Medical Spa Marketing: The Rise Of The "Social Shoppers"

How active are you in attracting new patients through your social networks?

The growth in the online ad market is undeniable. Double digit gains of over 20% for 2011 were seen and 2012 will likely follow suit. This mega trend in marketing has changed our marketing strategies in our practice as well as how consumers are choosing their cosmetic provider. I have seen many mature practices where 60% or more of their patients come from internet sources. I have several colleagues who currently grow their practice through web related activities or word of mouth referrals exclusively.

Patients seeking cosmetic services have evolved their research methodology considerably from simple web site searches a few years ago to a search that is much more comprehensive. Patients want much more information about their providers outside of a curriculum vitae and a smiling photo. Three years ago, outstanding patient result photos were enough (btw, most practitioners fail to remove outdated photos or marginal results). In the age of social media, I refer to a certain group of internet savvy patients as “Social Shoppers”. This means that essentially if they don't have a best friend that has personally experienced your practice, then they need to perform enough research to feel like they know your practice personally. An outstanding website with great results is a large portion of the picture, but patients want unbiased affirmation that you have the expertise and track record of results for their particular procedure of interest. In our practice, we have always emphasized specialization and core expertise. By only performing certain types of procedures and literally refusing potential patients, we have grown our practice in core areas and augmented our expertise. There are reams of data to support better outcomes when people focus on certain tasks repetitively. Variety is the spice of life but repetition is the sugar!

A task list to satisfy “social shoppers” 

1. Encourage your patients to review you online. You have great results and there should be evidence of this online for your patients to see.
2. Actively blog about topics relevant to your core expertise and interest area. Focus on being an expert in your community and region.
3. Become involved in social media cosmetic services forums Realself.com.
4. Find your voice. As your writing volume increases, you will find a voice that demonstrates your expertise, attention to detail, and empathy. 

Microderm + Chemical Peel Giveaways As A Marketing Tactic

In our Canyon Lake Med Spa practice, we are always looking for ways to attract new patients, and to give existing patients a “value-added” service. 

We’ve been doing microdermabrasion and chemical peels for many years. April Turner, our medical aesthetic RN, discovered that the 2 procedures done together were mutually complimentary, and could be performed with a minimal amount of time and material cost. We charge $99 for a combination treatment of a microdermabrasion and a medical-grade chemical peel, and do fairly well at this price. But since it is quick and inexpensive to perform, we decided to also make this a “giveaway” at our seminars and marketing events.

This strategy has served us well. We give away this combo treatment to anyone who attends one of our events, or anyone who comes into our surgical or Medical Spa office for a consultation. Some people don’t take advantage of it, but most do. And most of the time they are so happy with the outcome that they follow up the complimentary treatment with regularly scheduled (and paid) future treatments.

We found that this is a great way to attract people to our Med Spa and surgical office events, and it creates an additional revenue source for our business. If you perform these procedures at your facility (and chances are that you do,) you might want to consider this approach for your business.

Dealing With Anonymous Patient Reviews As A Physician

The internet is a double edged sword to the Plastic Surgeon.

Patients from near and far can read about and research our skill and services but at the same time a handful of malicious people can significantly tarnish a great reputation which we have strived to achieve and maintain.

As a surgeon and as a human I have always strived to maintain the highest ethical and moral pathway. Most of us went into medicine to help people. What we do as cosmetic surgeons may not save lives but it does save quality of life and that is evident in our patients' smiles and behavior after successful cosmetic surgery. As doctors we strive to achieve and maintain a pristine reputation but as in anything else in life, it is impossible to please all the people all the time.

The internet has given a voice to everyone but it seems like angry, bitter, malicious people take advantage of this soap box and platform much more often than normal happy folks. You can see this on comments on YouTube or blogs or chat rooms of all kinds - not just medical or plastic surgery related.

But in our field, we depend on our reputation and while you may have thousands of happy patients, a small handful of unhappy ones can affect your reputation. Personally I have seen that the vast majority of my negative online anonymous patient reviews or ratings are from people who I have either never seen in my office or have seen but refused to operate on as patients. I recently had a "1 star negative review" on YELP from a person who has never even come to my office nor met me but decided that she did not want to pay $100 for an hour of my time for a consult and felt obligated to give me a negative rating for not offering free consults! We have all had such occurrences. But how do you deal with it?

