Marketing budget planner for Allied Health practices: a simple, actionable guide

Running an allied health practice means balancing a lot of moving parts—client care, staff management, administrative duties, and yes, marketing. 

Without a marketing budget it’s easy for your marketing to feel scattered or ineffective. A budget gives you direction and ensures you’re investing in the right areas to grow your practice and attract more clients.

This guide is simple and actionable, we’ll break down the budgeting process into easy steps. We’ll also introduce our Marketing Budget Planner Template to make this process even easier for you. 

Our experience with allied health clinics shows progress not perfection leads to success – so let’s get moving!

Step 1: current situation

Before you set your marketing budget you need a clear picture of where you’re at. In our work with clinics across allied health we often find the first step to smarter marketing is a bit of self reflection. Take a moment to ask yourself:

Revenue and financials:

What’s your annual revenue? This is the number that will help determine your marketing spend. We recommend most clinics allocate 7-10% of their revenue to marketing, some even more if they’re in growth mode.

Client base and growth: 

Are you full capacity or do you have room to take on more clients? If you need to attract more clients this should be reflected in your marketing objectives and budget.

Current marketing efforts: 

What are you currently doing to market your practice? If you’ve tried different strategies – Google Ads, Facebook Ads, local SEO – take stock of what’s working and what’s not. We’ve seen clinics get great results by doubling down on what already works for them rather than spreading themselves too thin.

Understanding your business objectives:

What do you want your marketing to achieve? Are you looking to grow your client base, retain existing clients or expand into new services? For best results we recommend setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to keep your marketing on track. You can read more about setting SMART goals for allied health practices here.

The more you know your current situation the easier it will be to create a marketing budget that aligns with your clinic’s goals.

Step 2: Setting a Realistic Marketing Budget

Setting a marketing budget can feel like pulling numbers out of thin air. But from our experience working with allied health clinics we’ve found a strategic approach works best. Let’s break it down.

General Rule of Thumb

For most clinics we work with, we recommend allocating a marketing spend between 7-10% of their annual revenue on marketing. This range allows for growth and keeps costs manageable.

Clinics looking to expand rapidly or enter new markets might spend more, sometimes even 15%. The key is to make sure your spend aligns with your business goals and market conditions.

Consider Your Unique Situation:

• Size of your practice: A solo practitioner with a part-time admin will need a leaner budget than a large clinic with multiple staff. Tailor your spend to what’s realistic for your practice’s size and scope.
• Competitive environment: If you’re in a competitive city you may need to invest more to stand out. If you’re in a regional area you might get away with spending less as the competition is lower.
• Your goals: If you’re looking for aggressive growth – opening a new location or launching a new service – you’ll need to allocate more to marketing.

Practical Tip: Hire a marketing professional

We hear from clinic owners all the time how stressful it is to manage marketing on top of everything else. Many start off trying to figure it out themselves but quickly realise marketing is a full-time job in itself.

Hiring a marketing professional or agency will alleviate this stress. You’re not just paying for their expertise but for the time you’ll save not having to do it all yourself. It’s an investment that allows you to focus on what you do best – running your clinic and looking after clients. And from our experience when clinics hand over their marketing to professionals they often get better results with less hassle.

Remember while small budgets can work if you’re DIY-ing your marketing hiring a professional requires a realistic investment. After all you wouldn’t expect top-tier care from a bargain basement physio! The same applies to your marketing efforts – quality support comes with a price but the results are worth it.

Step 3: Allocating your budget across channels

Now that you have your marketing budget set the next step is deciding where to allocate it. This is where your ideal client profile comes into play. Who you’re targeting will impact which channels you choose and how much you invest in each. Your patient demographic, location and service offerings should all guide your allocation decisions. If you haven’t already done so take a look at our guide on creating a patient avatar for allied health. It will help you get clear on who your marketing is for.

Think about your ideal client

Every clinic serves a different audience. Maybe you specialise in sports rehabilitation or child development services. The clients you want to attract will have preferences for certain platforms and content. 

Here are a few examples:

• Parents: If your ideal clients are busy parents looking for child development services, Facebook where community recommendations and parenting tips circulate may be more effective.
• Professionals: If you’re targeting professionals looking for quick, convenient services like chiropractic treatments or mental health support you may want to focus on Google Ads to capture high-intent searches.
• Older adults: If your ideal client is a senior in need of mobility therapy they will search directly on Google for trusted local providers.

Practical Tip: Create an ideal client profile

Do you have a clear understanding of your ideal client profile? If not, check out our guide to creating an ideal client profile to get clear on your target audience.

