The one-size-fits-all marketing strategy is long dead and gone.

Today’s aesthetic patients are not interested in a cookie-cutter approach. They believe they are unique and want a tailor-made solution for their own personal concern. They want to feel like you completely understand what their problem is and you have the perfect solution.
 
You must speak directly to your patient’s problem and solution, because patients today need to be more sure than ever before they invest their time, money, and effort.

Choose One Problem and One Solution
 
The typical aesthetic patient is bombarded with more than 3,000 ad messages per day. And they are filtering out all of them except the ones that provide a solution to their problem -– be that solution and you win a new patient.
 
Hone your message to one problem and one solution to simplify your message.  For example, even though you offer all sorts of rejuvenation procedures, pick one and talk about the problems and solutions to address just that. For example, let’s say you have new fat reduction technology. Here’s messaging that works:
 
Problem:  Do you have fat that won’t budge?
Solution:  Discover how to make it go away without surgery.
 
They must be able to say, “This is for me,” when they see, hear, or read your promotional messages.
 
Target Your Preferred Patients
 
Now that you know which procedure you want to promote, decide which patients and prospective patients that would most likely respond. You don’t want to pepper this to everyone. You want to tailor it to those who have actually shown interest in learning more. 

For example, reach out to your current patients who asked you about fat reduction solutions in the past. Work with your gym alliance to do a promotion to their gyms-goers. Call patients who came in for a liposuction consultation but didn’t book.
 
Use the Right Media to Communicate
 
Now be where those patients are. Use the media that your most likely prospective patients are using so they notice and act on your marketing message.

Should you use e-mail, direct mail, print ads, Internet marketing? There’s no single answer to this. Depending on your budget, several of these channels should be used.  For example:
 
– You could e-mail a very specific message to current patients in your database; the ones that had a liposuction consultation. 
– You could place an ad in social magazines read by a certain demographic of prospective patients who would most likely call for your special report about unwanted fat. 
– You could set up a separate Web site that just talks about unwanted fat and offer a special "Web gift card" to be used towards this procedure.
 
Conclusion

Being more strategic with your message, market, and media will save you time, money, and headache, because now you’ll be talking to the right group about what they are most interested in. That is a profitable way to grow your aesthetic practice.
 
Catherine Maley, MBA, is the owner of Cosmetic Image Marketing, a Sausalito, Calif-based firm specializing in creative patient attraction strategies to drive aesthetic profits. She can be reached at (877) 339-8833 or here.