My method has always been dealing straight forward with any and all comments.  If it is out there then it begs clarification and a reply from my staff or office managers or even myself.  There has to be accountability.  In the restaurant industry, restaurants can actually review and rate their patrons, not just vice versa! As physicians, we have to respect patient confidentiality and HIPAA but that does not mean we must be silent and let any anonymous person's comments go without a reply or clarification especially when most of us work so hard to do the right thing and practice with skill, ethics and integrity.

Resources for physicians:

• Read: Reputation Management Part 1: Understanding what not to do online.
• Podium Special Offer for Members

The Very Best Bang-For-Your-Buck Cosmetic Marketing: Waiting Room Video

Video marketing to patients in your waiting room the single most effective way to educate your patients about your entire offering and drive more sales.

Waiting room video marketing educates and informs patients that are already inside of your clinic about all of your treatments in a way that generates interest and sales without pushy hard sales tactics. In fact, its the best ROI marketing I know of since it's usually a one-time flat fee to get set up and running.

If you're not already using video in your waiting room you're missing the easiest and most effective way to increase every business metric you should care about; patient satisfaction, referrals, and revenue. Educational marketing in to your existing patient base has been proven time and again to be one of the very best ways to increase referrals (new patient traffic) and create additional and add-on sales (revenue per patient).

Take a look at this demo video from Frontdesk (one of our Select Partners) that demonstrates how waiting room video marketing works and imagine just how effective it could be for your clinic. 

View more Frontdesk waiting room videos for cosmetic clinics

There are all kinds of industrys that are already using video marketing in their waiting areas since they've been proven across all verticals to increase sales and customer satisfaction with wait times. Videos are being used in waiting areas to sell home equitly loans in banks, run real estate tours for brokers, upsell wiper blades at tire and oil change shops and educate patients about porcelain veneers in dentist offices. In fact, waiting room video marketing is so effective AutonetTV launched an entire TV channel just to broadcast into automotive center waiting rooms. So where are you?

In the most recent Medical Spa MD Physician Report, physicians running cosmetic clinics were asked what kind of marketing is most important in generating sales and if they're already marketing to patients in their waiting room. Here's what they told us.

What do you consider to be most important to generate revenue/sales for your practice?

How are you currently marketing in your waiting room?

(To be honest I think the the numbers here are a little off and that both of these questions should have and even more direct link to internal patient marketing and waiting room marketing.)

What's really interesting about this is that patients that are sitting in your waiting room are actually looking to be sold to, but you're probably doing a pretty poor job communicating to this captive audience. Most clinics have some brochures that are provided by technology providers or injectable reps, and you might have a flyer or two, but video marketing moves your marketing to an entirely new level. Look at that second chart; 25% of responding physicians indicated that they're using video marketing in their waiting room and that they're 'killing it'.

(Note: I don't believe that 25% of all cosmetic clinics are already using waiting room videos. I think that our responding physicians are skewed towards a much more proactive and business savvy group than the average and that accounts for the seeminly high percentage.)

Effective waiting room video marketing does 3 critical things immediately:

• Reduces perceived wait times for patients. (Increased patient satisfaction)
• Educates patients about additional treatments, services, or offers. (Increased referrals)
• Generates questsions about other treatmens and services. (Increased revenue per patient)

Reduce perceived wait time for your patients.

Have you ever actually had to sit in a waiting room with nothing to do but contemplate your navel? (If you're a physician you probably haven't had to sit in another doctors waiting room but imagine yourself at the DMV.)

Putting a great video in your waiting room gives your patients something to watch and minimizes the perceived wait, making for happier patients even before they get into the consultation or treatment room.

Educate your patients while they wait.

All of your patients are stuck in your waiting room for at least a little while if only to fill out paperwork. You're missing an opportunity if you're not educating them about all of your services and treatments while they're at their most receptive. 

Patients who know what your entire offering is are more likely to ask questions about additional treatments and think of friends and family that might benefit from them, increasing your referral rate.

Increases revenue per patient immediately.

