Health marketing
Marketing budget
for a clinic.
Work backwards from a new patient. Multiply income per visit by the visits a new patient usually has, take your margin, and decide how much of it you'll spend to win them. That's your ceiling per new patient. The budget is that ceiling times the patients you want.
Written by Dan Picken, a marketer who checks the sources. Last checked 2 November 2026.What a visit
brings in.
A visit's income can come from three places: the patient, Medicare and a health fund. Public figures help as a sense-check. In 2025-26, 80.9% of GP visits were bulk billed, and the average patient contribution on the rest was $55.25.
In the June 2026 quarter, health funds paid an average $43 per physio service, $36 per chiro service and $68 per dental service. Those are averages for comparison. Use your own numbers from your practice software.
Visits per patient
change everything.
A clinic whose new patients average five visits can pay about five times more to win one than a clinic where they come once.
For patients on a GP chronic condition management plan, Medicare funds up to 5 individual allied health services each calendar year. That's a funding limit, not a typical course, but it's a useful reference point for allied health.
If most new patients come only once, fix that before spending more. It is the biggest lever on what you can afford.
Work out
your number.
Put in your own figures. The defaults are examples, not benchmarks.
New patient value
What can you pay
for a new patient?
The numbers below are examples. Put in your own from your practice software: income per visit, how many visits a new patient usually has, and your margin.
Most you can pay per new patient
Monthly budget for your target
Count the patients
ads never see.
Ads report what they can track. Many new patients arrive another way: a call from the Google profile, a referral from a GP, a friend's recommendation. In NAB's survey, 26% named a family or friend's recommendation and 21% another health professional's as a reason for choosing.
So ask every new patient one question at booking: 'How did you hear about us?' Keep the answers in the practice software. After three months you'll know which channels deserve the budget, including the ones with no ad spend at all.
Start small,
then step up.
Start below the calculated budget for a month. Count new patients booked from each channel, not clicks or enquiries. If the real cost per new patient is under your ceiling, step up. If it's over, fix the page, the booking process or the offer before adding money.
Spend usually reaches a point where more of it buys less. The Spend Curve method finds that point.
What I see most often
What I see
most often.
- 1
A round-number budget
'$2,000 a month' because it felt right, with no link to what a patient is worth.
- 2
Clicks as the measure
Ads judged on clicks while nobody checks how many became booked patients.
- 3
One visit, one value
Every new patient valued at a single visit, so channels that bring returning patients look too expensive and get cut.
- 4
The same budget all year
No change for quiet months, or for the rush before health fund extras limits reset.
The honest bit. Sometimes ads won't pay: low fees, single visits and a crowded area. Then the money is better spent on referrals and the patients you already have.
Questions
people ask.
How much should a clinic spend on marketing?
Work it out from what a new patient is worth to you: income per visit, times visits, times margin, then decide what share you'll spend to win one. The calculator above does the maths.
What is the average out-of-pocket cost for a GP visit?
For GP visits that weren't bulk billed, the average patient contribution was $55.25 in 2025-26, up from $49.14 the year before.
How much do health funds pay for physio?
The average benefit was $43 per physio service in the June 2026 quarter. What each patient gets depends on their cover.
How many allied health sessions does Medicare cover?
Under a GP chronic condition management plan, up to 5 individual services each calendar year, or 10 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
Related
Keep
going.
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