I have been contemplating on advertising on line buying specific search phrases on various search engines and possibly expanding my practice's presence on the facebook clinic. Has anyone done this and willing to share their experience on internet advertising?

Many thanks in advance.

Pay Per Click and other Search Engine Marketing campaigns can be incredibly beneficial to your Medical Spa. Those campaigns coupled with the other traditional marketing communication campaigns you are already running create holistic mechanisms (across mediums) to capture and/or retain customers. These campaigns also allow you to “take control” of your brand – extending the brand seamlessly and consistently – while allowing you to test what messages bring you the best results.

Before kicking off a Pay Per Click (PPC) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Campaigns -- take a look at your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) situation. Are you capitalizing on highest level of organic or un-paid traffic generated by your SEO tactics? How many unique visitors visit your site each month? How many visitors convert to consultations or appointments? What are your top keywords? How often do you optimize your site (e.g. content, image, video, design, indexing, etc. updates)?

The traffic generated by your site through SEO (as well as other campaigns) should be a benchmark or rather foundation for you to springboard from. Once you have a good idea of what those metrics are as formulate criteria on exactly how you wish to grow your practice for example: (1) increase number of consultations by X per month; (2) lower customer acquisition cost by x%; (3) increase total lifetime worth of customer to your Medical Spa; (4) retain X% of customers; (5) enter new market area). The criteria examples outlined serve as milestones of how PPC / SEM performance should be measured against spend or investment.

Too often, I see medical practices throwing hard earned money out-the-door on PPC and SEM campaigns (to the tune of $5K+ per month) without any true knowledge of how the spend is effecting their practice. Remember…with any third party provider it is your job to hold them accountable for results. The best way how is to gain as much knowledge as possible – in short, take control of your own destiny & don’t leave it solely in the hands of others.

Have thoughts I can share with you on how to utilize social media, such as Facebook Fan Page, to benefit your online reputation, SEO results, customer retention, customer referral campaign. Contact me via email should you want more information.

If you are placing ads on Facebook, you can certainly target by buyer / prospect demographics. Remember Facebook's terms along this vein: "any targeting of ads based on a user attribute, such as age, gender, location, or interest, must be directly relevant to the offer". Based on your post - this guideline does not seem to be an issue & I am certain you are utilizing this methodology maybe coupled with behavioral, psychoanalysis and other types of..true advertising "beauty" especially in the online / digital arenas.

Remember you can also create "corporate" pages and/or Fanpages for your business. The notable areas where social media can make good and prolonged impacts are: (1) member retention; (2) patient education (e.g. procedures, treatments); (3) communication of practice specials (e.g. Discounts, special hours of operations, holidays); and (4) member referral programs to just name a few.

As FYI, I also post under "Medical Justice" name.

Thanks. I am frustrated right now. I am on "that" line where working capital has not caught up with buying supplies, inventory and advertising. I always seem a few steps short and robbing not just Peter to pay Paul, but a few other disciples too. So when I do spend money on advertising it really has to have the potential for good ROI. I am always scared to put money on a pay per click thing (yes Alan I still have our "appointment" in my calender).

I am working independently, starting by doing mobile injections and have now started a "laser day" once a month with a rental company. I am doing it on a shoestring and am seeing referral clients now and a few new ones too. ANY help or suggestions for free or nearly free advertising or marketing would be greatly appreciated.

I am very nervous cause I just rented an office for the laser stuff, but now I can see clients there too so hopefully this will give the bottom line a boost as people might be leery about having someone come to their home without knowing them. Anyway I am now finger babbling and will end this post cause I am tired.
Working a full time home care nursing job, building clients, and going to school. How many ends does a candle have??

Tired in IL. LOL

There are certainly ways to get your brand out to prospective clients without emptying out the coffers. Not sure what you are already doing so won’t make any assumptions.

A recent article quoted there are now more medical spas throughout the US than Starbucks… that said, how will you generate ‘share of voice’? One certain way is to cut through the clutter of general advertising by positioning yourself as a respected leader / educator in your specialty – in this case laser & injection treatments. Not certain where you practice is located, so there are some factors to take in mind – (1) how large is the market that you serve; (2) how many competitors (however you define competition) are there; (3) what is your competition doing…the list could go on.