Unlike most forms of advertising, great waiting room vidoes can boost your revenue immediately without any additional activity or cost by generating questions about additional treatments that your staff can answer without any hard-sell tactics, making both your staff and your patients more comfortable. You're moving the conversation from one that's initiated by you or your staff and that raises your patients buying barriers, to a conversation that your patient initiates. It makes up-selling and cross-selling easy.

Patients don't want to be sold, but they do want to buy. Treating them to a beautifully crafted and entertaining marketing message while they're already inside your business helps them do just that.

If you're interested in increaseing your revenue per patient right now or you just want to learn more, you can take a look at some more waiting room DVDs and videos here.

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Medical Spa Email Subject Lines

Make sure your medical spa's emails get opened by avoiding these deadly email sins.

Email is easily the most simple and effective way to let your patients and clients know about what's going on at your clinic, so making sure that your email is opened can mean thousands of dollars in revenue. Craft your email subject lines and you'll increase your open rates while running afoul of one of these email sins will ensure that your message is deleted or sent to the spam folder.

If you're a Medical Spa MD Member you'll have received the occasional email from us announcing a new free deal or a special offer for your medical spa.

Here's the list of don'ts that we run through before we hit send.

1. Hubris (haughtiness, pride, or arrogance): Nothing will make you look like a stuck-up snotty-ass quicker than talking down to your audience. You're asking for a favor from someone. Don't ask like they owe you one.
2. Boring: Dull little subjects aren't whipping your patients into a frenzy, are they? How many 'Botox On Sale This Week' emails can anyone be expected to open? Add a little zest without going overboard and make sure that your subject speaks to your patients needs and interests, not your own.
3. Length: Most email software will cut off subject lines after 60 characters (including spaces), but who want's to read a subject line that long anyway? Stay under 10 words if you can. If you can't... do it anyway.
4. Ambiguity: Don't hide your intent or make someone work to figure out what your email is about. Write a subject that's clear and direct.. like the headline of a news story.
5. Redundancy: Simply repeating your medical spa or laser clinics name isn't building your brand. Your emails subject line is the one thing that is sure to be read and it's valuable space. Make sure you're making it short and action oriented, not simply redundant.
6. Spammy: If there's a hint of spam you've got multiple problems; first, you may not even make it into the inbox since everyone now has email filtering software that will assign your email to the trash, and remember the sending address as being spammy. Second, it hurts your reputation with the recipient and makes you look like you couldn't care less about the recipient.
7. Just because: There are many clinics that send a monthly email 'newsletter' just because they've seen others do it but they don't take the time to actually say anything or provide value (and just promoting yourself shamelessly isn't value). It may seem like a good idea but make sure that you actually have something to say before you open your mouth. Send drivel and your open rates will drop into the basement.

If you want  results - and email can create great results - have a strategy and a plan that avoids these sins and craft your maketing message before you click 'send'.

Oregon Chiropractors & Dentists Ban Groupons

The Oregon Board of Dentistry has banned the use of Groupons by the states dentists... and Oregon's chiropractors have followed suit.

Groupon seems to be an either love them or hate them marketing tactic as shown in the very strongly worded comments on our post Are Groupon Deals Killing Your Medical Spa.

Here's the Groupon that started the debate:

And here's the Board of Dentistry's newsflash banning Groupons for Oregon dentists.

!!NEWSFLASH!! Internet Coupon Advertising!!! Please Read!!

The Board has recently become aware of different companies soliciting Oregon licensees to enter into contracts for marketing promotional services between the licensee in the company to promote voucher systems for potential patients. The Board has preliminarily determined that these may violate the unprofessional conduct rule OAR 818-012-0030(3) which prohibits offering rebates, split fees, or commissions for services rendered to a patient to any person other than a partner, employee or employer.

The Board suggests that until this can be fully reviewed by the board, licensees proceed with caution and if they feel necessary seek legal counsel on this matter or contact board office at (917) 673-3200.

Source: Oregon Board Of Dentistry

Of course the Oregon Board of Dentistry is not the only professional organization to come down against Groupon. The Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners (OBCE) also decided not to amend its fee splitting rule to exclude such sites as Groupon and Amazon's Living Social.

