Case Study

How We Took Digital Sales from Zero to Over 20% of Revenues AND Delivered an ROI 104x the Combined Costs of Advertising Expenses and Agency Fees

This vascular care practice serves an area that includes nine counties bordered by four major medical centers that market into its area. The team of three doctors treat patients suffering from vascular diseases with a focus on lower extremity/critical limb salvage. Each is a skilled vascular/endovascular surgeon with a fellowship in vascular surgery.

The vascular care practice had done an excellent job of building its business through traditional marketing and physician referrals. However, there was a tremendous opportunity for this team of accomplished surgeons to build awareness among potential self-referring patients in need of their services.

To understand the opportunity better, CMC Digital Smart Marketing completed an in-depth review of:

The most important revenue streams
Patients whom they served
- Demographics
- Geography – areas served well and others not reached yet
- The patient journey:
  - How and by whom conditions were first diagnosed
  - When patients sought care from a vascular surgeon
  - How each selected a vascular surgeon, including what factors influenced their decision
The unique selling proposition for the practice – what made it stand out from competitors that patients found to be most meaningful
Marketing tactics being used to reach and convince new patients to choose their practice
Marketing tactics being used by other vascular practices to gain new patients

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Key learnings from our research included:

Revenue Streams

The greatest revenue stream was the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD).
80% from doctor referrals, 10% specialists, 10% self-referrals

Patient Profile

Target market age 45+, often from rural areas
Geography: 200-mile radius to practice
80% Medicare

The Patient Journey

Patients often experience symptoms related to PAD for extended periods of time before seeking medical care. At some point, symptoms become so difficult that they call their GP for a referral or immediately search online for a vascular surgeon endorsed by their GP, advertising, or friends and family. Patients may search for a vascular surgeon by name, in which case those names and the associated practices are the top results (paid and organic). Or they may search for vascular surgeons in general, in which case the vascular surgeons and practices that are either paying for advertising and/or have optimized their websites for search engines are the first to be seen. Additionally, location results, such as Google Maps, display results with ratings and reviews which have a high probability of influencing potential patients.

Unique Selling Proposition

For this vascular care practice, self-referring patients can be seen in three to five days, which is very important to patients who have lost sensation in their legs. Additionally, the team of surgeons are all specialists in vascular surgery. Their success in preventing amputation is just shy of 99%.

Marketing Tactics Being Used

The vascular care practice had done an excellent job of building awareness for their practice among the general public across a geographical radius of 25 miles from their locations. They had also done an excellent job of building awareness and trust among referring physicians.

Together, we identified several new opportunities to strengthen their brand awareness and expand their service area:

Further building awareness for their very accomplished doctors and their ability to see patients in three to five days.
Introducing social ads to help build awareness and attract new patients across a 100-mile radius that led up to the major medical centers surrounding their locations.
Introducing search ads and lead-generating tactics to capture patients in need of immediate care who were searching online for vascular surgeons or specific doctors.
Introducing tracking mechanisms to remarket to potential patients who visited their ads but had not called for an appointment.
Updating all key listings on directories and proactively managing reviews offered by patients.
Updating the practice’s website to not only provide information most important to patients, but also design the website to convert users to patients.

Action Steps and Results

Digital Smart Vascular led the development of the above opportunities. Results for the first year were as follows:

Over 1,000 potential patients representing $5.2 million in potential revenue were gained for the practice.
The cost per new patient was $16.97, compared to the industry average of $33.45.
Social ads created significant levels of engagement and interest through 1,010 reactions, 116 comments, 46 saves, and 118 shares.
Return on advertising spending (ROAS) was 295x the ad investments made.
Return on investment was 104x advertising and agency fees. (5.22MM/17,723+$32,400).
Revenue associated with Digital Marketing Vascular grew to 20% of total revenues for the practice.