Clinical Director of Cosmetic Courses Adrian Richards answers “how do I decide on a price point for the cosmetic treatments I offer?”

This may seem obvious but the first point to remember is that you need to make money. As you start out your practice you are likely to be treating friends and family. It’s important that you don’t offer these treatments for free as you still need to cover your costs. The same then applies when you start marketing yourself.

It’s easy to think that the best option is to put your prices as low as possible to try and attract new clients. However you don’t want to  undercut yourself. You will also find it hard to increase your prices as you become more experienced if all your patients are used to a low price.

Your price will need to cover your costs so that you make a healthy profit margin per patient. Your costs include:

• Products
• Consumables
• Training costs
• Insurance
• Premises

You also need to consider what your competitors are doing. It’s important to benchmark yourself in between what others in your local area are offering for their services. The best place to put yourself is in the middle of competitors, that way you aren’t selling yourself cheap but you aren’t too expensive.

Always remember to value yourself, training with Cosmetic Courses means you are practicing at an extremely high level. Your treatments are worth money because of your training. Be fair to your patients in the pricing but also remember that price can sometimes mirror quality.

Aesthetic Training at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses we pride ourselves on the support we provide you once you have completed your aesthetic training.

Our experience in medical aesthetics has taught us that is can be very daunting setting yourself up as an aesthetic practitioner. Therefore we do as much as we can to support you with both clinical and business advice.

Aesthetics is a journey. It requires determination and dedication but is an extremely rewarding career path. For more information on our aesthetic training courses or to speak to our friendly team about your training options please feel free to contact us.

In this video FAQ we see Clinical Director of Cosmetic Courses Adrian Richards answer “how do  I advertise my aesthetic services online?”

In order to be successful people need to know about you. How do you spread the word? How do you let people know you and your clinic exists?

There are many ways to get the word out there, as a guideline we focus on 4 key areas:

• Word of mouth
• Social media
• Websites
• SEO & PPC 

Let’s explore each of these in a little more depth.

Word of mouth

This is probably the most important way of obtaining your patients. Although advertising is important, if you have a few loyal patients who can refer a handful of friends to you, then you can create a healthy running skin clinic without having to pay to advertise yourself at all. But let’s talk about online…

Social media

Social media is becoming more and more integrated into our every day lives. Having a strong social media presence can really help not only promote your brand but continue the conversation with your patients:

• Let them know what you’re up to
• Are there any new treatments on offer?
• Show pictures of your team and your clinic
• Promote any blogs you may have written
• Promote open evenings to your audience

All of these elements are relatively easy ways of keeping in contact with your current database whilst potentially attracting new clients.

As time is of the essence we would recommend focusing initially on two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. There are many more out there but these are the two that from our experience will produce the most results in terms of enquiries and ultimately new patients.

Websites

This is quite a complex area. There are a lot of web agencies out there so it’s important you work with someone you trust. Some top tips for your website include:

• Wait until you are absolutely sure of the name of your company as it will only become more hassle to change it once your website is live.
• Once decided, visit a site such as  Go Daddy or 123 Reg to register your domain name eg. www.cosmeticcourses.co.uk. Top Tip: If there are variations of your chosen domain purchase a couple such as .co.uk and .com as these may come in handy in the future.
• You can also register an email address through these sites.
• Your next step would be to look at other sites that you like the look of and then reach out to friends or colleagues letting them know that you are looking for a very small simple site and see if they can recommend an agency that might be able to help you.
• Some features to ask for include: WordPress CMS, mobile responsive, SEO-friendly, fast-loading, social media integrations to name but a few.

This is a very quick overview of websites. If you would like further advice please call our Marketing team on 01844 390110.

SEO & PPC

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation and PPC = Pay Per Click Advertising

SEO is the way you get your website to rank at the top of google search results when people search for a particular keyword. This is completely free but can be extremely difficult to execute well particularly for popular keywords such as ‘Botox’.

PPC are the ads you see at the top of the search results in google. This advertising is easier in that you are more likely to be seen for certain keywords however you have to pay every time someone clicks on your website. This can get very costly if not executed correctly.

Both of these forms of advertising can be done in-house but we would suggest employing a digital agency to undertake these tasks whilst you are starting out. This could perhaps be the same agency you use for your website.

Overall there are many ways you can advertise your aesthetic clinic online but remember that the absolute most important thing is that you are your own best advert. You need people to know you in order to gain success. Put yourself out there and attend networking events to find like-minded business people who you can work with. Always advertise yourself and your business when meeting new people. You will soon find that people are more willing to go to someone they know or have been referred to rather than someone they found online.

Aesthetic Training at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses we pride ourselves on the support we provide you once you have completed your aesthetic training.

Our experience in medical aesthetics has taught us that is can be very daunting setting yourself up as an aesthetic practitioner. Therefore we do as much as we can to support you with both clinical and business advice.

Aesthetics is a journey. It requires determination and dedication but is an extremely rewarding career path. For more information on our aesthetic training courses or to speak to our friendly team about your training options please feel free to contact us.