OBCE decides not to amend fee-splitting rule

Groupon Issue July, 25, 2011

The Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners (OBCE) declined to begin rule making to amend the prohibition on fee-splitting on their July 21st meeting at the University of Western States. This decision means Groupon type fee-splitting arrangements are still prohibited for chiropractic physicians.

The OBCE has been reviewing the issues of group bond and similar Internet or other marketing programs for several months. They had potential draft language produced by the administrative rules advisory committee along with the dissent by one of their members outlining the potential problems with the language. (Note: The Summer 2011 Back Talk quoted testimony in support of Groupon.)

Arn Strasser DC, appeared before the OCBE and made a statement in opposition of changing the rule stating, "... the question is what the schemes such as group on, where we would join restaurants, nail parlors and tanning salon, along with medical providers such as dentist and cosmetic surgeons, due to our credibility and how the public perceives us? In my opinion, offering discounted services in the fee splitting away with companies such as group on undermines our credibility..."

OCBE members were concerned that changing the rule with the potential for problems and unintended consequences. They cited the difficulty in trying to craft a workable exemption.

The OCBE also heard that two other such marketing programs have changed their set up for health professionals from a fee splitting arrangement to vastly marketing program ( living social and Fox 12 daily deal). OCBE members wondered why group on could not do the same thing? (The question has been posed the group on but no answer has been received yet. ) they felt it would be better if the advertisers change their program for health professionals, instead of the OCBE amending the fee splitting rule prohibition.

Source: The Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners (OCBE)

So is this it? The start of a global Groupon boycott that will eventually spread from Oregon dentists and chiropractors to medical spas and laser clinics in every state and end the daily deals industry?

I doubt it. We expect this is pretty much a medical industry issue--perhaps one that will be limited to Oregon (although we suspect other states will now be looking at it, too). But it does impact Groupon's total market opportunity somewhat.

It does surprise me that it's the dentists and chiropractors that seem to be taking the lead on this and not the physicians.

Thoughtful comments welcome.

Recommended reading: Are Groupon Deals Killing Your Medical Spa

Relaxed Patients Will Generate More Revenue For Your Medical Spa

Does a relaxing waiting room actually generate revenue for your clinic?

Retailers have known for a long time that happy, relaxed customers leave feeling more satisfied, but new research from Columbia Business School concludes that relaxation does more than just make for a satisfied client. It also produces a client who is willing to pay more.

According to the report, "Relaxed consumers think products are worth more than less-relaxed consumers because relaxed individuals tend to think about the value of products at a more abstract level. For example, when bidding for the camera, relaxed participants focused more on what the camera would enable them to do (e.g., collect memories) and how desirable and advantageous it was to own it, whereas the less-relaxed participants focused more on the concrete features of the camera itself (e.g., the number of megapixels it had, the shutter speed)."

All this being said, you may want to make sure that you're creating a relaxing and comfortable enviroment in your clinic even before the treatment.

Here's one example of how you can use video to create a relaxing atmosphere while also sending a powerful marketing message and communicating about your other offerings.

Watch other waiting room videos.

How To Run A Facebook Contest For Your Medical Spa

Facebook marketing is becoming a necessary marketing arm for successful medical spas and laser centers.

By Cary M. Silverman MD

There are several reasons a medical practice should consider setting up a Facebook fan page:

• It's free.
• It gives you another way to communicate with potential patients through updates that will appear on their news feeds.
• You can promote events and services in your office.
• You can boost your SEO.
• You can promote brand awareness for your practice.
• Facebook can act as a funnel to your main practice web site.
• You can build a community for your patients.

Once you decide to set up a fan page for your practice, the next task is to build a fan base. A Facebook contest is an excellent way to achieve this goal. These contests offer several benefits:

• A highly cost effective way to build a database.
• 50% of online users enter a contest once a month.
• Contests can be highly targeted.
• Creates positive brand awareness for your practice.
• Patients can further spread word about the contest to all their friends.

Make Your Idea Social “Well my contest is on Facebook – so it’s social, right?” Wrong. Your Facebook fans are more excited to participate in a contest where they can help determine the outcome, than one where you pick the winner. Furthermore, when you require voting or involvement of some sort, that means your fans must find friends to join in their quest to win (hence “social word of mouth marketing”).

