Google, LinkedIn, Meta or Organic: Which Comes First on a Small Medtech Budget?

The real question: do people already search for what you sell?

"Which channel first?" usually comes down to one thing: is there demand to catch, or do you have to create it?

Search ads catch demand that already exists. Someone types the name of a procedure, a product category or a problem, and your ad appears while they are deciding. Social channels such as LinkedIn and Meta create awareness among people who were not looking. Once people know your category exists, they search for it, and search is where they choose a provider.

That is why a company that asks for Meta ads sometimes needs search instead, and why a company with a brand new device category sometimes has nothing to buy on search at all. Check demand before you pick a channel.

How to check whether people search for your product

1. Look up your terms in Google's Keyword Planner. It lets you "view estimates on the number of searches a keyword gets each month" and "the average cost for your ad to show on searches for a keyword," according to Google Ads Help. You need a Google Ads account with billing information entered to use it.
2. Read your own Search Console queries. If your site already gets impressions, Search Console shows the words people used to find it.
3. Sort the searches into buying and research. Buying searches name a product type, a supplier, a price or a competitor. Research searches ask what something is or how a condition works. Research searches often have more volume and rarely buy. Answer those with organic pages, not ads.
4. See who is already advertising. Google's Ads Transparency Center shows the ads a named advertiser is running. If no competitor runs search ads on your terms, find out why before you assume it is an opening.

If Keyword Planner shows very few buying searches for your category, that sets a ceiling on what search ads can usefully spend, however large your budget is.

Which channel to start with, by buyer

For practices in particular, nobody switches a trusted vendor because of one cold social ad. More on that audience in selling to medical and dental practices as a B2B vendor.

When search ads should come first

Search ads come first when three things are true:

• Buyers search for your category. Keyword Planner shows real buying searches, not only research questions.
• You have a landing page that matches the search. The page uses the same words as the ad and gives one clear next step: a demo request, a sample request, a call.
• Tracking records the real action. The conversion is the demo or sample request, not a page view. If Google is not told when someone takes that action, its bidding cannot learn who to find more of.

Start with only the most specific buying searches. In a thin category, a larger budget does not buy more buyers. It buys more clicks from people who were researching, not buying. This is the approach behind our medical device PPC work.

When LinkedIn should come first

LinkedIn comes first when your buyer is a defined job at defined organizations and the category is too new for people to search for it. LinkedIn's targeting options include job title, job function, seniority, member skills, company name, company industry and company size, with location required.

Check the audience size before you set a budget. LinkedIn says "the minimum audience size required for an ad set is 300 member accounts, but we suggest a minimum of 50,000 to drive results," and suggests at least 300,000 for Sponsored Content (LinkedIn Help, target audience size). One surgical specialty in one region can be much smaller than that. When your audience is small:

• Target a list of named accounts rather than a broad job title. That is account-based marketing; see healthcare ABM strategy.
• Post from people, not only the company page. Clinicians listen to other clinicians. A physician adviser's post, written with your help, approved by them and saying that they advise your company, reaches people a company ad does not.
• Compare costs before you split a budget. Campaign Manager shows a forecasted cost per result as you build a campaign. Put that next to Keyword Planner's bid estimates for your search terms. The cheaper channel per qualified lead is not always the one with the cheaper click.

More detail on campaign types is in LinkedIn advertising for medical device companies.

When Meta is the wrong first channel, and when it fits

For clinicians and hospital buyers, Meta is usually the wrong first channel. LinkedIn lets you aim at job titles and named organizations, and search reaches people when they have the need. On Meta, health-related targeting and measurement are limited:

• Health targeting options were removed. Starting January 19, 2022, Meta removed detailed targeting options relating to health causes, with examples such as "Lung cancer awareness" and "Chemotherapy" (Meta for Business, November 9, 2021).
• Health websites can be restricted in what they send to Meta. Meta may assign a website to a "Health and wellness" data source category, and "certain data source categories may have additional data sharing restrictions" (Meta Business Help Center).
• Some health information may not be shared at all. Meta's list of prohibited information about an individual's health includes "medical procedures, treatments and testing" and "types of medical condition devices and medical condition trackers" (Meta Business Help Center). If your site's pages describe a condition or a procedure, check what your pixel sends before you rely on Meta's reporting.

Google has similar limits. Under its health in personalized advertising policy, ads about health, which include treatments for chronic health conditions and invasive medical procedures, cannot use advertiser-curated audiences such as your data segments (the lists behind remarketing) or customer match, and Google's own examples include "medical devices for sleep apnea like CPAP machines." Google reviews the ad and the site it sends people to, so plan retargeting with that in mind on both platforms, including for clinician-facing ads about a procedure.

Meta can fit a patient or consumer product that people do not know exists yet, where a short video shows what it does, and where the claims are within what your device is cleared or approved to do. Read Facebook and Instagram ads for medical devices before you start. If your plan leans on Meta, work with a team that runs health campaigns on Meta regularly and knows its health data rules.

Why organic is slow but worth starting in the first month

Organic search takes time. Google's SEO Starter Guide says "some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months," and suggests waiting "a few weeks to assess whether your work had beneficial effects in Google Search results."

It is still worth starting in month one, for three reasons:

• Organic is where research searches belong. The high-volume questions that would waste ad money are the ones a good page can answer for free.
• A page that ranks keeps working. Ads stop when the budget stops. A page that ranks keeps bringing visitors without a cost per click.
• Your paid tests will need somewhere to send people. The pages you write for organic search are often the pages your ads and sales emails link to.

What does not work is moving your ad budget into organic and expecting leads the same month. Start with one or two pages that answer the questions buyers ask on sales calls. The medical device SEO checklist covers the basics.

The order to add channels

1. Fix tracking and the landing page first. Make sure the real action (demo request, sample request, booked call) is recorded, and that the page gives one clear next step.
2. Run one paid channel as a test. Size the test to learn your cost per conversion, not to produce volume. For how much, see how much ad budget a medical device test needs.
3. Start organic in the same month. One or two pages that answer real buyer questions.
4. Add a second paid channel only after the first gives you a cost per qualified lead. Then run both side by side and move budget toward the one that performs.
5. Check again every quarter. Search demand grows as a new category becomes known, so a channel that was wrong at launch can be right a year later.

A simple way to compare channels: your break-even cost per lead

Compare channels on cost per qualified lead, and compare that against what a qualified lead is worth to you. The arithmetic below uses made-up numbers to show the method. They are not benchmarks. Put in your own.

In this example, a channel producing qualified leads at $250 each is well inside the ceiling. A channel producing them at $1,100 each loses money on the first order, though it may still pay if customers reorder. A channel with a cheap click and no qualified leads is not cheap.

What does not work on a small budget

• Splitting a small budget across four channels in month one. None of them gets enough data to tell you anything.
• Judging a channel on clicks or on "conversions" that are not qualified leads. Count the leads your sales team agrees are real.
• Paying for research keywords. Answer those with organic pages.
• Changing the ads every few days. Check the account often at the start, but change the ads rarely, or you will not know what you tested.
• Starting with Meta for surgeons or hospital buyers. LinkedIn reaches them by role and search reaches them by need; Meta's health targeting is limited.