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The Power Of Single Message Marketing

The first rule of advertising for anyone (including your medical spa): Present one, clear, single minded message.

Your ad will be stronger. Your message will carry more weight. You’ll create breakthrough in a world filled with cluttered, muddled messages, that simply go unseen.

Research suggests that you only have 3 seconds to communicate the message to your audience. Take longer and you could lose potential prospects. 

Think about the bed of nails analogy.

It appears to the spectator that anyone lying on this “bed” would be injured by the nails, but this is not what happens. Assuming the nails are numerous enough, the weight is distributed between them such that the pressure exerted by each nail is not enough to break the person’s skin. 

What if we replace the thousands of nails with just one nail? You know what happens. A person can’t successfully lie on just one nail. The pressure exerted by just one nail is much too strong.

How do you determine your single message? It could be the unique selling point of the product or service or even the biggest benefit gained by using the product or service.

But are times changing? 

We haven’t done studies directly comparing the effects of multiple messages in an ad or commercial vs. single messages, but we’ve studied how people deal with what used to be considered a bombardment of stimuli. They handle it just fine.

The Internet of course has led the way. Watch how even the less skilled with this medium use it – not just skipping from site to site, page to page, item to item at blazing speed. They absorb multiple images and information elements simultaneously. Watch the more adept moving their fingers across their keyboards like the fingers of a virtuoso violinist moving across the strings of their instruments. And the minds of those Internet users are moving even more quickly.

If we move multiple messages into fast forward, will advertisers risk losing their audience? Or will the viewers be less bored and watch or read the advertising. 

Trying to fit 'everything you do' into your advertising is common, but it's also amaturish, and less effective. I understand that you don't want to miss that one patient who's looking for something you offer, but you're tripping over your real purpose which is to drive a single idea home.

Do yourself (and your clinic) a favor and be harsh. If it's not supporting a single point, let it go.

Push & Pull Marketing Within Your Medical Spa

Push Marketing is any type of marketing that pushes a client through your medical spas door.

It may be a referral from a satisfied client, or possibly a business partner. It may be an article in a publication, a video interview or a promotional video you made. To put it simply, it's marketing that covers everything except ads.

Pull Marketing on the other hand is anything that "pulls" a consumer through your door. These are mainly your marketing materials such as your main website and your advertising, especially those "Specials" ads. Don't forget that these "Specials" are targeting customers that are either unfamiliar to your practice or unfamiliar with your products/services.

It's obvious that higher conversion rate is expected from Push Marketing because people already have a general idea of what you are offering. Before they arrive at your door, they already hold a positive opinion of you. That is unless there's anything unfortunate that comes along the way. These bad marketing bridges may be as simple as poor office behavior, overpricing, etc. Generally speaking, you should be able to convert over 90% of all your push consumers.

In order to increase your conversions in the Pull marketing, it is important to focus on the consumer's trust. If you own an aesthetic practice, adding high quality before/after photos (this needs permission of course!) will definitely increase the consumer's trust as well as adding testimonials to your marketing materials and website from your customers. You can do so by providing testimonials in both writing and videos to your blog, newsletters and auto-responder emails.

If you are able to have access to passers-by that are potentially customers, consider putting banners in your windows showing before/after results. This is great if you're offering aesthetic treatments. But again, make sure you have the patient's permission to use their images, especially if it's in a very public form.

If You Can’t Lower Prices, Offer Higher Value

Our MedSpa, as most others, is severely limited in how low we can go on our prices. All of us in the industry pay roughly the same amount for our products, whether it be Botox, fillers, or equipment.

However, especially in this tough economic climate, our clients are looking for bargains. Price comparison shopping is a fact of life, and is made much easier for the consumer by readily available pricing information on the internet.

But low prices are not the only way (nor maybe the best way) to attract patients to your facility. To us at Canyon Lake MedSpa, the answer is VALUE: meaning, if we can’t lower prices, we have to offer more value for the money.

In our case, we offer free microdermabrasion/chemical peel (we almost always combine the two together) to any patient who purchases any other product or service. Additionally, if we hold a seminar or any other promotional event, we entice people to attend by offering free microderm/chem peel to all registrants. It takes very little time, and limited resources, to perform these procedures. And it gets people into our facility, gives us a chance to evaluate, speak with, and get to know them. Established and new patients alike can then be assessed for possible further interventions.

Even though these treatments are free, we never want the patient to feel rushed or feel less special just because they’re getting a free treatment. Taking your time now will pay off in dividends later on, when more lucrative procedures are scheduled.

Most importantly, our patients feel like they have received more value for their dollars, and it keeps them coming back.

In summary, service and value will trump lower prices in most markets and situations. Consider if it might be valuable for your facility.

Facebook Advertising For Your Cosmetic Practice - Results From A 3 Day Trial

Facebook marketing for your cosmetic practice: Is it worth advertising your clinic on Facebook?

I've advertised with facebook before and thought it to be somewhat useful.  I liked how it didn't waste paper.  I already think there's too much waste in this world.  But at the same time, these online ads don't sit around for a long time like some advertisements in physical print. This time, I decided I was going to try a 3 day experiment and see if I thought facebook ads were worth the investment.

Advertising format on facebook

The ad format I chose was one of those ads that show up on the side of the screen.  Currently, facebook has rotating ads in this area so that more ads could be shown. One downside to this method of advertising for facebook is that currently these ads don't show up on mobile devices. There are other ways of advertising on facebook which involve getting a status update to show up as sponsored notices - this does show up on mobile devices in the standard newstream (which is essentially the main page of facebook).  The reason I didn't choose this format for myself was that I couldn't customize the audience reach as much as I could if I had chosen one of the ads on the sides.  Thus I chose the side ads. Then I also chose the link to be that of my own facebook page for my practice rather than my own webpage. This means that when they click on the ad, they will be directed to my facebook page.