Idea 1:
Look into area newspapers, area magazines that target the demo you are seeking as well as online communities that serve your city. Instead of telling them you want to grow your business – position it as you want to educate the community on injection and laser treatments. Trends show more and more people are open to and seeking non-evasive / non-surgical treatments to maintain their ‘youth’ or rectify ‘issues’ with aging, sun damage, acne scarring and the like. Propose creating a column where you would field Q&A’s on topics (you are qualified to answer & that will positively impact your business). The column would educate readers on the different treatments available as well as potential side-effects to be aware of, cost associated…

Kudos for securing office space! Agreed that this step allows you to cut through the potential barriers a mobile business model in this industry may bring.

Agree with Alan, having a strong online identity and marketing plan is certainly important in creating knowledge that you are out there and to make sure you get your offers in front of individuals that are in the market. Make sure to optimize your website & take advantage of the many FREE online tools that are available (many social media related)!

I agree that having a strong online identity is important, but sometimes is just not viable with other start up costs. If there’s no money- well you can’t get blood from a stone.

Since you’re in IL, have you thought about contacting Groupon or some of their competitors (you’re right in their backyard)? There is no cost to you, and they actually pay you to generate your own leads. I got some major traffic through those venues with no cost at all.

Have you had a grand opening of your location yet? When I did my grand opening- my Medicis rep paid for champagne and hors devours and then stayed and sold almost 4K herself in Restalyne. Reach out to your vendors-maybe they have some ideas about co-marketing.

Since you have traveled to your client’s homes you are evidently not adverse to traveling, What about doing Botox parties by targeting bridal events, networking groups etc? Use your existing database and send out an email announcement that you offer group discounts, and you can do it at someone’s home or rent a nice hotel suite for the evening.

Great job on the referral clients, those are like gold! Do you have a referral program set up to reward your clients for their referrals? You have to be very careful how it’s done, because of the laws against patient brokering-but at least send a thank you note.

When I started up, I had ZERO dollars for marketing- so I did some bartering of services to into a couple of bridal shows, and in turn they advertised for me. Have you tried bartering?

I haven't had the Grand Opening yet. Heck I just got the curtains bought today. LOL. Ok I have the fabric for curtains, I now need to serge them. I am a crafter and former vendor so I do barter. Love bartering.

The way I am wording my referral bonus is. "once you become a client, then anyone you refer who receives a treatment, will earn you $25 in credit for future treatment." lawyers out there do I need to change my wording?

I am advertising for parties but have had no takers yet, although a couple of my current clients (and I) feel that when they have a party and their friends see that the demo model doesn't run screaming into the night from pain, that the friends will buy. Many of the friends have mentioned they would do it but are afraid.

I do like the education route and the building I rent in has a conference room that I can book. I think it's even free.
There is a teen center in the building too and I thought of doing some general education for parents like, "what's the best way to treat acne," and vaccines truth or myth, "sun damage and other things our parents didn't warn us about." other things that might not be directly related to esthetics all the time, but will get my name out as a trusted medical practitioner.

I like the bridal show thing too and it is on the list of places to target.

Right now in a 25 mile radius on the IL side of the river, there is one other day/medical spa with salon and nails etc. The town it's in has about 15,000 people but it's a grouping of towns so overall the area has about 50,000 people. There are a few "spa" type operations that offer facials and hair or massage, but they and I are the only ones other than a couple of plastics and derms doing injectibles and lasers. My prices are by far the best as I am the only practitioner and my overhead is still low. Of course it is also to get "butts in the seats." When I have built a clientele the pricing will go up some but not nearly what the others charge. I believe that just because you can doesn't mean you should gouge people. I tell clients that I don't want to be Lords and Taylor in pricing, but I don't want to be Big Lots either. I like to think I am in the Target/JC Penney range. I would rather sell 2 syringes at 400 each than 1 at 600. Two clients, two potential referrers instead of 1.

There is a magazine called Flair which comes out once a month. I need to get in touch with the editor and see if I can write for them. The advertising rep said that sometimes they do allow people to write articles.

"So much time, so little to do, oops strike that... reverse it." Sometimes you just need to laugh. But I am to tired. At least the kids are doing the lettering for the menus tonight. Check off on thing on the list of things to do.

Hi Pat-
You are too funny! BUT have you ever heard the saying ”many a truth are spoken in jest”?

