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.