Keep it Simple

Do you fill out every field of surveys you get trapped into taking? Didn’t think so. Contests are the perfect way to gather important information about your fans (remember to tell them how you intend to use it), but only ask for the essentials so that you don’t miss out on any entrants. Remember that users will give you more information if you make it enjoyable, functional, and easy.

Originality

This one should be a given, but you’d be surprised how many times organizations run extremely similar campaigns back-to-back. Fans don’t want to enter the same contest or participate in the same campaign over and over again on Facebook, and if you don’t catch their attention, they sure won’t tell their friends about it. The greatest Facebook contests are the most creative and memorable ones (just don’t over-do it and forget to keep it simple).

Know the Rules

If Facebook catches you doing something illegal they will delete your page and ban your practice from using the platform. So remember first and foremost that you must run your contest on a third-party application. We use Shortstack, which is fully customizable and affordable. Others include: Offerpop, Wildfire, and many more. You cannot require Facebook users to submit any content or take any action on Facebook itself (i.e. posting a photo to your page’s wall, liking, commenting, or re-posting content, etc.). You cannot announce a winner on Facebook which is actually a good way to drive people to your blog or website. Here are the current Facebook Promotions Rules and Guidelines so that you can remain compliant (they are always changing, so be watching).

It Starts In-Office

What better access do you have to potential Facebook fans and contest entrants than your own office? In a past contest we ran on EyeCare 20/20's Facebook page called “The Eyeball Challenge”, we started by attracting the patients in the clinic. We filled a large glass jar with candy eyeballs, posted a photograph of it on our Facebook contest tab, and directed fans to guess how many eyes were in it in a commenting section on the tab. The winning guess would receive a pair of sunglasses. This way people who knew us both offline and online could participate.

We had in-store signage at the front desk with a call to action and QR code taking patients right to the Facebook page to enter. We trained the entire staff to know what the contest involved, rules, and prizes so that they could urge patients to submit their guesses. We also designed takeaway collateral pieces so that those without smartphones could be reminded to enter when they got home.

This was an exciting way for us to inform our patients that we were on Facebook, and for some was their very first introduction to the social network. [As a side note: remember to speak in laymen’s terms, and be prepared to assist novice Facebook users.]

Come With All Guns A’ Blazing

Just as it helps us to have all parts of our bodies to perform at our highest level, our social media presence and success depends on the coordination of many factors. Plan your contest launch with a timeline marked with a dedicated email blast to your current database (don’t hide this in a regular email, give it its own special delivery date, if you are able to, without inundating your recipients). Be sure to include Twitter updates (reaching out to influencers in your niche, or local organization/people), digital and social media press releases, maybe an image or interchangeable banner linked to the tab, and utilization of any other platforms or people that you have at your disposal.

The Buddy System

Join forces with another party (maybe a prize sponsor). Bring traffic from their website, stores, brand name, etc. to increase traffic to your contest tab. Maybe a few months later you can offer to sponsor a contest for them. You can even offer your contest as an on-site giveaway at a major community event where people must enter on Facebook, and you announce the winner at the end of the event. Get creative. Just remember that the buddy system expands your network exponentially. It’s Okay to Spend a Little $

Facebook ads are a very effective way to gain not only entrants, but fans in general. When we initiated an advertising campaign for EyeCare 20/20, we increased our fans by more than 60%. And our contest entries quadrupled! Ads can be tricky, so play around with titles, ad copy, images, landing pages, and your bids until you get the right combination. These ads are great for local practices and organizations, so set a little money (and time to monitor) aside to find out what will work best for you! Converting New Fans to Patients

Some people become so consumed with getting new fans in running their contests that they forget to focus on bringing in potential leads. Focus on spreading the word with your current patients, local places where your target market can be found, and use ads that involve ad copy that will catch the eyes of prospective patients. Although numbers are important for establishing credibility and providing an audience for your later initiatives, remember to make each fan count.