While I realize a lot of your posting is to provide you with the comic relief to handle the stress load- there are some underlying and telling “truths” in your humor.

You are concerned about a number of NON REVENUE PRODUCING activities, and you’re assigning importance to them. Because everything seems important and urgent, you’re exhausted and overwhelmed.

If an action, activity, or even a thought does not make you money- then don’t do it. PERIOD.

Look, I am not a medical professional, not even an esthetician. All I really know how to do in this industry is to sell a lot services and manage a medspa in a way that makes as much net profit as humanly possible.

In my humble opinion, this industry is retail medicine. Most medspa consultants and “experts” approach this industry as medicine that just happens to be in a retail setting.

I approach it a little differently. I treat my medspa as RETAIL store. A store that has a lot more laws and rules than selling sweaters at Bloomingdale’s- but a store nonetheless.

Some potential red flags I see in your posting:

***Attempting to brand yourself as a medical professional who can educate the masses, thereby setting yourself apart from the competition. Bullshit. You ARE a medical professional. Save the educating for after you can make your bills.

***Why are you educating parents about teen acne? Have you determined that there is a large profit margin in those treatments? In my experience, there’s not as much money as in injectibles and/or laser treatments, so why waste your time?

***Personally, I wouldn’t refer a friend to you if all I got was a $25 GC towards more service from a referral for a $750-$1000 treatment. Let’s face it that’s how the public thinks. How about “send me 5 people who buy I’ll do your forehead for free next time?”

good luck-I will be interested in hearing about your progress and what works for you

Better.
I am a humorist. My life quote is "if you can't laugh you might as well quit."

See this is why I love this board. Being able to bounce ideas helps me clarify and center myself again. I am a typical Virgo and stress over EVERYTHING.

I was actually looking at laser acne treatments too, not just facials and "proactive". I am also working on my MSN right now and an education project is required for graduation. So tryiing to kill two birds. I am also looking at name recognition.

So far most of my treatments have been in the $200 to $500 range. But I think I could work with your idea. I love to "play with words" and I understand how perception plays a part. Thanks for the suggestion.

One Virgo to another! Our ruling planet is Mercury-the planet of communication, so "word play" is our forte.

I get the education slant now, that makes so much more sense- I wonder if there is a way you could kill THREE birds with one stone and choose an area or service that you could then use as a platform to build your business?

Just FYI, I got rid of acne laser treatments- they just weren't bringing in the $$$, but my marketplace could be significantly different than yours. What about Melasma? Rosacea? Those poor people are desperate for solutions.

For example, I was diagnosed early on with PCOS. My original endocrinologist is now head of her department in a large teaching hospital.

She uses me as a reference for her newly diagnosed patients that are devastated by their condition. There’s lots of tears and hand holding over infertility, obesity, acne, facial hair etc., and I try and reassure them that life can and will go on.

I don’t try and sell to them-it just seems kind of opportunistic, but several have come to meet me to see what some of their options are. So PCOS is my “shtick” and it has helped me establish a type of quasi authority that in turn has helped me make money.

Hey-life hands you lemons…

Virgos with PCOS sounds like a support group in the making. Since I am fairly new to the industry I haven't found my shtick yet, which is why I am looking at several different things right now. My oldest also has PCOS and has much more problems with the hairiness etc. She doesn't seem to have fertility issues right now as I have a very cute 2 year old grand girl from her. She doesn't have insurance and the doc she was seeing refused to put her on meds to treat it. What is the current treatment options so when she does find a doc I know what sounds plausible? I had a hyster 9 years ago so I don't have those issues anymore, just the occasional power surge. LOL

I love doing the injectibles but want to offer more options for my clients friends who may not want injections right now. Plus my medical director and I are going to train my other older daughter (I have 4 girls) to run the laser at some points so I am trying to build the clientele for that too. Plus I would reallllllllyyyyyy love to stop working my night job. My overhead is very low so it won't take many consistent clients to "duplicate" my night job income.

I may have found something unique in the area but I am keeping it close to the vest for now. Anyone know a successful grant writer. If I can get a grant I will be looking for a research partner in the St Louis MO area to help with a double blind BTX-A or B project. Very exciting. It plays to both my love for injectibles and my need to help people live a better life. Not just estheitcally but ADL stuff.