensuring your valuable content is shared with the world si to use a scheduler. Once you’ve created your graphics for the year, load them into a social content manager like Sendible or Buffer so you can schedule posts to go out automatically throughout the year. If you would rather not use these tools, you can use a Google calendar, Google sheets, or Google docs to make a publishing schedule you can follow. By dedicating just a couple hours to scheduling posts after your creation session, you can coordinate a whole year of social content that will go out on its own. That way it doesn’t weigh on you (and your to-do list)!
When you’re looking for a social post scheduler, there are a lot of options to consider. Figure out what’s on your ‘must have’ list (like the ability to re-size posts for each platform). Then think about what’s on your ‘nice to have’ list (like an analytics dashboard or monthly reports). That will help you pick the perfect tool that fits your business needs as well as your budget. Whatever you use, make sure you share your new content among all your different social channels. It does no good if it sits on your computer.
Get started today and you’ll be amazed at how much time you save yourself while also creating so much content for your brand!
Need Some Help?
We’re here for you! We love helping business owners create successful social media strategy that support their business goals, write engaging content, and create beautiful graphics that elevate their brand. Get in touch with our teamto schedule your free strategy session to discuss your social media marketing efforts. We’ll review your specific goals and offer you some free advice on what content ideas could work for your brand.
How a comprehensive digital advertising plan drove leads and new patient starts.
Check out our latest ortho marketing success story! Being a good marketer means having the ability to pivot, adapt, and use data to revise marketing plans. When our orthodontic client called and asked how they could reduce their budget but still get results, we made it work. See the infographic below to find out how our team was able to rework their digital media plan to increase leads, drive more new patient starts, and generate more first-time callers than before despite the decreased budget.
Orthodontic Practice Marketing Success
Contact Afflecto for Paid Search Assistance
If your practice needs help fine tuning your marketing plans – or creating a plan – let’s chat! We will listen to your business goals and make a recommendation after doing a full assessment. Use these suggestions to start working with Afflecto, or to take to your current agency. As a Google Certified Partner we have expertise in all Google Ad products and how to make them work best for our clients. Contact us today!
For the second year in a row Afflecto Media Marketing has been named one of the Best Marketing Firms in St. Louis, Missouri, by Small Business Monthly’s ‘Best In Business’ awards.
The award states, ‘these days you can’t succeed in business unless customers know who you are and how you can help them. Finding the right marketing firm can be integral to your success.’ Winners were nominated by readers from around the St. Louis area, which makes this an especially exciting designation for our team.
This year, we were nominated by two clients who feel like our partnership has been an integral part of their success. One of those clients is Jason Krazer, owner of 1st Choice Construction. He had all but given up on digital marketing after years of disappointing attempts.
Krazer’s company provides roofing, roof repairs, siding, and construction services for residential and commercial buildings. Their business is heavily dependent on the weather. Lead generation for their industry depends on timely, agile marketing since St. Louis weather can turn on a dime. Our team put together a combination of search, social media, Google My Business, and SEO work to help all parts of his business work together better. The results were immediate! In the first month they drove 37 leads and converted 11 of those to clients for a 288% return on investment.
“Afflecto Media Marketing is the best advertising agency we have ever worked with. They are the only advertising agency that not only followed through on what they told us they would do, but exceeded expectations,” said Krazer in his nomination of Afflecto.
“Jason is a good guy who genuinely cares about his clients and the quality of work he and his team provide,” said Michael Rose, President of Afflecto Media Marketing. “Helping them formulate a plan and seeing it through was our pleasure.”
Afflecto’s Award Winning Approach
Afflecto operates from a place of treating their clients’ businesses like their own. Rose believes this has been an integral part of Afflecto’s success. “We don’t just want results that look good on paper. Our goal is always to generate high-quality new business leads,” said Rose. “That’s what we want for our own business, so we go out there every day and make it happen for others as well.”
Thank you to Small Business Monthly for selecting us as one of the top marketing firms in St. Louis for the second year in a row – we look forward to many more!
