Simple Strategies for Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Paula Di Marco Young is hosting a local SEO webinar for Palomar.

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST

As a business owner and experienced customer relationship manager, Paula Di Marco Young knows the challenges of marketing a small business and has experienced the cost-effective – yet significant – impact of sound Internet marketing practices. In this webinar, Paula will share simple SEO strategies that can help increase your business's visibility in local search engine listings and keep non-local competition from taking advantage of your valuable Internet marketing real-estate.

Paula Di Marco Young, BS, RN is the sole owner of Social Marketing Strategy 101, LLC and co-owner of Young Medical Spa. Paula previously owned a cosmetic national franchise, among other businesses in the aesthetics industry, and worked for Johnson & Johnson for over 10 years where she held senior management positions in customer relationship management. Paula has authored for Medical Spa Report Magazine and is an editorial blogger for Medical Spa MD. She has also authored the Medical Spa Training Manuals that are used at top medspas and cosmetic clinics to train their staffs.

Read Paula's Medical Spa MD posts.

Using The Art Of Persuasion On Your Website

Is your medical spa's website causing potential patients to make the kind of decisions you want them to make?

Think about the last 10 decisions you have made.  How did you come to your decisions? 

You probably made a mental note of the pros and cons, factored in your intuition along with some sound logic and came up with an intelligent decision. You probably understand that most people aren’t as strong and smart as you and therefore are easy targets to sway. But, that never happens to you. You are just too smart.

You just made your first mistake. You experienced something called the “fundamental attribution error”.  This is the belief that other people’s behavior is solely based on their personality, rather than external factors. For example, “Mary is late because she doesn’t care if others have to wait for her” verses “Mary is late because she must have had car trouble”.

These types of biases are very common and play a big role in the way decisions are made. So of course web designers are using this information to influence the behavior of users.  Some designers intuitively know what techniques to use to achieve this, but they may not be able to tell you exactly “why” it works. However, there are some very skilled “decision architects” that understand the psychological behavior and intentionally design web sites with the goal of shaping a visitors decision process and guiding them into a specific action.

There are 7 main components in the decision architect’s toolbox:  Authority, Commitment, Scarcity, Salience, Reciprocation, Framing and Social Proof.

#1 Authority: 

This principle is about influencing behavior via credibility. This is why you will see a lot of name-dropping, used to give the reader confidence that this information is valuable and credible. The MD or DO afer your name is a prime example.

Readers are more likely to believe information if it is written by an “expert” in the field.  In turn, they are more likely to act (buy) as a result of this information.

Decision architects exploit this principle by listing rave reviews and testimonials on their site. Patient testimonials are a common example that a lot of medical spas use. E-commerce sites show highly visible icons assuring the user that the site is secure.  Forums are another way to use authority.  People have the opportunity to rate their peers and users might rely on those ratings as if they were from an expert.

#2 Commitment:

This principle is about taking a stand on an issue that is consistent with our own beliefs. When you take a stand on something that is visible to other people, you usually feel a drive to maintain that point of view to appear credible and consistent.

Designers use this principle by asking for a small, but visible, commitment from you. If they can get you to behave in a certain way, you’ll soon start believing it. An example of this is Facebook.  If a group page can get you to “like” their page and it appears on your newsfeed, you are basically recommending this to all your friends.  If you can get a patient to “like” your medical spa fan page, you have “publicly committed” to being your fan.

#3 Scarcity:

This principle takes me back to some of the manufactured product scarcity around Botox and filler injections. The newspapers or press (or even a local doc) runs the headline “Botox shortage” and there are immediately lines around every block of people wanting to be seen. (Of course there is no Botox shortage and never will be.)

People are more likely to want something if they think it is in short supply or more valuable than it actually is. For example, psychologists have reported that if you give people a cookie from a jar, they rate the cookie as more delicious if it comes from a jar with only 3 cookies list verses a jar with 10 cookies. A nice fact and part of the reason that Fifth Avenue shoe stores put their shoes on pedistals in almost empty stores.

Decision architects exploit this by showing scarcity of a product. This could include limited treatment times or any number of 'act now' specials in your clinic. Smart medical spas understand that perceived scarcity will generate demand.

Another example of this might be a Grand Opening sale. How many medical spas keep that sign up for months and months, hoping that new customers will take advantage of the “special” price?