I made a few ads that were very similar but they would bid through the facebook system via different methods. One was a pay per click and the other was pay per view. Then I also added a few different pictures - one was our logo and the other was the picture of our plastic surgeon (my wife).

Intended audience

I narrowed my audience to women, age 20-50, located within 50 miles of my practice's city, and not associated with my facebook page.

Budget

I assigned a budget of $50 a day to be spent per on all the ads that I had created (pay per click, pay per view, picture of logo, and picture of surgeon), and the ad was to run for 3 days.  Thus I spent $150 on this brief ad campaign with facebook.

What was I advertising?

My wife normally charges $200 for breast related consultations.  She decided for the month of October to charge $25 instead, since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

What did I get out of this facebook advertising campaign?

I got 20 more new members on my facebook page.  Sometimes these members are called "fans."  I think these are potentially new patients in the future.

More importantly, I got 3 calls which all turned into consultations. These were 3 calls that could be tracked back to directly seeing this advertisement on facebook. There were other consultations that booked as a result of seeing free status updates on our facebook; these consultations were not counted as part of this experiment. 

Was it worth it?

It was worth it to me. $150 for 20 new facebook members and 3 consultations in 3 days.  The immediate measure of the worth of this advertising campaign would be the conversion rate of our practice. If even one of the 3 consultations turns into a surgery.  It would have covered the $150 expense of the advertisement.  I stopped the advertisement because we didn't have any other spots available in October for any more consultations.

There's so many other strategies one could employ to get more patients. The $50 limit per day x 3 days was my self imposed limit. I can imagine that others could set a $200 per day limit and run the ads for a month. Furthermore, one could advertise via the promoted (non-free) status updates which then would have a broader reach, but I would rather narrow down my audience to women only, age bracket, etc.   I'm sure that facebook would welcome more aggressive strategies. I have advertised several times with Facebook before, but it got somewhat addicting and I found myself being happy to spend more and more money as I saw the clicks roll in. In many respects it felt like tracking stocks with graphs that facebook provides. I thought I'd try a disciplined approach this time and I'm happy to share the experience here.

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Plastic Surgeon Allegedly Posted Nude Photos of Clients With Names

Six women in St. Louis have filed a lawsuit against a plastic surgeon who allegedly posted nude photos online of their torsos before and after surgery with their names attached to the images.

Is you website putting you at risk?

From an  ABC Morning story

Six women in St. Louis have filed a lawsuit against a plastic surgeon who allegedly posted nude photos online of their torsos before and after surgery with their names attached to the images. The women say this was done without their consent or knowledge.

The before and after photos appeared in Google images if the women's names were searched or if the doctor's name was searched, according Neil Bruntrager, the attorney representing all of the women. He said that if a viewer hovered the curser over the image, the woman's name would appear below the photo.

"Some of these women have public positions—lawyers, teachers, CPAs—all kinds of people who would be searched," Bruntrager said. "They were horrified. Every one of them has said, 'I'm embarrassed. I'm humiliated.'"

Here's what probably happened.

Images on the web use something called an 'Alt Tag' (alt = alternative) that gives information to search engines since they can't tell what images are of. These are often used when building a web site to categorize and 'tag' images so that whoever is building the website can tell what they're looking.

Hover over some of the images in the righ column and you'll see examples of Alt Tags in action.

In this case, the before and after pictures were 'labeled' with the names of the patients.... probably not intentional but it does make the women identifyable and the search engines will pick this up.

Make sure that this is not you.

Why Medical Spas Fail Reason #3: Poor Telephone Conversion

First impressions mean a lot.  And because the telephone represents most people’s first impression of your aesthetic practice, it could mean everything–if they don’t love what they hear, they’ll hang up and keep calling around till they find someplace that they will love.  And if a caller is not interested in what they hear within the first 30 seconds, you’ve lost them for good!

You as the owner of the aesthetic practice have paid far too much in advertising dollars to hope your receptionist does a good job over the phone.  You can’t leave anything to chance, you could easily see all of your precious advertising money go right down the drain!  You need to convert a high percentage of prospective callers into scheduled consultation appointments.

How you answer the caller’s first question will set the tone for the rest of the conversation…and maybe the rest of the caller’s relationship with your aesthetic practice.   Most people who call in will ask you one or two questions either about the offer, the practitioner, prices, location, etc. They ask these questions because they don’t know you, and they don’t know what else to ask. These inquiries are the lifeblood of your aesthetic practice, and must be handled properly, using appropriate scripts.

Remember that your objective is to sell the appointment, not to sell a service over the phone. Try not to veer away from the script and get into a detailed discussion of your services.  What is important is to defer the caller while keeping their trust.  Tell the prospect, “The consultant will explain all of the details to you after she’s had a chance to meet with you.”  The following principles are essential to converting callers to scheduled appointments at your aesthetic practice.

Principal #1:  Your Receptionists Must Be Knowledgeable Regarding Your Services

How much does your receptionist know about the aesthetic services offered at your practice? If the answer is, “very little” then you need to make some radical changes in how you view your telephone help.  Whether for good or bad, callers expect your staff to be knowledgable about the services you offer.  Callers make a judgment on the quality of your services by the knowledge of your front desk staff.

If you have brochures on all of your treatments or if you have a website that explains your treatments, then you need to have your telephone receptionists study this information and TEST them on their knowledge of this information.  When someone asks them about how IPL works, they need to be able to provide a concise answer that addresses the question yet sets the stage for the caller to receive a scheduled consultation at your clinic.  I recommend that you establish weekly education meetings that require your staff to read material and take quizzes on the material.  You can get your staff involved by assigning a new staff member to develop the weekly quiz for the material you will be reviewing.