Effects of a Campaign

Although your campaign may not make the Top Ten Promotions of All Time list… remember to take with you what you learned. Yes, you are going to get those few fans who are “Contest-Hoppers”, liking you, winning or losing, and then unsubscribing. Prepare to lose a few fans, but not to worry, the majority will remain with you. Remember to thank all of your participants, maybe even post a few examples from your entries (if you have permission in your rules), and continue to speak in your fun voice, building anticipation for your next campaign as soon as your current one ends to keep fans engaged.

Bonus Point: When overwhelmed, Get some Help

Sounds like a lot of work? Trust me – it’s worth it! For years, we did all our social marketing at EyeCare 20/20 in house. When we saw how much time and energy we were expending we decided to seek the aid of a professional online marketing team. We still spend a lot of time with our social marketing, but having this professional support has helped you to attain social media perfection. There are many excellent ones out there.

About: Cary M Silverman, MD, MBA is Medical Director of EyeCare 20/20 in East Hanover, NJ. He specializes in LASIK and refractive cataract surgery. You can read his blog or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Palomar's Creepy Adivine Postcard

Palomar sent out this creepy postcard promoting their Adivive autologous fat transfer system.

Evidently, it turns you into an eyeless zombie.

Here's some quotes from Palomar's new zombie creating technology. From the postcard:

Autologous fat transfer has never looked this good.

Patients are eager for dramatic, longer-lasting results. The Adivive Fat Transfer System can help meet their expectations - and your desire for aesthetic success.

Autologours fat transfer has never looked this good?

Wow.

Here are some more from the ranks of the undead.

I'm not sure who you're going to impress with these before and after pictures but you'd expect some better marketing from a market leader like Palomar.

I'm also guessing that they'll provide you with these before and after images to 'help you grow your business' if you buy a Adivive system. I'm not sure it that's such a good idea...

The challenge of taking good before and after pictures has just as much to do with expression as it has to do with reproducing the lighting. The object is not to try to remove all expression, but to reproduce the expression.

There's a proceedure for taking before and after pictures in the Members area that you may want to take a look at.

And who's idea was it to cut out the eyes?

This  is by far the creepiest direct mail postcard that I've receved from Palomar in my memory.

I wonder what Cutera, Cynosure and Sciton are up to? Vampires perhaps?

Link: Fat MD has started a discussion of the Palomar Adivine autologous fat transfer system here.

The Very Worst Medical Spa Names

There are some terrible medical spas and some even worse names out there.

I've seen some really bad medical spa names that range from the insulting to the embarrassing to the 'I don't get it' to the just plain dumb.

Naming your clinic or medical spa is an important marketing consideration. If you aren't quite sure that you've hit the nail on the head, wait until you are. You don't want to get on this list.

(If you are on this list, I'm sorry, but you have an atrocious name.)

Here's my list of the worst that I'll add to from time to time as I run across terrible names.

• Elegant Skin: Trite, corny, lame, and just plain tired.
• Feel Worthy Aesthetics: Just plain insulting.

If you've got a favorite 'worst medical spa name' just add it as a comment with a link to the site...

Rules: It has to be a real medical spa... no made up names.

Are Groupon Deals Killing Your Medical Spa?

There's a deluge of Groupon offers from Medical Spas who are using cheap laser hair removal treatments to gain new patients... Is it working?

This Groupon tactic is used by skin clinics who are desperately trying to get new clients and don't know how to market effectively or drive perceived value.

Let's take a look at some of these offers and run some numbers on how effective, or ineffective, this will be for your medical spa or laser clinic.

Here's the first of the offers for laser hair removal that I've received from a local laser clinic in the last two weeks. (I think I've received five or six.)

This Groupon offer is from Enlighten Laser Cosmetics of Bountiful, UT.

Okay, so let's take a look. Enlighten is offering an 84% discount on laser hair removal from a starting price of $617 for a savings of $518.

The starting price seems about right for what the average cost of most 6 series laser hair removal treatments are in the area so that appears about right. Since they've sold 700 treatments the can't be unhappy about that since it appears that they're getting swarmed with new clients. Let's dig a little deeper.

The selling price is $99. Groupon takes 50% so Enlighten is taking $49.50 for each sale. They may have sold many more than 700 but let's go with that number. So, with 700 sales at $49.50, Enlighten is bringing in a respectable $34,650 from Groupon...

So let's break down that number and see what we find.

