Ketamine clinic marketing is uniquely challenging for a handful of reasons:

1. Regulatory compliance: Marketing for any medical treatment is strictly regulated by advertising platforms to protect consumers.
2. Organic visibility requires substantial brand authority: Similar to advertising, earning organic visibility from search engines and LLMs is difficult for clinics as these platforms prefer to show users information from established, trustworthy institutions like Harvard or WebMD.
3. New treatment apprehension: The audience themselves are often apprehensive of ketamine simply because it’s a new option with limited research. Patients also know that bad actors exist, so building substantial trust is imperative to move forward.   

Considering these factors, we’ll outline a marketing strategy for ketamine clinics that consistently attract new patients. 

1.)  Audience Research and Product Differentiation

Your ketamine clinic probably isn’t the only one available in the area. 

So why should people come to your clinic? How are you different?

Some factors patients consider when selecting a ketamine clinic that you could use as a unique selling point include:

1. Location: If you’re centrally located and easily accessible, highlight that.
2. Experience and Expertise: Are your medical staff significantly more experienced and skilled at administering this treatment than others?
3. Advanced Monitoring: Patients who prefer to go to a clinic to receive ketamine therapy clearly want to be monitored, so highlighting advanced monitoring tools will make your clinic more appealing than competitors who do not. 
4. Emergency Preparedness: Many patients are hesitant to try ketamine therapy because it’s relatively new, so if your clinic has emergency equipment on hand, patients will feel more comfortable knowing that they’re in good hands should anything go wrong. 
5. Telehealth integrations: If you can offer telehealth integrations, highlight that as a differentiator and the benefits of those services.
6. Financial options: If you offer various financing options, including third-party financing, payment plans, or a wide variety of insurance providers, you can use that as a unique selling point. 

It’s important to define your unique value proposition first so that you can incorporate it into your messaging throughout the website.  

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2.) Building a Website (Technical SEO)

Search engines want to please their users, and part of delivering a great user experience is sending them to a website that’s fast, easy to use, and secure. 

Additionally, search engines and LLMs will have a hard time understanding what your website is about if there are technical issues that make important pages inaccessible.

Technical SEO is an entire topic in its own right, but there are a few things to consider when auditing your website’s technical health. 

Website Architecture

The two key principles for excellent website architecture include:

1. Including the right pages on your website 
2. Ensuring each page is easily accessible for users and search engines

Here’s an example of how to structure your main menu: 

• Home
• What We Treat
• Our Solutions (if you offer more than just ketamine therapy)
• Locations
• Resources 
• About 

It’s also important to have the following pages linked in the footer for SEO purposes:

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Sitemap
• Accessibility Statement
• Medical Disclaimer

The rule of thumb for good website architecture is to ensure every page on your website is accessible with three clicks from the homepage.

Using the main menu structure outlined above, you should have a solid website architecture. 

You can also use this template to help:

Mobile Experience

Statistics show that the majority (63%) of website visitors are on a mobile device, so it’s important that the mobile version of your website is easy to navigate. 

Today, most websites are mobile responsive, but it’s still important to make sure that all of the buttons, text, and images are well presented. 

Site Speed

If your website doesn’t load quickly, users will get frustrated and simply leave your website. 

You can use Pagespeed Insights to test your website’s speed. 

If it’s slow, you can send the results to a developer on Upwork to fix it for you. 

Those three principles are the most important elements of technical SEO, though you can also do a more detailed technical analysis with a tool like Ahrefs. 

Source

This audit tool shows more granular issues, though the reality is that (assuming your website is mostly functional and all of the pages are accessible) fixing minor technical issues usually doesn’t significantly improve your rankings in the search results or LLMs. 

3.) On Page Optimization (For SEO and LLMs)

Even though you have a website, you probably notice that you won’t automatically show up first in the search results (or even an LLM like ChatGPT) for queries that bring new patients, like “Best ketamine therapy in (your city).”

To show up in search results or LLMs, you need substantial content covering topics related to ketamine to indicate to search engines and LLMs that you’re an authority on ketamine.

If you only have one page about ketamine, search engines and LLMs won’t view you as a definitive expert on the topic of ketamine and therefore won’t show your brand for searches related to the topic.

Therefore, the first step is identifying relevant local and information-based keywords, for which we’ll later create content.

Here are some relevant local keywords:

• Ketamine treatment in [city]
• [Condition] treatment in [city]

You already created pages for these keywords in the main menu, but be sure to optimize each page. Specifically, this means:

• Including the exact keyword in the title and a few times throughout the page. 
• Using a URL structure featuring the keyword (e.g., “domain.com/ketamine-clinic-atlanta”)
• Include information relevant to that location (e.g., specific equipment, doctors, processes, etc., that are unique to that clinic)
• Include basic information on the treatment process and how ketamine treatment works.

Here are a few information based keywords you’ll create blog content for:

• Ketamine for [condition] (e.g., “ketamine for depression,” “ketamine for PTSD,” etc.)
• What is ketamine therapy
• Ketamine addiction
• Ketamine therapy side effects
• Ketamine therapy cost
• Ketamine treatment process

To find more keywords, you can use a tool like Ahrefs to find keywords related to ketamine. Ideally, look for keywords with high search volume and low difficulty.

