Plastic surgery is being sought out more and more as the years go by; in fact, in 2018, there were more than 1.8 million cosmetic surgeries accounted for in the U.S. If you are a plastic surgeon, then you likely already know that liposuction, eyelid surgery, and tummy tucks are among the most performed plastic surgeries.
If you’re building a local practice, it’s important to remember that your patients are looking for you – but they’re using the web to do it. While plastic surgeons once put up billboards and newspaper ads, today’s successful plastic surgeon must have solid digital marketing strategies to grow.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top 5 digital marketing strategies you can put into place to build local traction.
1. Always Work Towards Positioning Yourself as an Industry Authority
As you build your plastic surgery business, remember to always be working towards creating an expert image for yourself. Every aspect of your website should exude professionalism, and it should include in-depth, precise information on each procedure you offer.
You can – and should – be using social media to help create an authoritarian image for your practice. How does this tie in with digital marketing? Well, it helps boost your rankings on search engines. Today’s search engines want organic, authentic content. Plus, when prospective patients come to your website or social media pages, they are greeted with a clear message: you are a standout in your field.
2. Leverage Ads Wisely
With the advent of digital marketing comes a wealth of advertising opportunities that come at a fraction of the price of print ads. For example, PPC ads can be targeted to your local audience to drive traffic to your website and/or social media. It’s extremely important to be sure that you are using these ads to target your true audience – any less is a waste of resources.
3. Take Advantage of Video Marketing
Video marketing is a highly successful strategy and can be used in various forms. You can create and post videos on Facebook and YouTube at no cost (and then use ads to drive people to them).
With video marketing, you can share testimonials, before and after shots and stories, success stories, and much more. You can answer commonly asked questions using videos and let your audience get to know you. Remember, this could be a first impression for many prospective patients, so always be compassionate and relatable.
4. Know SEO
SEO is a critical component for any plastic surgeon’s digital marketing campaign. In the early days of digital marketing, keyword stuffing could be used to get you ranked on the first page of Google. Today, that won’t cut it – in fact, it’ll get you banned from Google search period. Today, you’ve got to research to find out which phrases people are using to find plastic surgeons, and then you’ve got to localize it. When you are able to effectively drive traffic to your website or social media using local SEO, then you’ve got a powerful marketing strategy.
5. Use Blog Posts to Build Credibility
Many bloggers use their posts to make money, but if you are a plastic surgeon, then you should be using your blog to build credibility. Through your blog, you should focus on posting articles with rich imagery and SEO phrases while also making each post genuine, informative, and perhaps even entertaining.
Post articles that are relevant to your specialty, including statistics, trends, breakthroughs, new technology, and anything else that might help answer questions posed by patients. Oftentimes, the best way to start a blog post is to think of questions you’re asked in practice. Then, you can go from there in writing a blog post that answers the question.
Houston cosmetic surgeons The Oaks Plastic Surgery has been using digital marketing to drive traffic to their practice, and this has proven to be a powerful strategy. Other plastic surgeons across the country are also finding that digital marketing is the missing key to their marketing success. By implementing these top five digital marketing strategies for plastic surgeons, you can rest assured that you’re on your way to building a steadier stream of local leads.