Why Bidding on Branded Search Terms is a Best Practice
There are many reasons to bid on your branded search terms and we consistently get the question “Are you sure we need to?” Yes! Why should you spend money to bid on your branded terms? Consumers know your brand, right? And if someone is looking for your brand your information will show up regardless of if you pay for ads or not, right? Wrong! Read on to find out six reasons why Afflecto Media Marketing believes bidding on branded search is the right move for your PPC spend.
1. PROTECT YOUR BRAND:
It is important to always protect your branded terms if you are running any other type of advertising to ensure that your site is coming up first when consumers search for your brand after hearing/seeing another ad. When you pay for radio or TV advertising consumer’s path to conversion often includes a follow-up search online. You need to be the first in both paid and organic results, not your competitors. Otherwise, you are paying to drive exposure for your competitors. Even if you are a generous person, you probably don’t want competitors capitalizing on your investment.
2. OWN THE FIRST PAGE:
Well, we can’t guarantee this, but bidding on branded terms, combined with excellent SEO can make it possible. At the very least, dominate the SERP (search engine results page) with your paid and organic listings. Giving consumers more ways to click to your brand increases the likelihood that they will click. This works the same way that having more links in an email increases the chances of a higher click rate. Giving users multiple ways to click on your brand increases the likelihood they’ll click to your site. People like options, which leads us to our next point…
3. CREATE CONFIDENCE AND CREDIBILITY:
When your site appears in both paid and organic results it adds credibility to your site. It means you are for real. The more users see your brand on that SERP – paid and organically – increases their confidence in your brand. And bonus, this usually results in higher visits to the site organically as well.
4. PROTECT YOUR BRAND FROM COMPETITORS:
If any of your competitors are savvy marketers they are likely bidding on your branded terms. That means users searching for your company will likely be presented with an ad or two from your competitor(s). Translation: your competitors might be detouring your consumers to their website…and possibly winning them over. When bidding on branded terms search engines give you more authority and that factors into your result rank…often putting you ahead of your competitors even if they are bidding on your search terms.
Example of search results when brand isn’t bidding on their branded terms
5. EASY ON YOUR WALLET:
Looking for magical search terms that have high volume and don’t cost a ton? They’re right under your nose! Branded search terms tend to be the least expensive because of the authority they carry. Don’t just stick with your name – be sure to use products, services and even your own URL. These terms tend to have the highest click-thru rates and carry a very strong quality score.
6. CONTROL YOUR MESSAGE:
You can’t control what shows up in organic results, but you can control what you use in paid ads. Get clever and test a variety of options to see what works best.
At the end of the day, each search account is different and we encourage all of our clients to test, test, test. We think that supporting brand terms is a good practice, but not a rule. Find what works for your brand and go with that. Or, call us and we’ll figure it out for you!
Building on their updates on Block Lists and Transparency Controls, Facebook has added an Inventory Filter that will allow advertisers to select from three levels of protection.
Full inventory selects minimal protection and ads may be delivered to all eligible content. This allows for the widest reach.
Standard inventory provides moderate protection and is the default choice when placing ads (this is the same as no category exclusions today). Overall this excludes sensitive content and gives a balanced reach.
Limited inventory offers maximum protection (similar to the opt-in category exclusions available today). Excludes all sensitive and moderate content, thus significantly lowering reach. This limited reach could also impact costs.
This new option gives advertisers another way to ensure brand safety for ad placements, but it is a more generalized option as opposed to advertisers being able to specify publishers or content types alongside which they do not want their ads to appear. Until now, advertisers could choose specific publishers or categories (debatable issues, mature content, tragedy and conflict, dating and gambling) in which they didn’t want their ads to appear. For some, this will cause some complaining, but they won’t whine about it too long. They’ll soon realize you can still block specific sites by creating a Block List to, eh hem, block specific URLs.
Afflecto believes that by aligning with industry standards to help simplify the brand safety experience Facebook is making it easier for advertisers to select their environment in which their ads show.