Once you know which keywords to target, the next step is to create content for each keyword. 

The content should be unique and backed with real scientific data, so it’s best to avoid using AI to write it. 

Search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated at detecting AI content, and using AI to write entire paragraphs without adding unique insights is frowned upon by search engines. 

However, you can use AI to create an outline. For example, you can use a free tool like Ryan Robinson’s blog outline generator to create an AI outline for you: 

You can also use a tool like Ahrefs to find additional questions related to a keyword and add those questions to your outline:

After creating the outline, interview real experts and use their viewpoints to fill in each section. 

In fact, it’s a best practice to note that a real medical professional fact-checked the content. For example, here’s what WebMD does:

Here’s a quick checklist you can use when publishing information content:

1. Include the main keyword in the title and the first paragraph
2. Use an AI tool to create an outline to ensure you comprehensively cover the topic
3. Include additional questions in the post outline
4. Interview an expert and cite them as the source when publishing

In addition to informational content, create original data studies and thought leader content that other industry professionals will be incentivized to share with their colleagues and community. 

Content that provides groundbreaking new insights about ketamine and improves the treatment process is truly the best way to establish yourself as an authority in the industry.

Of course, this requires significantly more effort, but it’s the gold standard for creating effective content. 

Also, blog content isn’t the only type of content you should create. 

You can also publish YouTube videos, social media content, and podcast interviews. 

These forms of content increase brand awareness and make you more trustworthy and “legitimate” to potential patients. 

And, brand awareness not only helps increase visibility, but a recent study by Ahrefs also shows that more brand mentions correlate with more brand visibility in AI overviews (AI overviews are the snippets of text generated by Google that you’ll occasionally see in the search results). 

Source

Publishing content across five different platforms immediately can be overwhelming, so start with blog content and then slowly expand to other channels. 

4.) Local SEO Optimization

If you look at the current search results for a search term like “Ketamine Clinic near me,” you’ll see what’s called the map pack:

Additionally, if you search for the name of any of these clinics, you’ll see a profile come up in the search results:

To show up in the map pack and receive a business profile, you must complete a Google My Business profile. 

Fill out the profile completely as a more complete profile can help you rank higher in the map pack. 

Specifically, upload high quality photos, fill out a detailed business description, and consider writing a few posts. 

You’ll also be required to verify ownership (Google sends a postcard to your address).

Reviews are another factor that significantly impacts your rankings in the map pack. 

While you can’t provide any monetary incentive for people to leave reviews (positive or otherwise), you can ask for them. 

A great strategy to generate more reviews is to set up automated emails following a scheduled appointment with a link to leave a review. 

You can also personally ask patients for reviews in person. 

You can even set up a computer monitor with a sign that says, “leave a review here:”

You can also have a QR code on the desk that people can scan to leave a review.

Sometimes, people don’t write reviews simply because they don’t know what to say. To solve this problem, add review prompts when you ask for a review like:

1. How has the treatment impacted you?
2. What did you like most about the experience? 
3. How did you feel about the overall experience?

Completing citations is another simple yet powerful way to prove your clinic is a credible local business.

Citations are simply listings in popular local business directories like Yelp or ZocDoc.

You can find a more complete list of relevant directories with a tool like Bright Local.

5.) Lead Nurture

Most people won’t schedule an appointment the first time they visit your website, as they first need time to learn about ketamine therapy before they’ll become customers. 

However, people might not come back to your clinic when they are ready to buy. Or, consumers may never buy because they don’t continue learning about the treatment option. 

Instead, capture their email address so that you can continue educating them about ketamine therapy and build trust. 

As a result, you’ll retain and convert a higher percentage of website traffic. 

To capture a person’s email address, you need a valuable resource that will help them better understand the treatment options available.

This valuable resource (known as a lead magnet) could be a self assessment quiz that indicates if ketamine therapy might be a viable option for the patient. 

Here’s an example of one of these self assessment quizzes.

You could also create a ketamine treatment cost calculator.  

Then, create an email nurture sequence that helps potential patients understand what ketamine treatment is, how it helps, and scientific research studies.  

In each email, offer a free consultation or exclusive offer.

5.) Off Page Optimization 

Search engines and LLMs realize it’s easy for a brand to promote itself, so they also want to see that other local brands in the area are talking about your brand. 

However, there are a few strategies to increase how many other brands in your community talk about your clinic. 

First, you can sponsor local events to earn links and mentions from those local organizations. 

Here’s a great example of a few companies that sponsored a local walk to fight cancer:

You can also offer scholarships to local universities. 

As a result, a highly authoritative institution (a university) will link to your website, showing search engines and LLMs that you’re a trusted, active member of the local community.

You can also host your own local event or workshops.

In addition to earning local recognition, it’s also helpful to earn recognition from nationally recognized institutions like Harvard, or major publications like The Guardian.

For example, this ketamine clinic’s CEO was interviewed by The Guardian. This is an excellent brand mention that significantly increases credibility:

The best way to earn more brand mentions like this is to build genuine relationships with these journalists.   

