Cosmetic surgery marketing: Promotion for cosmetic practices
Cosmetic surgery marketing can be a complex process. Like any kind of health or beauty-focused business, cosmetic practices need to instantly convey credibility and earn consumer trust for a chance to thrive in a competitive marketplace.
When customers choose a cosmetic practice, they’re putting their self-esteem in your hands. This kind of decision isn’t one you’d make on a whim. Fail to get your message right from day one, and you risk losing endless opportunities to convert your customers.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to cosmetic surgery practice marketing, there are a few tried-and-tested methodologies which seem to work better than most. Today, we’re going to explore some of the promotional strategies you can consider when capturing the hearts and minds of your audience.
Step 1: Show your techniques on social media
Approximately 4.55 billion people are currently using social media on a regular basis. Whether they’re browsing through Instagram posts or checking out updates on Facebook, social followers aren’t just looking for entertainment, they’re searching for inspiration.
One study found around two-thirds of today’s shoppers use social media as part of their purchasing journey. Social media is the ideal environment for building emotional connections with your target audience.
Through social media, you can share your unique tone of voice with videos and regular updates. You’ll also have an excellent opportunity to showcase pictures of your work.
Countless cosmetic practices use social media sites like Instagram to provide before and after insights into their procedures. This can be a great way to show your audience your skills and help them trust you know what you’re doing.
One of the biggest hurdles facing cosmetic providers is often convincing customers those procedures aren’t as complex or painful as they seem.
Adding insightful social media pictures, videos, and even step-by-step guides of how you complete certain procedures to your cosmetic surgeon marketing strategy is a great way to earn trust.
Step 2: Lean heavily on word of mouth
Now, more than ever, consumers are turning to friends, relatives, and even social media contacts for advice on what to buy, and where they should buy it. Word of mouth marketing is particularly valuable for companies selling big-ticket items, like cosmetic procedures.
As a cosmetic surgeon, you’re selling expensive procedures, with a high amount of risk attached to them. No matter how skilled you are in your profession, your customers are always going to be worried about what happens if something goes wrong.
Word of mouth and recommendations from other customers is one of the best ways to put your customer’s mind at ease. You can start with simple before-and-after pictures on your social media pages, with quotes from customers highlighting what they’re happy about.
Alternatively, you can list quotes on your website from customers, along with pictures to make their testimonials feel more authentic and believable.
A great way to encourage more word of mouth, is to create loyalty programs and referral campaigns. You can offer any customer who sends a new patient your way a discount on any top ups or additional procedures they feel they need.
Not only do referral and loyalty programs increase your chances of attracting new customers, but they can also be a powerful way to keep your existing customers around too.
Step 3: Invest in content marketing
Social media marketing and positive reviews or referrals from other customers are great for your cosmetic practice marketing, but you also need to consider additional strategies too. For instance, most companies can benefit from implementing a content marketing plan into their efforts.
Content marketing for cosmetic surgeons serves several important purposes. First, when you’re writing high-quality, long-form content, you’re also demonstrating your knowledge of the industry.
Remember, your customers are investing in someone with genuine clinical knowledge to help them achieve their cosmetic goals. They want to see evidence of your experience.
A content marketing strategy is also an opportunity for you to tell stories which resonate with your target audience. Engaging stories about your customers’ journeys and how they improved their confidence with your help are fantastic for gaining client trust.
For instance, MYA Cosmetic Surgery regularly posts “client stories” to inspire customers.
Finally, content marketing is an excellent tool for improving your chances of attracting future customers. You can use your content to rank for keywords your audience might be searching for online and build an effective SEO strategy for your business.
Step 4: Stay local
As tempting as it can be to try and reach everyone with your cosmetic practice marketing efforts, you’ll get better results (for less money) when you focus on the right audience. Ideally, you’ll start your marketing campaigns by looking at your target audience and customer personas.
Think about the kind of people you’re trying to connect with based on the service you offer.
The most valuable way to keep things “focused” for your marketing campaign, is to concentrate on local SEO and geographical campaigns. The chances are you can only offer your services to specific regions.
Narrowing down your keyword strategies and PPC marketing efforts to focus on a certain location should mean you get better results with less investment.
Rather than asking questions like “who is the target audience for cosmetic practices?” ask yourself who the ideal target audience is for you.
From there, you can begin to work on locally-focused:
- Social media campaigns, with geotag hashtag locations.
- Content marketing strategies with mentions of relevant cities and towns.
- SEO and PPC efforts with local keywords and phrases.
As you implement your various forms of marketing for cosmetic surgeons, make sure you keep track of your results. Most social media sites and website building solutions come with analytics and reporting tools to help you gather valuable information about which of your campaigns work best.
You can use your findings to direct future budget use.
Step 5: Explore the latest trends
If you’ve already considered many of the “basic” marketing strategies for cosmetic practices, like social media and content marketing, you might be looking for new ways to make your company stand out.
Depending on your target audience, you might find investing in some of the latest advertising trends is an excellent way to boost your revenue.
For instance, if you’re trying to appeal to younger audiences, it might be worth looking into TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat as a way of developing your social media presence.
If you’re trying to connect with an audience of mothers trying to return to their aesthetic “glory days” after having children, you could join social media groups dedicated to moms.
One of the best ways to rapidly gain credibility and boost the appeal of your business, is to work with influencers. Influencer marketers are professionals who already have the attention and trust of your target customer.
They can give you a much-needed boost whether your cosmetics company is just starting out or whether you’ve been in the industry for months.
Step 6: Keep learning and evolving
Cosmetic practice marketing isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it solution for collecting new clients and patients. Ask any expert “How do cosmetic practices get clients?” and they’ll tell you success is reliant on a consistent approach to examining the industry, their target audience, and the available marketing opportunities.
Every time you implement a new marketing strategy, you should be collecting data from your analytics tools.
The right tools, like Google analytics and Instagram Insights, can provide a fantastic overview where your customers are coming from, and what kind of content is most likely to convince them to book an appointment.
Remember, you can also collect valuable information directly from your target audience.
Rather than just using the feedback provided by your customers as a source of social proof, pay attention to the testimonials and what people actually say. Are there any less than perfect comments about your service out there?
Do people complain that they can’t find enough information about your procedures on your website, or they don’t understand your booking process?
Listening to your audience and responding to their needs will help you to update your marketing strategy and generate more positive results.
Mastering cosmetic surgeon marketing
Successful marketing is a tricky process in any industry, but it’s particularly complex in environments where care providers need to develop a deeper level of trust with their audience.
As a cosmetic practitioner, you’re promising your audience a better future, defined by more confidence and greater self-esteem. Your customers want to know you can deliver.
The more you work on your advertising efforts through social media, content, and the use of the latest marketing trends, the more bookings you’ll earn.
Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.