If you’re thinking about making the leap and setting up an aesthetic business for yourself, it’s important to consider how you can differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Here are 10 key steps that, if you do them well, will help your aesthetic business stand out from the crowd.

1. Optimise your website

Your website will often be the first point of contact prospective clients have with you. In this regard, it’s  your ‘shop window’, and a reflection of your business. Think about the impression you want people to have about your business. Distil it down to a few key adjectives that you’d like to define you – knowledgeable, competent, professional, friendly, helpful, etc – and make sure your website is all those things.

2. Make the most of social media

Whether you’re a fan or not, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, etc are great tools for building a personality for your brand. Posting regular and relevant content is great way to keep in contact with your clients, and encouraging them to share and interact with your posts is a great way to broaden your reach – and potentially find new clients.

3. List in directories

Well-written directory listings that really showcase your business, and make it easy for people to contact you, are a must. Make sure your business is listed in all the most important directories, including the generic (Yellow Pages, etc), but also any good industry-specific directories you can find.

4. Consider joint ventures

Think about which kinds of companies may be open to opportunities to work together, and make contact with them. For an aesthetic business, companies that work within the beauty industry but offer different treatments are a great place to start (nail bars, hairdressers, etc). Organising joint events or having reciprocal offers for your respective clients are two simple ideas you can both benefit from.

5. Create extra special offers

Everybody likes to feel they’re getting a good deal, but it’s easy for people to feel jaded by the same old 10% off deals. Create unique and irresistible promotions – perhaps taking the opportunity to introduce people to a treatment they haven’t had before – and market them wherever you can.

6. Advertise wisely

Whether sticking to local printed publications or investing in online and other media, make your message count. People are bombarded by advertising all day, every day, so make yours memorable! Striking imagery goes a long way in print, so if you can afford to use a great designer it should be well worth the investment. Consider including a special offer code so you can track the advert’s success.

7. Encourage referrals

This is something that many of your less marketing-savvy competitors may not consider. Think of some great ways you can incentivise your happy clients so they have even more reason to recommend you to people they know.

8. Use emails

Maintaining an up-to-date client mailing list is free, yet extremely valuable for your business. Sending out regular updates and offers by email (but not so often that people unsubscribe – around once every two weeks is a good guide) is a great way to stay in touch with your clients and let them know about any new treatments they may be interested in.

9. Embrace blogging

Posting weekly content on your own website not only lets Google know your site is being regularly updated, but also provides plenty more information to help the Google bots when it comes to ranking your site for relevant search terms. Blogs are a great way to easily add new content, and if you can, try and make yours so interesting that people feel compelled to share them!

10. Post in forums/information sites

Creating profiles and making regular useful contributions to aesthetic forums and information sites is a great way to build your credibility as an aesthetic professional, and boost the reputation of your aesthetic business.

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 Business and Marketing Knowledge Hub. Here you will find out key information on the aesthetic industry.