Evaluating a New Marketing Partner: What to Consider When Selecting an Agency

| 5 minute read | Practice Marketing

If you’re reading this, you already know that marketing plays a crucial role in attracting new patients and building trust within your community. A well-executed strategy ensures your appointment calendar stays full and supports your overall growth. Choosing the right marketing partner for your goals is like finding the right hearing aid; If it’s not the right fit, it can affect performance and your ability to connect. 

While finding the best partner is important, switching agencies can disrupt your SEO rankings and online reputation if not done correctly, potentially undoing the work already done to help patients find you. These tips can help you make a more informed decision.

6 Questions to Ask Before You Switch Marketing Agencies

1. Are they specialized in hearing healthcare?

General marketing tactics don’t always translate well to the hearing care industry. Look for a marketer who understands the unique challenges of hearing professionals, including the stigma surrounding hearing loss and the typical patient journey. A specialist is more likely to deliver messaging that resonates with your audience.

2. What’s the onboarding process like?

The onboarding process says a lot about a marketing provider’s time management. If it takes more than a month or two to get things rolling, that might raise red flags about the rest of the experience. Ask how long it typically takes to launch a campaign or website, and what their onboarding process looks like. Do they provide a clear timeline and steps, or is it more open-ended? This can give you a better sense of how structured and responsive they really are.

4. How do they track results?

Effective marketing should generate measurable outcomes, not just clicks or impressions. A marketer should know the best KPIs to monitor for your clinic, like total qualified leads, appointments set and conversion rates. Ensure your provider offers call tracking to qualify patient leads generated by marketing campaigns so you know who called and whether they booked an appointment.

5. Are you locked into a long-term contract?

Be cautious of marketers who require annual commitments or tie services to hearing aid quotas. Month-to-month agreements give you more control and ensure your partner is continually earning your business.

6. Are they an independent agency?

Some marketing providers operate under larger buying groups or manufacturers, which can limit their offerings or strategy. Since digital marketing isn’t their primary focus, they often lack the specialized expertise to make campaigns successful. Working with an independent agency staffed with an in-house team of experts ensures your marketing plan is built around your clinic’s specific goals, not tied to product quotas or corporate entities

What Can Happen to Your Marketing When You Change Partners

Changing marketing partners isn’t always a seamless process. Without a proper transition plan, you risk losing valuable SEO authority, which can damage your online reputation and search ranking status.

If your new marketing agency lacks digital expertise or they are not specialized in hearing healthcare, you may experience issues that affect how potential patients and search engines perceive your clinic, like: 

  • Lost SEO momentum: Pages that previously ranked well may drop in search results if redirects, keyword strategies and metadata are not maintained.

  • Disrupted NAP consistency: If your clinic’s Name, Address and Phone Number are not updated consistently across directories, it can confuse search engines and hurt your local rankings.

  • Broken website functionality: Poorly managed or incomplete transitions may lead to website downtime and broken links, negatively impacting user experience and search engine rankings.

  • Lost website traffic and conversions: Losing call tracking or lead form configurations can reduce your lead volume and number of appointments as a result.

  • Inconsistent local listings: If Google Business Profile listings aren’t managed correctly, it can result in lost patient reviews, duplicate profiles or outdated information.

  • Weakened online authority: Removing blog content or losing review generation tools can impact the workflow that maintains your reputation (how patients view your credibility and trustworthiness).

How We Support Your Clinic at AudiologyDesign

At AudiologyDesign, we are a team of seasoned hearing marketing experts who are independent and not bound to any buying group, manufacturer or product line. As a result, we maintain your autonomy as a clinic owner and can offer a full suite of services to help you stay ahead of the competition. Other benefits include:

  • Access to a team of 30 full-time, in-house developers, designers, SEO specialists, content writers, dedicated account managers, technology experts and more;
  • Integrations with leading practice management software, including Blueprint, Sycle and CouselEar;
  • Continuous support, maintenance and product enhancements to ensure you’re not only keeping up with the industry but thriving within your market; 
  • No long-term contracts or obligations to fulfill hearing aid purchase quotas.

Decide with Confidence: Get a Transparent Look at Your Options

Whether you’re just exploring what’s available or if you’ve received an offer from another marketing agency or buying group, we want to ensure you have a transparent look at your current services and what may be at risk in a transition. Our team is happy to walk through a side-by-side comparison so you can fully understand your options. 

As part of that process, we’ll schedule a quick call and send you a customized comparison report comparing:

  • Your current monthly investment 
  • A complete breakdown of your ongoing services with AudiologyDesign, including automated content updates, local listings management, SEO ranking reports, client portal access and more

  • What’s offered by the other provider and where there may be gaps compared to your new strategy

If you’re interested in a comparison or would just like to learn more about our services, please reach out to your account manager or schedule a consultation with one of our experts here.