Why Plastic Surgeons Are Avoiding Marketing In This Economy

Something has been bewildering me for over a year since starting my cosmetic surgery marketing business: why aren't plastic surgeons calling me to get found in Google and get help with their plastic surgery advertising? After months of beating my head up against countless dead-end marketing analysis requests from physicians, I have learned several important lessons. In this Hub, I'm going to share them.

The first reason they aren't calling is that many plastic surgeons are stuck in yesterday's ways of advertising. Twenty years ago, the Yellow Pages was THE place to be found. Pay for a large picture ad with a neat little discount or catch phrase and the patients would find them right away and schedule an appointment. The problem with that thinking in today's world is that 1) it's an outdated method of advertising and 2) their core patient demographic isn't using the Yellow Pages books.

It's an outdated method of cosmetic surgery advertising because it doesn't provide that instant access for patients to investigate who the physician is before they pick up the phone and make that call. The patients of yesterday were perfectly fine with calling a plastic surgeon, talking to their front office staff to ask a few brief questions, and then making an appointment. However, today's fickle patients have the opportunity to browse through pages and pages of plastic surgeons in their area online first and making calls based upon their impressions of those doctors through online sources. If a patient doesn't have to waste their time seeing each potential surgeon in person, then why would they?

The second reason that ads in the Yellow Pages don't work for plastic surgery advertising any longer is because it's thought that about 90% of all people between 18 and 34 exclusively use the Internet search engines to find local businesses (including plastic surgeons). In a 2010 article on the site SearchEngineLand.com, author Chris Silver Smith writes: "In the “Business 1.0″ world, the Yellow Pages label was so deeply established that it could bring companies an instantaneous degree of success. In the “Business 2.0″ world, the name isn’t as relevant nor as compelling to consumers as is the combination of content and utility. Companies ignoring the trends will risk making themselves be perceived as dated."

Bottom line: Patients aren't looking for a plastic surgeon in the Yellow Pages anymore.

This is a huge mistake to think this way! Just because Google will index (or list) a website somewhere in their search engine doesn't mean that it will be found at the top, nor will it guarantee that for businesses that operate locally, clientele will find them when they search. Why is this? First off, plastic surgery patients typically don't travel more than about 20-30 miles away from their home to seek the services of a plastic surgeon. Knowing this, cosmetic surgeons whose websites are not on page 1 of Google will discover that 9 times out of 10, patients who live in prime areas around their office will never find them online! This is because the majority of the clicks into websites from Google happen in the first three positions on page 1 (with the vast majority occurring from the website in the #1 position on page 1). Therefore, even though they have a website and are within the ideal driving radius of that patient, they will NOT be found by those patients.

Physicians also mistakenly assume that all they need is a website is because they have not optimized their site for LOCAL patients. Just because an office's location is listed on a surgeon's website does not make for patients finding them in droves. Cosmetic surgery marketing online requires physicians to register their business with Google Places and to have their website content, tags, keywords, and links on their site reflect their target patients. For example, if a surgeon has occurrences of "Plastic Surgery New York" all over their website then they are missing out on the specific areas within New York where their offices are located.

Bottom line: Fix this by using proper keywords, links and tags on the website as well as dedicating a page on the website to each of their locations. Use pictures with alternative text behind them, link the pictures to the site's home page, and include keywords and links on each page that are rich in location-based marketing.

This is by far the biggest reason for doctors deciding to forego our plastic surgery marketing services. And this is the biggest mistake they can make. Today's patients are info-centric, meaning that they are hungry and eager to read about, interact with, and watch information about their future plastic surgeon. For a surgeon who decides to "let that part of my marketing work itself out", patients are going in droves to the other plastic surgeons in the area who have taken the time to cater to their patients online. It's about providing patients with procedure-specific articles that explain what to expect, how the surgery is performed, options for incision locations, and expected recovery times. Before and after galleries with testimonials can be made into short videos and posted on a surgeon's website for site visitors to gain trust in a cosmetic surgeon's skills.

The third piece to the puzzle is social media marketing. Just because a cosmetic surgeon has a Facebook fan page for their practice doesn't mean that patients will find it and like it or even stay there to see what's in it for them. Facebook fan pages should be well-rounded just like a surgeon's website. Including elements such as posts to their website pages with patient education, videos about procedures, and regular interaction with fans on the site will increase trust, bring in referrals, and grow the surgeon's practice.

Bottom line: Without patient education articles and videos, and without social media marketing, cosmetic surgery marketing ends up being ineffective at best and can actually turn patients away at worst. Why? Because a surgeon can come across as aloof, impersonal, and uncaring when their office doesn't interact with patients effectively in social networking circles. They won't get initial consults and they certainly won't inspire patients to refer their loved ones or friends.

If you're a plastic surgeon and you see your own lackluster cosmetic surgery practices reflected in this article, feel free to give us a call and get help. We are happy to provide physicians with a marketing analysis, recommendations to grow your practice and even a free 30-second video to jump start patient inflow. Simply visit our cosmetic surgery marketing site and click on the contact us link at the top.