[Draft for Prabhu’s review. Add benchmark figures only with a verifiable source.]
A hospital marketing budget is easier to set once you know what it has to cover and how you will measure it. This guide gives a way to work it out. It does not give benchmark figures, because any figure needs a source you can check.
Start with what the budget has to cover
Patients find you, compare you, contact you and come back for follow-ups. A budget usually has to cover each of those moments:
- Getting found: an accurate Google Maps listing, local SEO and AI search visibility.
- Getting chosen: a factual website, a doctor directory and a consistent brand identity.
- Getting booked: answering every enquiry on WhatsApp, SMS, website chat and missed calls, and following up.
- Getting them back: appointment reminders and health education content, with consent.
- Paid campaigns on Google and Meta, if they fit your goals.
- Reporting, so you can see what the rest is bringing in.
Look at the leak before adding ad spend
If patients are already finding you, the next problem is the gap between their first enquiry and a booked appointment. Calls ring out in rush hour. Messages wait until evening, and many patients message more than one hospital, so the one that replies first often gets the visit. Ads can also bring enquiries nobody tracks. Fixing these usually comes before spending more to bring in extra enquiries.
Set the budget in four steps
- Capacity: how many more appointments can your departments take?
- Baseline: for a month, record how many enquiries arrive on each channel and how many become appointments.
- Split: separate the steady costs (website, listing, enquiry handling, reporting) from the variable cost of ads. Agency fees should be flat and monthly.
- Review: every month, look at enquiries, bookings, cost and what to change next.
What to avoid
- Paying an agency, platform or influencer per patient or per lead. The NMC guidelines say payment shall not be structured so that it is linked to procuring or referring individual patients (8.1 vii and viii).
- Offers, discounts or free procedures to attract patients (8.1 x).
- Promises about rankings or results. Nobody can guarantee them.
- Measuring only impressions or clicks, and not enquiries and appointments.
What a monthly report should show
One clear report: enquiries, bookings, cost, and what changes next.
[Benchmark figures and examples: add only with a verifiable source]