The most often overlooked aspect of marketing your practice online is the process of building a real brand for yourself and your practice. Winning on the internet is not about websites, SEO, social media, or anything else. It’s about who truly brands themselves in the most meaningful way. Maybe I should repeat that one more time: “It’s about who truly brands themselves in the most meaningful way.” I really hope that resonates with you. It’s about the doctor who creates the brand that resonates emotionally with your target patient type. Once you do that you will be on your way to truly winning online.
How To Build A Brand – Know Your Ideal Patient
To build a brand for your plastic surgery or aesthetic practice you must first figure out who your ideal patient type is. Sure, you do many different procedures and those procedures are aimed at different types of people, but your brand, your identity, should be focused on the one patient type you really want to focus on. You can still service other patient types, but your main goal should be to get the affluent patient focused on a particular section of his or her body. Whether that is body or face, you must isolate that and create a brand promise that speaks specifically to this patient.
Your brand promise should immediately communicate to them at ZMOT (zero moment of truth) and FMOT (first moment of truth). You do this by taking what I said a few sentences ago and creating patient profiles or patient personas that map out all of the concerns and search terms they would potentially search for online. For example, if you’re focusing on the affluent female patient who is in her early to mid 50’s and is generally thin but concerned about facial features (bags under her eyes, wrinkles, and the desire to look younger, etc.), she would probably Google things like:
- how to get rid of bags under eyes [geography]
- reduce wrinkles in forehead [geography]
- facelift surgery to look younger [geography]
- eyelid surgery [geography]
- etc, etc..
Your goal is to map out all potential searches and concerns that a patient meeting this profile or persona would be interested in. Take the time to think through what this type of person is interested in other than surgery and the things you offer. Go deep – brainstorm things like common careers, family concerns, food choices, hobbies, etc. You need to really learn about all aspects of your ideal patient type. Think about commonalities that these types of patients share with each other and establish a general persona for this patient type. Once you’ve done this, you are in a much better position to truly understand how they speak and how they might best be influenced. Your next job is to build your brand around being the ideal solution for their concerns. Easier said than done.
Once You Understand The Patient, Be The Content Solution
Only after you have mapped out all of your ideal patient’s concerns, possible Google searches, inner thoughts, etc., begin to create content that specifically speaks to those concerns and answers those questions (Google searches). Plan a content strategy that leads the potential patient through a journey of discovery. Speak to them as this person; don’t speak to them in general terms. Be their solution. Make them have a “moment” while experiencing your website. Ensure all of your visuals (logo, color scheme, photos, etc.) will make an impact on this type of person. It takes some thought; more than just describing your surgery’s and procedures that you offer. It’s crucial to really understand who they are as a whole person rather than just someone interested in surgery. Base your brand promise around matching their personality and their interests. When you do this, you’ll be the only possible choice for them (and remember this is your ideal patient type, so you are the only choice for the best type of patient)!
Hopefully this gives you a glimpse into the general process of building a brand online, but obviously there is much more that goes into it. It’s not just “building a website” or “doing SEO” – it’s much more involved if you want to do it right. I emphasize “if you want to do it right” because not everyone does. It takes some work but the rewards are tremendous, and building a brand is the only way to truly dominate your geography.
We are always excited to discuss this with those who do want to do this the right way … those who don’t just want to build a website but, rather, build a brand and dominate their local markets. If that’s you, give us a call or email, as we’d love to continue the conversation. View our plastic surgery website design portfolio.
