In 2026, billions of dollars have gone into marketing through healthcare ads; however, most owners of medical practices spend money on companies that don't know the difference between a privacy complaint and a simple error in their advertising campaigns.
You need assurance that you can account for your costs associated with patient acquisition and that any data collected is safe. You also need accurate confirmation of the scheduled appointments for your practice.
The price of making a poor choice when you select medical marketing agencies can be devastating for many medical practices. Practically all medical practices today only convert approximately three percent of their visitors into appointments.
It is possible for healthcare marketing companies to increase that percentage to about seven percent and for the best companies to convert more than 10 percent. The difference in conversion rates can determine the success of a medical practice versus its ability to sustain itself.
Today's patients trust what they read about a practice online. According to survey results, more than 84 percent of patients will review a company's rating or feedback online prior to selecting that provider.
Because of this, they typically want to read between five and six separate reviews before selecting a medical provider.
If your marketing company is not knowledgeable regarding local SEO, Google Search Console or how online scheduling processes work in the real world, then your practice will lose high-value patients to competitors that do understand.
If applicable rules or regulations such as those set forth by the FDA and HIPAA are violated, an advertising account will be banned permanently and severe financial penalties may be assessed.
Tracking Numbers and Fees with Medical Marketing Agencies
Do not ever sign a contract with medical marketing agencies based on their self-reported advertising metrics; the numbers could be inflated. The number of clicks on an ad means nothing if users abandon their shopping cart before they complete the appointment form.
You should always request tangible evidence of the reported metrics from your CRM or electronic health record system. The average cost for a hospital or healthcare facility to acquire a patient in the United States, otherwise known as "patient acquisition costs", is $289 per person.
However, if you work with highly targeted partnerships to acquire patients through digital marketing, you can reduce your patient acquisition cost (PAC) to as low as $175 or as high as $112 depending on the specialty of your practice.
If a vendor cannot properly define what a good acquisition cost would be for your specific practice, then they are relying on your business for their education.
Standard practices for an agency will charge you between $3,000 and $15,000 per month for a retainer fee (not including media spending).
A typical agency's fee does not include any of the money that you must spend. In most cases, you would be required to agree to a contract for a minimum of six (6) to twelve (12) months, as the process of gaining local search authority and increasing your SEO visibility takes time.
Had a specialized marketing partner worked with you at the beginning, you would have likely ranked for less than 40 valuable keywords.
However, after a year, a specialized partner should be able to show you the exact steps to rank you for hundreds of targeted keywords, provide you with a detailed report of your progress, and produce thorough reports with accurate and complete data.
Vetted Medical Marketing Agencies to Consider
1. Position Results LLC
Position Results LLC is focused solely on patient acquisition strategies that are focused on the following specialties: plastic surgery, dermatology, med spa, and dental networks. They have created a unique way of targeting patients by using targeted funnel systems that comply with strict regulations.
Their claimed performance metrics are far above the industry's average, with 12.4% conversion rates, $9.85 returns for every dollar spent, and a $112 patient acquisition cost.
They have produced more than $480 million worth of patients since the start of 2020 and have case studies showing that they increased a plastic surgeon's number of consultations by 312% in a span of just nine months. They also have an impressive 98% client retention rate.
2. Plasthetix Marketing
Plasthetix Marketing is a marketing agency that works solely in the aesthetics industry by providing innovative marketing solutions to surgeons and medical spas. They utilize many forms of visual storytelling, such as before/after pictures, and capturing video footage that can be shared on social media platforms.
Their business model consists of a standard retainer fee and an ad spend budget. They claim that they have lower than average costs to acquire new clients at $175 per patient versus the industry average patient acquisition cost of $289.
Their company data revealed that since 2020, they have tracked over $20 million in revenue while maintaining an 8.7% patient conversion rate. One of the most amazing success stories that can be highlighted is the New York-based firm that increased its website traffic by over 240% during the 18 month engagement period with Plasthetix.
3. Amra & Elma
Amra & Elma Agency, located in New York City, provides an innovative hybrid agency solution that includes large-voiced influencer marketing, SEO and media buying. Their primary focus is in serving the largest enterprise class clients in healthcare.
Their client list includes well-known and established global brands such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Essilor. Amra & Elma claims to have developed verified performance dashboards that reflect over 16.7 million total impressions within a three month period as well as over 1,000 top search positions among all healthcare products/companies.
Amra & Elma is selective as they tend to work with larger health and wellness companies and not local small practices.
