You prescribe treatments to your aesthetic patients every day. You give them a solution. You provide them a plan. And you try to make it as easy as possible so that they follow it. The result? They love you for it. You gave them peace of mind that they are doing the right thing for their body.

Is it possible to gain that feeling for yourself – not for your skin, nose, or body – but for your cosmetic medical practice? Just like appearance, aesthetic medical marketing can be a scary monster if you don’t know where to begin or who to turn to.

Today is your lucky day because here it is. Your very own Step-by-step treatment plan to bringing in business for your aesthetic practice.

Step 1: Pre-commit

To pre-commit means to make them a patient before they even come through your doors. Here’s how: have your esthetician block off 30 minutes on Fridays to call new guests scheduled for the following week.

Your patients are bound to be impressed and committed to coming in. More than a recorded reminder, it’s a personal phone call from their actual provider. How many providers do you know that do that?

This is a great time to encourage first timers to write down questions before they come in to ensure any concerns will be covered during their consultation. This small gesture will make a lasting impression and be the first step to creating a strong relationship.

Step 2: Educate

When it comes to aesthetic medicine, seeing is believing. Nothing is more impactful for a patient than perusing through before and after photos on your website or in your waiting room.

Pique interest and generate excitement for new services you offer by putting all of your photos together in one book. A photo album is nice, but with all of the online resources available to the consumer these days, a hardcover photo book is even better.

Websites like www.mixbook.com can create a custom tool to showcase your before and after photos while describing in detail your cosmetic medical services. IF Marketing can also create a customized photo book for your practice – complete with welcome pages, staff profiles, procedure information, and before and after photos. (Make sure to check out the photobook special on our “What IF Newsletter”!).

Step 3: Retain

How often do you go looking for new patients before you stop and appreciate the patient base you have already cultivated? It is a commonly held maxim that it is 7 times more expensive to obtain a new patient than to retain a current one.

Bring in more business by giving your current patients a reason to come back. Give each patient a loyalty card that accumulates points. Initial it, hole punch it, stamp it, hand it to them, or file it with their chart – whatever system best fits your brand and makes it easiest on your patient. Once a client has enough services to fill the card, reward them with a discount or a free treatment.

Step 4: Refer

There is a way to generate new referrals without spending extra funds on promotions. It’s as simple as this one sentence:

“Help us be green by sharing this with a friend.”

Add this ingenious statement to brochures, business cards or newsletters. You are essentially doubling your marketing efforts without increasing your costs – and saving the environment.

Double the use and do the same with your website. Add “Email this page to a friend” to everything you do. Now you are capturing a prospective patient’s email address.

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I challenge you all to be your practice’s care provider. Work with your team to create inexpensive and easy efforts that cover each category. Apply daily and repeat.