Clicks to Recovery

Filling beds with any warm body might get your treatment center past break-even, but it won't build a sustainable business. Derek reveals how top recovery facilities transition to "Phase 2" operations by training marketing algorithms to target high-success patient profiles.

Derek is the VP of Internal Marketing at Lever11, bringing over 13 years of sales and digital marketing leadership across agency and brand ecosystems. He specializes in bridging the gap between mission-driven healthcare operators and high-yielding digital growth engines.

The Phase 1 vs. Phase 2 Framework: Shifting from raw bed occupancy to hyper-targeted patient acquisition with maximum recovery success

Why 80% occupancy is dangerous: The narrow profit margin between breaking even and expanding facility capabilities

Training ad algorithms on generic queries: Feeding 200+ patient success signals back into ad networks to automatically bid on ideal demographics

The 10-patient myth: Why 7 patients with a 100% program completion rate outperform 10 patients with a 50% relapse rate

Competing against million-dollar budgets: How small-to-midsize centers exploit algorithmic gaps left behind by enterprise ad spend

Maintaining absolute HIPAA compliance: Utilizing 250-character Google Click IDs (GCLIDs) to train machine learning without touching PII

The most resilient recovery centers aren't trying to be everything to everyone. They are narrowing their target audience, training machine learning tools, and filling beds with patients designed to thrive in their care.

Weekly episodes on what’s working right now in addiction recovery marketing, admissions, and center operations.

00:50 Why Recovery Marketing

03:30 Mission Meets Admissions

05:04 Brand vs Demand Capture

07:38 Capacity and Lead Flow

11:22 Competing With Smart Keywords

16:29 AI Search and SEO

19:47 Local Maps Visibility Fixes

24:17 Phase Two Right Fit Clients

28:41 HIPAA Safe Marketing Data

31:12 Website Optimization Flywheel

34:12 Diversify Beyond Referrals

Relying on a single marketing channel leaves your treatment facility incredibly vulnerable. Zach Blackburn explains how the nation's premier recovery networks monopolize page one of Google by capturing four distinct layers of digital real estate.

Zach is the Director of SEO at Lever Eleven, bringing 15 years of deep expertise managing search strategy from local operations up to massive enterprise-level brands. He specializes in auditing healthcare platforms and stripping away operational tech debt to build lean, hyper-authoritative organic funnels.

* The 4x search landscape: How to occupy page one simultaneously via Sponsored PPC, Google Business Maps, Organic Results, and AI Overviews
* The trust amalgamation factor: Utilizing verified public peer reviews to erase consumer hesitation during high-stakes family medical choices
* Cross-channel digital attribution: Tracking phone inquiries and digital intakes cleanly across nested funnels while preserving absolute HIPAA compliance
* Niche targeting blueprints: How to build localized content frameworks tailored directly to your facility's hyper-specific specialized modalities
* The generalist agency trap: Why broad-market digital agencies consistently fail to convert admissions due to lack of behavioral health experience
* The compound ROI curve: Why organic indexing consistently undercuts paid cost-per-acquisition benchmarks over multi-year operational runs

The centers scaling fastest aren't arguing about which individual digital channel is best. They are running omni-channel campaigns that establish omnipresence, eliminate consumer doubt, and capture intent wherever families seek guidance.

Weekly episodes on what’s working right now in addiction recovery marketing, admissions, and center operations.

00:50 Meet Zach SEO Lead
02:18 SEO Evolution Not Dead
04:22 Why SEO Matters Now
08:01 Common SEO Audit Fails
11:25 Fixing Bloated Websites
12:57 Three Pillars Explained
14:32 Roadmap For New Sites
17:25 Agency Transparency Reporting
21:11 ROI Timelines Expectations
24:08 Avoid SEO Shortcuts
25:37 SEO Plus Paid Ads
28:10 AI GEO And Visibility
32:26 Staying Current Final Advice
33:59 Wrap Up Free Audit

Most marketing agencies high-five Google when the phone rings. Aaron Nelson analyzed $21 million in ad spend to prove why cheap phone calls are actually draining your treatment center’s profitability.
 Aaron is the Director of Paid Ads at Lever11, bringing 17 years of agency experience to the highly regulated behavioral healthcare landscape. He specializes in reverse-engineering patient admissions by turning raw, down-funnel metrics into predictable digital marketing engines. 

