With over 20 years of marketing experience, we have a very good sense of what works to make the most of your online marketing dollars. Sadly, our clients are often led astray and end up signing up for, shall we say, questionable marketing investments. At the same time, it’s all too easy to reach for the new shiny toy instead of sticking with the unsexy things that actually work and deliver you new patients consistently.
In that spirit, let us spell out for the umpteenth time some of the key marketing activities you need to do to make your practice more successful. Don’t make us tell you again!
Look before You Leap on Any Marketing Investment
We’ve said it so many times. Leave your checkbook at home when going to any conference. Put a pin in any new device purchases until you get our $0.02. Take any sales claims with a big lump of salt. We’ve been doing this long enough to know that many things that look good on paper don’t actually pay off. You don’t have to do everything we say, but please please please, loop us in on any big changes you are thinking of making so we can advise on the pros and cons as it relates to your marketing.
Don’t be a Skint on PPC
Look, no one likes giving Google money. But if you can give them $3,000 and make $50,000, what’s the problem? More to the point, if you are already spending on there, why not spend more if it’s going to make you more? Too often, clients see a spend number and want to question whether another $250 or $500 per month will make a difference. Our clients who go big on PPC almost always do better than those with a small budget. Make sure you are getting a good return on your investment, then ramp up your investment to boost your returns. It’s not rocket surgery. Within reason, getting aggressive on PPC is an incremental way to boost your leads, right now.
Add at Least 10 New Gallery Cases Every Month
We’ve heard every excuse in the book about why you can’t get new gallery cases. They’re all rubbish. Without exception, our most successful clients prioritize putting up new cases and have a reliable, consistent system to make it happen. Whatever your excuse is, let us help you work through it. Or, continue to lose business to your competitors with better photo galleries. It’s as simple as that.
Get Your Patients Hooked on Text Message Marketing
This is really a two parter. First, to stay competitive, you need to put offers and specials out there. Does that mean we are encouraging you to discount your services and products? Hell no! But you have to give the appearance that you are discounting some things. For instance, tell your prospects that you offer “up to 15% off surgery” next month. Then adjust your pricing and show a discount that adds up to what they would be charged anyway. The point of the offer is to get attention.
And now the second part: put this offer (and new spins on it each month) in front of your existing patient base by sending out regular text message marketing. One of our clients who recently texted out an offer for 10% off any of 3 popular medspa treatments saw 7 text conversions and 4 phone calls. Another client offering $1,000 off butt lifts got 13 leads from the text campaign, which represented almost 5% of his text list size. Bottom line: text message marketing works and you need to be doing it.
Hire a Social Media Assistant
Maybe you’re a doctor who just loves to spend the day on TikTok and Insta. But probably not. Maybe you have someone in the office already who’s a social media fiend and is keeping your channels uber-fresh. If so, great! But likely, ain’t nobody got time for that. So cultivating your social presence falls to the bottom of the to do list. Here’s the fix: hire a part-time social media assistant to pop into your office a few times a month, take some photo and video, and keep your channels engaging.
This is another area where we see clients trying the el cheapo approach. Don’t. You can get the help you need for a grand or two a month. So let’s say it costs you $25,000 for a year. That’s a couple surgeries. You really don’t think a bangin’ social presence will net you a few surgeries over the course of a year? Do the math and do the right thing: hire a social media assistant. If you need help finding someone, we’ve sourced a social media person for several of our clients and are happy to do the same for you.
Get More Reviews Every Week
Our clients with the most reviews have a process in place to get them and set goals for how many new ones they want. You need to do the same. For most of our clients, we’ve dialed you in with RepuGen. They offer excellent reputation management tools to solicit reviews and monitor new reviews that come in. We think reviews are important enough to be a topic in your weekly or biweekly check ins. You always need to be making more progress. Slow week for new reviews? Find some recent happy patients and contact them personally about leaving a review. Consistently having trouble getting reviews? Lean on your RepuGen rep and us for guidance on best practices. The one thing that never works: sitting back and hoping your great service alone will result in great reviews.
