Essential MarketingTips: Build YourOwn Brand OneStep at a Time

Candace Crowe, BS

KEYWORDS

� Practice marketing � Marketing tips � Patient education� Brand identity � Marketing materials � Target audience� Unique selling position � First impressions

When I speak at plastic surgery conferences onmarketing, I usually begin by telling a little aboutmy personal background and where my passionfor great design and my love for building powerfulbrands came from. You may question why I usevaluable presentationminutes to talk about growingup in Iowa or share how I raised my 4 boys.

It is because it is easier to listen to and trustsomeone you know a little about personally. Thesame holds true for you and your patients. Gainingtrust is an essential first step in establishinga successful doctor-patient relationship. As a facialplastic surgeon, you have the power to signifi-cantly affect your patients’ quality of life. That isa lot of trust you are asking for. So how do youestablish trust? How does a patient get to knowyou well enough to trust you with their mostdefining feature, their face? What opportunitiesdo you have to build trust in the minds of yourpatients and prospective patients? The answerlies in deciding to intentionally build a brand foryour practice. Trust is built when your words,your brand, and your actions match.

linics.com

THE LONG HISTORY OF BRANDS

What exactly is a brand? Many people of mygeneration immediately think of the mark thatwas placed on cattle to identify the ranch they be-longed to. Some of you from a younger generationmay be savvy to the marketing efforts of larger

Candace Crowe Design, 3452 Lake Lynda Drive, Suite 16E-mail address: candace@candacecrowe.com

Facial Plast Surg Clin N Am 18 (2010) 499–502doi:10.1016/j.fsc.2010.06.0061064-7406/10/$ e see front matter � 2010 Elsevier Inc. Al

corporations who spend millions on promotingtheir brand of soft drink or cereal or automobile.

Some archaeologists and anthropologistspostulate that product brands have been aroundfor over 5000 years. Ancient bottle stoppers thatreveal personalized designs pressed into the stoneseals have been unearthed. These stoppers wereused for sealing bottles of wine and oils thatwere purchased from increasingly distant andtherefore unfamiliar communities. The seals wereprobably used to show the bottles’ origins andtherefore attest to their quality. So by looking atthe seal, ancient consumers could know whetherto trust that particular bottle. In that context, theseals were considered a brand because theyuniquely identified a product and created animpression in the minds of those who consideredpurchasing the bottled goods.

Most of us are familiar with at least 1 “jingle”from television or radio commercials that uponhearing, even without the words, we know thecompany or brand it is associated with. Forexample, you would be hard-pressed to findanyone who does not know how to finish this jingleeven if you heard the tune without any words: “Mybologna has a first name it’s O-S-C-A-R. Mybologna has a second name it’s _ _ _ _ _.” OscarMayer bologna has arguably one of the mostwell-recognized jingles in the world.

Therefore, simply put, a brand is a word, animage, a tune, or all of these elements combinedthat create a distinct, unique perception in one’s

0, Orlando, FL 32817, USA

l rights reserved. facialplastic.thec

Crowe500

mind. A brand creates an emotional reaction andaffects the way we think, feel, and behave.

YOU ALREADY HAVE A BRAND

What is your persona? How do people perceiveyou? You may not know it, but the moment youstarted your practice, you began building yourbrand. In fact, in some ways you have beenbuilding it long before you opened your doors orperformed your first cosmetic procedure.Your personality, your style of dress, the way

you relate to coworkers and patients, your integ-rity, your sense of humor, your expertisedall ofthese elements combined create impressions onthose around you and begin to establish yourbrand identity. Your brand is what comes tomind when people think of you.Take this 1 step further and realize that your

practice’s brand is an extension of your personalbrand. Patients will judge you based on all of theirpoints of contact with your practice, what they seeon yourWeb site, how the person who answers thephone takes care of them, how comfortable theyfeel in your offices, and whether their questionsare answered.Every experience a patient has with you creates

an impression, good or bad. If you do not definewho you are, others will. The question thenbecomes “Is it the image you want?” “Does thatimage add value to your services or take valueaway?” No one has absolute control over whatpeople think about you, but how you decide topurposefully communicate your brand will greatlyinfluence how they perceive you and the valuethey give to your services and most certainly affecttheir choice of you as their surgeon.In reality, it does not matter how highly educated

and experienced you are or how state-of-the-artyour facility is if this is not communicated andperceived as such by our patients. It is all aboutyour level of established presence. What guaran-tees success is the perception of quality and deliv-ering on expectations in the marketplace.

