Plastic surgery is becoming one of the most competitive industries in healthcare – and quickly. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says that procedures are becoming more commonplace as evident by a 2% increase in procedure frequency between 2016 and 2017. When you also consider that roughly 85% of consumers turn to the internet to find these services, it becomes clear that plastic surgeons need innovative marketing strategies. If you serious about your plastic surgeon marketing read through the seven steps below.

#1 – Optimize for Local Searches

When it comes to SEO, there’s a good chance you are optimizing your site for the search engine in general, but are you also considering local SEO? If not, you may be missing out. Most people who are interested in any kind of cosmetic procedure will first head to Google (or another search engine) to check out local surgeons, and if your practice isn’t there, you are handing business to your competitors.

The first thing you need to do is optimize your site for local searches by creating business profiles on various directories across the web. Not only does this improve your search rankings, but it also significantly boosts your business’s reputation and makes your brand more visible to locals. First, create a profile on Google My Business, then consider other options like Yelp, Bing Places for Business, Yahoo Local Listing, Yellow Pages, White Pages, and Superpages, among others.

#2 – Make the Most of Social Networks

Many plastic surgeons out there tend to stick to more traditional means of marketing, which means they truly believe simply having a website is enough to make them visible. This is simply not the case. It is important to make the most out of the leading social networks if you really want to boost your brand’s visibility. Facebook and Twitter are by far the most important, but other networks, which include Instagram and even Pinterest, can also add to your campaign.

You don’t have to create numerous posts on these networks each day to use them to your advantage. In fact, creating a few posts each week will suffice as long as your posts are designed to drive engagement. The more people like, share, retweet, and comment, the more visible those posts become. Share links to your blog, ask for opinions, create contests, and even offer discounts or promotions to boost your social media presence.

#3 – Market to Existing Patients, Too

Another important strategy to consider is your target audience. It is important to market your services in such a way that you can secure new patients, but if you are forgetting about your existing patients in the meantime, you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice. Per a recent marketing survey conducted by HubSpot, some 20% of your patients would likely take advantage of other procedures – but only if they are aware of them.

It’s possible to boost your revenue by marketing to the patients you already have. To do it, consider value-added services for your existing patients who already know and trust you. Offer them bundled procedures at a discount, and encourage them to refer friends, family, and colleagues to you in exchange for a reward. These things can go a long way toward helping you make the most of your marketing efforts.

#4 – Offer to Write Guest Blogs

You’re a plastic surgeon, which means you can offer much in the way of information, advice, and professional opinion. You can actually use this to your advantage when it comes to optimizing your marketing campaign. Part of good SEO and website visibility involves building quality backlinks, and this can be difficult to do – especially organically. Offering to write guest blogs is a phenomenal way to obtain those links.

Some ideal blogs to consider include those about health, beauty, and of course, plastic surgery. If you’re feeling a little anxious, keep in mind that these blogs would jump at the opportunity to publish a blog you’ve written in exchange for a link. Not only does it increase your visibility, but it also makes the blog more credible. It’s a win-win situation, so be sure to take advantage of it.

#5 – Go Live

YouTube, Facebook, and other websites are the perfect platforms for live events. If you think about it, most people who are in the market for plastic surgery want to learn more, and they want to learn from a professional. By hosting live events, you can give your potential customers exactly what they want in the most convenient way possible. Rather than scheduling a consultation to ask you questions, they can simply tune in during your event.

The best way to use this sort of marketing to your advantage is to hold these events regularly. For example, an hour-long live show once a week on the same day and at the same time will allow you to build a much larger audience. As people tune in, they will begin to ask questions, and this gives you the perfect opportunity to allow your skills, knowledge, and practice as a whole to shine.

#6 – Improve the Patient Experience

Of course, digital marketing is vital to your success, but simply getting patients’ attention is not enough. You have to live up to expectations if you truly want to enhance your marketing efforts. Remember that the more you encourage patients to engage with you in the virtual world, the more likely it is that people will have negative things to say about you or your practice. It is up to you to provide the best possible experience and encourage your patients to leave positive reviews.

There are several ways you can do this, but you should start with the atmosphere within your practice. Happy, helpful, friendly staff will help your patients feel more at ease. Implement plans to exceed benchmarks set by other organizations in the plastic surgery industry and utilize surveys to help you better understand how your patients feel about their overall experience, too.

#7 – Use Emotions to Your Advantage

Google released a groundbreaking study on marketing within the healthcare industry back in 2012. Per the data they gathered, 84% of clients utilized both online and offline sources of information when deciding on the right plastic surgeon. While you should focus your marketing efforts in the online world, you shouldn’t lose track of offline marketing as you do it. Using television ads, billboards, radio ads, flyers, mailers, and more that tugs at potential patients’ emotions is crucial.

As you are putting together emotional advertisements, remember that these should always be positive in nature. The goal here is to help patients see your services as life-changing and a significant boost to their overall self-esteem. Your ads should also have a very clear and motivational call-to-action in order to drive conversions.

There are many different ways to improve your marketing campaign in the competitive plastic surgery industry, but the ones shown above have proven to be incredibly effective and relevant to today’s consumers. Implementing several of these techniques will undoubtedly help you grow your patient base and your revenue over time.

If you’re interested in learning more about plastic surgeon marketing read through our case studies.