In this episode:
* Why optimizing for cost-per-lead (CPL) is the fastest way to burn out your admissions staff
* The hidden danger of Google's "Max Conversions" bid strategy in addiction recovery marketing
* How to feed down-funnel data like beds filled and VOBs back to Google while staying strictly HIPAA-compliant
* The 3-to-5 day window: How to restructure campaigns to capture high-intent prospects during critical moments of willingness
* How a specialized agency leverages multi-client data patterns to train Google's evolving AI bidding systems
* Why 61% of treatment searches still start on Google, and how to dominate that real estate effectively

Treatment centers scaling efficiently aren't hunting for cheap clicks. They’re bidding on value, capturing immediate intent, and building closed-loop data systems.

 Weekly episodes on what’s working right now in addiction recovery marketing, admissions, and center operations.

01:00 Meet Aaron Nelson
01:59 Analyzing Millions in Ad Spend
03:16 Aaron's Marketing Background
04:26 Why Addiction Recovery Ads Are Different
05:40 Policy Restrictions and Regulations
06:38 Specialized vs General Agencies
08:23 Beyond Lead Volume
10:13 Tracking Conversions Back to Clicks
12:54 The Problem with Standard Optimization
15:34 Importance of Client Communication
16:53 Two Approaches to Ad Campaigns
17:55 Understanding Your Metrics and KPIs
19:31 Understanding Bid Strategies
20:20 Target CPA vs ROAS
21:38 Max Conversions Explained
22:54 Quality Over Quantity
24:03 Cost Per Lead Myths
25:31 Efficiency and Profitability
26:40 High Intent Leads Matter
27:34 AI in Google Ads
29:34 Google Search Still Works
31:47 Creating Holistic Visibility
33:09 Starting with Sponsored Ads
34:04 Budget Concerns Addressed
35:16 Competing Without Big Budgets
37:47 Final Advice for Centers

A family is searching for help right now, probably after the worst night of their life. If they don't find your center first, they find someone else's. That's the whole game.

Your clinicians are great. Your outcomes are real. None of it matters if the mother searching at 2am after her son's overdose lands on a competitor's site instead of yours. Empty beds aren't a budget problem. They're people you could have helped and didn't.

In the debut episode of Clicks to Recovery, host Tommy Anderson sits down with Cory McEwan, VP of Client Services at Lever11. Cory has nearly 20 years of paid media experience and has spent years helping addiction recovery centers stay full so they can keep saving lives.

What this episode covers:

- Why the person searching is almost never the patient, and what that means for how families find you.

- How being the program a family lands on first changes who actually gets help.

- Why staying at capacity isn't about revenue, it's about being open for the next person who needs you.

- Why most agencies bury centers in junk inquiries that slow admissions down and let real families slip through.

- What the first 90 days of a real campaign should look like.

- How HIPAA and LegitScript shape what you can say to a family in crisis.

If your beds aren't full, it isn't because families aren't searching. It's because they're finding someone else first.

00:00 – Welcome to Clicks to Recovery
02:15 – Why addiction recovery marketing is different from everything else
05:30 – The mistake that costs centers the families who need them most
09:00 – Why the family member is the one searching, not the patient
14:00 – Speaking to a family in crisis without breaking compliance
19:00 – Why a harder form means more of the right people get help
23:00 – Filling beds with families who are actually ready
27:00 – The first 90 days, and how to know when to grow
32:30 – One piece of advice for treatment center operators