HOW YOU COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND

Great branding creates a desire for patients tochoose you. Have you ever made a decision basedon appearances alone? Are you more likely to beattracted to purchasing items that seem personal-ized to your desires? Do you spend more timelooking at things that are aesthetically pleasingand well designed?The way my industry refers to communicating

a brand is called marketing. Marketing at itsmost basic is just thatdall the methods you use

to communicate your brand to your desired audi-ence. How you communicate the brand canmake all the difference in the world. Take thisexample of a great invention that did not take offuntil it was marketed in a pretty package.

THE STORY OF SLICED BREAD

Though bread has been a staple food fromearliest times, presliced, packaged bread hasonly been available since 1928, when Otto Roh-wedder introduced the world’s first mechanicalbread slicer. Looking back, you would think itwould have been an immediate success. But itwas not until Wonder Bread came out in 1930with a colorful package and advertising strategythat consumers warmed up to the idea. Sooneveryone wanted sliced Wonder Bread on theirdinner table.Let us take a look at another well-known brand

called Starbucks and how it adds value toa simple product to create a very robust brandidentity. Take a consistently made regular cupof coffee. Add personalization, great graphics,a well thought-out customer experience, a rewardsprogram for frequent buyers, free Wi-Fi Internetaccess, and Starbucks can attract a loyal audi-ence following and, by the way, charge signifi-cantly more for that cup of coffee at the sametime.When you purchase a cup of Starbucks coffee

do you know precisely what you can expect? Agood brand is one that has established trustthrough excellent communication and consistentlyprovides a superlative product or service. Theeffective brand continuously builds consumerconfidence that each new interaction or touch-point will be an unforgettable pleasurableexperience.In most plastic surgery practices, the doctor

becomes the primary brand. The doctor’s educa-tion and years of experience, involvement withthe community, professional affiliations, andpatient referrals form the public perception ofhis/her entire practice. But a doctor is not a loafof sliced bread or a cup of coffee. Then how doyou market a service-oriented brand likea cosmetic surgery practice? The packaging foryour practice brand must consist of the marketingmaterials you create and the management of thetouchpoints you have with your patients andprospective patients. This is where you reallyhave to roll up your sleeves and commit yourselfto creating positive perceptions of your practicebrand from your patient’s point of view becauseit is impossible to have a strong and compellingbrand without listening to your patients.

Essential Marketing Tips 501

THE FOUNDATION FOR YOUR BRAND

If you are ready to begin the work required toestablish a purposeful, consistent brand for yourpractice, you first need a complete list of servicesyou offer to determine what makes your practiceunique and to decide on the profile of the typicalpatient you want to attract and retain.

Your list of services should be fairly easy tocomplete. Once you have written it down or typedit, look at each word through the eyes of a patientand go back and change any word that a patientmight not understand to something he/she willunderstand.

Next, think about what makes your practiceunique: is it your personal reputation? Is it yourparticular area of expertise? Is it your incompa-rable staff? Is it your state-of-the-art surgicalsuite? Is it your location? Is it that you run an “ontime” schedule? Is it that you have flexible officehours? What do patients tell you regarding whythey had chosen you?

Lastly, you need to find out all that you canabout the type of patients who would be attractedto who and what you are. In the marketing world,these patients are called your “target audience.”A recent study by the American Board of PlasticSurgery describes a general target audience of92% women and 8% men. Seventy-five percentof the audience chooses to have a procedure toimprove their physical appearance and 25% toadvance their career. Factors that influenced theirchoice of a surgeon included skill, experience, andthe recommendations of others. This study alsovalidated that women want to feel that they havea good rapport with the surgeon; they want tofeel “listened to” and comfortable sharing theirconcerns. (ASPS: Influences on Decision-Makingfor Undergoing Plastic Surgery: A Mental Modelsand Quantitative Assessment, March 1, 2005).

These general statistics are helpful, but you willof course need to identify 1 more specific factor foryour practice: your geographic location and yourspecific goals. For example, what are the profes-sions and approximated income levels of thepatients you would like to have? What educationlevel have they attained?What do they enjoy doingduring their free time? From how far away do youattract patients to your offices? All of these factorsand many others should be taken into accountwhen you are planning how you will communicateyour marketing message.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS REALLY DO COUNT

Here is a great little exercise you should do. Gatherall of your marketing materials. Spread them out

on your desk so you can see each one of them.Now pull up your Web site on your computer andask yourself: Do these materials reflect the qualityof service I offer? What is the attitude of yourpiecesdis it all about how great you are or is itabout the patient and how you can help themachieve their aesthetic goals?