4. Healthcare Success
Healthcare Success is another established medical marketing company operating throughout the United States. Healthcare Success provides medical marketing services that support broad digital growth for hospitals, practices and physician groups.
In addition, Healthcare Success enjoys the highest ranking within the medical marketing space, both in terms of traffic and overall authority. While Healthcare Success does not typically share specific metrics regarding success stories or how many clients they have, they are estimated to have generated approximately $11 million in annual revenue based upon their success in the field.
As experts in developing thorough services to help healthcare networks expand, they offer a variety of marketing services.
5. Intrepy Healthcare Marketing
Intrepy Healthcare Marketing specializes in developing digital strategies for physicians and specialized medical groups for their online growth. Strong emphasis on local search engine optimization and creating high volumes of content is their primary area of expertise.
Their focus is on mid-sized clinics and medical groups to improve their local search visibility. While there is no indication of pricing or patient acquisition costs, they are known for having a disciplined SEO process and solely building physician authority, which puts them on all the leading industry lists.
6. VIVO Agency
VIVO Agency has completely moved away from marketing to patients and now focuses exclusively on developing marketing strategies for medical device and biotech companies. They are developing multi-channel marketing plans to help sales teams reach C-level decision-makers.
VIVO's client list includes some of the biggest names in medical technology such as Boston Scientific, Bracco, and B. Braun. They do not cater to the local clinic market. Instead, they provide B2B demand-generation plans and advanced support for the top-tier sales force in the industry.
7. HCB Health
HCB Health, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a member of the Boundless Life Sciences Group and focuses on scientific storytelling and developing the brand identity of pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
They have developed multi-channel marketing strategies for several large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, AvaGen, and Alcon. Their business model focuses on the enterprise life sciences sector and is expected to generate $47.5 million in revenue in 2024.
HCB Health does not provide patient-focused lead generation for small local medical practices or standard patient appointment booking services.
8. Create Health
Create Health is a UK-based company that develops empirical based healthcare communications for pharmaceutical and medical device businesses.
Create Health's main focus is on European and UK healthcare markets, working primarily with large companies such as Sanofi Genzyme and ConvaTec, through the development of deep creative connections to engage massive health company brands with their prospective target audience versus only focusing on appointment-booking rates and/or finding new patients locally.
9. Orange Label Advertising
Orange Label Advertising is located in Costa Mesa, California, creating brand building, emotionally connecting media campaigns focused on healthcare.
They focus on more extensive launches (vs. more aggressive direct response) for their clients that primarily consist of medical groups and hospitals, with such clients as Dameron Hospital and San Jose Medical Group. They help to create and maintain a long-lasting community trust in established healthcare facilities in their area.
10. Big Buzz
Big Buzz is based in Denver, Colorado and focuses on dental and healthcare marketing, using a methodical approach to achieve results through market research, strategy development, and execution.
They work closely with dental practices and regional health centres, including Wilson Orthodontics and Denver Health Medical Centre. They do not disclose their pricing structure and have created a "standardized marketing plan" for designing a reliable patient flow for local dental service organizations.
11. CPC Healthcare
CPC Healthcare is located in Toronto and is part of the BlocPartners network; they only focus on pharmaceutical, consumer healthcare, and medical device communications. They are an award-winning group that targets higher-end consumer healthcare messaging.
Whether you are an individual or a group of individuals, there is no single price for a retainer as a medical marketing agency. Some agencies are focused only on large scale brand positioning across the United States and Canada.
12. CJU Medical Marketing
CJU Medical Marketing is an agency that is located in Sydney, Australia with over 15 years of experience in the healthcare, eldercare & disability services marketing field.
CJU provides services for healthcare providers in the marketplace, digital media, and idea generation and branding. Clients range from large secondary hospitals to small regional dental and cosmetic practitioners.
There is a strong focus on understanding how the local market operates and observing the stringent rules associated with advertising in this area.
13. Medical Web Experts
Medical Web Experts is a HIPAA compliant, technically sound web design & SEO service for medical practices throughout the United States.
Medical Web Experts provides a strong technical foundation for facilities and practitioners who want to have secure, patient-facing websites. While the company does not publicly list retail pricing, how well a doctor's digital front door meets all required privacy standards while still ranking well in local Google searches is a core value of the company.
14. Armada Medical Marketing
Armada Medical Marketing is based in Arvada, Colorado, and only specializes in B2B medical device marketing. They also provide services related to public relations, direct marketing, and corporate event planning.
Armada Medical Marketing primarily works with B2B health companies and with the medical technology sector. Among Armada's clients are Anova Cancer Care and Aesthetic Technology.