#4 Salience:

People are more likely to pay attention to details in your user interface that are unique such as a colored “continue shopping” button.  For example, there are certain times during a purchase when consumers are more likely to investigate a special offer. Being able to understand this gives you an opportunity to sell more products or services by offering them at just the right time in the buying cycle.

#5 Reciprocation:

Do you like to return favors?  Most people do and it’s this psychology that is the basis for this principle.  If someone helps you paint your house or babysit your kids, you feel obligated to help them at a future date.

Decision architects know that if they offer you a small gift – a free newsletter, consultation, seminar, or a sample chapter from a book – you are very likely to do something for them in return, even if it's only positive word of mouth. At first they may not ask you to buy something. They may start by asking you to comment on their blog or link to a website.  They know that it usually take several contacts with a user to make them an actual “customer”. 

#6 Framing:

Savvy decision architects know that we like making choices. It makes up feel in control of our destiny.  So, if we are given a choice of 3 tiers of products, you can be assured that there is one of them that they are pointing you towards whether you realize it or not. Another example of framing is the medical spa doc who shows you the most expensive 'total makeover' package knowing you can’t afford it.  Then the next 'best bang for the buck treatments' seem like a real bargain in comparison!

#7 Social Proof:

Have you ever gone to lunch with a group of friends?  Have you ever watched as everyone orders and then base your decision on their choices? 

A great example of Social Proof is shopping on Amazon. When you buy a certain product, say a digital camera, Amazon will then post a note to you saying “other people who bought this camera bought this case and memory card”. Well, if other people bought them, you certainly should as well!

A medical spa example is a 'recommended treatment' for a patients age issue or skin type. A good decision architect will have the 'most patients like' add-on already checked. The client thinks, “I guess everyone buys this so I should too”. 

So back to my original question: How do your medical spas patients come to their decisions?  Maybe now you can see that their decisions can be 'helped along'! Smart medical spas help patients make the 'right' decision.

Your Medical Spa + Groupon

Does it make sense to promote your medical spa with Groupon?

Groupon is a “daily coupon” website. It’s basically an email list that charges advertisers to send out their “coupons” called Groupons.

Many small businesses I’d likely never hear about otherwise send me their coupons this way. I receive them mainly to see what’s up… because the city I receive them from is 2 hours away, I don’t expect to take advantage of them.

I've noticed that for the most part, these are not large mainstream businesses. They are small businesses – spas, bakeries, etc. that likely don’t have large advertising budgets and think that Groupon is a great way to drive traffic without spending marketing dollars.

At Groupon, they have an email list of over ten million people and if you contact Groupon to be included on their “deal-of-the-day”, you can get the word out about your medical spa to thousands of people you would otherwise never be able to reach.

There are usually huge discounts involved (50% or more) to incentivize buyers and the general idea is that by offering a big discount on your products or services, people will try out your offerings and keep coming back for more. On the surface, it sounds like a great way to market your business and I was really excited about the idea until I thought about it some more and did some analysis. While Groupon might work for a small subset of local businesses, here’s why I don’t think Groupon is a good fit for the majority of medical spas out there.

Using Groupon will cost your medical spa an arm and a Leg... and another arm.

You might have read some Groupon horror stories already, but the reality is that Groupon is extremely expensive for a business. If you look at their faq, they give off the impression that running a Groupon campaign is free. They collect the money online from prospective customers, send you a check and mail out the coupons automatically.

What is not explicitly spelled out is that they take 50% of your revenue as a fee for using their service. So given that most Groupon campaigns offer the end customer around 50% off, let’s run some numbers here. Say your product retails for $100. By giving a 50% discount to customers, you will only make $50. After Groupon’s 50% cut, you only get $25 for something you normally would charge $100 for. Depending on what your markup is, it better be more than 400% otherwise you could potentially lose money on every transaction!

What’s attractive about Groupon is that they run the campaign for you and simply send you a check. It’s not until later when you have to fulfill orders with these ridiculous discounts do you realize how much money you are potentially losing out on. Most medical spas that are using Groupon—and there are many of them—tend to try to limit their 'deals' to services like laser hair removal and IPL treatments rather than Botox or cosmetic surgery to limit their exposure to services with high fixed costs. But whatever you're offering, it's questionable that taking a huge loss on hundreds of services will prove beneficial to your clinic's bottom line in the long term.