You have 3 to 5 seconds to make a goodimpression. You dress for success. You hire aninterior designer to make your facilities lookwarm, inviting, and comfortable. You purchasethe finest quality instruments and go to the premierindustry conferences to learn and better yourskills. So why should not your marketing materialsdemand the same time, attention, and budget?

Most of the times the quality of surgeons’marketing materials does not match their surgicalability. This disconnect is carried over to what theirpatients think about them and the quality of workthey offer. However, when you see a good brand,there is an automatic trigger in your brain thatcorrelates that good design to a quality serviceor product.

An important element that surprisingly is some-times overlooked in cosmetic surgery practicemarketing is a professionally designed logo andtag line. A logo is the primary visual identificationof a brand. Think of all the brands of soft drinksand you will certainly find a logo and probablya catchy tag line or slogan that is firmly attachedto that brand in your mind. It is a consistent iden-tifier of your practice that should appear on everypiece of communication that leaves your office.

Essential marketing pieces for today includeacustompracticebrochure; ane-mail patient news-letter; 1 mailed communication with each patienta year; business cards for all staff; a patient/media,double pocket folder that coordinates with yourbrochure and Web site; branded, PowerPointtemplates for any talks you give; and newspaper ormagazine ads, if they work for your area.

Another must-have marketing communicationtool for cosmetic surgery practices is a well-designed, high-performance, professional Website. It is simply not an option in these times forcosmetic surgeons to eschew an Internet pres-ence. According to “The Social Life of Health Infor-mation Report” from the Pew Internet & AmericanLife Project and the California Healthcare Founda-tion, 61% of adults in the United States go onlinefor health information.

Let us turn now from external marketing tointernal marketing and the message patientsreceive when they walk through your front door.Here are a few things you already know that youcan do in your waiting area to start to buildingtrust.

Crowe502

While patients are in your waiting room, makecertain they can start to get to know you by havingyour personal story and your credentials to read,as well as a great photo. Be sure you have analbum of testimonials and “before and after”photos available so that she can get to knowwhat others’ experiences have been.

PRACTICE BRANDING THROUGH PATIENTEDUCATION AND INTERACTIVETECHNOLOGY

Patient education offers a great return on yourinvestment. It increases patient satisfaction anddecreases incidence of malpractice cases. Itincreases perceived value and reduces patientanxiety. Marketing through patient education isperceived as genuine, committed, honest, andnonpushy. It shows that you care enough toprovide objective information that will help themin taking their decision.You need to consider offering more than just the

standard brochure-type information. Not everypatient learns in the same way, and consumersare becoming increasingly accustomed to gettingtheir information from the Internet and other inter-active media.Some practices use a customized looped video

with brief descriptions of all the services and/orindividual interactive educational presentation onCDs so that patients feel empowered and morecomfortable with their decision to undergoa cosmetic procedure. Your patient educationmaterials should ideally reflect your brand identity

as well. Every opportunity you have to reinforceyour brand in the minds and eyes of your audienceis an opportunity to lengthen and strengthen thatrelationship.Another great way to stay in touch with patients

and build the kind of long-term relationships thatgenerate referrals as well as repeat business isa monthly or quarterly e-mail newsletter. Withrelatively few marketing dollars, you can havea branded e-mail campaign that will keep patientsup todateonall your latest procedures, treatments,and products. You can advertise any specials orupcoming events and seminars you will be offeringand direct recipients to your Web site for moreinformation or contact.It may seem cliche, but it is true that you have

only one chance to make a good first impression.Often your marketing is the front door for a patient.With competition for patients at an all-time high,you can’t afford to loose a potential patientbecause of a poor first impression.Fifteenyearsago themedical industrydidnoteven

need to think about marketing. But times havechanged, and today’s marketplace requires morefrequent and more genuine reaching out to patientsthen ever before. There is no better time than nowto work on your brand and marketing strategy to besure that it reflects the high quality of the servicesyou offer. This articlewill inspire you to take a seriouslook at how your practice appears through the eyesof a patient. Talk to your patients, pay close attentionto what theywant, and deliver the best outcome youpossibly can every time. Listen to your patients, andthey will tell you how to be great.