Armada Medical Marketing is focused on medical buyer targeting and industry recognition, so they do not conduct patient acquisition or clinic marketing.
15. Vividus
Vividus is an Australia-based full-service marketing agency. Vividus offers complete marketing services for hospitals, medical clinics and dental groups throughout Australia and New Zealand.
They handle substantial regional accounts, such as those of Medtronic and Ramsay Health Care. Their portfolio of products and services ranges from local search optimization to large-scale hospital branding, while paying special attention to local laws and regulations governing advertising in the AU/NZ healthcare markets.
16. Trajectory
Trajectory is a NYC agency that combines brand strategy, design, and digital marketing with other agencies to create a complete service offering for rapidly growing healthcare brands.
They partner with companies that manufacture medical products and other health brands like Viver Medical and AMP Medical Products. While they emphasize brand positioning and clear visual design, their main focus is not on aggressive local lead generation for patients or clinic bookings but rather on building strong relationships with their clients.
17. MedGrowth Partners
MedGrowth Partners is focused on large enterprise system and hospital networks. They create and implement scaled, highly compliant advertising campaigns across a wide range of regional markets.
Their target audience includes multi-location healthcare organizations that need to maintain strict control of their data and brand reputation. They provide an average of 5.4x return on advertising investment across their advertising campaign efforts, demonstrating their ability to manage complex, multi-state marketing budgets while maintaining media effectiveness.
18. Practice Builders
Practice Builders focuses on the niche markets of dermatology and aesthetics. Relative to the other niches discussed above, their main strategies for driving new patients are through local SEO, building reviews, and continuing to develop active content.
They report patient conversion rates between 6.5% and 7.1%, in addition to a 3.9x return on ad spend. Many agencies have the capacity to increase your practice rating on Google by managing patient reviews and feedback (from a low 3.2 to 4.5 stars).
19. Apex Patient Solutions
Apex Patient Solutions focuses on the entire lifecycle of patient acquisition and retention, featuring deep automation and integration with platforms like HubSpot and PatientPop for automated programs.
By focusing on specialty providers that need additional internal tracking or follow-up, they produce 5 to 6 times the ROI based on current advertising spend, while maintaining a patient retention rate of 80%.
They leverage numerous automated follow-up methods (including strict, automated nurturing texts/email reminder systems) to increase appointment attendance rates.
20. Boundless Life Sciences Group
Boundless Life Sciences Group is the parent company to specialized agencies such as HCB Health. They are designed for massive scale, with an approach directed towards the enterprise life sciences market.
In 2024 they are projecting revenues of $31.6 million, reporting an incredible 240% growth year-over-year. Their clients are based globally, as they do not do local marketing for clinics, etc.
Risks and Red Flags to Watch For
How Bad Settings Can Get You Banned
If your ad accounts are banned or otherwise limited, it is due to the nature of the marketing contract being signed, and the vast majority of times, this occurs because a "generalist" agency will use unauthorized patient data/retarget clients aggressively, which violates standard advertising platform policies, and results in significant privacy penalties.
If an agency cannot provide you with their process for performing a legal review in conjunction with HIPAA compliance, then it creates a huge risk to the entirety of your organization.
Spotting Fake Results and Phone Calls
There are numerous ways in which medical marketing agencies can misrepresent their performance through confusion over "attribution" or the definition of what constitutes success. An agency may report a high return on ad spend; however, this metric can be subjectively defined and varies from agency-to-agency.
In addition, some agencies may count a simple phone call as being successful, even though this phone call may not have resulted in an appointment. You should always require agencies to provide you with standardized, auditable performance metrics ("metrics").
Always look for agencies that track appointment "show-rate" and provide you with a realistic timeframe in which they expect to earn their value for your investment (e.g., an agency that builds SEO traffic for a highly competitive plastic surgeon will take significantly longer to realize financial value due to the complexity of the industry and ranking).
How to Check If Your Tracking Works
Many agencies will provide you with vague explanations about how their software integrates with your existing tools, but they should clearly detail how they will track each step of the patient journey (from the time they perform an online Google search until they arrive at your practice), so that you are aware of where each patient "drops off."
If they do not do so, your data is mostly likely broken and you are wasting your budget.
Demanding True Proof of Revenue
Lastly, once you have established the true cost of patient acquisition by your marketing partner, you should demand clear documentation of revenue generated per specific procedure.
If your partner can show only clicks and traffic numbers from a campaign, or only show booked appointments after their course is complete, you should terminate your relationship and immediately find a specialty medical marketing agency.