Hello! My name is Laura Cunningham and I am the Marketing Communications Manager at Cutera, Inc.

My blog will offer a variety of marketing ideas to promote aesthetic procedures such laser hair removal, laser skin rejuvenation and skin tightening to your existing patient base as well as give you ideas on how to attract new patients. 

Some of the tips and suggestions posted may come from successful customers or from Cutera's partners. My goal is to help you build up your business and increase your practice revenues; starting with Marketing basics and then getting creative. 

This myth might be the cause. 

"8. MYTH: Let winter-ravaged skin hibernate — cut back on pro treatments.

TRUTH:  Actually, winter is one of the best times to start in-office laser treatments like laser hair removal, as pre-laser skin shouldn't be at all tanned, and post-laser skin won't tolerate sun exposure."

To expand on this particular myth, many of Cutera's aesthetic laser and light treatments such as Titan, Laser Genesis, CoolGlide Laser Hair Removal and CoolGlide Excel Laser Vein Therapy are color-blind; they can be performed on all six skin types and can be performed year-round, irregardless of tanned or tanning skin. 

Let your patients know they don't have to wait for Spring or Summer to start laser or light-based cosmetic treatments.  In fact, they will appreciate that they can get a head-start now!

Fox News reports that an enterprising Arizona cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Semone Rochlin is offering layaway payment plans to patients to enable them to afford the aesthetic treatments they desire.

"I call it a savings account for my patients," said Rochlin, 42. "Offering a payment solution where no credit is needed is a financially sensible alternative in today's market. It's my answer to the economic recession."

To read the complete article, click here.

In the article, the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), Richard D'Amico is quoted saying "It appears more consumers are choosing the less invasive cosmetic procedures because of the economic downturn".

While the article reports using layaway plans for cosmetic surgery, it could be expanded for package treatments such as laser hair removal or combination skin rejuvenation packages (chemical peels, Pearl Fractional, IPL such as LimeLight and/or Laser Genesis). 

It's time to get really creative!  Your patients will appreciate it.

This article by Rhonda L. Rundle appeared in today's Wall Street Journal. 

Interesting excerpts:  "Vanity appears to be trumping frugality in a looks-conscious society.  Despite the dismal economic climate, most women -- and men -- who undergo appearance-enhancing treatments such as Botox injections are spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year to maintain the regimen, aesthetic physicians say. Meanwhile, some older patients who are putting off or forgoing expensive facelifts are instead opting for less-costly injections and laser treatments."

and "Increasingly, many aesthetic patients view their treatments as professional self-preservation rather than as a personal indulgence. Appearances make a difference, says Kathleen Hudson, a 57-year-old marketing consultant in Falls Church, Va. "If you're in the business world and you want to be competitive with the younger people, you need to stay on top of your game," she says."

Lastly, "Wendy Lewis, a plastic-surgery consultant who sees clients in New York, London, and West Palm Beach, says she also advises physicians to adopt some of the same sales-promotion strategies as retailers. This holiday season, for the first time in over 11 years in business, she is offering her consumer clients a complimentary additional consultation if they purchase one between now and Valentine's Day.  If high-end stores "can send out gift certificates the week before Christmas, Ritz Carlton has deals all over, and B.R. Guest restaurants offer 20%-off gift cards, it seems only reasonable that our clients deserve a bonus, too," she tells physicians."

Wendy Lewis will be hosting an educational webinar for Cutera - details to follow shortly.

Aesthetic physicians - consider offering and marketing special packages to emphasize the importance of looking good; i.e. competitive to potential clients as a means of helping them keep or obtain new employment. 

Advance for Healthy Aging has an interesting article on aesthetic marketing.  It's not enough to do what you did in the past (run a yellow pages ad) and wait for the phone to ring.  You have to be creative and advertise more.

Having an effective call to action is vital - as you can see in the article:

"Your offer. In today's world, you cannot expect much of a response if you don't give your audience a compelling reason to respond and a deadline in which to do it. So many physicians pay for "Name Recognition" promotional efforts that are all about them. That's fine if you're not expecting anything more than a few patients telling you they saw your ad. But if you want new patients to come through your doors, it won't work. A well thought-out call to action will prompt the aesthetic patient to do just that-take action.

Consider adding a special offer if they respond by a certain day. This doesn't have to be a discount off your procedures. It can be a value-added benefit, such as a free skin care product, with the purchase of a service. The reality is everyone likes a good deal, and your aesthetic patients are no different." 

A time-sensitive offer works wonders - creates a sense of urgency.  So if you are having a special on skin tightening packages or procedures, then ensure your offer indicates that if the package is purchased by a specific date, then another benefit (say Laser Genesis treatments or microdermabrasion) will be included gratis.  Action-Benefit offers work very well!

Happy Holidays to all of you from Cutera!