While I'm not absolutley against using Groupon in any way, there are some issus that you want to be aware of around how using Groupon will actually hurt your medical spa or cosmetic clinic.

Groupons don’t make your medical spa memorable.

I’ve got some experience using Groupon a few times as a consumer and you know what? Every time I've purchased through Groupon, what stands out in my mind after my purchase was not the business itself but how great of a deal I got on the product or service. In fact, I remember talking to friends about what a killer deal I got through Groupon. Not once did I mention any details about the business that I was actually purchasing from. I was too excited about the bargain itself.

Using a Groupon takes the spotlight away from your business. After all, it was Groupon that provided your customer with the coupon and the unbeatable deal. It was Groupon that made your customers’ purchase exciting and fun. As a result, customers are far more likely to brag about Groupon and not your clinic.

Groupon deteriorates the perceived value of your medical spa.

Whenever a store offers an incredible deal or discount, there is this perception that the markup was already ridiculously high. If company X can offer a 50% discount and still make a good profit, then they must be jacking up their prices. Once a customer receives a large discount, it trains them to wait for later coupons and deteriorates the value of your products and services. This is especially true with medical spas since Groupon is saturated with them.

There is this dining card I sign up for almost every year called “The Passport” card which entitles the card holder to a free entree at select restaurants when another entree is purchased. The card lasts exactly one year until it expires and you have to pay to reactivate it. One year, we decided to let the card expire and you know what? We refused to dine at “Passport” sponsored restaurants during this period because it didn’t seem worth it without the card. We were so used to getting a free entree that we didn’t want to pay full price again.

While this principle applies to coupons in general, the price erosion caused by a Groupon are infinitely worse because the discounts are so steep.

You can bet that the majority of the new clients you attract through Groupon will be visiting your competition next month. You've just invited all of these new users to price shop you.

Groupon hurts your loyal clients.

Don’t you hate it when you are a loyal customer of a product or service only to find out that the company started issuing huge discounts for new customers only? This happens all the time with cell phone carriers and it really pisses me off. Using Groupon has a similar effect on your regulars and your loyal customer base.

By taking a loss using Groupon to obtain new clients and patients, you are essentially forcing your loyal clients to make up for your losses. And this is counter-intuitive to the way you should be doing business. Your regulars should be the one rewarded with discounts and perks.

There are 2 possible outcomes when a regular customer sees one of your Groupons and both are bad. In one case, your loyal customer could get pissed off and consider shopping with a competitor. But more likely, your regular customer could buy a S@$% load of Groupons and only pay a fraction of the price for what they normally would spend at your store. In effect, you would be losing out on future business with this customer because you would be taking a loss or breaking even on what could have been a 4X profit!

I've had experience with this first hand through another service. Some of our most loyal—and profitable—clients found out about some discounts and switched to them. All we could do was smile since there was no way that we wanted to make waves with our existing clients. We just quietly folded our program and smartened up.

Conclusion

Outside of the issues I’ve already covered, the main problem with Groupon is that the longer term effects are extremely hard to measure. It might be possible to measure repeat business somewhat but it’s almost impossible to measure the word of mouth effect.

To sum it up, I think of Groupon as a shortcut with major consequences. The attraction is that you’ll get a lot of customers upfront, but once everything is said and done, you’ve lost a lot of money and the long term benefits are questionable.

My general philosophy in business is to focus on the long term. Instead of trying to get a one time flood of customers, why not put forth your efforts on making your business stand out? Be the store that everyone wants to shop at because you are awesome and not because of a coupon. Be the medical spa that offers the best customer service. Be the clinic that gives customers the best experience. Giving a one time discount isn’t going to win over any followers and you risk damaging your medical spas real business.

Gift Certificates That Work For Medical Spas

Year end gift certificates and postcards are where some medical spas are making 40% of their yearly sales.

Gift Certificates For Medical Spas

It's a well known fact that, at least for 'day spas', December is a time of plenty where gift certificates pile in daily and generate terrific end-of-year income. (One of my friends that ran a 50 employee day spa would generate an additional $250+ in revenue in the run up before Christmas.)

The challenge is often how you decide how you handle this pre-selling since you're now going to have to deliver all of those services over the next few months. (Jaunary is often spartan in income since all of your treatment rooms are filled delivering services that you've already recieved payment for.)

