Questions an IVF Clinic Should Ask a Marketing Agency
By Totem Management & Consultancy · Prepared
Choosing an IVF clinic marketing agency starts with a practical conversation about your clinic, the people you want to reach and what happens after they enquire. A proposal may promise more visibility, more content or more leads. You need to understand how those activities connect to your team's capacity and the information people need before contacting you.
Before comparing packages, gather your current enquiry sources, priority locations, available marketing budget and the staff who can approve content and handle follow-up. You do not need perfect data to begin. You do need clear answers about scope, costs, responsibilities and measurement. These nine questions can help make an agency discussion more useful.
1. Who are we trying to reach, and in which locations?
Ask the agency to describe the audience and geography in plain language. “Everyone interested in IVF” is too broad to guide content or spending.
A useful answer identifies the towns or districts your clinic serves, the languages your audience understands and the questions your team regularly hears. It should explain how the agency will check whether attention comes from relevant locations.
2. Why are you recommending these channels?
Ask what each proposed channel is expected to do. Search advertising, local search, social content and a clinic website serve different parts of the enquiry journey.
A useful answer connects each channel to a specific need: helping people find the clinic, understand its services or take the next step. It also states what will be prioritised first and how performance will influence later spending. Totem's performance marketing service describes how campaign planning, creative, landing pages and measurement fit together.
3. What will you deliver, and what will our team provide?
Turn the package into a monthly working plan. Ask which videos, photographs, posts, advertisements, website updates and reporting tasks are included.
A useful answer names the person responsible for each task and the approval dates needed from your clinic. For example, a doctor-led video needs time for a brief, a shoot and review. Agree how revisions, delayed approvals and additional work will be handled before they disrupt the schedule.
4. Who will review clinical wording and patient-facing creative?
Ask how the agency will develop educational topics and who at your clinic will approve them before publication.
A useful answer includes a named clinical reviewer, a clear approval step and enough time to correct wording, imagery or context. It also explains how proposed patient stories and images will be reviewed and approved for use. Ask how the team will avoid implying guaranteed treatment outcomes. Marketing should help people understand your clinic and contact it; the clinic's experts should guide clinical explanations.
5. What does “lead” mean in your examples and reports?
Ask for the reporting period, source and definition behind every figure. Views, profile visits, contact clicks, submitted enquiries, qualified enquiries and appointments measure different stages.
Totem's Virk Fertility case study reports four Instagram leads specifically for June 2026 on ₹3,000 reported June ad spend. It also records 2,469 July profile visits and zero recorded bio-link taps. The published evidence does not establish a three-month appointment or patient total.
A useful answer preserves those distinctions and explains how your clinic will decide whether an enquiry is relevant. Ask whether repeat enquiries and unavailable outcome data will be identified separately.
6. What happens after someone wants to contact us?
Ask the agency to walk through the journey from a post or advertisement to a call, WhatsApp conversation, form or consultation request.
A useful answer checks that the contact route works on a phone and identifies who receives and follows up on each enquiry. Agree how your team will record contact attempts, relevant enquiries and appointment status. A clicked button is an intent signal. It does not confirm that a conversation happened or that an appointment was booked. Follow-up responsibilities belong in the plan alongside campaign work.
7. How is the budget split between fees, advertising and production?
Ask for a written cost breakdown. The agency's management fee and money spent on advertising platforms are separate amounts.
A useful answer distinguishes management, media spend, shoots, editing, website work and any tools or other charges. It states who pays each bill, how additional work is approved and what happens if you change the spending limit. Compare proposals using the same scope.
8. Who owns the accounts, assets and enquiry records?
Ask how your clinic will retain access to its advertising accounts, social profiles, website, analytics and approved creative files.
A useful answer specifies account ownership, the access each team member needs and where enquiry records will be kept. Agree who can export reports and which final files your clinic receives. Put access and handover expectations in writing while the working relationship is being set up.
9. What will reporting help us decide, and how will handover work?
Ask for a sample report and a proposed review schedule. The report should connect agreed activity and spending with the stages your data can verify.
A useful answer explains how results will inform the next month's content, targeting or contact journey. It records limitations instead of filling gaps with assumptions. Also agree the review period, notice terms and exit process: account access, approved assets, campaign status and outstanding work should be clear when the engagement ends.
Bring the answers together before you choose
Use the same questions with every agency and compare the written answers. Look for a plan your team can carry out, a budget you can understand and reporting that separates attention from enquiries and appointments. Clear responsibilities make the proposal easier to assess and the work easier to manage.
If you want to discuss your clinic's locations, content needs and enquiry journey, request a consultation with Totem. Bring your existing enquiry information and any proposal you are reviewing so the discussion can start with your clinic's priorities.