In addition to informational knowledge, there is no better way to help your receptionists become champions of your services but by receiving the treatments themselves.  This allows them to relate personal experiences of your treatments and help you pre-sell over the phone and book consultation appointments.

Principal #2  You Must Track and Record Your Telephone Calls.

You like your receptionists, but how do you know they are doing a good job?  Technology exists that allows you to record all incoming telephone calls into your practice and audit the responses your receptionists are giving to your prospective clients.  You can track your appointment conversion rates and assess how well your practice is doing in converting callers to appointments.  There are a number of services that allow you to audit your telephone calls, including:  WhosCalling[.]com.

Principal #3  You Must Incentivize Your Receptionists to Book Consultations

If you are converting at least 50% of all prospective callers into scheduled appointments, this is a good start, however it is only the beginning.  Your goal should be to continually improve your consultation booking percentage and reward your receptionists for doing a good job.  How do you incentivize your receptionists to book more consultations?  At our clinics one strategy that works very well is to pay your receptionist a base pay of $10-12 per hour and reward them for each new consultation they book during their shift.  This could be an incentive of $2 per consultation booked.  If the receptionist books 7 consultations during her shift, this results in an extra $14 they have made for the day and has increased their hourly pay from a base pay of $10 to $12 per hour to $12 to $14 per hour.

There are two caveats to this strategy:  (1) The Receptionist is in charge of tracking her own booked appointments in a log sheet if she wishes to be paid this bonus.  This makes your job of tracking a bit easier because the receptionist knows she must track the calls and report which consultations she booked for the day.  (2) In order for the receptionist to receive the $2 bonus per consultation booked, the booked consultation must actually show up for their appointment and receive a consultation.  This ensures the receptionist is setting up quality appointments and not just putting names on the schedule to receive extra pay.

Principle #4  The Receptionist Must Engage the Prospect. 

Help the prospect participate in the conversation.  When I consult with aesthetic practices, the biggest problem I see is the receptionist passively answering questions posed by the caller. When the caller is done with his / her questions, often times the receptionist doesn’t know what to do or say!  Nothing could be further from what MUST be done to keep your medspa running profitably.

The key to success in converting an incoming inquiry call into a booked appointment is to establish value and win their trust.  You accomplish this through your ability to ENGAGE the prospect right up front in the call.  Simply put, this means that you must help the prospect participate in the conversation so that they can feel comfortable asking their questions.

Listen Attentively.  The key to engaging the prospect is to listen attentively to them.  Be certain that you have heard what the prospect has said.  Restate their idea in your own words to be sure you have it right, and to let the other person know that you understand.  Make them feel comfortable asking questions.

Establish a relationship up-front.  If you answer the prospect’s questions directly, without engaging them in at least a brief conversation about their needs and concerns, they will still feel unsure or suspicious, and often will be reluctant to set an appointment.  That’s because you haven’t established a relationship with the prospect up front.

Be a good conversationalist.  When you “break the ice” and make them feel that they can trust you, they will feel much more comfortable about coming to see you.  Breaking the ice will enable you to set appointments a much higher percentage of the time.  Thus you must have a sincere interest in the people who are calling.  You must be a very good conversationalist while being sales-oriented in booking an appointment for the prospect.  And you must know about your aesthetic practice’s services, the practitioners and technicians and their backgrounds and certifications.

Ask open-ended questions.  They key to being a successful telephone call handler is to ask good, open-ended questions.   Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered yes or no, and tend to lead to a long reply on the part of the prospect.  Examples include:

1. How long have you been considering this type of treatment?
2. How long have you had this problem?
3. When did you first notice the problem?
4. What type of cosmetic services are you interested in?
5. Does it seem to be getting worse?

Principle #5  Be Enthusiastic.

Be enthusiastic and caring in all that you say.  If it helps you to get the right attitude, think of the caller as a close friend who needs your help.

1. Smile when you talk.  If may sound trite, but smile when you talk – this actually helps you to transmit a positive “vocal transmission.”  Top converters smile when they speak.
2. Vary your tone and pitch.  Use the range of your voice to be louder, softer, faster, and slower – as it would sound naturally.  A monotone conversation will not sell anything.
3. Develop a Strong Belief in Your Aesthetic Practice’s Services.  People like to be convinced.  They want to hear how “wonderful” something is, and they hear that through your enthusiasm, your glowing reports, and your personal endorsements.  Become a user of your aesthetic practice’s treatments so that you can tell clients your own first-hand experiences.

After answering questions, schedule the appointment. After you’ve answered a question, assume the call is convinced, and go right into setting the appointment. If the caller has another question, he or she will ask, so you don’t need to say, “Do you have any more questions?” That will only make them think of one.

Principle #6  Be Prepared With Your Scripts.

• Be Ready to Talk When You Answer the Phone.    It’s more important to be comfortable and ready to talk with a caller when you answer the phone than it is to answer on the first ring.  Be sure you’re at your desk with your script in front of you.
• No one on hold for more than 30 seconds.  If you have too many calls to handle at once, and you have to put one (or several) on hold, make sure you come back at least once every 30 seconds to tell the caller that you’ll be right with them.  Studies show that after about 30 seconds on hold attention and interest falls dramatically.  If this is not possible, ask for their phone number so that you can call them back.
• Know the scripts given to you by your aesthetic practice.  Know the scripts, but put it in your own words so that it feels natural to you.  Keep the call conversational, like you’re talking to a friend.  Speak the words cheerfully, as if welcoming guests to a party you’re giving.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.  Go over the scenarios many times, both by yourself and by role-playing with someone else.  You may feel self-conscious at first, but that is exactly why you are rehearsing.  When the words become very natural to you, you are ready to take on real calls.
• Understand what you’re saying.  You must understand every single word and concept, otherwise it really will sound like you’re reading a script.  Discuss and define every term before you talk to anyone.