I'm wondering if anyone has thoughs on how to manage this effect?

One of the things that I've thought of offering but never really tried is an additional stipulation/option that gives someone an incentive—perhaps a slight discount—for postponing a redempton of the gift certificates. I was thinking of offering an additional 5-10% increase in the value of the gift certificate if it was redeemed after March or May.

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.

PrintMD.net - Medical Spa Marketing

Print MD.net is now live.

Print MD.net is our newest Select Partner and one that we've built ourselves to address a very specific need for medical spas and cosmetic practices: how to handle direct mail and marketing with professional design that doesn't break the bank.

Print MD.net is designed to do just that. It's a site that has everything you need, from postcards, business cards, appointment cards and posters, all professionaly created and integrated into 'campaigns'.

View all campaigns

Now you can have your business cards, posters, referral and appointment cards match, ensure the highest quality design and printing, and get the price break. Nice.

Oh, and you can enter your own copy, address and even upload your logo to customize your marketing materials just the way you want. Click here for a demo.

Since we're doing something of a rolling launch, I'll be posting here about how to use Print MD to the greatest effect, but take a gander through the campaigns and see if there's something you like.

I'd also love feedback on the designs, copy etc. so If you'd leave a comment below that let's me know what you think I'ld be most appreciative.

Physicians' Need to Understand & Influence Their Online Reputation

Here's some very good advice from one of our Select Partners, Medical Justice.  

The observation that social media is experiencing explosive growth is hardly novel. Moreover, social media is significantly influencing the medical profession.  CNN Money.com reported that Facebook passed the milestone of half a billion signed on users half a year into 2010.  The professional and legal ramifications from the rapid growth of social media touch almost every aspect of physicians practicing today.  One of the most challenging of these ramifications is a physician’s online reputation.

Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released numbers that document just how important of the source of information regarding medicine and physicians the internet has become.  Sixty-one percent (61%) of American adults look on-line for health information. Forty-nine percent (49%) of Internet users report researching a specific disease or medical problem on the Internet.  Forty-seven percent (47%) report seeking information about their physician or other healthcare professionals from on-line sources.

Finally, five percent (5%) of “E-Patients” have posted a review online of a doctor. It is these very reviews from a small subset which form the basis of a physician’s reputation on-line.

Reputations are forged when people make judgments upon the mosaic of information available about us.”  Viewed in this light, ratings, blog postings, and web pages are the pieces of the reputation mosaic.  Unfortunately, all it takes is one or two bad pieces for the mosaic to be marred.  The implications of a damaged online reputation are extensive."

Most physicians equate a tainted online reputation with a direct loss of business.  The analysis is simple; the worse the online reputation, the fewer the patients.  There are certainly many examples to support this reasoning. 

Dr. Linda Morrison, a physician practicing in Indiana, experienced first hand the harm that arises from an online reputational attack.  In July of 2000, Dr. Morrison noticed that an anonymous individual was posting defamatory statements about her via the internet.  Dr. Morrison received e-mails from this individual under a pseudonym “Surfycity45” that, among other things, made threats against her medical license.  The attacks continued into the fall of 2000.  Dr. Morrison ultimately learned that “Surfycity45” had been circulating defamatory comments about her while simultaneously encouraging others to do the same.  “Surfycity45” worked hard to organize a cyber mob with Dr. Morrison as its target.  

Dr. Morrison, via counsel, attempted to enjoin Defendant American Online, Inc. from the continued posting of the defamatory statements about her by the anonymous subscriber.  For a variety of legal reasons, the United States Northern District Court of Indiana ruled against the injunction.  Although Dr. Morrison alleged that “Surfycity45” statements were false, defamatory, and had resulted in damage to her professional reputation as a physician, she was unable to have these remarks removed from the Internet in a timely fashion.  The damage was done.

The implications of a physician's online reputation now extends beyond patients.  At least twenty seven (27) states have a recognized cause of action for negligently credentialing a physician.  Given this liability, credentialing committees will likely perform detailed background checks using all available search tools, including social network sites.

Health institutions making credentialing or hiring decisions currently face a dilemma when it comes to information about physicians contained in social network profiles.  Although there may be some risks in searching against them (as discussed in the next section), the potential liability for making a panel decision in the absence of such information likely tips the balance."

