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5 Marketing Missteps Costing You

A surgeon running a cosmetic practice has a lot of responsibilities: good results, patient satisfaction, overhead, staffing and on and on.

Typically, you focus on what you are good at, so you stay in your comfort zone, and leave the rest to others to figure out.

While I’m all for delegation, abdication is not the answer.

Top 5 Marketing Missteps That Are Costing You

It’s so easy to pass off what you don’t want to do and make someone else responsible for it, but there’s a downside:

  • Did it get done?
  • Did it stay within budget?
  • Does it give you the results you want?
  • Does it improve your image or at least not hurt it?

Let’s take marketing, for example. It’s so tempting to pass it off but if you’re not aware, these common marketing missteps can cost you a fortune in money, reputation, and grief:

Misstep #1: Abusing Social Media

Treating social media like a sales platform with promotion after promotion is a quick way to alienate prospective cosmetic patients.

They don’t want you to sell to them.  They want you to educate, entertain and engage them so they willingly reach out to you.

Hire someone who’s sole purpose is to make you look good on social media, without taking up much of your time.

It can be done, and you may actually enjoy it once you see your audience engaging with you.

Misstep #2: Catering to Everybody

You will run out of time, money and mental energy trying to be everything to everybody and being everywhere everybody is. There’s too much diversity and too much choice.

Look at your current results from your marketing efforts. If you’re not getting the return you want, you are either:

  • Targeting too broad of a market
  • Targeting people that aren’t interested in your services
  • Targeting people that can’t afford your services

Here’s a better approach. Start with your existing and past patients to figure out who likes your practice and services the most. Note how they heard about you, the procedure they wanted, as well as their zip code, age and gender.  

Now go find more of them.

Misstep #3: Neglecting Reviews and Photos

No “internet stranger patient” is going to contact you unless you have built trust and credibility with them.

You do that by reassuring them they will get a good result due to your skills and expertise.

That’s why reviews and photos are the two essentials needed to attract new cosmetic patients. Prospective patients need proof from your other happy patients that they too, will get a great result and be happy.

Reviews and photos are not a “nice” thing to collect when you have time. Instead, you make time for this vital part of your marketing plan.

For example, make it part of your process. When a patient is ecstatic about their result at their post op appointment, ask them right then and there if:

  • They would allow you to show off their excellent results and consent to their before/after photos being used in your marketing efforts and
  • They would do you a favor and give you a google review so others can choose you as well.

Then make it easy for them. Give them instructions on how they can do it on their cell phone right now and give them starter sentences to help them with the words to say.

Misstep #4: Neglecting Your Patients

Building strong relationships with patients is crucial for long-term success. Especially since you service a hungry audience that needs your services at all stages of their lives.

Do not make the mistake of focusing solely on attracting new patients and neglecting your existing ones.

Focus on your patients’ lifetime value. They gave you money and they will give you more money and help you grow your practice with referrals, reviews, photos, and social media shares if you nurture them.

A smart strategy is to institute a loyalty program so your patients feel special and appreciated:

Marketing Missteps #5: Not Knowing What’s Working

A common mistake is not tracking or reviewing the numbers that determine what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be adjusted or dropped for better results.

You can’t make good marketing decisions without the data so keep it simple. For every marketing effort, ask yourself these questions:

  • How much did it cost?
  • What tangible money results did we get from it?
  • If we made money, we continue to do it.
  • If we did NOT make money, we tweak or drop.

In today’s technical world, everything we do is tracked so there’s no reason to be guessing or anecdotally assuming your marketing is working.  The numbers will tell you.

If you spend time cleaning up these marketing missteps, you will save so much time and money and get better results.

If you could use help with this, I invite you to a complimentary 30-minute strategy call with me.

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Robert Sigal, MD
Robert Sigal, MD
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Victor Ferrari, MD
Victor Ferrari, MD
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Anthony Corrado, MD
Anthony Corrado, MD
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Evan Sorokin, MD
Evan Sorokin, MD
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Robert Langdon, MD
Robert Langdon, MD
"Catherine Maley has one of the best Marketing Minds in the aesthetic industry, bar none. She understands the aesthetic patient and she also understands the challenges and frustrations we face as aesthetic surgeons. You will benefit from Catherine's tools whether you are new in practice or a seasoned professional.Turn to Catherine for guidance - she knows what she's talking about."
Edwin Williams, MD
Edwin Williams, MD
“Catherine’s Cosmetic Patient Marketing Service has been a great addition to our practice-building overall plan. While we still invest in our online presence, we also found immense value in the internal marketing efforts. We especially like that all results are tracked so we know we are getting a great return ... last year it was 1,148% and no staff time was used. That’s a much easier way to grow my cosmetic practice.”
Mark Mason, MD
Mark Mason, MD
"Catherine Maley turned our practice around. We converted more consultations in one week than we did in an entire month. Our practice went from a painful 50% no show rate to a remarkable 85% show rate. Even more impressive was our close ratio - from 35% to 80% and still increasing. We would recommend her to any practice that’s looking to not only increase their profits today, but sustain a healthy flow of income for many years to come. Thanks Catherine!"
Sam Assassa, MD
Sam Assassa, MD
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Andrew Lofman, MD
Andrew Lofman, MD
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Verne Weisberg, MD
Verne Weisberg, MD
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Adam Stein, MD
Adam Stein, MD
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Catherine Maley

Catherine Maley

Catherine is a business/marketing consultant to plastic surgeons. She speaks at medical conferences all over the world on practice building, marketing and the business side of plastic surgery. Get a Free Copy of her popular book, Your Aesthetic Practice: What Your Patients Are Saying View Author Profile.

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