However, initiating a relationship with a journalist can be difficult as they’re constantly bombarded with cold pitches from hundreds of other people who want backlinks.

Cold pitching a journalist can work, though you’ll likely need to provide a new research study or a unique take on a groundbreaking study to earn a response.

You can also look for health and wellbeing podcasts and pitch hosts to have one of your experts come on for an episode. 

For example, if one of your doctors went on this podcast, it would signal to search engines (and potential patients) that you’re a legitimate clinic:

Finally, partnership marketing is also a great way to establish your clinic’s online credibility.

Ask referral partners to include a link to your website. 

6.) Paid Advertising

We recommend setting up all of your organic marketing operations before putting money into paid advertising. Otherwise, you’ll be sending visitors to a website that potentially lacks information and credibility, and a visitor who might have converted might not convert. 

You can also collect data from your organic marketing efforts to understand the messaging, offers, and keywords that perform best for your business.

Once you’re ready to start paid advertising, use Facebook and Google ads. 

For Google ads, you’ll bid on specific keywords. 

Here are the keyword frameworks we usually recommend ketamine clinics start with:

• Ketamine therapy in [city]
• Ketamine for depression [city name]
• [Condition] in [city name]
• ketamine treatment cost [city name]

Targeting your own brand’s terms is also a best practice. While this may seem counterintuitive, your competitors may bid on your brand’s term, which could cause searchers to click on your competitors rather than your brand.

Here are a few branded keyword frameworks to target:

• [Your Clinic Name] [city name]
• [Your Clinic Name] reviews

When setting up ads, you can choose between Exact Match, Phrase Match, and Broad Match keywords.

• Exact Match: Your ads are only shown for searches that perfectly match the keyword you select to bid on. 
• Phrase Match: Your ads are shown for keywords that are very similar to the keywords you select to bid on. This means Google might show your ads for slight variations.
• Broad Match: Your ads are shown for keywords that are broadly related to your target keyword. 

To keep your CPAs low, use Exact and Phrase Match keywords as they limit your ads to only show up for closely related searches.

Google also allows you to set negative keywords. For example, you could set “buy ketamine” as a negative keyword. This prevents wasted ad spend as people who want to “buy ketamine” aren’t interested in coming into your clinic.

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In addition to targeting specific keywords, you can also use geotargeting to ensure your ads are only shown to patients in your demographic. 

For example, you can set it to only show ads to people within a 10 to 30 mile radius of your local area. 

As you’re crafting copy for your ads, deliver a compelling message that is truthful.

For example, avoid making medical claims like “cures PTSD” or “instantaneous results.” 

A better way to highlight the benefits of your clinic while still remaining truthful is something like “Clinically Supervised Ketamine Treatment.”

If you want more inspiration for your ad copy, you can use the Google Ads Transparency Center to analyze your competitors’ ads:

Finally, send users to a landing page that’s well optimized for conversions. Specifically, that means it:

• Does not offer any navigation other than the CTA to schedule a consultation
• Includes customer reviews and testimonials
• Highlights the benefits of the treatment and indicates who it’s for
• Follows HIPAA compliance

You’ll also need to set up Google Tag manager to ensure it’s accurately tracking conversions. 

Facebook ads can also be very profitable for local clinics. 

The first step is to go to Meta Ads and set up the pixel on your website. 

Once you’re ready to create a campaign, you can select an objective:

• Leads: This is great if your goal is to get someone to fill out a Lead Form on your website.
• Sales: You can use this if your goal is to get someone to convert immediately (e.g., call a number).
• Engagement or Traffic: This goal is great if you’re trying to earn more brand awareness.

Next, you’ll set up targeting. 

Use location targeting and select a radius around your clinic (usually up to 20 or 30 miles). 

You can also select an age range. 

As for the ad copy and creative, follow the same guidelines used for creating Google ads. 

For example, avoid making definitive claims like “cures depression.” 

Additionally, avoid distressing creatives as this could cause your ad to be disapproved. 

Finally, test multiple variations of each ad. 

The best media buyers test dozens of ads simultaneously, and here are a few variables you can test: 

• Ad copy
• Ad creative
• Locations (10 vs 20 mile radius)
• Age ranges
• Interests

Before running any ads, analyze your competitors’ ads using the Meta Ads Library to get an idea of what works well for your competitors. 

To use the library, look at some of the other ketamine clinics both in your area and nationally. Then, type in the name to see if they’re running Facebook ads. 

For example, here are some of the ads for a local ketamine clinic in California:

The key to creating an effective ad strategy is continuously testing and optimizing your ads. 

Get More Help With Your Ketamine Clinic Marketing

This is the step by step guide we recommend for ketamine clinics, though there are plenty of nuances at each step which impact the ROI you’ll receive from your marketing strategy. 

If you don’t have the bandwidth to implement this strategy and prefer to hand it off to skilled professionals who already have years of experience and understand the intricacies of healthcare marketing, reach out to our team at Quantum Leads. 

We can implement this process and drive leads directly to your ketamine clinic. 

Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can drive results for you.