COVID has thrown clinics and salons for a loop – so how can you get your PR and marketing back on track without spending a fortune?
After months of lockdown and uncertainty, clinic cashflow is exceptionally strained – but now more than ever, you need to keep your PR and marketing efforts going strong so you can secure existing patients with timely re-bookings, online consults and skincare, whilst staying ahead of competitors when it comes to attracting new customers looking to undo the toll of lockdown.
Aesthetic and beauty customers are increasingly aware and discerning, and can easily be lured away to competitors… They have plenty of choice on where to go – so how do you keep them choosing YOU? Smart clinic marketing and regular, engaging communication is critical to success – so here are some top tips to get your marketing up and running with minimal stress – enjoy!
- PLAN AHEAD FOR SUCCESS
Most clinics do their PR and marketing in ‘panic mode’ – but if you can carve out a few hours to plan even just one month ahead, you will save so much stress and free yourself up to do other things in the business. Get visual – use a wall planner with different coloured post-its or pens to map out the immediate business objectives, key activities or clinic focuses you need to push out across your channels and what this should look like on each channel (websites, blogs, customers newsletters, social media).
- Environmental milestones or trends – the more immediate and topical the better – e.g. Lockdown lifting – skincare recovery, back to school, tackling ‘maskne’, post lockdown body shaping etc.
- Treatment/product focus – What core products or treatments do you want to profile each month that align with the time of the year and your business objectives? Don’t forget any new launches or your signature treatment, or any special treatment offers you want to reinvigorate interest
- Clinic Milestones – Your clinic birthday, awards season, new premises launch, new staff, staff birthdays, events, charitable activities, congresses – all good touchpoints for your brand!
2.CONTENT IS KING
The more content you can stockpile in advance, the less you will experience the daily ‘posting panic’. Whilst this can feel time-consuming at the start, in the long run it will save you so much time, energy and stress. Aim to plan your month in advance with at least:
- 1x patient newsletter – try to keep it brief, engaging and be sure to include links to your website. MailChimp have easy to use templates you can send to your clinic database
- x2-3 social media posts per week – you can use scheduling software like HootSuite or Schedugram to plan you posts in advance and schedule them to publish at your chosen date/time
- 1x email campaign or social media advertising campaign – what do you want to promote that month and drive action for? Maybe for lapsed patients to come in for a free skin consultation, and special post-COVID offer?
A note on imagery: imagery and video are the most compelling types of content so people will stop and look / engage more frequently. Save time by creating a ‘bank’ of good images that match your brand, look and feel – ideally you should create these images of you, the clinic/team, your brands etc yourself, but good stock image websites like BigStock or ShutterStock have great images you can download in advance and use for your marketing
Social Media 101: Try to map out a monthly framework for approximately two to three social posts per week, posted across all your channels to include:
- A generic ‘library’ of information: tips, advice, inspirational images
- Promotional posts – tied to specific events or promotions that month (reopening!)
- Treatment information and before/afters
- Personal touches; for example flowers from a patient or good testimonials
3. WORK SMART, NOT HARD
Now you should have a comprehensive overview of what your clinic marketing needs to look like at least for the next month, if not a bit further in advance. If you have a team or clinic manager, consider delegating some of the responsibilities to them as part of their role – perhaps to compile the newsletter, or plan some of the social posts based on your plan. Having clear actions and deadlines will help ensure that smart clinic marketing becomes an integral part of everyone’s function in the clinic – not an add-on or a burden which keeps getting forgotten.
NEED SOME MORE HELP?
If this all still feels overwhelming, don’t worry – we have pooled our years of expertise to create a bespoke Post-COVID Marketing Toolkit for clinics, designed to kickstart your business. It includes:
- Step-by-step strategic guidance and tips to jumpstart your clinic marketing
- Simple yet effective template materials for patient newsletter and blogs
- Bonus tool to support ongoing business growth and new revenue
For more information and to purchase, click here
For more information or to discuss your clinic marketing needs further, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Kendrick PR team.