New patients · Resource hub
Six ways an allied health clinic gets new patients. Four are aimed at next week’s diary and two build demand that takes longer. For each one: what it is, what to check in your own clinic this week, and what we have published on it, with a two-minute score of your clinic at the end.
The video this page follows: all six methods, in this order, in about 12 minutes. Opens on YouTube.
The same six as a free guide, one page each, with the score as a page to fill in: get the free guide.
“There is no one lever that you can pull that’s going to generate new patients for you forever and a day.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Culture of One · Last updated 6 November 2026
When the white space in the diary comes from too few new patients, the fix is an engine for acquiring them, not a single channel. Most marketing advice sells one piece of that engine. Each piece works for the purpose it was built for, and each one fades when nobody works it.
| # | Method | Now or future | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Ads | Now | Paid search ads in front of people already searching to book |
| 2 | Walk-by traffic and signage | Now | The locals walking past, and whether they can see the clinic and find the door |
| 3 | Word of mouth | Now | Referrals from current patients, starting at the first appointment |
| 4 | Search and AI search | Now | Being found on Google and in AI tools without paying for each click |
| 5 | Referrers | Future | Relationships with practitioners who send patients that match what you do |
| 6 | Sponsorships and partnerships | Future | Giving something of value to a local organisation and turning up every week |
Now is the work aimed at next week’s diary: Google Ads, walk-by traffic and signage, word of mouth, and search on Google and AI tools. It keeps the clinic running and the clinicians busy, and it is where most owners spend their time. Search sits with the now methods but is the slowest of them to show results.
Future is demand that takes longer to build: referrers, and sponsorships and partnerships. It is the work that is easiest to neglect. A clinic needs both: the now methods to feed it while the future ones are built.
The order and the grouping follow the video 6 Ways to Get New Patients Into Your Diary (Culture of One, October 2026) and the free guide built from it.
Four of the six. Each card ends with a few things to check in your own clinic this week.
1 · Now
Search ads reach people already searching to book. Someone in pain types “physio near me”, clicks one of the first results and, if the page looks right, books. People with acute pain do not spend long shopping around.
Our approach, set out in full in the article below: send the click to a landing page built for booking rather than to the homepage, keep that page for ad clicks only so its bookings are far easier to count, and judge the ads on ad spend divided by attended new patients, not on the cost of a click. Any offer on the page states its terms, as the Ahpra advertising guidelines require for a regulated health service.
Check this week
Read next
2 · Now
The people walking past are your locals. A clinic with poor signage, an empty front desk or a door nobody can find loses them before they know it exists. Physical marketing is among the cheapest there is: a sign goes up once and stays there for a long time.
“You’ve got to get out of the room, you’ve got to go and spread that message.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Check this week
Read next
3 · Now
The patients already coming to the clinic are a ready source of the next ones, and it starts at the initial appointment, not six weeks into treatment: the partner sitting in the room, the patient who turns to them and says this could help their neck as well. When you are doing an excellent job for a new patient, you can ask them directly whether they know someone you could help.
“It’s an opportunity to get that patient into your diary.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Check this week
Read next
4 · Now
Search engine optimisation (SEO) and AI search optimisation (AEO) are how a clinic gets found without paying for each click. Articles on the website help it rank, and up-to-date pages and social media feed what patients find. If someone asks ChatGPT for a local clinic, you want it to suggest yours.
“This is the meat in the sandwich. This is the stuff nobody wants to do because it’s effortful.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Most clinics skip it because it takes effort or technical skill. Of the now methods it is the slowest to show results, and the work needs keeping up, but it builds on itself.
Check this week
Two of the six. They are easy to neglect, because what they build is slower to show in the diary.
5 · Future
Building referral relationships feels hard because most owners were never taught the process. Reach out to high-quality referrers who match what you do, then keep something useful going back to them. Relationships fade when nothing goes back, or when the correspondence is poor, and the referrer finds someone else to send to.
“That’s future demand being created.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Check this week
Read next
6 · Future
The usual advice is not to give money to the local club, and it is right in one sense: paying for a sponsorship and never turning up rarely gets the money back. What works is giving something of value to a local organisation, keeping it close in your network and showing up every week. It is work, and that is the point: most clinics will not do it.
“Showing up every week, doing the grind work, that is what grows those kind of arrangements.”
Shane Gunaratnam, in the video
Check this week
Two minutes, no data needed. The score measures how much of the engine is running, not how full the diary is. Give each area 0 if it is not running, 1 if it is running but neglected, 2 if it is running and worked.
| # | Area | Now or future |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Ads | Now |
| 2 | Walk-by traffic and signage | Now |
| 3 | Word of mouth | Now |
| 4 | Search and AI search | Now |
| 5 | Referrers | Future |
| 6 | Sponsorships and partnerships | Future |
Add areas 1 to 4 for a now total out of 8, and areas 5 and 6 for a future total out of 4.
Free guide
One page on each of the six methods, the checks above, and this score as a page to fill in. Enter your first name and email and the guide opens straight away.
Newest first. Getting a new patient in is half of it; the articles on the first visits and rebooking are the other half.
Google Ads, walk-by traffic and signage, word of mouth, search and AI search, referrers, and sponsorships and partnerships. The first four are aimed at next week's diary. Referrers and sponsorships build demand that takes longer. Each one works for the purpose it was built for, and each one fades when nobody works it, so a clinic needs more than one running.
Our approach is to send the click to a landing page instead: one page, one offer and one booking path, built for someone who has just searched to book. The homepage is built for people exploring the clinic. Keeping the landing page for ad clicks only also makes its bookings far easier to attribute to the ad.
Judge them on ad spend divided by attended new patients, not on cost per click. Count confirmed bookings rather than clicks, then check how many became attended first appointments. Ask every new patient where they heard about the clinic, and use a landing page that only ad clicks reach, which makes the count far cleaner. No single method sees every booking, so use more than one.
At the initial appointment, not six weeks into treatment. The partner sitting in the room and the patient who is clearly doing well are both openings. When the clinic is doing an excellent job for a new patient, it can ask them directly whether they know someone it could help.
List who referred patients in the last three months and, next to each name, what went back to them and when. Then pick one high-quality referrer who matches what the clinic does and put a time in the diary to reconnect. Relationships fade when nothing goes back to the referrer.
Paying a club for its signage and never turning up rarely gets the money back. Giving something of value to a local organisation, such as a clinician at training every week, and keeping the relationship close is a different proposition. It is ongoing work, which is also why few clinics do it.
None of the six comes with a promised number of new patients or a booking timeline. Now and future describe what each method is aimed at: the now methods at next week's diary, referrers and sponsorships at demand that takes longer to build. What each one produces depends on the clinic, its area and how consistently the work is done.
This page is general information about marketing an owner-led allied health clinic. Physiotherapy is the worked example; the same methods apply to other allied health professions. The now and future grouping is our approach, drawn from the video, not a measured result, and none of the six methods comes with a promised number of new patients or a booking timeline. Nothing here is legal advice or advice about your own clinic. If something on this page is wrong or out of date, tell us at shane@cultureofone.com.au and we will correct it and change the date at the top.
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