Principle #7  Show Empathy.

Mirror the prospect’s mannerisms.  This means matching their tone and pace.  If they speak slowly, you do the same.  If they speak at a fast pace, you speed up slightly.

• Try to ease their fears.  Remember that many people are a little intimidated when they have to call a new place.  Just like you, they want to make a good impression. So remember that they might already be uncomfortable so do what you can to ease their fears.
• Listen to the prospect’s concerns (emotional hot buttons) and give them what they need as a solution.  Never forget that you are talking to a real person.  Though you will hear the same questions, objections and concerns over and over, they are expressing them for the first time.  Each call must be considered an individual event, not just a piece of your day.  Each prospect you talk to must be treated as an individual as well.
• Show that you care about their concerns.  For instance, if the caller says, “I have to wait when I have an appointment” you can reply, “I know what you mean.   It makes me feel like my time doesn’t matter.”
• Learn the name of your caller and use that name frequently.  It’ll make him or her feel more comfortable.
• Listen carefully and empathetically to your caller, instead of just waiting until he or she stops speaking so that you can talk again.  Here’s a handy listening checklist:

1.      Think like the caller

2.      Don’t interrupt

3.      Listen for ideas, not words

4.      Interject occasionally, to indicate understanding of what the caller is saying

5.      Turn off personal worries

6.      React to ideas, not the person (you may not like the personality of the caller)

7.      Don’t’ jump to conclusions

Principal #8:  Follow a Basic Script

Below is a script we train our receptionists on and we expect them to study and become fluent in speaking.  By following this script it will dramatically increase your appointment conversion rate.  Please note the bold areas, these questions are critical.

Receptionist:  Thank you for calling (Practice Name), this is __________________ how may I help you?

Caller:  Yes, I’m calling about_________________________________.

If this is an established client, assist the client immediately with their question or need.  If this is a prospective client, proceed with the following dialogue:

Receptionist: That’s great!  Thank you for calling us.  I’ll be glad to answer that question for you.  May I ask your name first?

Prospect:  My name is:__________________.You get their name here so that you can use it to address them throughout the conversation.  This makes your conversation more personal.

Receptionist:  Thank you (prospect’s name). By the way, how did you hear about us?

Prospect:  From your (newspaper ad/ kiosk / passed by / other)

Receptionist:  (Prospect’ name), what was it that made you decide to call us?

Prospect:  (I’m tired of my wrinkles, I am tired of my unwanted facial hair, my friend spoke highly of you, etc.) – Draw them into additional conversation with this answer.

Receptionist:  Thanks for your help, (prospect’s name).  Okay, you wanted to find out more about (the reason for the prospect’s call) Example (laser hair removal price for the upper lip)  YOU NOW ANSWER THEIR QUESTION.

All calls lead to an appointment

We would be happy to get all of your questions answered about:_________, this normally begins with a free consultation at our center.    What day of the week is best for you?

Are mornings, afternoons or evenings best?

I’m not sure if that will work.  If you don’t mind, may I put you on hold?  I’ll see what arrangements I can make.

Thanks for holding.  It looks like I was able to squeeze you in on (Day) at (time).

In summary, having a strategy behind your telephone answering and training your staff well, you can dramatically increase your appointment conversion rates and your clinics profitability.  With no plan in place, you are leaving too much to chance and throwing precious dollars down the drain!

Step up your marketing game inside the clinic; set-up a waiting room video to convert to sales.

Why Medical Spas Fail Reason #2: Poor Advertising or Not Enough Advertising

Advertising is one of the biggest challenges facing an aesthetic practice because it is such a moving target.

There are so many variables that determine a successful advertising campaign.  In addition, what may generate a response at one point stops working eventually and you need to create a new strategy.  How do you know if you have “poor advertising?”  Where the “rubber hits the road” is your Return on Investment (ROI).  As a general rule of thumb, for every ONE dollar you spend, you NEED to get at least FOUR dollars back, if not more (a 4 to 1 ROI).  Why is this?  The key reason is that you STILL have all of your other overhead to cover.  If your advertising just pays for itself (a 1:1 ROI), then you will quickly be out of business.  Let’s use a simple example.  If I am investing $1,000 per month in Google Adwords, my expectation is to get at least $4,000 back in CASH revenue for my practice from that advertising expense (a 4:1 ROI).  If I just got $1,000 back (a 1:1 ROI), then all I’ve done is paid for the advertising and I still have all of my other overhead to cover (including those leases on equipment that I paid TOP DOLLAR for).

If you find an ad source is generating a 4:1 response, then you can often RAMP UP this advertising and generate more dollars.  What you begin to do is eliminate underperforming forms of advertising and invest MORE money in advertising strategies that are working. Whatever you’re advertising, you need to make sure you have enough margin built into the service you are advertising that it will be profitable.  You could sure advertise a special on $10 facials, however it may be difficult to make a good ROI on this type of service.  I always like to advertise the BIG GUNs services such as laser lipolysis, Thermage, Accent, etc.  These are services in which there is enough margin to make it worth your while and will help ensure a high ROI.

The greatest advice I have to give in this area is this:  YOU NEED TO COPIUSLY TRACK YOUR REFERRAL SOURCES.  Every call that comes in and every consultation that is booked needs to be assigned the correct referral source.  In our clinics, we require that when booking the consultation, a required field is to ask the caller how they heard about our clinic.  This referral source is fresh in the callers mind and it is now locked into the client’s information.  Our software program allows us to track how much revenue we generate by each referral source.  In this manner, it allows us to make intelligent decisions on advertising.  If advertising is not working (at least a 4:1 ROI), we pull the plug quickly.  Forget about “brand building” which is what the big boys do such as Coca Cola and Microsoft, we want and need DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING to stay in business.  The key definition to direct response advertising is advertising that is designed to do one thing:  GET YOUR PHONE TO RING AND BRING MONEY THROUGH THE DOOR.

