Three options. Only one actually works for your business.
GPs refer to whoever they remember. Orthotics pay rent. Both are marketing problems.
The economics of a podiatry clinic are deceptively simple: general consults pay the lights, custom orthotics pay the rent, and GP referrals (Medicare CDM, DVA, NDIS) are the difference between a quiet Wednesday and a fully-booked Wednesday. The clinic that earns well has a condition page for every presentation worth ranking for (plantar fasciitis, achilles tendinopathy, ingrown toenail, diabetic foot assessment), a GP-referral page that explains the CDM process clearly enough that a time-poor GP doesn't have to think, and an orthotic page that makes the $500 prescription feel reassuring rather than expensive. Most practices have none of these properly built, and they wonder why the chair is empty on Tuesday afternoons.
Good podiatry marketing is three things, in this order: a condition-page library that ranks for every presentation worth winning ('plantar fasciitis [suburb]', 'ingrown toenail removal [suburb]', 'custom orthotics [suburb]', 'diabetic foot care'), a GP-referral pipeline that includes a downloadable CDM referral PDF, a Medicare-rebate explainer, and a quarterly visit to the three local practices that send the most patients, and a Google Business Profile with every podiatry service ticked, the AHPRA-registered podiatrist credential surfaced, and the DVA-provider attribute set. The clinics that fill the orthotic chair are doing exactly this, week in week out.
Six agents, working in your accounts.
Account Lead, Web, SEO, Advertising, Social Media, and Content. One platform, one bill, you approve the work.
Builds your annual plan around the presentations that pay (custom orthotics, diabetic foot, sports podiatry) rather than chasing every foot-pain enquiry. Briefs the other agents so the condition pages, the GP-referral materials, the gait-analysis posts and the local SEO all push toward the chair-time that actually earns. Adjusts as Wednesdays start filling and Saturdays don't.
Imports your existing site so you stop paying for hosting plus a CMS subscription, and makes spinning up a new condition page a five-minute job. Ships a page for every presentation worth ranking for (plantar fasciitis, ingrown toenail, custom orthotics, diabetic foot, paediatric flat feet, achilles), with the CDM and DVA context built in, and a GP-referral page that GPs actually use. Two taps to publish.
Goes through your live site for the things that actually move podiatry rankings: condition-keyword optimisation on every page, Podiatrist schema, internal links from suburb pages to condition pages, and a Google Business Profile with every service ticked. Sets the primary category to 'Podiatrist' (most practices have it wrong as 'Doctor'). Auto-applies the low-risk fixes; flags anything bigger.
Runs Google Ads on the high-intent commercial searches you can't outrank organically yet ('custom orthotics [suburb]', 'shockwave therapy heel pain', 'plantar fasciitis [suburb]'). Switches Meta off by default for general consults (AHPRA-fraught), keeps it for orthotic-specific creative aimed at runners and older adults. Pauses automatically when the orthotic chair hits its weekly capacity.
Posts the trust-building content that GPs and patients both look at before they refer: gait-analysis reels, a carousel of the orthotic-prescription process from cast to fit, a story of the new shockwave machine arriving, an explainer on what diabetic foot screening actually checks. Builds the recognition that gets you remembered when a GP writes the next referral.
Drafts the long-form guides that catch patients before they book: 'plantar fasciitis vs heel spur', 'are custom orthotics worth the money', 'when should a diabetic see a podiatrist', 'how the Medicare CDM covers podiatry'. Two drafts a fortnight, in your voice, that bring the searcher to your site weeks before they ring.
Your first 30 days.
- Existing Squarespace site imported, legacy hosting torn down, Cliniko or Halaxy booking widget re-embedded
- Annual mix plan set by Sam against the chair time that pays (custom orthotics, diabetic foot, sports podiatry)
- Plantar fasciitis, ingrown toenail, custom orthotics and diabetic foot condition pages indexed page one for '[condition] [suburb]'
- GP-referral page live with a prefilled CDM PDF, DVA-provider statement and current wait-time; emailed to three highest-referring practices
- Google Business Profile primary category corrected from 'Doctor' to 'Podiatrist', services expanded from 5 to 19, DVA attribute added
- Shockwave therapy specialty page live with the heel-pain protocol and runner-targeted Meta retargeting set up
- Gait-analysis treadmill footage and chairside orthotic-cast Reels queued in the podiatrist's voice for two weeks
- Orthotic-prescription conversion sequence wired into Cliniko, weekly capacity cap set so ads pause when the chair is full
Podiatry isn't a generic 'allied health' marketing problem. The revenue is in the orthotic chair, the volume is in the GP-referred CDM patients, and the long tail is in the condition keywords. The clinic that fills the chair has a page for every condition, a referral pipeline the GPs actually use, and a Google Business Profile that doesn't say 'Doctor' on it. None of this is hard. It just never gets done.
Agencies are too dear to actually build the condition-page library and the GP-referral pipeline for $3k a month, and most don't know what a CDM is. Tools are cheap but you still write the plantar-fasciitis page on a Sunday night. In-House is the third option: for $299 a month the agents ship the condition pages, build the GP-referral pipeline, fix the Google Business Profile, and post the gait-analysis footage. You stay in the driver's seat, two taps to approve, minutes a day. Fill the orthotic chair on Wednesdays.