It is not just patients and credentialing committees which are scrutinizing physicians’ online reputations.  In any  medical malpractice action, physicians should assume that the plaintiff’s attorney will checking the doctor’s online reputation.  Geoffrey Vance, a thirty eight (38) year old partner at McDermott, Will and Emry, makes use of social networking sites to gather facts about the opposing side for trials.  “I make it a practice to use as many sources as I can to come up with and to find information about the other side” Vance said.  “We used to run Lexus Nexus; we still do that.  We always look at cases, and now we use the internet – Google, and social networking sites.”

Mr. Vance is not alone.  Paul Kiesel, a lawyer in Los Angeles County, admits to using social media not only to investigate the opposing side, but also to help select jurors.  “Last month I had fifty (50) jurors, and as the Court Clerk read out the names, I had two (2) people in the courtroom and the third person back at the office, with all three (3) of them doing research.”

Lawyers are not the only actors in a courtroom who are using social media at trial.  Courts across the country are grappling with the serious problem of “Internet-tainted” jurors.  In case after case, judges and lawyers have discovered that jurors are doing independent research via cell phone during trials.  Last year in Arkansas, a state court judge allowed a 12.6 million dollar verdict to stand even though a juror sent eight (8) messages via Twitter from his cell phone.

 In another case, a juror decided to seek the wisdom of the masses by holding a Facebook online poll. “I don’t know which way to go, so I’m holding a poll, wrote the democratic juror.”  Upon learning of this misadventure, the juror was dismissed and the case proceeded.

Physicians’ online reputations are being examined with increasing frequency at crucial moments in their professional career.  It is no longerprudent for a physician to fail to monitor his or her online reputation.  “Physicians should carefully monitor their online reputation.  I have seen examples of ex-spouses, past employees, and competitors all posing as disgruntled patients in an online effort to damage a physician’s reputation.  This is a real threat that is not going away,” says Rivera.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”

Resource: Physicians + Facebook Marketing - How to do it correctly!

Guest post by Joy Tu of Medical Justice.

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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 Spas & Groupon Group Buys

Group Buying & Medical Spas

Social networks and social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) get a lot of attention as marketing vehicles in the cosmetic medical world, and with good reason – your potentail patient are already there and are spending more hours being social online than ever before. However, another major marketing movement may have a much larger impact on how medical spa marketing is changing... discounted group buying sites.

How Group Buying Sites Are Impacting Medical Spas & Physicians

A recent Forbes profile on Groupon reported that the group buying site’s sales have reached $500 million and that the company’s valuation is now $1.3 billion. Groupon will be the fastest company ever to reach $1 billion in sales, and they were profitable seven months after inception. In just three years, there are now 200 competitors to Groupon in the U.S. alone (over 500 internationally, says Forbes), and this number is growing — not to mention the likelihood that Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, and niche publishing sites seem likely to get in on this model of selling. Clearly, group purchasing has resonated with the market... including medical spas, plastic surgeons and cosmetic physicians.

This model is simple: a massive discount with urgency and strong merchandising. In Groupon’s case, a 50%+ discount will definitely drive sales. (It’s important to realize, however, that they are unprofitable sales. According to the article, the retailer only gets half of their discounted deal, netting only up to 25% of the list price. No, the retailer doesn’t make money; however, they do get eyeballs on their company and product. The bet is this exposure will attract full price customers, offsetting the loss.)

A couple things will happen with medical spas that advertise on sites like Groupon. First, it's difficult to get off the “crack” of sales from these deals. Groupon reports 97% of their retailers want to be featured again. And with 200 group buying sites, and more coming, many retailers may just make the rounds of discount after discount. This is a recipe for losing money and commoditizing your entire business with treatments that are not turning a profit. Unless – and this is the big caveat – your medical spa sees sustained profitable sales from returning customers.

Of course this is the same methodology that many of our Select Partners use to aggregate the bying power of our individual physician members to drive down the cost across the entire network. Examples would be when Sciton offered $15,000 of of a new BBLs IPL platform and the $349 Group Buy Botox offer.

Which brings us to the second and more salient point: Groupon reports only 22% of customers who buy a deal return to buy full price. (There are no statistics about cosmetic medicine deals on Groupon). If you're dealing with treatments that come with high fixed costs that can cause all sorts of problems, especially if you have any form of 'commission' payments with your staff.