With 700 sales at an average of 6 treatments we see that that gross number of $34,650 comes in at a mere $8.25 per treatment. ($34,650 / 700 = $99 / 6 treatments = $8.25 per treatment)

Not so good.

That's $8.25 before any labor, rent, treatment tips, appointment scheduling or anything else. It also ties up around 4,000 or treatment room time that this laser clinic won't be able to use for other treatments. They'll also have to deal with all of the support issues; phone calls, appointment setting, consultations, equipment depreciation and the inevitable complaints and patient issues that arise any time you're treating a patient population of 700 individuals.

If you've ever sold gift certificates you know what I mean. You sell a boat-load in December for the holidays and then starve in January and February as your rooms are booked delivering the services and no money's coming in.

So, what is the most likely scenario?

Enlighten laser clinic is going to skimp on treatment time.

Instead of performing a complete treatment, the staff is going to be under a lot of pressure to get these patients in and out. One likely scenario? They'll cut a 45 minute treatment to 30minutes. They'll perform skip treatments where they're not covering the entire area but treating every other one. They'll have a waiting room stacked six high or schedule patients only on off hours... All of these can lead to exactly the opposite result that Enlighten is looking for, happy repeat clients.

I'll also note that as I've spoken at length about before, the people buying these Groupon deals are coming for price, and they'll leave it just as quickly... Not the patients you're looking for.

Here's another laser hair removal offer from Lisse Laser & Aesthetics Medical Spa in SLC, UT.

This offer arrived in my inbox early this morning so it just started. They have 101 sold deals now but it doesn't end for 24 hours so they'll probably sell many more. (Note: While I wrote this post their sales have climbed to 371 in about 40 minutes.)

Lisse Laser & Aesthetics Medical Spa is taking a much sneakier approach. They're listing their value at $2000 in value.

Here's Lisse's Groupon offer:

...for $145, you get six laser hair-removal treatments on the lower or upper legs (a $1,000 value for women, $1,400 value for men), lower or upper arms (a $700 value), or Brazilian bikini area (a $1,000 value for women, $2,000 value for men)

So again, six treatments but at least they're making an extra $23 per patient. Let's do the math again.

$145 per sale / 6 treatments = $24.16 per treatment.

Lisse is going to have all of the same issues and problems with scheduling, service, appointment setting and the rest as well.

(I'd be interested to hear how those medspas that are using commission (which I personally hate) to pay their staff feel that this kind of discount effects both the level of service and the commission structure. If you have a thought on this please comment.)

And there's another problem.

Selling your services at this type of discount positions you in the marketplace as the cheap player in town. You'll never be able to control your pricing. You'll never be able to create steady, repeat buyers that pay a premium for your services. You'll never be able to bring in the bigger treatments and you'll always have cash flow issues.

• Read: Your Medical Spa Pricing, Cognitive Dissonance, & How To Charge More

Instead, you'll always be scraping along at the bottom of the barrel... if you can survive this type of cut throat slash-and-burn price war.

I can see that Groupon is doing a great job of selling their deal to laser clinics just by the endless stream of deals.

For Groupon this is great. They just made $34,650 from Enlighten by sending out an email... but Enlighten is the one who's stuck delivering all of the services, making all of the appointments, dealing with the customers, and putting their reputation and business on the line, including the potential of any issues that hit their malpractice insurance or medical licensure. (I'm not saying this will happen, just that the risk is entirely on Enlighten and the physician, not Groupon.)

Undoubtedly, there are some occasional successes and I've heard from clinics that claim that they love Groupon, but I've never heard from a physician who was paying the bills that this worked well. It's often the staff that like this since the clinic is now busy, but the physician owner is the one that's not making any money and still paying out.

Here's a quote from a business that ran a Groupon offer.

After three months of Groupons coming through the door, I started to see the results really hurting us financially. There came a time when we literally could not make payroll because at that point in time we had lost nearly $8,000 with our Groupon campaign. We literally had to take $8,000 out of our personal savings to cover payroll and rent that month. It was sickening, especially after our sales had been rising. So the experience jaded me, and the interactions with the few bad Groupon customers we had jaded our staff. After all of this, I find myself not even willing to buy Groupons because I know how it could hurt a business...