Skin Inc had an interesting article on cosmeceuticals recently.  "Speaking at the American Academy of Dermatology’s academy, dermatologist Patricia K. Farris, MD, clinical associate professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, discussed how to separate fact from fiction when evaluating cosmeceuticals and tips for gauging the validity of product claims."

Read the article here.

After all - a successful, thriving aesthetic practice not only offers procedures such as permanent hair reduction or skin tightening but offers PRODUCT to sell their clients. 

Don't forget to offer attractive gift certificates which your clients can use (purchased from you or part of a package gift) to give to friends and family - driving more potential clients into your practice.  Impress them with your service and attention to detail and they'll be booking procedures with you as well.

Plastic Surgery Products has an interesting article on hiring the right person to help manage your practice.  See what they have to say here.

It was wonderful to meet Cutera's customers at this past weekend's Clinical Forum.  I really enjoyed putting faces to names and voices. 

We had a number of breakout sessions on practice building.  I'll be posting tips about advertising, keeping existing customers, attracting new customers and other pearls of wisdom from our presenters shortly.

Dr. Carol Clinton had a fascinating talk about the components of skin care products and their role.  For those who did not attend the Clinical Forum, Renee Lierly, RN, should be posting about Dr. Clinton's presentation on her Clinical blog.

It's really important to correctly communicate the length of procedure downtime as well as the type of downtime; i.e. is it social downtown (redness) or clinical (i.e wounds with dressings) downtime.

If you set your patient's expectations correctly, and their downtime matches those expectations, then you have a much easier time and a happier patient. 

Using chemical peels as an example, the length of downtime for a chemical peel can vary based on the type of chemical used.  A mild peel is dramatically different than a deep chemical peel.  Trichloracetic Acid (TCA) is a common solution for medium to deep chemical peels. The depth of penetration varies depending on the concentration and amount of solution applied, therefore the downtime can vary.

Setting expectations correctly on downtime, follow up care, residual redness/dryness and expected results will help ensure that your patients are informed, compliant, and happy with their procedures - and so they refer their friends, family and colleagues to you. 

You have invested in your aesthetic practice; your equipment, training and facility.  Don't overlook a critical element to success - your staff.

Advance for Healthy Aging has a very helpful article authored by James C. Fairfield, MD on the importance of your staff.

This particular statement jumped out at me - it's vital to have your front desk engaged, asking the right questions, closing appointments and empowered to do the right thing.

"Incidentally, in our office, no one is more high-end than the receptionist. It is here that the first (and lasting) impression is made. By the time the client gets to me, my physician assistant or another provider, we already have a committed client."

An article "Understanding Staff Needs" appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of MedEsthetics, authored by Catherine Maley who is the president of Cosmetic Image Marketing - a PR, Advertising and Marketing firm specializing in aesthetic practices.

Catherine's article has a number of practice pearls about hiring and retaining the best staff possible. 

How important is your staff?  According to her survey of 75 aesthetic patients, 97% said the staff was important to VERY important in their decision to have a procedure performed at that office.  Your staff is a critical element of your practice's success.

Customer incentives when used correctly, can both generate loyal consumers as well as attract new ones. It's important to offer incentives based on consumers' spending habit, interests and still be profitable for the practice.

Patients love frequent buyer programs.  These provide a way in which to take care of patients who regularly come in for aesthetic procedures such as laser hair removal, skin rejuvenation, vein treatments or injectibles. Patients want, even expect, some incentive for being loyal to your practice.  So, give them what they want.

How to get started?  Talk with your injectible and filler vendors, since they may have a corporate VIP program you can tap into. Botox® Cosmetic and Restylane® both offer a frequent user VIP card that offers a discount on their next treatment. 

Create your own with outside assistance - vendors have software programs or web-based programs to assist you in setting up, implementing and measuring your customer loyalty programs.

Be sure to create a system that is effective, fun, offers different levels of loyalty and most of all - is measurable.

Do you keep track of your phone calls?  Ask the callers how they heard of your practice?

If not, you are missing a huge opportunity to measure your advertising and referral programs.

Tracking calls is not time-consuming or onerous.  Just use a form to ask some consistent questions and log the answers as well as track the follow-up action (i.e. send information, scheduled a consultation/appt).  Indicate their interest:  Laser Hair Removal, Titan, Pearl, Laser Genesis, Vein Treatment, Botox, Fillers, Pigmented Lesions.

Cutera provides a call-tracking form both in our Cutera Success essentials marketing manual (and a customizable version on the CD with the manual).  Once you have customized the form to your needs, print a number of them and put them into a binder or folder and put them by all phones used to take incoming calls.

Go through the completed forms each week (or month) and tally the calls.  If you are running two ads in two magazines, then be sure to ask the caller which magazine ad they saw so you can measure the results.  This will help you monitor not only how your advertising is working for you but also how many calls come from referrals or word-of-mouth.  You can also measure interest in specific procedures and see how adept your front desk is at "closing"; i.e. scheduling appointments or consultations.