Discounted medspa customers only return if:

1. They had a great experience with the product or service.
2. If, at full price, the experience is still a great value.
3. If they're not hopping from discount to discount, which many of them are.

What percentage of medical spas will clear that high bar? Medical spas and physicians must become amazing to attract profitable customers back, or they may discount themselves out of business with unprofitable treatments that are filling their treatment rooms, and that’s where Groupon shines a light on the need for a superior customer experience.

Most medical spas try to get around the 'loss leader' aspects by offering treatments with no consumables (Botox, Restylane, Juvederm, Thermage etc.) and offering purely cosmetic treatments like facials or high margin treatments like laser hair removal.

If you've had an experience with Groupon or other group buy site's, please leave a comment and let us know about your experience and what you learned.

AMA Policy: Medical Professionalism In Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging & Physicians

A new policy on professionalism in the use of social media was adopted at the November 8th 2010 meeting of the American Medical Association. These basic guidelines represent one of the first steps by a major American physician organization to offer guidance in the appropriate use of social/new media.

It's pretty generic and basic stuff but it does recognize that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and other social networks are destined to become intimately intertwined with medicine.

The Internet has created the ability for medical students and physicians to communicate and share information quickly and to reach millions of people easily.  Participating in social networking and other similar Internet opportunities can support physicians’ personal expression, enable individual physicians to have a professional presence online, foster collegiality and camaraderie within the profession, provide opportunity to widely disseminate public health messages and other health communication.  Social networks, blogs, and other forms of communication online also create new challenges to the patient-physician relationship.  Physicians should weigh a number of considerations when maintaining a presence online:

(a)  Physicians should be cognizant of standards of patient privacy and confidentiality that must be maintained in all environments, including online, and must refrain from posting identifiable patient information online.

(b)  When using the Internet for social networking, physicians should use privacy settings to safeguard personal information and content to the extent possible, but should realize that privacy settings are not absolute and that once on the Internet, content is likely there permanently.  Thus, physicians should routinely monitor their own Internet presence to ensure that the personal and professional information on their own sites and, to the extent possible, content posted about them by others, is accurate and appropriate.

(c)  If they interact with patients on the Internet, physicians must maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship in accordance with professional ethical guidelines just, as they would in any other context.

(d)  To maintain appropriate professional boundaries physicians should consider separating personal and professional content online.

(e)  When physicians see content posted by colleagues that appears unprofessional they have a responsibility to bring that content to the attention of the individual, so that he or she can remove it and/or take other appropriate actions.  If the behavior significantly violates professional norms and the individual does not take appropriate action to resolve the situation, the physician should report the matter to appropriate authorities.

(f)  Physicians must recognize that actions online and content posted may negatively affect their reputations among patients and colleagues, may have consequences for their medical careers (particularly for physicians-in-training and medical students), and can undermine public trust in the medical profession.

Medical Spa MD Video

Here' s a promo video that the good folks from our Select Partner Frontdesk SEO built for Medical Spa MD to show their new video offering.

It's pretty damn slick if I do say so myself.

Frontdesk SEO is already offering a host of social marketing tools and services for the Medical Spa MD Members who subscribe to thier business services, and now they're adding selected video services in to the mix.

Video has moved into the forefront of both internet marketing and traffic conversion since the fact that it's generally difficult to produce offers something more than simple text.

If you need help with your search engine rankings to drive more traffic, take a look at Frontdesk to see if you need some help in generating new patients while, at the same time, interacting with your existing patients more frequently outside of office visits. There are a number of our Members who use the service and love it.

If you' haven't yet run your existing website through through the free reporting tool to see what Google and the other search engines think of your site, you can do it through the link below.

Run a free SEO report on your website

Medical Spa MD {4} Mr. Adrian Richards MBBS, MSc, FRCS (Plast.) - Cosmetic Medicine In The UK

A real eye-opener for physicians in the US... In this episode of the Medical Spa MD Podcast we discuss cosmetic medicine in the UK with plastic surgeon Mr. Adrian Richards.

Listen to this episide here.

