In 2025, a private medical clinic approached MIM:AGENCY with a request to check the effectiveness of advertising promotion in the ENT field during a period of predicted seasonal decline in demand. At that time, the clinic was actively using digital channels to attract patients and sought to allocate its marketing budget as rationally as possible.

One of the clinic’s main areas of work was ENT services, including the treatment of rhinitis, otitis, tonsillitis, and consultations with an otolaryngologist. Based on preliminary analytics and market data, the agency team recorded a steady decline in demand for these services during the selected period of the year. However, the client wanted to obtain confirmation not only based on general trends, but also on its own actual indicators.

Client request

The main task of the project was to test advertising activity during a period that is historically considered the “low season” for ENT services. The client wanted to check whether advertising could remain economically viable in conditions of reduced demand, what the real cost of attracting a patient was, and whether it was worth investing the budget in this area during the specified period.

Thus, the project aimed to obtain objective data that would allow further strategic decisions to be made based on measurable results rather than assumptions.

Hypothesis

At the start of the project, the MIM:AGENCY team formed a hypothesis that demand for ENT services would significantly decrease in the selected month and that paid advertising would not provide the necessary return on investment. It was assumed that even with high-quality campaign settings, the number of inquiries would be limited and the cost per lead would be inflated.

The purpose of the test was to verify this assumption in practice.

Project implementation

To test the hypothesis, the agency team developed a test advertising campaign with a clearly defined time frame and a controlled budget. The promotion of basic ENT services was launched, including the treatment of rhinitis, otitis, tonsillitis, and initial doctor consultations.

The campaign audience was configured taking into account the geographical coverage of the clinic. Targeting was focused on local areas within the medical facility’s service area. This allowed us to focus on potential patients and minimize the share of non-targeted traffic.

At the same time, a comprehensive referral tracking system was implemented. The team integrated analytics to record requests from the website, phone calls, feedback forms, and online appointments. All points of contact were combined into a single system for measuring results.

Testing results

Over the course of thirty days, the advertising campaign demonstrated limited effectiveness. In total, only three conversions were recorded, and the average cost per lead was 168 hryvnia. The CTR was lower than the average for the medical niche, indicating weak audience interest.

In addition to digital metrics, the actual situation in the clinic was an important indicator. The medical facility did not see a noticeable increase in the number of real appointments, and the workload on doctors remained at the usual level.

Thus, even the inquiries received did not have a significant impact on the business’s operating indicators.

Analysis and conclusions

The results fully confirmed the agency’s initial hypothesis. During the study period, ENT services were not a priority for patients, and demand was situational and unstable. Even with the correct campaign settings, advertising did not provide the necessary level of return on investment.

The team concluded that scaling the budget this season would not lead to a proportional increase in results. In fact, advertising activity only served to maintain the brand’s presence, rather than actively attracting new patients.

Recommendations and strategic decisions

Based on the test conducted, MIM:AGENCY recommended temporarily abandoning active promotion of the ENT direction during the seasonal decline. It was proposed not to scale the campaign in conditions of low demand and to redistribute the budget to areas with higher conversion rates.

Special attention was paid to preparing for the upcoming high season. The team suggested developing special offers, promotional packages, and communication scenarios in advance to make the most of the period of increased demand.

Business impact for the client

  • Thanks to the testing, the clinic obtained a confirmed model of seasonal patient behavior based on its own data. This made it possible to avoid ineffective spending, optimize the marketing budget, and increase the predictability of advertising activity planning.
  • The client was able to focus resources on areas with higher growth potential and form a more balanced development strategy.

Conclusion

The case study on testing the seasonality of the ENT direction demonstrates MIM:AGENCY’s approach to building marketing strategies based on data and real performance indicators.

We do not scale advertising intuitively, but test hypotheses, analyze results, and form solutions that work for the long-term effectiveness of the client’s business.