Not every prospective client calling your practice books an appoint, so there are now excellent ways to track EVERY referral source.  There are internet services available that allow you to assign individual telephone numbers, including toll free numbers to EVERY advertising piece you broadcast to your audience.  This allows you to capture key information such as:  (a) Total Calls Generated From Every Ad You Publish by day of the week, by the hour, and a myriad of other criteria.  In addition, since you know how much you are spending on your advertising, these services will also calculate your COST PER CALL.  As an example, if you are paying $1,000 per month for newspaper advertising and the total number of telephone calls you received from that ad source is 20 calls, then ($1,000 / 20 calls = $50 per call).  From my experience if you can get your cost per call below $50, then you are doing something right to get your telephone to ring.

What I also like about these services is you can actually record the telephone calls coming in to your practice.  How is your receptionist answering the phone?  How are her techniques?  Is she effectively booking 60 to 70% of prospective clients into booked appointments? Does she have an accurate grasp of the technology to answer basic questions?  Call tracking services such as these become INVAULABLE TO YOUR PRACTICE.  The reality is this.  You’re spending A LOT of money to get your phone to ring, you need to make sure you are capitalizing on this.

Since most practices don’t track their advertising, they are constantly shooting in the dark and trying new things without knowing what is truly working, except anecdotally.  One bad experience with a large outlay of advertising dollars without a lot of money in return can cause the doctor to retreat in fear and not do any advertising at all or very little advertising.  This becomes a downward spiral if you stop investing in advertising altogether.  It becomes a death sentence if you cease to invest in new leads for your practice.

External Advertising

External advertising represents advertising to people who are not currently your clients. Traditional forms of advertising have become less effective such as newspaper and the yellow pages.  Subscribership continues to fall away as is evident with several large newspapers going out of business.  When is the last time you used a yellow page phone book to find what you’re looking for?  The reality is the internet is completely replacing most of these traditional forms of advertising.

From my experience, you can save a lot of money by utilizing Internet Advertising.  There are several courses online that teach you how to do your own Google Adwords Advertising.  If you want to save significant money in the long run, you should develop this expertise in-house versus outsourcing this to an outside company.  In addition, many new internet mediums have exploded into the marketplace such as Facebook.  These new mediums have generated significant leads for the clinics I have associated with and are worth investigating.

Internal Advertising

Internal advertising represents advertising to your own client database. We all know that it costs a lot more to obtain a new client that to retain one.  If we assume you are providing the best possible service to retain your clients, the missing piece in most practices is developing a system to advertise to your own clients and keep them coming back.  If you have clients who love your clinic and your services, they welcome your offers and they want to hear from you! Continue to send them special offers available to “established clients” only to make them feel special.  Your ROI on your warm list of clients will be substantially higher than mailing to a “cold” list of people you are trying to obtain as new clients.  It is not unusual to receive a 10 to 1 ROI or higher with this group.

The amazing part of this, your advertising in this area doesn’t have to be expensive.  It can be a very simple letter or postcard or even telephone call.  Mailing out a simple letter that you mail-merge with your database personalizes your contact with the client and helps them feel unique.  You can promote new services and aesthetic devices you have recently acquired and offer “members only” pricing your database.  Emailing your clients is also good, but I have found my response rate drops off too dramatically to just rely on emails alone.  Emails should be coupled with a physical mailing such as a letter.

There are also services available that allow you to upload your list of clients to an online database.  You can then record a single telephone call and broadcast this single message to all of your clients!  It is an amazing tool that can really add a personal touch to your practice and leverage your time.  The doctor would record the call, thanking the client for their business and informing them of new services and offers available.  The message is only left on voice mail so the client doesn’t know it was a recording.  It is an exceptional service and I highly recommend it.  It ends up costing you approximatley 0.06 cents per phone number.

Get more patients with better advertising, find out how you can attract more patients in your practice or clinic.

Best Examples Of Bikini Line Hair Removal Advertising

It doesn't take a lot of thought to see where this is going. Sex still sells.

These ads are just a couple Wilkinson's ads for their bikini line razor that ran in the UK. I'm not sure they could get these on the air in the US and no reports here about how effecive they were, but they certainly grab your attention.

And another.

Bikini line laser hair removal is, if anything, growing in popularity. (Underarm / bikini line / lower legs are probably the top three. )

Here is A clever and funny print ad around the bikini line from Veet and a number of other bikini line ads for various products.

Medical Spa Advertising: Keeping it Legal - PART 2

State and federal regulations centering on medical spa advertising can often be daunting to navigate through.  How can you make sure your ads are within the “legal” realm?   Read on through Part 2 of Medical Spa Advertising - Keeping it Legal. 

Read: Medical Spa Advertising: Keeping it legal Part 1

The ever increasing number of State and Federal laws that can pertain to the use of photographs of patients has triggered a lot of questions from the medical community.  Below are some frequently asked questions and answers from Michael Sacopulos, General Counsel for Medical Justice Services.  Note these are general answers and are not State specific.  You should consult local licensed counsel to address laws, regulations and prohibitions specific to the State in which you practice.

Question #5: What concerns should I have if I want to implement an e-campaign to my database?

Answer: You will not be surprised to learn that there are specific Federal laws related to the use of e-mail campaigns for commercial purposes.  Specifically, the CAN-Spam Act sets forth the Federal requirements for those wishing to promote goods and services by e-mail.   Before you start to send those e-mails, check out the Federal Trade Commission’s website on this act:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/tubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm  

Question #6: What should I know before I start a Facebook account?

