The 5 Scariest Words in Healthcare Marketing: “We Tried That Once.”
I’ve heard it more times than I can count.
“We tried direct mail once.”
“We tried Facebook.”
“We tried Google Ads.”
“We tried blogging.”
“We tried video.”
“We tried SEO.”
“We tried an agency.”
And usually the next sentence is:
“It didn’t work.”
Now, sometimes something really doesn’t work.
Marketing isn’t magic, and not every marketing idea is going to be successful.
But here’s the problem with deciding something doesn’t work because you tried it once:
Marketing usually doesn’t work that way.
Think about it.
Would you plant a garden, water it twice and then decide vegetables don’t grow?
Would you go to the gym for two weeks and decide exercise doesn’t work?
Would you advertise a new service for three weeks and expect your community to immediately know, understand and trust you?
Probably not.
Marketing needs time.
It needs consistency.
And most importantly, it needs someone paying attention to what’s happening.
“We Tried Direct Mail.”
This is one I hear often.
A practice sends one postcard.
Maybe two.
They don’t get a flood of phone calls.
So the postcard gets blamed.
But let’s back up.
What was the offer?
Who received it?
How many pieces went out?
Was the mailing area appropriate?
Did the website support the message?
Did the phone number work?
Did the staff know how to handle the calls?
Was there a tracking mechanism?
Was the message repeated?
Did the same households see the practice more than once?
One postcard isn’t necessarily a campaign.
It’s a test.
And tests give you information.
Maybe the message wasn’t right.
Maybe the audience wasn’t right.
Maybe the timing wasn’t right.
Maybe the offer wasn’t compelling.
Maybe the follow-up wasn’t there.
Those are all things you can change.
The mistake is deciding the entire medium is worthless because the first attempt didn’t produce what you hoped.
Direct mail is a good example of why repetition matters.
Think about the brands you recognize.
You probably didn’t see an advertisement once and suddenly become loyal to that company.
You saw it again.
And again.
Eventually, the name became familiar.
Healthcare marketing works much the same way.
“We Tried Social Media.”
Maybe you did.
But what did “try” mean?
Posting three times a month?
Sharing generic health quotes?
Posting only when someone remembered?
Going silent for six weeks and then posting five times in one day?
Social media works best when it has a purpose.
Your audience should have a reason to follow you.
Maybe you educate.
Maybe you introduce your staff.
Maybe you answer questions.
Maybe you show what makes your practice different.
Maybe you’re involved in the community.
Maybe you show the personality behind the practice.
And no, that doesn’t mean you have to dance on TikTok.
Please don’t dance on TikTok because somebody told you that’s what marketing requires.
The point is to find the right way to communicate with your patients.
A veterinarian may have wonderful opportunities to show happy patients and educational tips.
A dentist may answer questions about procedures people are nervous about.
A physician may explain a common misconception.
An aesthetic practice may educate people about what to expect before and after a treatment.
The content should come from the practice.
That’s what makes it interesting.
“We Tried Google Ads.”
This one needs even more investigation.
Did the ads generate clicks?
Did the clicks generate calls?
Did the calls turn into appointments?
Were the right keywords being used?
Was the landing page good?
Was the geographic area right?
Was the budget large enough to gather useful information?
Were people calling when the office was closed?
And what happened when they called?
An ad campaign doesn’t operate in a vacuum.
You can’t look at one number and declare the whole thing a success or failure.
You have to follow the patient journey.
A campaign may generate a lot of clicks but few appointments.
Another may generate fewer clicks but bring in highly qualified patients.
Which one is better?
The answer isn’t necessarily the one with the bigger number.
It’s the one that produces the result the practice actually needs.
That’s why marketing reports should be understood, not simply filed away.
“We Tried Blogging.”
This is another favorite.
“We wrote four blogs and nobody called.”
Well…
A blog isn’t necessarily designed to make someone immediately pick up the phone.
Sometimes its job is to answer a question.
Sometimes it helps someone discover your website.
Sometimes it gives a potential patient confidence that your practice understands their concerns.
Sometimes someone reads it today and calls six months from now.
And sometimes a blog doesn’t perform well at all.
That’s okay, too.
Google’s current guidance emphasizes helpful, reliable, people-first content and asks whether content provides original information, useful analysis and enough value to stand on its own. Google also updated its guidance on generative-AI content on October 1, 2026.
That should actually be encouraging.
It means the goal isn’t to churn out 50 meaningless articles.
