Practice start-up and takeover
Visibility
Ideal patients
Staff
ClarityMedical practice marketingThe right patients. In the right order.
We plan medical practice marketing for doctors' and specialists' practices so it fits your day-to-day work: website, Google, reviews and ads. With measurement that shows where each enquiry comes from.
- 5.0 out of 5 stars from 17 Google reviews
- Reporting free with every service
- Berlin and Dresden, clients across Europe
What is medical practice marketing?
Medical practice marketing covers all the measures that help a practice get found and chosen by the right patients and staff.
For specialist practices this often means fewer calls for appointments that don't fit, and more enquiries for the practice's areas of focus, including self-pay services. It includes a website with online booking, a Google Business Profile and reviews, search engines and AI search, and ads. All within the German medical professional code and the German Healthcare Advertising Act (HWG).
Why medical practices come to us
Almost always, one of these five concerns is behind it. Each has its own order of steps.
Ideal patients
The waiting room is full, but there's too little time left for your areas of focus.
See the path →Visibility
The practice next door gets found online, you don't.
See the path →Staff
You can't find medical assistants (MFAs), and job ads fall flat.
See the path →Clarity
You put money into marketing but don't know which part of it brings in appointments.
See the path →Practice start-up and takeover
A new practice or a takeover, and nobody knows you yet.
See the path →Medical practice marketing: measures and costs at a glance
Eight building blocks, and not every one makes sense for every practice. The ‘When to start’ column shows when each one is due. All prices exclude VAT.
| Measure | What for | When to start | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website with online appointment booking | The place where interest turns into an appointment: fast, mobile-friendly and with a clear path to booking, connected to your booking system, such as Doctolib. | When to startFirst, if your site is outdated or doesn't bring in appointments | Costfrom €5,000 one-off, plus a monthly fee for hosting and maintenance |
| Tracking and reporting | See which channel brings which enquiry, with consent and without health data. | When to startFrom the outset, otherwise every figure remains an estimate | Costfrom €320 per month, the report is free with every service |
| Google reviews | More honest reviews without pressuring patients, and good replies to critical ones. | When to startEarly, because they support every other channel | Coston request, the quick analysis is free |
| SEO and AI visibility | Being found on Google, in Google Maps and in ChatGPT's answers. | When to startAs soon as the website is live, works long term | Costfrom €1,200 to €6,000 per month, depending on competition and scope |
| Google Ads | Ranking at the top when someone searches for your treatment, for example a specialist clinic or a self-pay service. | When to startWhen you want to fill specific treatments | Costfrom €810 per month for management, plus the ad budget |
| Instagram and Facebook advertising | Stand out before people start searching, and reach job applicants in your region. | When to startFor recruiting and awareness, once the foundation is in place | Costfrom €810 per month for management, plus the ad budget |
| Logo and visual identity | Being recognisable, from the practice sign to your Google Business Profile. | When to startWhen starting up, taking over or repositioning a practice | Costfrom €2,500 depending on scope |
| Social media | Showing your practice and team, to patients and future staff. | When to startWhen the team wants to take part, not as an obligation | Costfrom €2,400 per month, depending on the number and type of posts |
What practice marketing costs overall, what a new patient may cost and where you can save: guide with price overview and calculators
The order in which marketing for doctors pays off
If you start everything at once, you pay for clicks that lead nowhere. That's why we work in three steps.
- 01
Build the foundation
A website with online appointment booking, a well-maintained Google Business Profile and tracking that attributes every enquiry to its source. Without these three, every euro spent on advertising goes to waste.
- 02
Capture existing demand
First reach the people who are already searching: Google Ads for the treatments you want to fill, plus search engine optimisation and new reviews.
- 03
Expand your reach
Only then Instagram, Facebook or TikTok, social media featuring your team and campaigns for new staff. Now every click lands on a practice that is ready.
Which step is next for you?
The Kompass tells you in two minutes: four questions, no sign-up.
What doctors may advertise, and what not
Doctors are allowed to advertise, but by their own rules. These points are built into every measure we take.
Factual information is allowed
Doctors may inform people factually and professionally about their practice and services. Advertising that is laudatory, misleading or comparative breaches professional rules (§ 27 of the German Model Professional Code for Physicians).
No promises of cures
Claims that promise a certain treatment outcome are misleading and therefore not permitted (§ 3 of the German Healthcare Advertising Act, HWG). We describe what you offer and don't promise results.
Advertising video consultations
Advertising remote treatment is only allowed if, according to recognised professional standards, no in-person contact is needed (§ 9 HWG, the German Healthcare Advertising Act). We word such offers with appropriate care.
Before and after images with caution
For cosmetic surgical procedures, they are prohibited in advertising aimed at the general public (§ 11 para. 1 sentence 3 HWG), and Germany's Federal Court of Justice also counts hyaluronic acid fillers among them. For other treatments they may be permitted. We check every image individually.
