Introduction
The last few years have been a huge transition for aesthetic practices and med spas. But growth-minded practices have an opportunity in the year ahead if they understand how to grow an aesthetic practice in 2023.
How to Market an Aesthetic Practice in 2023
This article explores 11 marketing strategies that we’ve seen grow aesthetic practices. They provide a solid foundation for acquiring new patients and driving repeat revenue from existing patients.
More like this: 48 Ways to Attract New Patients to Your Practice in 2023
1. Invest in Your Aesthetic Practice Brand
It’s never been more essential to invest in your brand. You are establishing awareness and authority for your practice name and the reputation of your physicians and nurses.
This is particularly important for aesthetic practices, where your brand is more visible, and brand affiliation is more important. Think of brand affiliation as the “club” that someone joins when they become a patient of your practice. That choice says something about their tastes, and you want them to choose you. Design, photography, and copy are all necessary signals of brand affiliation. These are an essential part of your aesthetic practice marketing plan.
2. Buy Search Engine Ads
Search engine advertising should still be the foundation of your aesthetic practice marketing efforts because it targets those in-market and actively searching for the treatments you provide. Ensure you have the proper tracking setup to understand which search terms drive leads and patients.
More like this:
- How Much Should Your Practice Be Spending on Advertising in 2022?
- Google Ads Benchmarks for Medical Practices (with Real Data!)
3. Run Facebook Ads for Your Aesthetic Practice
Paid social advertising, most notably, Facebook and Instagram, are just as important as your search engine advertising spend. They allow you to be targeted to a geographic area for people willing to visit for treatments.
Your ads must be visual. But make sure you’re working with an agency that understands Facebook’s guidelines for aesthetics practices and med spas so you don’t risk disapproving your ads.
More like this: Facebook Ads for Medical Practices [14 Best Examples]
4. Experiment with TikTok Ads
TikTok is now the fastest growing social platform, and we’re seeing aesthetic practices drive much cheaper leads on the platform.
But it would be best if you had the right strategy for these ads to be effective. Most notably, you need the correct targeting – get specific with the conditions and treatments you’re going after. Most importantly, your creative needs to feel less like an ad, and more like the platform.
Thankfully TikTok publishes a TikTok ad library with some of the highest performing ads as a reference.
5. Launch Patient Re-Engagement Campaigns
The easiest path to growing revenue for your aesthetic practice is to reach out to existing patients to drive additional treatments. The following re-engagement campaigns should be a cornerstone of your aesthetic practice marketing strategy:
- Long-term email and SMS nurturing campaigns are often triggered based on time in-between procedures.
- One-time email and SMS campaigns around offers or key moments in time.
- Paid advertising campaigns targeting ONLY existing patients
These campaigns are worth their weight in gold and ensure you’re maximizing revenue for patients to that you’ve already worked hard to maintain loyalty.
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6. Optimize Your Site Experience for Search
One of the most notable Google search algorithm updates in recent years was the Page Experience Update. It was a significant update that focused on the user experience of your website using Google’s “Core Web Vitals” signals. It includes 3 primary dimensions:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – how long it takes the most significant element of your page to load.
- First Input Delay (FID) – how long it takes for a user to be able to scroll and click.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – how stable the page layout is when loading.
Your site will be penalized in the search results if you don’t score well against these metrics. In addition, we’ve found that aesthetic practices are particularly at risk due to a large amount of photography and big images used throughout many practice sites. Therefore, you must do everything possible to optimize your site and create an SEO-friendly approach to website design & development.
More like this: SEO for Medical Practices: 12 Strategies for 2022
7. Create an Organic Social Media Strategy
With the right content, aesthetic practices can organically build significant reach and engagement through social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Youtube. But there are a few essential things to keep in mind.
- Create quality content
- As frequently as you’re able
- Do both consistently, for an extended time
Success will not happen overnight, but investing the time and effort into organic content can pay dividends in the long run. It also gives you leverage, using top-performing organic content across your aesthetic practice marketing campaigns.
More like this: 6 Social Media Tips For Medical Practices
8. Rethink Your Call-To-Action
It’s no longer an option to rely only on contact us forms and phone calls. Many aesthetic marketing procedures are heavily researched, or patients window-shop before and after photo galleries. As a result, they are hesitant to commit to a procedure because they’re left with too many questions.
To convert as many of these site visitors as leads, you need to provide alternative lead generation forms. Strategies like chat, SMS, and exit-intent popups are great ways to ensure you’re capturing as many potential leads as possible. We call this practice conversion rate optimization (CRO).
More like this: Beyond Default Forms: Better Lead Generation Tactics [Video]
9. Partner With Influencers
Influencer marketing is becoming a key channel for aesthetic practices that are looking to grow. Your practice can execute them for a low cost, and you can repurpose the content created from the partnerships across digital marketing channels.
More like this: 4 Must-Haves in a Healthcare Content Marketing Strategy
10. Explore New Social Platforms
Remember that while Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube feel more familiar, newer social platforms like TikTok and Snapchat represent opportunities to gain visibility in platforms that aren’t saturated yet by competitors. Aesthetic practices that are forward-thinking enough to embrace these new channels will reap the rewards.
11. Sell Aesthetic Products Online
Lastly, investing in e-commerce storefronts and advertising campaigns can drive incremental revenue beyond treatments as more aesthetic practices sell products or create direct-to-consumer products. This is particularly important for 2021 as consumers have become MUCH more comfortable with e-commerce purchasing in 2022.
Choosing Growth in 2023
The reality is that your aesthetic practice may be great at one of these strategies. Still, it’s impossible to have all the internal resources and knowledge to execute these well. It would be best if you worked with a marketing expert who understands medical practices, aesthetic practices, and medical spas’ unique needs.
RUNNER is that expert. We can help you create a plan that makes sense for your goals and is aligned with your resources. Call us at (214) 396-8500 or schedule a free consultation.
