OrthoUnited provides a full scope of orthopaedic care across Northeast Ohio, helping patients access specialized treatment for joint pain, sports injuries, spine conditions, hand and upper extremity concerns, foot and ankle conditions, and more.
When OrthoUnited partnered with Sanctuary in 2018, the opportunity went beyond generating more website traffic. The goal was to build a digital presence that could support the organization’s continued growth, increase awareness throughout the communities it serves, and make it easier for prospective patients to find the right care and take the next step.
Orthopaedic care is highly local, highly personal, and often driven by a specific patient need. Someone searching for a joint replacement specialist may have very different questions and priorities than an athlete looking for sports medicine care or a patient trying to determine where to go for an acute injury.
As OrthoUnited continued to grow, its digital marketing strategy needed to support an increasingly diverse range of specialties, audiences, providers, locations, and patient needs.
Key opportunities included:
The goal was not simply more visibility. OrthoUnited needed a connected digital strategy capable of turning that visibility into meaningful patient actions.
Sanctuary developed an ongoing cross-channel strategy designed to reach prospective patients throughout their journey, from early education and awareness to actively searching for care and scheduling an appointment.
Sanctuary developed service, specialty, and localized content around the specific needs and questions of OrthoUnited’s patient audiences. By aligning content more closely with patient intent, OrthoUnited has strengthened its local organic visibility and increased conversions from organic search by 40% year over year.
Sanctuary continually analyzes and refines OrthoUnited’s Google Ads strategy to prioritize the searches, services, and audiences most likely to result in meaningful patient actions. By shifting investment toward higher-performing opportunities, the key event rate from Google Search advertising is up 16.73% year over year.
Paid and organic social media complement OrthoUnited’s search strategy by building awareness, educating prospective patients, and keeping the organization visible throughout the patient journey. Content highlights specialties, physicians, treatment options, patient education, community involvement, and events.
As patient search behavior evolves, Sanctuary is monitoring OrthoUnited’s visibility within AI-powered search experiences and identifying opportunities for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). This helps position OrthoUnited for continued visibility as patients increasingly use AI tools to research conditions, treatments, providers, and local care options.
Through a long-term partnership and continually evolving digital strategy, OrthoUnited has achieved meaningful improvements in both patient acquisition and marketing efficiency.
Key results include:
Together, these results demonstrate the value of looking beyond any single marketing channel. By aligning content, search, advertising, social media, analytics, and ongoing strategy around the patient journey, OrthoUnited has built a digital marketing program that continues to generate measurable growth.
Several strategic initiatives have contributed to OrthoUnited’s continued digital growth:
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Schedule a meeting with our Director of Business Development, Tom Murphy.