This business owner goes on to tell of her experience that the Groupon clients also lambasted her business on Yelp and other review sites with negative reviews.

If you have an opinion on this or experience with Groupon, please leave a comment.

Additional posts on Groupon:

• Medical Spas & Groupon Group Buys
• Your Medical Spa + Groupon
• Groupon & Fee Splitting
• Groupon post on Techcrunch

How Men Would Help Boom Your Practice

It is not new that men are also getting cosmetic procedures, due to pressure from social media or people in their environment or combating aging. Based on recent surveys and statistics from different faculties related to aesthetic medicine, the number has ballooned for men since the early 2000s and it is expected to grow larger in the next few years. Would this be a factor in your future marketing strategies for men? Or are you only considering now to offer cosmetic procedures to men?

Despite the numbers, do men still face stigma? 

According to several physicians, that despite the rising number of men asking for cosmetic procedures, it’s still common that men do think there still is stigma.

And how you could curb stigma to market to men better?

Market and target

Fathers, young men, and even grandfathers can be your demographic. Based from many experts, dads are looking into addressing their aging concerns. Men would like to get rid of their “dad bod” and their wrinkles. Know what treatments would be better suited for each demographic. Many experts note that men want more straight-forward treatments and less wait times.

Do not leave out the males

Before and after photos on your website could show proof that men are also welcome to your practice and that they should not be ashamed in getting an injection or surgery done. Stock photos could be in lieu of patient photos or ask your male patients to have their photos taken, with their consent.

Revamping Your Design

Men may feel uncomfortable in a clinic where you had women in mind first. You could start with the waiting room in your practice, and find ways to make everything gender neutral looking even from the outside. In any case, you could do it digitally on your website.

Set-Up a Male Page on Your Website

Most plastic surgery websites have a “Mommy Makeover” or “Bridal Makeover”, and obviously the women will only be more interested, and as such men might be discouraged to take interest in your practice. Some researchers suggest that plastic surgery websites also set-up a male-related web page to cater to your potential male demographic.

Step up your marketing game to both men and women. There are other marketing options like contests or usual social media advertising to reach out to men.

Improving Your Laser Clinics Marketing Funnel

Web users are, for the most part, used to giving out personal information online, especially in exchange for content they want. But certain kinds of information are more sensitive than others.

If you're capturing leads for your laser clinic or medical spa, here's some info from Hubspot that show how asking for certain type of information can reduce the number of contacts or leads that you're able to capture.

Here are some of the findings.

Forms asking for any type of geographic location have lower converstion rates than forms that do not, but mailing addresses seem to be much more sensitive since the perception is that visitors filling out the form will receive mail.

Asking for a telephone number has much the same impact as asking for a mailing address... a decrease in the number of completed forms.

Oddly, at least to me, it seems that asking a visitors age is also sensitive enough to prevent form completions.

So what should you do?

First, don't try to swallow the entire apple, just take a bite and begin to add value. Remember that they're filling out your form in order to receive value from you. If you don't provide any value at all and just spam them with offers, your relationship will sour quickly.

Video Waiting Room Marketing

Video marketing for your waiting room? You'll want to watch this...

Frontdesk is launching truly awesome waiting room video marketing DVDs for doctors, dentists, chiropractors, medical spas, laser clinics and pretty much every other small business with a waiting room or lobby...

Putting a jaw-dropping, attention grabbing video in your waiting room or lobby is the perfect way to add additional sales and profits to your clinics bottom line.

The benefits are obvious. You're marketing directly to a captive audience that's already in your business with information about your products and services. Your clients will be entertained at the same time that you're educating and informing them of the scope of your services. Special offers? New services? Packages or gift certificates? Video marketing will 'soft-sell' your clients and get conversations started that result in increased sales!

If you're a dentist, physician, medical spa, clinic, chiroprator or any other small business that has a waiting room, you'd be a fool to pass up learning how you can increase your profitibility and drive extra sales just by engaging and communicating the right message to your existing clients or patients. It's truly a no-brainer.

This system has been proven in countless businesses that understand that communicating the right message, in the right way, adds to the bottom line.

They're booked solid right now but you can get on their waiting list and be notified when space becomes available.

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