The goal is to create something worth reading.
Something useful.
Something that sounds like a real expert wrote it.
Something that answers a question a real patient has.
That’s what good content should have been doing all along.
“We Tried Video.”
This one makes me smile.
Because I hear:
“Our doctor doesn’t like being on camera.”
That’s okay.
Your doctor doesn’t have to become a television personality.
Start with something simple.
Ask a question your staff hears every week.
“How long does a typical appointment take?”
“What should I bring to my first appointment?”
“Does this procedure hurt?”
“What happens during a consultation?”
Have the provider answer it naturally.
Thirty seconds.
Maybe a minute.
That’s content.
It can become a social post.
It can become part of a blog.
It can become an FAQ.
It can be used in a patient email.
One small piece of real expertise can have a lot more life in it than people realize.
And if the provider really doesn’t want to be on camera?
There are still options.
Film the office.
Show a procedure room.
Have a staff member answer a common question.
Use voice-over.
Create educational graphics.
There are plenty of ways to communicate without asking everyone in the practice to become an actor.
“We Tried SEO.”
This one may be the most misunderstood.
SEO isn’t something you turn on.
It isn’t a button.
And it isn’t a one-time project that means your website will forever remain at the top of Google.
Search changes.
Competitors change.
Your practice changes.
Patients change the way they search.
Google changes the way it presents information.
This year alone, Google has added more guidance around generative-AI search experiences and emphasized the importance of useful, non-commodity content.
That means SEO isn’t disappearing.
It’s becoming more connected to the overall quality of your website and content.
The basics still matter.
Good information.
Good structure.
Accurate business information.
Useful pages.
Strong content.
Good user experience.
Clear answers.
And a practice that actually has something worth saying.
The Bigger Problem Isn’t Trying Something.
It’s Not Knowing Why You Tried It.
This is where marketing strategy matters.
Before starting something new, ask:
What are we trying to accomplish?
Do you want more new patients?
More awareness?
More appointments for a specific service?
More referrals?
Better visibility?
More people in a certain geographic area?
You need to know the answer before you can decide whether something worked.
Otherwise, everything becomes a popularity contest.
Did we get likes?
Did we get clicks?
Did the post get shared?
Did someone comment?
Those things can be interesting.
But the practice ultimately needs patients.
That’s why marketing should connect the dots.
Marketing Isn’t a Light Switch
One of the biggest mistakes a practice can make is turning marketing on and off.
Marketing isn’t a light switch.
It’s more like building a reputation.
You show up.
You communicate.
You educate.
You remind people you’re there.
You provide a good experience.
You collect reviews.
You stay visible.
You adjust when something isn’t working.
And you keep going.
That’s how people begin to recognize you.
That’s how trust develops.
That’s how a practice becomes the name someone remembers when a friend says:
“Do you know a good dentist?”
“Do you know a good veterinarian?”
“Do you know a doctor who specializes in that?”
People don’t usually make those decisions because of one Facebook post.
They make them because they’ve encountered your practice enough times to feel comfortable with you.
Before You Say “We Tried That,” Ask These Questions
Before you throw a marketing tactic in the trash, ask:
How long did we actually do it?
Who was it designed to reach?
What were we trying to accomplish?
Was the message right?
Was the execution right?
Did we have enough data to judge it?
What happened after someone responded?
Did we make adjustments along the way?
Did the rest of our marketing support it?
And perhaps the most important question:
Did we give it enough time to work?
Sometimes the answer will still be no.
Sometimes you’ll discover that a particular tactic really isn’t right for your practice.
That’s okay.
A good marketing strategy isn’t about doing everything.
It’s about knowing what makes sense for you.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New.
Just Don’t Confuse “New” With “Better.”
Every year brings another marketing trend.
Some will stick around.
Some won’t.
Some will be incredibly useful.
Some will be completely wrong for your practice.
That’s why having someone who understands your business and your long-term goals matters.
At Ai Healthcare Marketing, we’ve been doing this for 30 years.
We’ve seen marketing change from one generation to the next.
We’ve seen practices move from Yellow Pages to websites, from newspaper advertising to social media, from traditional search to today’s increasingly conversational search.
The tools have changed.
The technology has changed.
The way people consume information has changed.
But the basic question hasn’t:
How do we help the right people find this practice, trust this practice and take the next step?
That’s still marketing.
So the next time someone says, “We tried that once,” don’t automatically dismiss the idea.
Ask what you learned.
Then decide what to do next.