In this Video FAQ, Clinical Director Adrian Richards answers the question “how do I gain aesthetic insurance and how much will it cost?” by looking into the available options for you…

How do you get insurance for practising treatments and what is the best insurance to get? Firstly, its important that you are insured for protection of your self and patients. If anything were to happen you need to be able to feel supported with your insurance provider. Secondly the question is where are you going to get it from and who do you feel will be beneficial to you as an insurance provider?

There are two options when it comes to aesthetic insurance…

1. Add on to current insurance

If you are a doctor you can add in on to your existing insurance premiums. Make sure you speak to your provider and explain in depth the reason why you are adding on to your insurance. Including what you will be practicing. This is great if you have a trusted service in place and can save a bit of work too.

2.Dedicated aesthetic insurance

Something we highly recommend is using a dedicated aesthetic insurance company. These people know what they are doing when it comes to aesthetic insurance and they are aware of things that can happen within practice. Offering you full support in your career and understanding every step of the way.

Aesthetic Training at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses we pride ourselves on the support we provide you once you have completed your aesthetic training.

Our experience in medical aesthetics has taught us that is can be very daunting setting yourself up as an aesthetic practitioner. Therefore we do as much as we can to support you with both clinical and business advice.

Aesthetics is a journey. It requires determination and dedication but is an extremely rewarding career path. For more information on our aesthetic training courses or to speak to our friendly team about your training options please feel free to contact us.

Find out more

The Aesthetics Knowledge Hub is a great place for you to find answers to frequently asked questions. We recommend having a look at the Aesthetic Training area.

In this short video we see Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Medical Director of Cosmetic Courses answer the FAQ; “How much time do I need to dedicate to setting up an aesthetic clinic?”

In our 15 years of training we have had some phenomenally successful delegates who have come through our courses and proceeded into thriving aesthetic careers.

It’s the people who work hard, who do well.

Setting up your clinic takes time and dedication. There is no real time scale on this, you just need to be willing to give enough time to make it successful.

Clinical director of Cosmetic Courses, Adrian Richards focused on three A’s when he made his mark on the aesthetic industry:

Availability

Being available to those that can help you and you can help them. This means working unsociable hours and putting the time in to get the foundations of your business right. In the beginning it’s going to be extremely hands on, you need to put yourself out there to reap the rewards.

Affability

The social side. Interacting with patients all day long talking to people and getting in tune with those around you. Those that struggle with the social side, this is going to be a make or break moment. Aesthetic practitioners need to be sociable, the more your patients and partners trust you by talking to you, the more they are wanting to be working with and visiting you.

Ability

This is what you can do. At Cosmetic Courses we train our delegates to deliver a high standard of treatments. In the courses you will be taken through every aspect of the treatment. Leaving you confident to administer them in your own clinic.

Aesthetic Training at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses we pride ourselves on the support we provide you once you have completed your aesthetic training.

Our experience in medical aesthetics has taught us that is can be very daunting setting yourself up as an aesthetic practitioner. Therefore we do as much as we can to support you with both clinical and business advice.

Aesthetics is a journey. It requires determination and dedication but is an extremely rewarding career path. For more information on our aesthetic training courses or to speak to our friendly team about your training options please feel free to contact us.

In this video FAQ Clinical Director Adrian Richards answers “what costs are involved in setting up my aesthetic clinic?”

This is a great question and one which all can learn a lot from. We took our time to analyse the costs of starting up an independent clinic. One thing was made apparent, there is going to be a few upfront costs before you start seeing your investment. So we came up with TIPP, the checklist for those wanting to open a clinic.

TIPP

T is for training– you are going to need to invest a lot into training. For yourself and for those you are working with. Ensuring the highest quality treatments and service with a clear and consistent brand level of excellence.

I is for insurance- this is vital for any practitioner. This will be an upfront payment and will be done before you treat any of your patients. An important step into the industry.

P is for Products- all clinics need their own products, a consistent and trusted brand which represents your service. Products are expensive, there’s no hiding from that. Here at Cosmetic Courses we can advise you on the cost of different products with association from a trusted pharmaceutical brand who deliver high standard products for the best possible price.

P is for Premises- last but certainly not least. You need to think about where you want your clinic to be. Is it placed near other competitor clinics? Easy access for patients? Is the building appealing? Your branding is more than a logo, it’s the whole experience of your clinic. The premises plays a big part in the customers impression.

High standard of training + insurance + high quality products+perfect premises= SUCCESS! 

Aesthetic Training at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses we pride ourselves on the support we provide you once you have completed your aesthetic training.

Our experience in medical aesthetics has taught us that is can be very daunting setting yourself up as an aesthetic practitioner. Therefore we do as much as we can to support you with both clinical and business advice.

Aesthetics is a journey. It requires determination and dedication but is an extremely rewarding career path. For more information on our aesthetic training courses or to speak to our friendly team about your training options please feel free to contact us.