What successful marketing ideas (with a zero budget marketing plan) have you done in getting new patients? Just got hired in a medspa. Our MD told us that we also need to think of gimmicks to attract new patients and increase revenue. Please help. We're running out of ideas!

We are also looking for marketing strategies as we are also struggling with patient retention. Do loyalty programs work?

When we first got our Revlite, we did a very fun campaign along with a local radio station called "Most regretable tattoo" contest... the prize was free tat removal. Some of the pix and accompanying stories were hysterical. Most importantly, we reached tens of thousands daily and got contact info on all the others. The pix were submitted to the radio's website and the vie=wers got to choose who the winner was. Their website got over 10K hits a day and our phones rang off the hook.
It was very profitable and a lot of fun, too.

If you are on a zero marketing budget, you should have a patient retention program. Encourage your old pts to share their experiences and spread the word among their friends and relatives.

Don't forget to bring your business cards when attending social/ community events. Be friendly and extend your networks! You'll be surprised how well this works.

Offer discount coupons. I established strategic partnership with regional and national vendors to get volume discounts.

Whenever you are in treatment rooms with clients, your marketing abilities lie in upselling! Bring postcards of a $50 discount (that the medspa purchases) & hand them out when you are out n' about.

I like using Constant Contact.

We have a referral program. We give out 25% off coupons to our existing clients then they can give the other coupon to family/friends. Next time they visit, the existing and new client get discounts on our services. Worth a try.

Social Media is the best way to go. Create a community around your brand of current loyal clients and offer incentives to your fans & followers.

Not exactly a $0 budget, because someone has to spend time (time=money) maintaining the social spaces, posting, and engaging with the communities.

There are some great suggestions here.

There are a few "basics" you should start with that work with a "$0" budget:
- Be diligent about capturing email addresses with new and existing customers at intake
- Keep the email addresses updated and engage with them frequently
- Create and maintain business pages on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
- Incentivize the people who engage with you on those social channels to get their friends interested
- Lastly, track your results and make changes accordingly

The reality is that most traditional advertising and marketing is costly and typically hard to show return on investment. If you can get some early traction with these "basics", then you might get the OK to have a small budget. At that point, you would have a few options of better tools to use that automate and measure your efforts.

I would be glad to dig into any specific questions you might have.

Successful medical spas plan an annual calendar of special events- some held in the spa and some outside ( such as a bridal fair). This is a great way to have existing guests learn about ALL the services that you offer. You would be surprised to learn that most guests don't know all your products and services. Most guests will bring a friend, family member or colleague-and now you have not only a person referral but they can experience your medi-spa as well!

Over-booking, tired or ugly waiting areas, staff that look over done, even cold hands can put patients off. Bottomline is you should know how to make your patients happy.

The "experience" that the patient has with you the physician and your staff. That is the foundation for loyalty. The rewards show your patients how much you appreciate them!

Educational events in your facility that teach the consumer about your services is crucial. Most women who are your target market are confused about all the medical aesthetic services that are out there and what they do and how to determine if they need those services or not. People won't choose a service if they don't understand it and its benefits.

Utilize other businesses around you that target the same demographic and lifestyle as the services you offer; such as women's shops, hair salons, nail salons, etc. Contact them about doing co-promotions; packaging some of your services with their products/merchandise, doing demos educational events in their stores, offering giveaways and contests with them.

Start with the people you have and get referrals. The people in my area that have used Groupon do nothing but complain, that the clients come once and get done. These are people just looking for cheap thrills and not quality.

Referrals & Social Networking! Always talk about your business. Don't discount yourself because then people will start to feel your services are not worth the real value. Offer small perks.

Social networking is the best way to expose your company and your services. To make it work for you, you need to define your target market and create interesting knowledge based information for each target group. Offer great cosmetic advise to the different target group and push them to your site. Post to your blog and then tweet that the info is available on your blog. You can also post the info on Linked in.

Our clinic is in a professional building so we have absolutely zero foot traffic. What is the most effective way to let people know where you are if you're new (other than FB, Twitter or LinkedIn)???

patient reward program helps with patient retention but also helps your patients to take full advantage of services, procedures and products that your practice offers. patients who are apart of a rewards program spends 46% more then individuals who isn't. Call me i can customize a patients rewards program specifically designed for your practice.

I’m a newbie esty working at a privately owned med spa. I’m noticing the spa chains and other local spas offering deals on Groupon and Livingsocial is affecting our business. We offer monthly deals and discount on rebooks, however it seems our regular clientele are noticing they can save more money. Our customers love our spa but they can't afford to come on a regular basis. What advice do you have to keep our customers from leaving for cheaper deals?

I can help you customize a client rewards program specifically for your spa It will allow your clients to take advantage of your complete offering also help you with client retention email me your contact information dwise@renewadvantage.com. Thanks

There will always be some clients who are looking to one up themselves, ie: groupon, living social, etc. Those clients you don't want anyway! You want clients who value their skin and appreciate the knowledge and skills a great esthetician has to offer them. I always remind my clients that their appointment is a treat for them...I never leave them with the impression that they are only important to me because I make money off of them, because truly, that is not the case. I feel it is the other way around, because they feel good, they are happy to pay me for services rendered. Making clients feel and look good should be the reason we do what we do! Important when wrapping up is to always ask them to make their next appointment, and guess what? Most of them do!

Thanks. This year the spa starting providing customers a discount when they rebook an appointment. It seems to be working with some of our customers.

Why not try start offering a generous referral program? it is a good tool to build your clientele.

Do not provide discounts to your services but make sure to include a free product as a promotional. The cost is less but more importantly, it will introduce them to products they maybe haven't tried & this will definitely increase you retail sales.

I also believe in "adding value" rather than reducing price. A special eye treatment, scalp massage, hand reflexology or something special that you would like to provide. You will keep the valuable clients that appreciate extra personal service. I can do all of these services in 5-8 min. during vapor or masque.

When I see businesses offering Groupon or Living Social, it's either because they are just starting out or on their way out. I personally don't want deal seeking clients. I used to do deals and offer discounts to get people in the door, but no longer do. I don't discount anything. I am worth my price. I am a darn good esthetician and I only want people who value my time, education and experience. Period. End of story. It's funny, but once I really took a firm hold of that belief, I raised my prices, enforced a 24hr cancellation policy, take cc info at time of booking to hold their appt - and guess what??? The customers buy into that belief too. :-)

Sounds tough! You must be really good or may be the only Esty in a town.

Hello Phyllis Z,

I found this article researching the very same topic:
http://blog.godigitalmarketing.com/10-med-spa-marketing-ideas

I like #3 in particular: Network with non-competitive businesses. If you literally want to keep it zero budget, then just ask them to mention your medspa to potential clients (and that you'll be doing the same thing of course). But ideally, you should leave some fliers or business cards in their office if they'll let you do it.

And if you do run out of ideas, a marketing firm can do wonders for your business. Yes, this does break the zero budget requirement, but it is a valid option. Those people exist to help businesses like yours, and they could be worth your while :)

Read this site from end to end.. All of the answers are here but it'll take some time to digest them.