I was at a networking event for complementary therapists in London last week. It was an opportunity* for therapists to support one another, share experiences and give advice and support.
After we had had our sandwiches and mini-sausages I got into a conversation with a Therapist concerning his Google AdWords marketing activity. It started off with him asking me a few questions about how to increase the number of people clicking on his adverts. I quizzed him on the usual standard practices: whether he was running AB tests to see which messages had the best conversion rates, whether his marketing strategy was using broad search to pick up on more keywords he may not have thought of etc. He replied with an emphatic ‘yes’ to everything. Then it dawned on me that perhaps there just isn’t the same market demand as there was a few years ago. According to the therapist, his Adwords campaign now generated roughly 60% fewer leads than it did less than 18 months ago. His CPC had not risen, people simply weren’t clicking. So I suggested to him that he do some research into search trends over the last few years to see whether people had stopped searching for particular services.
Below is a little research I’ve done using Google Trends*. It can be a good tool for marketers researching the level of demand for services or products. The table shows the increase or decrease in searches according to the specific keyword within the UK between Jan 2004 and May 2010. The Y axis is called the ‘index’, but you don’t need to concern yourself with that. All that matters is that it represents the volume of searches over a period of time.
As you can see, the number of searches carried out on Google for these four keywords (massage, physiotherapy, hypnotherapy and osteopathy) have dropped quite significantly – by well over 50% in some cases. Now this isn’t a study into whether people are looking for massage therapists or hypnotherapists. People may use the keyword massage for a million different reasons. Wanting to receive a treatment is just one of them. So before we jump to conclusions it’s worth noting that this chart does not depict market demand for massage treatment! Nevertheless, it may well demonstrate two other factors that I discussed with the therapist at the networking event.
Firstly, we have all felt the pinch of the recession. On the whole people in the UK treat their health as something of a luxury. When budgets become tight the public looks to cut back on luxuries that they can ill-afford such as coffees from starbucks and subscriptions to magazines etc. Sadly, they also too regularly cut back on their health budget. They may cancel their gym membership, eat cheap poor-quality food or deny themselves treatments from professionals that they would normally rely on. If this is true, could this be contributing to a downward trend in searches for particular therapies?
There is, however, one more matter worth considering. Just because people aren’t searching for something on Google, doesn’t mean they aren’t buying it. Whilst search advertising and Google in particular experienced a meteoric rise to wealth, fame and success in the last decade, Google is not the only internet company to provide a platform for advertisers to market to the public and for the public to easily discover products and services they want. Social media is the new kid on the block. I say new, but in reality, social media has been around for a while. It’s just only recently that we see the BBC declaring they now have dedicated twitter profiles and facebook pages for particular shows.
Social media is taking an ever-greater share of the advertising market because it works so well. Whatsmore, it’s often free. We’re increasingly using sites such as TripAdvisor and Twitter to discover what’s hot and what’s not. In many cases we simply don’t need Google’s help because our peers share their experiences, knowledge and info on a daily basis. Instead of Google filtering the internet we now use our social networks to do that for us in a way that is infinitely more personalisable than Google could ever dream of being. The fact is, we would rather listen to our peers. Now that social media is on the scene, do we want to ask Google to find us a therapist? I dont, I’d rather ask a friend.
So, the question presents itself: should I stop using Google Adwords to find new clients? No, absolutely not. If it works for you and you’re getting a good ROI you’d be mad to stop. People will always need search engines but perhaps, in future at least, we’ll use them only if our network fails to provide us with the information we need. Just be aware that Google is not your only option and it is almost certainly not the cheapest even if your ROI is more easily quantifiable when using Google than when using Twitter.
If you haven’t already done so we strongly suggest that you start building your online presence using social media. Create your Cocoon profile and start asking your clients for recommendations online. Get them to give you feedback so that you know what is most important to them. Increase referrals and form partnerships with other professionals in your area by recommending one another. Cocoon Health is developed precisely for health professionals looking to find new clients so take the step and create your profile today.
* Visit http://networking4therapists.com/nextevent.html to find out when the next meeting is taking place.
* Go to http://www.google.com/trends, type in a keyword and Google will show you whether that keyword is used more or less frequently over a given time period, in a given region, by people searching for services or products on Google.
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