Mr. Richards qualified as a Doctor in 1988 and for the last 12 years has specialised in plastic surgery. He has full registration with the General Medical Council No. 3286812 and is a Member of both the British Association of Plastic and Reconsructive Surgeons (BAPRAS) and the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the leading British professional bodies for plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery. He is an author and has written a best-selling textbook ‘Keynotes on Plastic Surgery’. He is founder of Cosmetic Courses, a company accredited by the Royal College of Physicians, which provides training to medical practitioners entering the aesthetic market and was the lead investigator in recent clinical research into the use of Botulinum Toxin A (Botox) for cosmetic purposes.

In this episode we're discussing cosmetic medicine in the UK with Adrian Richards. It will probably come as something of an eye-opener for physicians in the US to learn that; most cosmetic surgeons in the UK don't really worry too much about informed consent, being sued by a patient is a rarity, filler injections are unregulated, and that physicians are routinely employed by non-physicians. I found the differences to be striking.

We also discuss how Adrian markets his services through social media, videos, and podcasts of his own as we delve into cosmetic surgery across the pond.

Some of what we talked about in this episode.

• Mr. Adrian Richards MBBS, MSc, FRCS
• Aurora Clinics UK
• Facebook Marketing for Physicians

Our New Facebook Group: Physicians + Facebook Marketing - How to do it correctly!

Join our Facebook group: Physicians + Facebook Marketing - How to do it correctly!

Facebook now has more than 500 million accounts.... and if you're not using it to promote your services and build a community around your medical spa or clinic, you're missing the point.

Rather than just discuss Facebook marketing here on this site, we've decide to actually show you how to do it by using Facebook.

The new group that we just started, Physicians + Facebook Marketing is only a few days old. So far, we've got 30 people to join and we're going to grow this group while showing you exactly how we're doing it... on Facebook.

We'll have a number of our staff who are responsible for our social network marketing on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in this group to answer any questions you may have, or just learn from the case studies and articles.

You'll also want to listen to some of our new podasts since we've been discussing social marketing on there.

As always, if you like the content that you find here on Medical Spa MD, please give us a small pat on the back by clicking the new 'like' button that you'll find at the bottom of each post.  ; )

MedSpa MD on Facebook

Medical Spa MD on LinkedIn

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

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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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The New Medical Spa MD Podcast

Medical Spa MD now has its own podcast for physicians and medical spas and the first couple of episodes are now live.

I've been looking to start a podcast for Medical Spa MD for a while now, and we've finally launched.

With each new episode, we'll talk about cosmetic medicine, plastic surgery, cosmetic lasers, clinic operations, management, marketing, sales, treaments, cost controls and everything else you'll want to know. We'll be asking (and hopefully answering) the tough questions. How do different cosmetic lasers compare? Which IPL company provides the best service? How should you compensate and motivate your staff? How to market your clinic? Where to spend your advertising budget? How to get started. How to grow. How to compete. Finally, what does that mean for your business and lifestyle?

To start, we're interviewing physicians who discuss their own concept of personal brand and how they've managed their careers outside of clinical medicine. 

In the first episode we talk to Dr. Greg Bledsoe about the Medical Fusion Conference and his desire to help physicians control more of their career. Greg's speaking from experience here. He's a leader in expedition medicine and organizes his other businesses to facilitate the lifestyle and income that he wants.

In episode 2 we're talking with Dr. Elliot Justin of Swift MD about telemedicine and the efficient delivery of medical services remotely. Elliot talks candidly about Swift MD and how company got started and functions operationally. He's also got some views on the state of US healthcare that resonate with almost every other physician I know.

We've already got another few episodes being edited and a long list of physicians and others who are scheduled to appear. My goal is to get out at least one every other week for the foreseeable future.

This new podcast will focus on providing relevant information for physicians, with a special emphasis on cosmetic practices, techniques, marketing, operations and just about everything you'll want to be aware of the field of nonsurgical cosmetic medicine. While we'll have plenty of physician interviews, we'll also be talking to technology companies, marketing gurus, and others about what it takes to run a successful medical practice, and exactly how to use these tactics and operations inside your own clinic. We'll be providing broad overviews as well as delving down into specific treatments and 'how tos'.

The Medical Spa MD Podcast is a permenant addition. You can find it by clicking on the link in the main navigation at the top the page. You'll also be able to subscribe to the RSS feed directly or subscribe via iTunes as soon as they index the feed.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. What topics would you like us to cover in the future? What guests would you like us to interview?

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. 

Submit a guest post and be heard.