ClinicalTrialsGuy

Building the marketing + booking engine for clinical trials. Sharing what I learn. Next: launching a clinic that runs trial visits

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

How can I leverage local SEO to conquer city before I set up a clinic there?

Build a website with pages specifically targeting conditions and geographies.

[condition] clinical trials near [city]

How can I build these pages if I am not in this geography yet? Wouldn’t I need to be running studies?

Nope. Clinical trial search isn’t like normal local SEO. If I look up roofers near me, I am doing so because I need to fix a leak.

If I look up clinical trials near me, I am looking for studies on my specific condition. Billy bobs clinical research site doesn’t answer that.

Intereted subjects will look up “depression clinical trials near me” or “paid clinical trials near me.”

The mapack will not give them the results they are looking for.

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

2.0M top line. 1.2M bottom line. That is the spread on my current clinical research site.

Every year we have averaged around the same margins.

It has largely been a forget about industry. Fat margins run mostly by independent MDs within their own clinic. However, the sharks have gotten a sniff of blood.

Private equity has been on a 5-10 year tear of rolling up various sites across geographies. Average exit multiple is 7x-10x

Riches are in the niches.

Follow me for more random insight into this industry.

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

Creating a SEO driven patient recruitment site. Trouble is: I am eyeing markets that we do not currently have a location. Since research searches are heavily map pack driven it’s going to be quite the push.

Figured high volume localized searches research adjacent - “top 10 dermatologists in charlotte” - with research links imbedded could potentially work.

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

Big day in our dementia recruitment push.

Secured 3 different speaking engagements with alz support groups in our region.

Late stage AD studies are notoriously hard to recruit for. Severity of symptoms at this stage commonly lead to caregivers seeking professional help (Home health, assisted living, memory care)

It’s this group that makes it particularly hard to get in touch with caregivers. They are very sensitive to anything perceived as a threat to their patients.

Research is a very easy thing to say no to. “They are going to treat them like lab rats.”

Biggest aim with these groups is education in what research actually is. Often times they are a lot more willing to help when they understand the basics - and realize we aren’t trying to turn their patients into the hulk.

Now being able to talk directly with caregivers. That’s a walk in the park. Getting past the middle man is the hard part.

With as many people at these events we should be looking at least 3-4 potential participants!

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

Independent doctors leave $300k-$500k in annual revenue on the table when they overlook research.

Say a psychiatrist clinic has 1300 different patients per year. They land one anxiety trial that pays $25k per enrolled participant.

25% of their 1300 patients meet the studies criteria. Out of the 325 qualified only 150 are interested. Out of the 150 only 50 agree to the participating. 25 make it past the intro visits and enroll into the study.

$625,000 to the top line.

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

In the clinical research site world one thing matters:

Can you recruit participants.

Everything else comes second. Want higher payments per patient enrolled? History of high study enrollment = negotiation leverage. Want access to more studies? Prove you can recruit.

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

Hi! I’m BowTiedTrials.

I created this account to document my journey from an ex-salesperson to a clinical research site owner.

A lot of you might be wondering why in the world would you be interested in clinical trials? Why not a home service business/ecom/affiliate?

Personal experience. A close friend’s parent owned their own site. Was not a MD/DO/NP/PA/RN. Started it from scratch and grew it to $2M/yr. Under the hood the business shoots off 50%-70% profit every yr. The kicker, PE loves the space, so exit opportunities are abundant.

Sounds too good to be true right? Labs running experiments on people make that kind of money? I thought research was just done in hospitals? Why have I not heard of this?

In short. A research site is a contracted data collector paid by pharma and life sciences companies and heavily regulated by the FDA to complete “studies” on drugs to validate their effectiveness.

How do they make money? By the number of participants/visits. Some studies have 1 visit to complete a study. Others have 30-50 visits per patient. Obviously the second is better but it’s nuanced and we’ll get into that on another post.

What are the barriers to entry? People. The medical world cares about credential. Of course we would expect nothing less. So #1 is a physician. If you yourself are one GREAT. You solved the biggest hurdle. Maybe you’re not a MD but a RN. GREAT. You can do 90% of what it takes.

MAYBE you aren’t a MD or a RN or even a MSW. Dang, off to start a presser washing business. But before you go, think about the opportunity in this. 99% of people in the space have some sort of specialized degree but the key revenue driver is just recruiting participants?

Well you guessed it most of the people in the industry have ZERO knowledge on marketing/sales. So even a person with half an idea on either of those will have an outsized impact.

That’s where I come in. Give me a follow to see how I navigate this journey!

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@investor_fella Why now?

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@BowTiedTikTok FREE

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@jcolesimpson Lien the property. Works 100% of the time 70% of the time

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@TripleNetInvest Why ~wouldn’t~ you want to buy office in this market right now (major markets)

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@wileysaless Shop

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@RMHildebrandt Send

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@RandallHouseRE @RichardMatthew @risetoyourlevel If not one of the big platforms like CoStar and Crexi, what tools do you use to find markets with great potential?

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@HyperSalesman Send

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@CaseyMericle If you are ever in Charlotte just let me know!

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@brandonadixon Great podcast! I went ahead and scraped a PG list for you in LA. DM me and I will shoot it over

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@meetmikehiggins Calculator

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@TripleNetInvest service-profit chain

[ClinicalTrialsGuy @BowtiedTrials]

@jcolesimpson The best!