Urgent care practices in the United States have seen substantial growth in the last few years, becoming an essential option for many patients. Urgent Care clinics offer accessible, convenient medical services, effectively bridging the gap between primary care and emergency care. Despite facing challenges such as regulatory shifts, staffing shortages, and increased competition, urgent care practices continue to adapt and evolve to meet the changing needs of patients.
Marketing has become a higher priority for Urgent Care clinics that want to continue to grow both patients and revenue. And advertising is one of the most impactful marketing strategies they can put into play. As an Urgent Care marketing agency, we put together this guide to share with clinics the best practices we’ve seen work for our clients.
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The Right Ad Strategy for Urgent Care
When building your Urgent Care ads strategy, there are three key principles that must guide your approach.
#1: Urgent Care, Urgent Decision
Patients seeking urgent care services will make a decision on treatment quickly – choosing a provider within minutes or hours. In order to craft an effective Urgent Care advertising strategy, you must understand the underlying patient needs and address them in your ads.
- Proximity: Should be clear how close your location is
- Hours: Clear description of hours – especially if you are open earlier or longer than competitors
- Wait Times: Ease potential patient’s mind by addressing wait times
- Services: What kinds of diagnostic testing or other services are available
Because of this urgency in decision making, it’s also important that you choose ad platforms that are able to target those actively seeking Urgent Care – which is why Google Search Ads are the highest priority ad platform you can use for Urgent Care practices.
Related Reading: How RUNNER Increased Urgent Care & ER Patients by 56% for Surepoint
#2: Understanding Seasonality
The other thing that makes Urgent Care unique is the seasonal fluctuation of those seeking Urgent Care. More than other medical specialties, Urgent Care has a very clear seasonality that is driven by flu season. Aligning your advertising spend and strategy with seasonal trends can have a big impact on patient growth.
Search Volume for Urgent Care Rises In October, Doubles by December
Looking at Google Search Trends data (pictured below) for the search term “urgent care near me”, you can see that search volume begins to rise in October and SIGNIFICANTLY increases by Decemebr. This same pattern holds true for previous years – and volumes continue through January and February.
What does this mean for your Urgent Care advertising strategy?
- Prepare for the seasonal increase – be ready to take advantage during this time
- You can invest more in your ads during these critical 5 months in order to maximize the potential patients you can drive.
- Conversely, you can also invest more outside of this seasonal window to get more patients when seasonal volumes may normally be lower.
#3 Expanding Service Lines
Many Urgent Care clinics are broadening the range of services they offer to attract a wider patient base and meet more community needs. We commonly see campaigns like physicals, weight loss or STD treatment included in Urgent Care advertising. While it’s important to grow these new areas, it’s important that you create separate advertising budgets for these campaigns or you risk taking budgets away from the core Urgent Care campaigns that more reliably drive patients.
Targeting for Urgent Care Ads
Effective targeting of Urgent Care ads is often the difference between success and failure. There are two types of targeting we see as the most important – intent and location.
#1: High-Intent Keyword Targeting
Intent-based targeting focuses your ads on reaching patients that are the most likely to walk-in or schedule an appointment. This is done primarily through Google Ads, including the keywords that signal someone is ready – such as “urgent care near me” or “urgent care open now.”
Related Reading: High-Intent Keywords & Understanding Patient Intent in Search
#2: Location Targeting
Perhaps the most important element is location targeting for your ads. At RUNNER, we’ve built a unique methodology for analyzing and selecting location targeting for ads that is based on your historical clinic data, Google’s own usage data and other 3rd party data sources. This approach eliminates the waste of spending on advertising in locations that won’t drive patients.
Urgent Care Advertising Budgets
Determining the appropriate Urgent Care advertising budget involves balancing the need for patient acquisition with the resources available to invest.
Conservative Approaches to Ad Budget
- We recommend a minimum spend of around $3,000 per Urgent Care location
- Or, spending 1-2% of revenue on advertising
A Growth-Minded Approach to Ad Budget
- We recommend a spend of around $5,000 per Urgent Care location
- Or, spending 3-5% of revenue on advertising
Urgent Care Advertising by Platform
Understanding the difference between advertising platforms is essential, so you know where to best invest based on your objectives and priorities.
Google Ads for Urgent Care
Google is by far the most important Urgent Care advertising platform. That’s because it is the ONLY ad platform that allows you to target potential patients that are actively searching for Urgent Care.
- Google Search Ads should be the majority of your advertising spend
- If you have video assets, Urgent Care advertisers should also spend on Youtube ads, which can be bought through the Google Ads platform.
Related Reading: How RUNNER Increased Urgent Care Patients by 33% for TotalCare
Meta Ads for Urgent Care
Meta advertising platforms (Facebook and Instagram) are second in priority behind Google Ads for Urgent Care advertising. They reach a large audience, and can be targeted towards demographics and interests, but are not able to target searches like Google, which is why they are second in line.
- Meta ads are good at building brand awareness in specific locations
- These ads are recommended for new location openings, or when seasonal demand is high
- Video ads will perform best, but you are able to run image ads as well
TikTok Ads for Urgent Care
TikTok’s short-form video content appeals to a younger demographic, but has grown exponentially large – so like Meta, you can reach a large audience and target towards demographics and interests. TikTok ads are also much cheaper than other platforms, allowing you to reach more potential patients at a lower cost.
- Like Meta, these ads are good at building brand awareness
- All ads are video, so you’ll need to create video sets
Traditional Ads – TV, Radio, Outdoor
While traditional ads can still be effective in some markets, we only recommend using them when brand awareness is very low, and only after Google Ads spend has been maxed out. These traditional ad channels are only good at driving brand awareness for Urgent Care locations and should not be measured by patient growth. They are also LONG-TERM strategies and must be run for years, not months.
- TV will make sense in some markets, but beware TV when they try to sell digital advertising in these packages. They often contain low-quality website traffic and are not likely to drive patients.
- Outdoor can still be effective in some markets if placed in the right locations
- Radio may only make sense in rural markets, as listening volumes are very low.
OTT/Streaming Video Ads for Urgent Care
Over-the-top (OTT) and streaming platforms allow you to reach audiences who consume video content beyond traditional television. These platforms, such as Hulu and Roku, can be effective alternatives to television and have the potential to add in additional targeting that traditional TV can’t .
- You must have good TV-like video assets to succeed on these platforms
- The cost can actually be higher than traditional TV, especially when targeting is added
- We would recommend spending on Youtube before spending on OTT.
Putting It All Together
Building a comprehensive Urgent Care advertising plan can have a real impact on patient growth. At RUNNER, we’ve done this for many of our Urgent Care clinic partners. It requires an understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Urgent Care, and an advertising strategy that understands which ad platforms to prioritize with whatever spend is available.
Whatever your goals are as an Urgent Care clinic, if you do decide to pursue advertising, it’s important that you realize that the best growth will come from working with an expert that’s done it before, and with a mindset of continuous analysis and adaptation. That’s how you get sustained growth year over year.
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