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L.A. to New York in….How Long?

By Joyce Sunila

Once I hitchhiked my way across the country by private plane. I was young, on assignment for a magazine called Playgirl that was all about proving women could be just like men.

“Recklessness” was the male quality I thought I would emulate, and air-hitching was my way of showing I was an adventurous journalist.

Arriving at the Burbank Airport, it wasn’t long before I was in the sky heading to San Francisco in a Piper Cub. There I caught a Cessna Hawk to Elko, Nevada, which led to a jog over to Ely, Nevada, and then a hop into Salt Lake City in a turboprop.

But these rides spanned 4 days. (Most of which were spent sitting uncomfortably in private plane airport waiting rooms, holding a sign.)

When I got to Salt Lake City, I realized it was going to take me a month to get to New York this way. I didn’t have enough money to hold out for a month.

So I developed a new policy.

I stopped leaping at the first ride I was offered. I held out for longer trips. After a couple of days in Salt Lake City with my hitching sign and a puppyish expression on my face, I got lucky. Two ex-Air Force guys were flying a shipment of Coors to Detroit in a Learjet.

A couple of days later, I was in New York.

What Does This Have to Do with Marketing Your Practice?

Good question. Think of discount e-blasts (what most cosmetic surgeons are sending to their email databases nowadays) as Piper Cubs. They might give you a little head-start (get a few people in the door), but they won’t build your client base long-term or get you to the real goal: high demand for your services.

Here’s why:

They ignore the trust factor, which is the most important challenge in converting cosmetic prospects. To trust you enough to alter their bodies, women need to see you as a Rock of Gibraltar — the most trustworthy, perceptive, reliable source they could possibly find. Discount blasts don’t convey that message.

Plus, Google doesn’t respect them. Google won’t give you a special ride in its Jetstream (a bump up toward the top of Page 1) for sending discounts.

Now think about content-rich newsletters as the Learjets of email marketing.

They build trust every time you send them. Focusing on your patients’ needs and sending them useful, accurate, informative messages demonstrates high standards and a caring attitude. What’s more, Google loves real content. Its new content-favoring algorithms give VIP treatment to businesses that publish novel, well-written, and robust content.

When you send content-rich newsletters to a database and then post them on your website, it’s like riding the Google Jetstream. It’s the E-ticket to a high Google ranking.

Content-rich newsletters, archived on your website, are a double-duty marketing tool because they give readers a high-quality experience while feeding the bots their favorite munchies. They may cost more and take more time to do, but they put you on the fast track for getting you to where you want to go. Trust me.

About the author

Joyce Sunila is the president of Practice Helpers, a marketing company that offers e-newsletters, blogs, and social media services to aesthetic practices.