No superlatives without evidence
Claims such as ‘the best practice in town’ are misleading without proof and can lead to a formal legal warning. We work with claims that can be backed up: areas of focus, experience, genuine reviews.
Protecting health data
Health data is a special category of personal data (Art. 9 GDPR). Our tracking counts enquiries without recording any treatment details, and only runs with consent.
This overview does not replace legal advice. As of September 2026.
From our projects
Our published cases so far come from dental practices. The order is the same for doctors' and specialists' practices.
Foundation first, then image: how a dental practice went from growing to scaling
- +40 to +50%
- New patients per month
- up to 20,000
- Website visitors per month
Patience instead of a campaign: how a dental practice became visible without ads
- over 320
- Organic visitors
- over 80
- Keywords in the top 10
Results depend on the starting point, region and budget, and cannot be transferred to every practice.
What practices say
“Wir haben im Rahmen der Neugründung unserer Zahnarztpraxis mit der Med Direction Healthcare Marketing Agentur zusammengearbeitet und setzen die Zusammenarbeit bis heute erfolgreich fort. Neben dem Aufbau unserer Praxis-Website war das Ziel, von Anfang an Patienten zu gewinnen — und genau das ist gelungen.”
“Wir wollten eine neue Homepage und die komplette Neuausrichtung der Marketing Strategie und Umsetzung durch Med Direction. Wichtig war uns alles aus einer Hand zu haben. In nur zwei Monaten konnten wir zwei neue Mitarbeiterinnen einstellen. Wir haben messbar mehr Neupatienten.”
5.0 out of 5 stars from 17 Google reviews. Read all reviews
Quotes translated faithfully from the original German. We only show reviews from clients and partners we have worked with, and we check each one against our client and partner list.
What MedDirection does differently
Your goal first, then the service
We don't sell packages. We suggest the order that suits your practice, and we also tell you what you can do without.
Every enquiry with its source
You see which channel brought which enquiry. Reporting is included free with every service.
Visible in AI answers too
More and more people ask ChatGPT or read Google's AI Overview. We prepare your practice's content and technology for this.
Honest, even when there is no revenue in it for us
We advised Dr Dornbusch against social media and a paid recruiting campaign. The practice became visible anyway, without any ad budget.
FAQs on medical practice marketing
How much does marketing cost for a medical practice?
It depends on which building blocks your practice really needs. A new website with us starts from €5,000 one-off. Google Ads management costs from €810 per month, plus the ad budget, which for a single practice is usually €500 to €1,500 per month. Reporting is always included free of charge. In the initial call we clarify what makes sense for you and what doesn't.
Which marketing measures should a medical practice start with?
The foundation first: a website with online booking, a well-maintained Google Business Profile and measurement of enquiries. Then the demand that already exists, for example Google Ads for a specialist clinic. Reach through social media usually only pays off once this foundation is in place.
How long does practice marketing take to work?
Google Ads bring the first clicks from day one, and serious enquiries usually after 2 to 4 weeks. Search engine optimisation and AI visibility take longer: first improvements after 3 to 6 months, stable visibility usually after 6 to 12 months. A new website is online after 4 to 8 weeks.
Are doctors allowed to advertise?
Yes. Factual, professional information about the practice, its areas of focus and the team is permitted. Laudatory, misleading or comparative advertising breaches professional rules, and the German Healthcare Advertising Act (HWG) sets further limits, for example on promises of cures and before and after images. These rules are built into every measure we take.
How does a specialist practice attract more private patients?
By giving self-pay services their own clear pages, with the process, costs and a contact person, and making sure they get found on Google. What matters is factual information without promises of cures. Measurement then shows which service actually brings in enquiries.
Is online booking worth it for medical practices?
Usually, yes. Appointments can then be booked in the evening and at weekends too, and it takes pressure off the practice phone. We integrate common systems such as Doctolib into the website and measure how many bookings come through which channel.
How does a medical practice find new medical assistants?
Job ads alone rarely do the job. Short videos from your own practice work better, run as a campaign on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok in your region, together with a careers page that makes applying easy. In one dental practice, a campaign like this brought around twelve applications in two to three weeks.
How does a medical practice get mentioned in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview?
AI search names practices whose information is clear, up to date and well supported: a complete Google Business Profile, clear pages for each area of focus, structured data and genuine reviews. We check how your practice appears in these answers today and expand content and technology in a targeted way.
Why a specialist agency rather than a general advertising agency?
Because marketing for doctors has its own rules: the professional code, the German Healthcare Advertising Act (HWG) and the protection of health data. We work mainly for dental and specialist practices and know these rules, how practices run and the common online booking software.
Let's talk about your practice.
In a free 30-minute initial call, we clarify where your practice stands and which step comes next. Even if the answer is: you need less than you thought.
Free · No obligation · 30 minutes