Get People To View Your Website (Part 4 of 6)
By · CommentsYour patient wants to learn all about you on your website. Catherine shows you how you can share your practice, your experience, and your services with the patient online so they are compelled to call or email for more information.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
To Discount or Not To Discount
By · CommentsOnce you lower your prices, it’s nearly impossible to increase them again without losing patients so I don’t recommend offering temporary discounts. You are always better off adding value instead. Patients love a good deal but it doesn’t have to be a cheap price. Bundling services to add more value is a great strategy. For example, free sunscreen with every laser treatment or every laser hair removal leg package comes with a free underarm treatment. This way the patient gets a little something extra and you keep your profit margins up.
Another great strategy is to offer a special price for a very limited time for a very specific reason so the patient knows this is special. For example, if the patient can have surgery on a Wednesday during a certain month, they can save $500 on the OR room since it’s less on a Wednesday than a Friday during that month. Or, a special Birthday Gift Card your patient can use to look their best on their special day and it includes a tight expiration date. The point is for your patient to feel as if they got great value. If you discount, make it feel special rather than random or ‘cheap’.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Financing Cosmetic Surgery-Pros and Cons
By · CommentsI have watched so much money walk out the door because the physician will not offer affordable patient financing because “it’s too expensive”. I’m flabbergasted because what’s so much more expensive is to tell that patient to go save up for what they want and come back when they can afford it. That patient will simply move on to the next practice that actually helps them get what they want now rather than wait. The first practice not only loses that patient but they also lose that patient’s friends and family.
Help your patient get what they want now. Many patients today have the money but don’t want to spend it or they really do need help paying for it. It’s a small price to pay for the physician to keep that patient in their practice. It’s also a great closing question. Rather than ask the patient if they have decided, ask a better question to get a better answer such as “Sara, did you want to use our affordable patient option of $200 per month or use your own credit card?”
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Increase Aesthetic Patient Conversion Rates
By · CommentsYou increase conversion rates by getting back to the fundamentals: ensure your aesthetic patient goes step-by-step through your process so they are most likely to say yes at the end of it. This a well-oiled machine with no shortcuts and every step must happen every time to ensure the patient is comfortable, informed and compelled to move forward. The steps include:
- Efficient Phones
- Welcome Packet
- Trained, friendly Staff
- Comfortable, Clean Environment
- Educational and Compelling In-House Signage
- Initial Consultation with Staff (who are trained in effective aesthetic consultations)
- Social Proof
- Consultation with Physician
- Closing with Staff
- Thoughtful follow up
In today’s competitive climate, it’s all about the quality of the patient experience rather than just the sheer quantity. The “churn and burn” theory is no longer viable since it’s getting much too expensive to advertise that way. If a patient has called your office, taken time out to drive over to see you, meet you and ask questions, it’s your job to do everything possible to help them make a great decision.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Get People To View Your Website (Part 3 of 6)
By · CommentsThere are other sites online that can give you access to potential patients. Catherine covers how to decide on which doctor directories to use, and how to incorporate sites like YouTube, Yelp, and other media sites to work in your advantage. She covers how to use keywords, where to post various content, and why.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Getting High Quality Referrals
By · CommentsYou get quality referrals by offering quality. The quality of your materials, your receptionist, your staff, your office, you and your services all dictate your values and what you deem important. If you have the finest quality everything – you will attract patients who see that as attractive and be drawn to you (this will also deter patients who are uncomfortable with quality and just want cheap). So, use quality to attract quality.
Then, by all means, when you do attract a quality patient to you, do everything humanly possible to keep them loyal to you. These patients can be golden to you so build a golden fence around them to they stay, pay and refer their other like-minded friends. Suggestions include inviting them to be an exclusive member of your VIP Club where they get special perks and invite them to be part of your Aesthetic Advisory Board so they can offer feedback and, of course, have them bring a friend so they, too, can get to know you.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Email Marketing To The Aesthetic Patient
By · CommentsEmail marketing is a fantastic way to keep in touch with your patients. It’s quick, easy and best of all – cheap. But beware! Email marketing is not as easy as it looks. You not only need really good copy to make it appealing to your audience, you also need technical coding and know-how to get it through today’s company fire walls and SPAM filters. That means you need permission from your patients to send email and you preferably want their personal email address. You then need to work with someone who specializes in html coding so they can prepare the email to be read by different email services, on different computer processors and in different resolutions.
Even when you do everything right, the average open rate of an email is only 15-20%. So while email is a great medium, it’s only one way to keep in touch. Don’t count on it as the only medium to use to communicate with your patients. You still need hard copy communications to get through to your patients.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
Utilizing Your Database for Effective Marketing
By · CommentsYour database is the holy grail of sales leads for you. The patients who already know, like and trust you are much more apt to respond to your promotional efforts so always start with them. However, do it strategically.
To be truly effective, you need:
-The right message
-Going to the right patient
-Using the right media channel
It’s called target messaging and here’s an example. You want to promote your fractional skin rejuvenation laser, but how? First, you treat the perfect patient with it and that would be a female in her 40-50’s with skin damage and aging skin concerns. Now have her provide you with a testimonial and permission to use her before/after pictures in your promotional materials. Now, send out a patient letter that includes her testimonial and pictures to other females in their 40-50’s who also most likely have skin damage and aging skin concerns. That is a super targeted message going to the right patient using the most effective media channel. In marketing we have a saying, “The Riches are in the Niches” and it’s as true in aesthetic medicine as in any other industry. Today’s consumers want something just for them.
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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.