Does your practice accept credit cards? 

Do you offer information on third-party financing? 

If you answered no to either question, you may be missing out on oppotunities to increase procedures (and revenue) at your practice.

Plastic Surgery Products Online has a handy and helpful article about online resources on how to offer patient financing. 

It's an interestiing concept - asking permission to videotape a patient's treatments (and incenting them via discounts) and then encouraging the patient to post their own treatment video on YouTube.com.

The benefits?

1.  More publicity for your your practice
2.  More awareness of the procedure
    - What is involved
    - What it looks like
3.  Perceived patient satisfaction with procedure

YouTube.com is so popular.  This is a great idea.  I suggest that you clearly identify yourself and your practice name and contact details in the video.  YouTube videos must not exceed ten minutes in length and should be searchable by use of tags (keywords).

Another idea - film yourself and post a publicity video (or videos) such as the video that Dr. Kevin Smith, a board-certified dermatology in Canada and the USA posted.

PSP-Online has another great article about tracking your patients (not letting them disappear or move on to competitors).

"Focus on your current patient database. You could be sitting on a gold mine and don't even know it. 

Good-quality patient tracking will allow you to do the following:

• Welcome back long-lost patients who would return to you if given a chance;
• Motivate current patients to refer their friends, family, and colleagues; and,
• Encourage your patients to visit more often and to purchase products, procedures, and treatments."

Are you now offering the LimeLight Facial or Pearl Laser Skin Rejuvenation for pigmented lesion or wrinkle reduction?  Let your patients know. 

Do you have patients who now want to have laser hair removal after you  treated their vascular issues?  Remind them you can offer these services.

Do your patients have friends, co-workers, extended family members who have admired the results of your treatments?  Market your referral programs.

Put your gold mine to work for you.

I received a sample pack of TheraPearl ice packs recently.  They are interesting in appearance - blue beads that move about within a clear pouch.  How many of us have used a bag of frozen peas as an ice pack?  I certainly have and TheraPearls are much more elegant.

Consider the value of ordering these with your practice's web site or logo.  You need an ice pack for a procedure such as BOTOX, fillers or laser vein treatment.  You send your patient home with a TheraPearl ice pack that sports your brand or web site, and the patient is reminded of you and that procedure every time they open their freezer.   As the packs are re-usable, the value or message lasts as long as the pack. 

It's an interesting idea; modifying a disposable into a marketing tool. 

I visited the web site of an aesthetic practice recently and I noticed that they asked the visitor to sign up for their newsletter and receive a $50 gift certificate.

What a great idea - they collect the visitor's email (which has to be a valid email in order to receive the gift certificate).  They email a gift-certificate for a set dollar amount good for any non-physician treatment (i.e. can be delegated, not for retail products) such as BOTOX Cosmetic, laser hair removal, laser vein treatments or a skin rejuvenation procedure.  The certificate is good for up to one year from the date of the email (entire page must be presented). 

This is an enticing offer - they may choose a procedure which costs $100-$200 and this certificate gives them a 25-50% discount.  I would find this offer very compelling to visit and check out this aesthetic practice. 

For those customers who offer Pearl, Cutera offers an opportunity to provide a $100 discount on a customer's first Pearl treatment, seen on our Treatment Provider.  Just update your practice's information in your VIP account and to offer this discount.  Visitors will see a coupon icon next to your practice's listing which they can click on and print out.  The coupon has your practice's contact information included.

That is the title of a great article in Plastic Surgery Products' May 2008 issue.

"PR works by highlighting something special that promotes goodwill" - PR is marketing but is not considered advertising.  Usually there is little to no cost involved but it does take quite a bit of effort.  PR also has the advantage of appearing more credible to consumers than advertisements. 

Please read this article - it is chock full of great tips and advice on public relations. 

"Don't be afraid to tell the media about what makes your practice exceptional."  Maybe you have the safest laser for laser hair removal in all skin types or you've just acquired Titan or can offer a variety of vascular treatments.  Did you just attend an aesthetic conference?  Let the media know about the latest news from that event.  Talk yourself up but remember - PR is not advertising so avoid blatant self-promotion.

Getting a local reporter to do a TV, radio or print story on you will give your practice a huge marketing boost. 

Imagine how many calls Dr. David Goldberg's office received after he was interviewed by Fox? 



How can you be interviewed?  You need to establish yourself as a skin or aesthetic expert to the media.  Make a list of prominant reporters who cover beauty or health or trend issues.  Send them press releases when you add new technology to your practice.  Invite them to your open houses.  Offer free treatments.  Consider hosting a special event open only to the media.

If you do get coverage, include links to the video or print coverage on your web site as it helps reinforce to your patients (and prospective patients) that you are a respected expert in your field.