You don’t need a studio, a script or a marketing budget to put video on your clinic’s website. A phone, decent light and a plan for four or five short clips will do more than a polished production that never gets made.
The aim is simple. A new patient is deciding whether to walk through your door, and a short video answers the questions a page of text can’t: what the place feels like, who they’ll meet, and what will happen when they arrive. This guide covers what to film, how to keep it short, where to put it and what to check before you publish.
What to film
Stick to the logistical and the human. Leave clinical subjects to the clinical pages and to your own professional judgement.
A short clinic tour (30 to 45 seconds). Start outside, at the door a patient will actually use. Show the signage, the entrance, reception, the waiting area and one treatment room. Walk slowly and keep the phone steady. If parking or a ramp is part of the story, include it.
Meet the practitioner (30 to 60 seconds). One person, facing the camera, saying who they are, how long they have been in the clinic and what a patient can expect from the first conversation. Keep it conversational. Reading from a page shows. A few bullet points on a card out of frame is enough.
How booking works (20 to 40 seconds). Screen-record a phone as someone books online, from the button on your site to the confirmation. Patients who are nervous about forms and phone calls are reassured by seeing it done. Our guides to setting up Jane online booking and Cliniko’s booking page show where the settings live.
What the first visit looks like, logistically (45 to 60 seconds). Walk through the sequence: arriving, checking in, any forms, how long the appointment is booked for, where to pay and how to book the next visit. This is about the process, not about care. If you describe what happens during an assessment, keep it to your own clinic’s routine and leave out any promise about outcomes.
Optional extras. A quick answer to a question the front desk hears every week, such as how direct billing works, is a good clip. So is a short “where to park and which door to use” video.
Keep it short and phone-first
- Film vertically for social platforms and short clips. A vertical clip also plays well on a phone screen embedded in your site.
- Aim for under a minute. One idea per clip. If you have three ideas, make three clips.
- Light and sound matter more than the camera. Face a window, not away from it. Film in a quiet room and hold the phone close enough that the voice is clear. A cheap clip-on microphone is worth it if you plan to film regularly.
- Add captions. Many people watch with the sound off. Your phone’s editing app or a simple video editor can add them. Read them through for mistakes.
- Don’t over-edit. Trim the start and end, add captions and stop. A slightly imperfect clip from the actual practitioner beats a stock montage.
- Use a plain first frame. A clear shot of the person or the front door works as the thumbnail. A blurry half-second of someone reaching for the phone does not.
Where each video goes
Your Google Business Profile. You can add videos to your profile alongside photos. Check Google’s current limits on length and file size in its help pages before you upload. The tour and the meet-the-practitioner clips fit well here, because people see them at the moment of choosing a clinic. Our Google Business Profile checklist lists the other things worth checking while you are in there.
Your website. Put the practitioner clip on the page about that person, the first-visit clip on the new patient page and the booking clip beside the booking button. Embed the video so it plays on the page, and make sure it doesn’t slow the page down on a phone. A page that jumps around while a video loads loses visitors. See our clinic homepage checklist for what else new patients look for. If you want the site and its video handled together, our clinic websites service covers it.
Social media. Post the same clips as short vertical videos. Keep a steady, modest rhythm rather than a burst followed by silence. Our chiropractic social media post ideas has more ways to fill a month without turning it into a chore.
Email. A link to the first-visit clip in a booking confirmation can reduce uncertainty before the appointment.
Testimonial videos need extra care
A patient on camera praising their care is a testimonial, and testimonial rules vary by regulator, province, state and profession. Some places restrict them or ban them outright. Others allow them if they are genuine and not paid for. Read your regulator’s guidance before you film one, not after. Our guide to health advertising rules for clinics explains where to look and what the main rule-makers say.
Even where testimonials are allowed, don’t edit someone’s words to change their meaning, and don’t offer a reward in exchange for a positive video.
Consent for anyone you film
Anyone who appears in your video, patient or staff, needs to agree first.
- Ask in advance and in writing. A short consent form that says where the video will appear and for how long is better than a verbal yes.
- Make it easy to say no. A patient should never feel pressured at the front desk.
- Keep patients out of the background. When you film a tour, do it before opening or between appointments. Check that no screen, chart or schedule is readable in the frame.
- Staff consent counts too. If a team member leaves, agree in the form what happens to their video.
- Have a removal process. Decide who takes a video down when someone asks, and how fast.
Privacy rules about patient information and images differ by country and profession, so check with your regulator or a privacy adviser if you are unsure.
A simple first batch
If you are starting from nothing, film these four in one morning:
- The door-to-reception tour.
- One practitioner introducing themselves.
- A screen recording of booking online.
- A walk-through of the first visit’s logistics.
Put them where patients will see them, watch them on a phone as a stranger would, and fix whatever confuses you. Then leave them alone for a few months and see whether people mention them.
If you would like a view of where video could help on your profile and website, claim your marketing audit and we will look at what a new patient sees today.