With facial aesthetic clinics set to reopen in July, now is the time to maximise your marketing, Nafisa Mughal says.
We are set to expect a huge influx of returning patients from July. But that doesn’t mean that you should ease up on your marketing game to attract new patients. If anything, you should be looking at your marketing strategy even more!
Consider offering online consultations
I am a massive fan of online consultations. When done in the right way, online consultations are very effective.
One of the main benefits of online consultations is that you can take the time to really get to know your patients. Especially if they are new. Find out what they are really looking to achieve with your treatments.
You can take your time and get a comprehensive list of areas they would like to improve.
This does not have to be for injectables only. You can offer them add ons like skin care advice for a more holistic approach to their treatments.
I have seen a great uptake on skin care products by operating in this way. Not only is this a great way to catch up with your patient, but their trust in you grows. They start seeing you as their ‘go to’ for skin advice as well as treatments. This leads to increased satisfaction for them and increased revenue for you – what’s not to love?
Please note that prescription-only medications (POMs) are not allowed to be prescribed remotely. This was banned in 2018 by the GDC, GMC and NMC.
Despite the current circumstances, this guidance remains unchanged.
However, the advice as it stands is to limit the amount of time your patients spend in clinic.
You can still arrange consultations online prior to their appointment to gather the necessary background information. This includes medical history and patient expectations, as well as educating them on the changes you have made in clinic in relation to guidance issued for best practice.
Creating an online medical form they can fill and send back to you just before their appointment can be helpful. It reduces the contact and transmission risk with paper/pens etc.
Ramp up your social media
I have mentioned in previous articles the importance of social media, especially now! You can use this platform to educate your patients on a whole host of topics that encompass what you are offering them. See it as education, rather than selling. When they see you on social media, they start to recognise you. When they come in for an appointment, they know they are in safe hands. They feel like they already know you.
Videos, blogs, tutorials are all great for this. All you need is content that your audience will find interesting!
Traditional print
We know that social media is booming and most of our marketing efforts tend to focus on that. But you should consider your target market and where they spend time. If you are marketing to generation X (people born between 1965-1980) you may want to consider a different type of marketing. Yes, they may well be on social media platforms. But research shows up to 89% of newspaper readers still read it in print form.
As platforms like Instagram and Tiktok grow, millennials tend to favour them. So if they are your target market, you’re probably better off focusing your efforts there.
Open evenings
Once we open and have people back in, you may want to consider ‘relaunching’ your business with an open evening. This works well if you have got a client base already and even if you haven’t. If you are trying to attract new clients, you can promote your open evening on your social media channels. Make it so that potential clients do not want to miss it. Offering giveaways, raffles, live demos and Q&As are great for open evenings. If you already have a client base, consider inviting your best clients to a special VIP event where they bring a few friends. This can really help grow your patient numbers.
We all hope to be getting back to normal. But it seems it may be a long way off at the moment. So implementing a sound plan for when you reopen to make sure you are at the forefront of your patient’s mind is important.
If you’d like to discuss marketing strategies please get in touch by emailing [email protected].