Answer: From the legal perspective, information that you place on Facebook is treated exactly the same as information that you would place on your practice’s website.  However, some have found Facebook to have a more intimate feel.  People tend to make statements and do things on Facebook that they might not otherwise do on a typical web page.  We have all read the accounts of individuals losing a job because of some posting on Facebook.  I recommend that you keep two separate Facebook accounts.  You may have one for your practice and one for personal use.  I believe it to be a mistake to mix your personal and professional activities in one Facebook account. 

Question #7: Can I give a referral patient a gift card to use towards services?

Answer: Yes.  Few problems arise from giving a gift card or a discount to a patient that has been referred to your practice.  It is more difficult to compensate patients for the promotion of your practice.  As we discussed above, should you wish to compensate a patient for the use of his or her before and after photographs on your website, this fact must be disclosed. 

Question #8: If all these are legal requirements, why don’t more doctors get prosecuted?

Answer: This sounds like a practical question from a risk taker.  The answer to this question rests in the limited resources for enforcement.  Most people driving above the speed limit don’t receive a ticket, but it is clearly a possibility every time someone exceeds the speed limit.  One more word of caution: The penalties for violating some of the rules and regulations described above can be quite harsh.  Your smartest move is to try to comply with all rules and regulations regarding online advertising.                 

One final word of caution about online advertising and the use of patient images…Many professional societies have ethical guidelines that members are to follow when advertising.  These guidelines may be stricter than State or Federal laws.  The AAFPRS has some well reasoned guidelines that should be known by members prior to initiating an advertising campaign.  Members of the ACS should consult that society’s Code of Professional Conduct which can be found at http://www.facs.org/fellows_info/statements/stoprin.html. The AMA has an extensive document entitled “Principles Governing Advertising in Publications of the American Medical Association” which provides guidance.  This document can be found at http:/pubs.ama-assn.org/misc/adprinciples.pdf .

Mr. Sacopulos is a practicing attorney in Indiana.  This article reflects his opinions and perspectives on advertising and legal issues set forth in this article. 

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Medical Spa Photographs & Testimonials: Keeping it Legal

Medical Spa ads are often peppered with photos (highlighting “real” patients and models) and glowing testimonials.   

Images of more than ideal treatment results from Botox, laser hair removal, fillers, chemical peels, photofacials grace local rags to targeted online ad placements…okay, you get the picture. 

A recent article stated that there are now more medical spas in the US than Starbucks!  Now, that makes for a very competitive market. 

As you strategically, aggressively advertise your Medical Spa – are you aware of the legal guidelines & do you know how to keep your advertising legal? 

The ever increasing number of State and Federal laws that can pertain to the use of photographs of patients has triggered a lot of questions from the medical community.  Below are some frequently asked questions and answers from Michael Sacopulos, General Counsel for Medical Justice Services.  Note these are general answers and are not State specific.  You should consult local licensed counsel to address laws, regulations and prohibitions specific to the State in which you practice.

Question #1:

When do I need to use the label “MODEL” on a photograph?

Answer:

The term “model” should be used when the photograph is displaying the results of a procedure or procedures not performed by the physician or practice (displaying the photograph).  Here the term “model” is being used in a general representative fashion and is not being used to display a specific practice or physician’s professional services/results. 

Physicians should secure a written release from any individual, patient, or model before using a photograph of that individual, patient, or model in any way.  The release should be specific to the photographs being used.   The release should also specify the way or ways that the photographs may be used.  For example, a release “for educational purposes”, will not cover internet marketing.  Do not attempt to get a release signed that covers “any and all future images, photographs or depictions…”  Courts have ruled that releases can go stale.  Finally, it is best for the release to specify the conditions and manner by which an individual may revoke the release at a later date.  

Question #2:

I hear the use of testimonials has regulations. Please explain.

Answer:

There are several sources of regulations over the use of patient testimonials.  Some state licensing boards greatly restrict or prohibit testimonials.  Each state has different standards; some flexible, some very restrictive.  The Federal Trade Commission also has rules that apply to the posting of testimonials.  In general, a physician should make sure that the testimonial is accurate (what the patient really said and not paraphrased).

Question #3:

What does HIPAA have to say in its marketing regulations about the use of “before and after” photographs and testimonials?

Answer:

HIPAA in general protects patient privacy.  Although the act does many things, it would prohibit the use of before/after photographs without a patient’s permission.  However there is nothing in the act that would prevent the use of accurate before and after photographs with a patient’s prior approval.  As always, this approval should be documented.  Finally, it should be made clear that a patient can withdraw his or her approval to use the photographs at a later date and that the physician must comply with this subsequent withdrawal of approval.

Question #4:

What is this I am hearing about The Federal Trade Commission in regards to “results not typical” and endorsements?

Answer:

Earlier this year, The Federal Trade Commission set forth new guidelines for the use of testimonials and advertising that apply to many areas including healthcare.  In the past, The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against certain weight loss products when these products were advertised by an individual claiming extreme weight loss.  The FTC’s position was that it is a deceptive trade practice to show an individual has lost 100 lbs. when this result is not at all representative of a typical patient’s outcome.  In this situation, the term “results not typical,” would need to be used.  Under the new regulations, we should expect that the FTC will take a similar approach.  My discussions with FTC officials have led me to believe that the Commission acknowledges that health care results vary.  The Commission’s goal is to see that potential consumers are not misled by advertising.  It is not advisable to select a statistical outlier to be representative and then try to protect it by adding the term” results may vary.”  Under the new FTC rules, you must also disclose the fact if an individual has received compensation (of any amount) or discounted services in exchange for providing a testimonial or endorsement. 

Mr. Sacopulos is a practicing attorney in Indiana.  This article reflects his opinions and perspectives on advertising and legal issues set forth in this article. 

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Your Medical Spa & Laser Clinic Advertising Sucks

I hate to tell you this, but your advertising sucks.

That's alright. Your competitors advertising sucks too.

