2024 will be the most innovative, exciting, and lucrative era for the cosmetic surgery industry. Elective cosmetic procedures yield better results and are more accessible than ever, which means practices have a vast pool of potential patients ready to commit.
This United Consumer Financial Services article explores effective marketing methods to engage with these individuals and increase your patient load and revenue. Let’s jump in.
Changing Lives with Cosmetic Surgery
Elective doesn’t translate to inconsequential or insignificant in the cosmetic surgery industry. Cosmetic surgeons and their teams restore function, improve form, and meet specific patient needs by understanding their “why.”
Amid debilitating inflation and economic uncertainty, the industry is thriving. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2022 Procedural Statistics Release found that cosmetic surgery procedures have increased 19 percent since 2019.
Below are a few growth statistics from the ASPS report:
- Facelifts: 8%
- Liposuction: 23%
- Breast lifts: 30%
- Breast reductions: 54%
- Nonsurgical skin tightening: 22%
- Lower body lifts: 28%
Patients across the spectrum of need and desire have increased the demand for elective medical procedures and surgeries. These individuals are excited and eager to receive care; your marketing strategy will determine if they find your practice, engage with you, and choose you as their provider.
Below, we explore five tips to market your elective medical or cosmetic surgery practice so you can book more consultations and change lives with your services.
1. Branding with an Emotional Appeal
Self-perception, beauty ideals, and self-esteem: these topics resonate deeply with your target customer. These ideas affect everyone –– every day –– and for that reason, cosmetic surgery considerations are driven largely by emotion.
Branding your practice to address the emotional motivations of your patients allows you to position your practice in their hearts and minds as they consider various treatment options.
Individuals consider cosmetic surgery because of a problem, issue, or desire. Your practice is the solution. Make this plain in your branding.
Avoid medical jargon, and use language your audience can understand. What are their pain points, and what specific solutions do you provide that resolve them? Researchers in the earlier phases of consideration might come upon your site looking for information about a particular procedure and then discover they could benefit from another service you provide, too. Your branding and messaging can show patients that you’ve got what they’re looking for, and you can deliver better results than anyone else.
Cosmetic surgery and elective medical procedures do more than alter physicality; they’re transformative emotionally, too. These treatments help patients address ideas of self-esteem, confidence, and self-love. You will win over prospective patients when you brand your practice as more than a medical facility but as a team of people coming together to transform lives.
2. Social Media Marketing is a Must
Social media is the ideal channel for new patient engagement. Because these platforms are highly visual, they’re perfect for showing off before and after photos, highlighting the work your practice can do.
Maintaining an active, engaging, and relevant social media presence is a must for increased visibility and bookings. Here you can answer questions, engage directly with potential and existing patients, and showcase physical evidence of your transformative care.
Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok allow you to share visuals while reaching various age groups and demographics. Posting photos and videos shows what’s possible for your future patients while bringing them into an intimate view of your team, your office, and what they can expect when they choose you for cosmetic surgery.
3. Leverage Referral Marketing
Referral marketing is a win-win-win for all parties involved. Existing patients are incentivized to refer new business to your practice. New patients schedule a consultation with a discount from the referral. And your practice builds trust and delivers positive experiences to both sets of patients.
Reward your patients for bringing new faces to your practice. For every referral, offer a percentage off their next procedure, treatment, or service. For patients who come in on referral, incentivize them similarly.
Happy patients are an invaluable resource. Leveraging referral marketing allows you to make this group even happier as they help onboard new patients (who are predisposed to trust you and book a service because of their friend’s referral.)
4. Nothing Beats a Glowing Patient Review
Social proof is a convincing marketing tool, both in-person (as noted above) and online. Ratings and reviews are among the most influential factors motivating consumers today, including for cosmetic surgery practices.
Plastic surgery is a highly personal purchase. And unlike a product bought online, the results can’t simply be returned. Patients want to know they’re getting the best possible results and the highest level of care and satisfaction. And the best place to determine these factors? Online reviews.
Implementing a ratings and review strategy ensures you receive glowing recommendations from patients under your care so future patients can confidently book. A high volume of five-star reviews communicates your practice is trustworthy and delivers high-level results.
The first step in effective review management is asking for reviews. Send patients a text with a link to give their thoughts. Once reviews are live, your team should read each review and respond. If the review is positive, thank the patient for the recommendation. If the review is less than ideal, apologize, then correct the issue.
Nothing beats a glowing review. Do what it takes to ensure patients leave positive feedback that guides enthusiastic readers to your door.
5. Increase Affordability with Patient Financing
Cosmetic surgery is life-changing. Unfortunately, most insurance policies don’t cover elective medical procedures. That means individuals seeking this type of care must pay out of pocket. If hopeful candidates don’t have access to traditional loans or cash to pay for their procedure, they’re forced to postpone surgery or give up on the dream altogether.
At UCFS, we believe transformative care should be accessible to all. And it can be when providers offer patient financing for cosmetic surgeries and elective medical procedures.
Partnering with UCFS to offer affordable, accessible payment options means you can serve a wider pool of patients seeking your services. With a credit application taking just a few minutes and prompt notice of credit decision, patients can know their approval status during their consultation, which means they can proceed with booking their procedure immediately.
Low monthly payments enable patients can choose your medical practice and use their financing with only your practice – not a competitor. (Unlike with CareCredit, where a patient can be approved, then use their financing with another provider). Your medical practice is funded within 2-3 days of the procedure being completed.
Patient financing increases affordability. These solutions empower you to better care for your patients while benefitting from increased bookings, cash flow, and patient satisfaction.
Earning Patients for Life
How you market your practice drives your engagement, bookings, reputation, and revenue. Meet potential patients where they are and provide the payment plans they want and need for their cosmetic surgery.
UCFS has been serving practices like yours for decades. We anticipate your and your patients’ needs, making financing simple and seamless. Contact our team to learn how patient financing can serve your practice and patients.