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What a joy it was for me to speak at Wigmore Presents last month. To be sandwiched in between the brilliance of Julie Scott and the charisma of Dr Abs Settipalli certainly had me check myself.Thankfully I managed to hold my own and delivered some sound messaging around marketing principles.
So for those of you who weren’t in attendance, I am going to have a go at sharing some of them in this article. I have now spent 22 glorious years working in branding and communications in the aesthetics and beauty space and have learnt some truly great lessons from my clients over the years.
So in the time and space that we have this is what I really want you to take away with you.
Don’t beat yourself up about being ‘bad’ at marketing
As a clinic owner you cannot do everything and you cannot be everything. As business owners we are hard on ourselves. It is difficult to be a skilled injector and a sleek marketer. My advice is to learn as much as you can and then delegate. Your business is only as good as how people understand it. If your patients and prospective patients don’t know what sets you apart in the market and what you offer they cannot engage with you.
Get clear on your brand identity
A strong brand identity could be the difference between genuine commercial growth and just coasting along. My clients who are very clear on their brand identity report high patient retention, a healthy influx of new patients and are able to create financial and joint venture opportunities.
Depending on your goals and business plan, much of what you want to achieve will entirely depend on how clear your brand identity is.
USP—your Unique Selling Point
This is essentially the core, the heartbeat of your brand identity. The best way to harness and nurture your USP is to merge your strengths with your values. So think of it this way, what do you love? Where do you find your passion in this industry? Whatever it is that you love will be your strength and what you are good at. It links to your values. Often people think values are a given, something that we all share. It is more complex than that. Your values are essentially YOUR deal breakers. It might be the time you spend with a client, how you manage expectations, the work you are prepared to perform vs not prepared to perform. Your strengths are a beautiful concoction of your passion, skill and talents. Your values are essentially your relationship with your craft and how you want the world to see that.
Practice and finesse your elevator pitch
I want you to get clever and always feel prepared to seize opportunities. These can be to either enrol a patient into the idea of what you do or create a commercial opportunity with a stakeholder. Beautiful dazzling science brains can often fall down a technical rabbit hole. You love science, you get excited by technology. Patients don’t need to understand about fibroblasts (unless they ask) they want to know how it will enhance their lives.
Always think about these three components when engineering a pitch, a marketing campaign, social post, etc.
They are passion, trust and benefit. Whenever you need to get a patient bought into your service and or treatments you must deliver your concept with passion. Essentially this is an authentic belief that you have in what you want them to understand. If you don’t deliver your message with passion, you will loose them. I want you to caveat this passion with your expertise. This is where the trust comes in. Your patients should have unwavering faith in your recommendations because they wholeheartedly trust your expertise. In all of the various ways you may market your business try and think about the benefits to the patient. You may have the best equipment, the sleekest furniture and spa scented reed diffusers but we need to always remember what’s in it for them?
Katie's checklist
This is a formula I run my clients through when they look at onboarding a new treatment, product or piece of tech.
Clarity
I want you to be crystal clear on why this new addition is of value to your business and patients. Do your research. Don’t get seduced by the science. We care about results, patient satisfaction and the growth of your business. If this new onboarding cannot do all three, disregard and let’s look for something that does.
Authority
I want you to confidently present your expertise to the market. Don’t be shy about this, lead with passion rather than ego. This will shine through to your patients and the industry as a whole.
Filling the gap
Only onboard a new addition if it is providing something that your clinic cannot already do. It should be complimentary to your other services and lead to business growth. You don’t have the time to flood your clinic with options that are too similar to each other.
Finally and probably the most powerful of the principals always ask these questions to your patient.
- What do you want?
- What do you need?
- How can I make it better for you?
Katie Emberley is the former Director of Aesthetics for The DD Group and medFx. Katie is now a consultant in both the corporate sector and aesthetic industries.