In the last ten years that I've been around medical spas, laser clincs, dermatologist practices and plastic surgery centers, I've seen a lot of sucky advertising.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It's more than just a little appropriate if you apply it to the marketing and advertisng of cosmetic practices. After all, the're generally small businesses in which the owner is in there working all day making the payments. It's no wonder that with; no training, no resources, no access, and no working knowlegde of how to really market and advertise... the typical medspa or plastic surgeon relies mostly on the 'vendors' to try to get some littel bit of name recognition.

And the vendors love to help you (if you're producing for them) by giving you a hundred brochures or postcards that tout 'their' product.

And docs are tripping all over themselves to try to get this stuff.

So, we're going to be doing something about that. We're going to to offer some actual advertising and marketing umph that a few of the smarter docs on the site will be able to take advantage of.

We're going to be launching a marketing and advertising portal for plastic surgeons, dermatologists, medical spa and laser clinics.

We've been working on it for the last six months already.

It's still about a month away but I've been pretty excited about it and thought it about time to show a little leg.

This new portal will be designed specifically around providing the highest quality marketing and advertising for cosmetic medical practices. The idea will be to provide entire, integrated campaigns that will give you the ability to have the same look and feel across your entire presence; business cards, postcards, brochures, flyers, posters, emails... all of it.

Sure, there might be another clinic somewhere that's using the same theme, but what will you care? You'll be paying pennies on the dollar for what you'd pay to have this work done exclusively for you and you'll be able to look a lot bigger than you are.

I may be jumping the gun just a little in this but, damn, I've seen the stuff and it rocks!

Oh, and by the way, this stuff wasn't put together by some teenagers or housewives with photoshop. We've scored some fantastic talent, from art directors to writers who have worked on huge accounts.

So, there are a few things left to do, but it's all coming together. Stay tuned.

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Medical Spa MD Members get a Podium patient review marketing account and save $1,257

Protect your reputation. Get new patients. Medical Spa MD Members receive a special, full service Podium account that includes: no setup fee (save $300), a 10% discount forever (save $330/year) and on-demand patient review marketing training for your entire staff ($597 value).  This offer is not available anywhere else.

Groupon & Medical Spa Offers

Groupon is gaining traction in a number of cities and doing a fair amount of business if their testimonials are a real indication of what's going on.

I received an offer last week from one of the local medical spas in the area for 50% off of some general day spa treatments (facials and massage).

I can see that you might generate some real traffic by offering high demand services like laser hair removal, but they might end up loosing you money since Groupon also takes half of all sales generated by the offer.

Is ayone having real luck generating traffic with services like groupon? Has anyone tried it?

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Medical Spa MD Members get a Podium patient review marketing account and save $1,257

Protect your reputation. Get new patients. Medical Spa MD Members receive a special, full service Podium account that includes: no setup fee (save $300), a 10% discount forever (save $330/year) and on-demand patient review marketing training for your entire staff ($597 value).  This offer is not available anywhere else.

Medical Spa MD: New Partners & Services in 2010.

We've had some significant growth over the last while and that's enabled (and motiviated) us to look at how we can provide the most opportunity to our physician community.

We're currently buiding out relationships and adding additional offerings that include: strategic partnerships with other content providers, SEO +SEM, marketing & advertising outsourcing, training products, IPL & cosmetic laser classifieds, additional medspa MD guest post authors and more. The power behind this is the strength of our independant physician community aggregated in one place. Because we have so many physicians, we can harness the buying power of the entire group and businesses can provide pricing and services that they just can't afford when selling individually.

I'll be posting on these individually but here's an overview of some of the partnerships and additional services in the works.

Medical Spa MD Select Partners

We have a number of relationships with other cosmetic medical resources that we're working that include websites, magazines, and other vendors that meet our criteria for inclusion as a Medical Spa MD Partner. What's the criteria to be a Select Partner?

Medspa MDs Select Partners must offer significant value exclusivley to Medical Spa MD Members as a group and provide fantastic service and responsiveness to Members.

If you're a business you can apply to become a Medical Spa Select Partner here.

A New Site For Medical Marketing & Outsourcing

This new site will be all about outsourcing for cosmetic medical practices. Outsource your marketing, your advertising, your SEM (Search Engine Marketing), article writing, direct mail and postcards... all that stuff.

• Outsourcing
• SEO & SEM: Directoy submissions, local search, backlinking.
• Marketing & Advertising
• Article Writing & Submission
• Direct Mail: Postcards & Mailers

You'll be able to get whatever you need oursourced at a fraction of the time and expense that you'd be expending to source and and manage it. We'll probably start out fairly small and focus on a couple of services that we can already deliver exceptionally well and use ourselves.

Medical Spa Writers + Guest Posts

One of the easiest ways for you to get some exposure for your practice or company is simply to write a guest post here on Medspa MD. We're actively looking for physicians and providers who can offer real value to our community. You'll recieve a valuable link to your practice or business and some welcom traffic.

Submit a guest post onMedical Spa MD.

Medical Spa Products

The Advanced IPL & Laser Training Manual and Advanced Medical Spa Aesthetics Training Manual & Study Course are fantastic resources to train and educate your existing staff, and new hires. Paula's done an absolutely amazing job of getting everything your staff needs in one place. I only wish I had this way back when. If you'r training process consists of having new hires follow you around... your life just got a lot easier.

Used IPL & Laser Classified Ads

Looking to sell your cosmetic laser or IPL? Looking to get a killer deal on one? Medical Spa MDs classified listings are where you'll want to start. (It's anticdotal but I think we've passed the $1m mark.)

Teeth Whitening

We were approched by a company providing custom teeth whitening services for companies and organizations as fund-raisers and asked if we'd allow them to sell whosale teeth whitening kits, pens and services to our Members. We've tentatively said yes and are trying out their services ourselves to see what we think.

