None of these five require signing with Brand North to ask for. They're the baseline any facility owner should be able to hold a current or prospective agency to, starting today.
- 01A true cost-per-admission number, by channel
- 02Proof that phone calls are tracked to a lead record
- 03Payer fit modeled in the reporting, not just intake volume
- 04A documented answer for where referred-out leads go
- 05A plain answer to: if I can't see this, what happens?
A True Cost-Per-Admission Number, By Channel
Ask for the true cost to produce one admission, broken out by channel, for the last 90 days. If the answer comes back as cost-per-lead or cost-per-click instead, that's the sign the agency's reporting stops before the number that matters.
Proof That Phone Calls Are Tracked to a Lead Record
Behavioral health admissions still happen heavily by phone. An agency that only tracks form fills is blind to a large share of how patients make contact, and any cost-per-admission figure built without call tracking is incomplete by definition.
Payer Fit Modeled in the Reporting, Not Just Intake Volume
Insurance verification and payer fit should show up as tracked stages in the reporting, not as something that happens after the marketing report is already finalized. Without this, an agency can show growing lead volume while payer mismatches quietly sink the admission rate.
A Documented Answer for Where Referred-Out Leads Go
Ask what happens to a lead that does not fit the program. If there is no tracked answer, referred-out leads are likely being lost entirely, both as a patient outcome and as a data point that should be informing the marketing strategy.
A Plain Answer to: If I Can't See This, What Happens?
This is the question that reveals whether an agency stands behind its own numbers. An agency confident in its attribution will have a direct answer and a remedy. One without an answer is telling a facility owner, without saying so directly, that the reporting can't be fully trusted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I ask my marketing agency to prove?
Ask for a true cost-per-admission number by channel, proof that phone calls are tracked to a lead record, payer-fit data in the reporting, a documented path for referred-out leads, and a direct answer for what happens if attribution cannot be shown.
What if my agency can't answer these questions?
That is a strong signal the agency's systems were not built to trace marketing spend to actual admissions, which means budget decisions are likely being made on incomplete information.
Does asking these questions cost anything?
No. These are reasonable questions for any facility to ask a current or prospective agency at no cost, and a confident, transparent agency should be able to answer all five without hesitation.