How to allocate your budget

This is just an example breakdown. The actual allocation will depend on your target audience, services and local competition.

But you can use this as a starting point then adjust as needed based on what you know about your ideal client and your clinic’s specific goals.

• Google Ads (20-40%): If your ideal client is searching for services like “physiotherapy near me” or “speech therapy for kids” Google Ads can help you capture those ready-to-act clients. For clinics in competitive areas expect to allocate more to stay visible in those high-intent searches.
• Facebook & Instagram Ads (15-30%): Social media is a great channel for building awareness and targeting specific demographics. Clinics offering family-based services or targeting younger, tech-savvy audiences often find success with these platforms. If you’re running promotions or educational campaigns social media ads help get those in front of the right people.
• Local SEO (10-20%): This is the foundation of your online visibility. Investing in Local SEO ensures you rank well in local search results particularly if your audience includes people looking for nearby services. It’s a long-term investment that can consistently drive organic traffic.
• Content marketing (10-15%): Blogs, educational videos and other content help to position your clinic as an expert. If your ideal client researches their options before making decisions content marketing is essential. It’s a particularly effective strategy for building trust over time with clients who need specialist services.
• Referral and networking programs (5-10%): If word-of-mouth and professional referrals are big drivers for your clinic investing in referral incentives or local networking programs is crucial. Building relationships with GPs, specialists and community groups can bring in a steady stream of new clients especially for more niche services.

Note: These are just guidelines. Your budget will vary depending on your clinic’s goals, target audience and local market conditions.

Step 4: Monitor and adjust your budget

Marketing is not a “set it and forget it” game. Even a well thought out budget needs adjusting as time goes on. This is why regularly reviewing your marketing performance is so important.

Track your KPIs

Metrics are your best friend when it comes to knowing if your marketing is working. Keep an eye on these:

• Cost Per Lead (CPL): This will help you see how efficient your campaigns are. If your CPL is high it may mean your ads need retargeting or the messaging needs to be refined.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads. It’s a good indicator of overall campaign success. If your ROAS is good you’re in a good place—keep going. If not it’s time to adjust.
• Client Acquisition Cost (CAC): This is how much it costs to bring in a new client. If your CAC is higher than the lifetime value of a client that’s a problem. Keep this number in check to make sure your marketing is cost effective.

Quarterly reviews: stay on course

We recommend you review your marketing budget quarterly. This will help you stay on top of performance and adjust the allocation if needed. Ask yourself:

• Are you meeting your goals?
• Are there any channels not delivering good ROI?
• Should you be investing more in the high performing channels?

It’s like keeping your clinic healthy—you want to make sure everything is working well and adjust as needed to stay on track.

Step 5: Adjust for growth and expansion

As your clinic grows your marketing needs will too. If you’re launching a new service or expanding into a new region your budget will need to expand to accommodate those new goals.

Scaling your budget with growth

We’ve found that clinics in growth phases should start to increase their marketing spend gradually. For example if you’re rolling out a new service allocate a larger percentage of your budget to Google Ads or social media to promote it. If you’re opening a new location invest heavily in local SEO and geo-targeted ads to get the word out in that area.

Testing for future success

Set aside about 10-15% of your budget for testing. Try new channels, creative strategies or platforms. We’ve seen clinics get a competitive edge by being early adopters of new tactics like video ads or influencer partnerships. Testing is key to staying ahead of the game.

Step 6: The easy marketing budget planner template

Now that you have all this information it’s time to make it happen. Our Marketing Budget Planner Template will help you plan and track your budget with ease. It will allow you to:

• Enter your revenue
• Set your budget based on the percentages
• Allocate across channels
• Track over time

Download now and start budgeting your marketing today. It’s easy, simple and designed for your clinic.

Go and see results

Creating a budget doesn’t have to be hard. Follow these steps and use the template.

Remember, start small, measure what’s working and adjust as you go. Marketing is a marathon not a sprint—but with the right budget and plan in place you’ll see results sooner than you think.

Next:

1. Download the template and budget your marketing.
2. Choose 1-2 marketing channels to focus on for the next quarter.
3. Review your budget regularly to stay on track.

Marketing is about progress not perfection—so get going and adjust as you grow.

Need help with your clinic’s marketing?

At Amplified Marketing we help allied health clinics grow through targeted marketing strategies. Whether you’re just starting to budget your marketing or ready to take your campaigns to the next level we can help.

Let us take the marketing stress off your hands so you can focus on what you do best—running your clinic and delivering great care to your clients.

Get in touch to book a discovery call and we’ll chat about how we can help you grow your practice. We’ll create a marketing plan that delivers results and takes your clinic to the next level.