These are exacly the same services that dentists offer and include taking impressions, making custom whitening trays and delivering them back to the clinic. Clinics would buy these wholesale. The markup would be in the 100%-300% range I'm guessing.

This could be a fantasic add-on since the #1 cosmetic service that people want is actually teeth whitening.

Laser Repair, Parts, & Service

Another interesting deal that I'm not at liberty to discuss quite yet but we're looking to take on some reilable partners to provide IPL & laser repair services for Members. If you've every had an IPL hand peice rebuilt by the manufacturer you'll know what I mean here. (Of course we'd love to have good technology providers as a partner too.)

Anyway, that's just a few of the directions we're moving in. I'll update this post as we get some of these services up and running. If you want to make sure you're aware of your options and our Partners offerings, make sure you're a Medical Spa MD Member.

Do it yourself Botox: Are these people for real?

Wow. For whatever reason there's a lot of traffic on the do it yourself Botox thread: Fake Botox or not, Discount Medspa is going to jail.

Evidently there are a lot of Botox self injectors flocking to this site to comment on the story of the woman who was selling some form of Botox replacement online, and then publishing videos about how to inject yourself.

Certainly illegal, the site, Discount Medspa has been shut down. My guess is that there are a host of legal troubles ahead for the owner.

You'd think that people would be a little smarter than to inject themselves with Botox or anlything else they just bought online, but I can't tell what's going on with comments like this:

Excuse me Mr.RealMD you are getting the same stuff we are in a bottle that is sealed in a pure form un constituted. Could you PLEASE tell me how do you really honestly know what you’re injecting into your patient besides reading the Botox label across the bottle? You didn't package the bottles you received! and I am more than sure you didn’t have anything to do with the making of the batches of Botox either. All you did was received your order, took it out the boxes and stored it in your freezer upon delivery of your shipment and used it when it was time to inject your patients.

The injection part of receiving Botox IS very important and for you to have the nerve to say I quote “You guys don't really understand the issues involved with the actual preparation of the toxin before it is placed in the bottle. You are focusing on injection technique and the fact that you want to save some money and you think doctors make money off of you. You don't really understand that if this preparation is not authentic Botox or authentic Dysport you are risking your lives. “

Matter of fact Mr. RealMD we are!!! Focusing on the injection technique do you think were crazy do you know if you don’t focus on the injection technique that we could really damage ourselves and probably end up looking like some paralyzed freaks walking around, and you ARE risking your life if you dont know how to properly inject the Botox also so please dont play down that aspect of the procedure.. And I don’t understands you when you say authentic how do YOU know your trusting source is authentic I get the same effect as when you give it to me, so how do you know if the effects are the same the wrinkles are gone and the face muscle are numb for a 3-4 month period.

So I ask you again if the effects and the outcome of the Botox injections are the same how can YOU know that your (BOTOX) is the real thing and I am taking a chance with my Botox. To be honest we all including yourself is taking a chance we really do not know what this is doing in the long run, but our quest for the fountain of youth is keeping us on this same road ,the road of trying to keep our youth as long as we can and as safe as we can accomplish it, and that is including myself.

Dee Medspa is number one

Laurie the psycho just emailed me saying she is opening back up fr business and just taking time off for the Holidays. LOL,like we don't know why. She must be nuts thinking we don't know what happened. She must want to go to prison that bad. I'm sticking with mybasicsonline.net. It's cheaper and better from what I can tell.

here is what her email says.....

In a message dated 12/2/2009 3:33:32 P.M. Central Standard Time, discountmedspa@charter.net writes:

We at Discount Medspa have been working to make sure we are here for you for years to come! Please be patient and we will contact you with our new details soon!

There has been lots of media attention to our site and we will be taking some time off to ejoy the Holidays and Relocate. I appreciate all of you and your support during this difficult time, and promise to be available in the near future!

Dana

I’ve been a “self-injector “ for almost 3 years. I inject small amounts of filler frequently and thus have gained practical experience regarding my own face. I studied injection techniques for almost a year before I self-injected – I did not just jump into this, and I hope nobody else does too. My study resources came mostly from physician to physician professional videos, books and even my own injection doctor (past tense) from whom I asked questions and requested a mirror.

I stopped going to my supposedly “expert” filler doc because; 1) the outrageous fees he charged , 2) he didn’t seem to care about his patients at all – it really was about the money – he always charged me extra supposedly for time spent addressing my concerns -- so please don’t tell us docs actually care about us, 3) even though his credentials were impeccable, he is a “doc to doc injection teacher”, he left me very bruised and swollen almost every visit – something I have never done to myself. Thus I started ordering injectables off the Net and Laurie’s site was one of them.

I enjoyed the convenience, great prices, fabulous customer service, and knowing she and others had tried and tested her products (it would have been all over the news/net had someone been seriously harmed /disfigured from her products). Yes, I was very cautious and did a good deal of research regarding her company, her client results/feedback, products and her background before entering my first order.

While I was pleased with the products purchased from Laurie, I was troubled by her aggressive marketing of such and considered her business practice to be very deceptive (and I believe one of her charges are related to just that). This is where my concern with her company lied.

It irked me to see her market generic Chinese HAs as Sculptra (not even close), Restylane, and Juvederm. It also disturbed me to no end to see her market the permanent Chinese filler Amazingel as Artefill -- to even offer a permanent filler to potential first- timers is beyond belief crazy and extremely disturbing.

Yes, I will continue to self-inject, as most others will, as long as doctors remain money hungry and uncaring. But I close this with: buyer beware, do your homework/research (intensely), study anatomy/injection technique, buy pro videos, don’t let anyone tell you “anybody can do it, even a child”, research your product and don’t assume it’s what the seller is telling you it is.

It’s not as hard as the docs make it out to be, but don’t assume anything.

salome

Is this actually possible?