7 Ways to Grow Your Practice from Facial Rejuvenation Services

Your Cosmetic Surgery Practice and the Booming Facial Rejuvenation Market

We all want our appearance to reflect how we feel inside. Yet, many of us 30-somethings and above have experienced a disconnect between the vibrant self we feel inside and the aged reflection staring back at us in the mirror. Eventually, this can become a quality of life matter, one that warrants pursuing help from aesthetic healthcare professionals. And that help takes the form of facial rejuvenation.

The market for facial rejuvenation is booming, at $19 billion nationwide in 2019, with a projected 11% growth by 2030. It’s also the largest contributor worldwide to the medical aesthetic market (Global News Wire ) The competitive landscape of digital marketing to attract new patients and customers in the health care industry has reached new heights, with competition from every angle.

How to Grow Your Practice's Revenue from Facial Rejuvenation Services.

1. Know Your Target Market Build Marketing and Communications Around Them.

• Age: “Thanks to the increased attention to health and life expectancies, the target market is a spectrum from 30 something to a healthy 80,” says Fedok. The majority of patient consumers are middle-aged females between 45 and 65 years (Global News Wire)
• Interest: The type of treatment preference varies by age group, with younger age groups requesting less invasive treatments like fillers and injectables.
• Household Income: This is an out-of-pocket expense not covered by insurance, so your target segment is those with household incomes to support these services.
• Life Events: Consider the variety of motivations for patients to seek facial rejuvenation. While not everyone has a life event that motivates them to pursue rejuvenation treatments, some life events among patients include re-entering the workforce and re-entering the dating pool after a divorce or widowing.
• Beyond Demographics: Ideal patients for facial rejuvenation are more than just those who fit the criteria mentioned earlier. And in this highly competitive arena, a deeper understanding of the ideal patient can make all the difference between a happy and unhappy patient outcome. “The ideal patient must have a certain resilience because recovery is an issue,” says Fedok. “And they must have an educated trust. I respect the trust they give me. And I have to trust them that they’re going to be able to tolerate what we put them through. If I do major surgery, they’re not going say it was a lot of fun the next day.” Likewise, if they are undergoing a less invasive procedure such as IPL, they will have a temporary deepening of their hyperpigmentation. They’re not going to love the look at that moment and thank their doctor for making their face look like coffee granules. But they do need to be able to tolerate that temporary state, trust the process, and feel it is worth the result.

2. Build a Strong Foundation for Digital.

Your website is often the first impression patients have of your practice. It’s also the foundation for all of your digital efforts. Ensure it’s healthy and built with your target market and search engines in mind.

Showcase your background and experience and cultivate trust in patients. On his website, Dr. Fedok boasts 30 years of experience, a prolific portfolio of publications in the cosmetic health industry, a robust set of media stories, and a healthy collection of patient testimonials. In doing so, his practice communicates to website visitors that: (1) the industry trusts him as an expert, (2) the media considers him worthy of news stories, and (3) his patients are happy with his outcomes.

Visuals are influential in the aesthetic space. Consider including a gallery of before and afters on your site, as Fedok has done. Visitors can see with their own eyes the results of your medical artistry.

Finally, feature the services you offer on separate pages to give ample attention to each and help search engines register the subject of each page and send consumers searching about that subject to those pages. For more help with your website and its content, check out our website expertise.

3. Provide Valuable Content at Each Stage of a Patient’s Path to Decision.

Patients pursuing a skilled, expensive, and potentially invasive set of procedures want to educate themselves. And they’re more inclined to choose a practice that addresses their questions and solves any problems they encounter during all stages of their path to purchase.

Content marketing is a strong way to do this.

Blogs

Shape your blog content around questions you’re frequently asked as well as questions patients may have during each stage in their journey to a decision:

• What are the options, and how do I choose between them?
• When is the right time?
• Should I consider surgery?
• What are the benefits of new devices, and what kind of recovery times can I expect?

You can distribute this blog content on your practice’s social media channels, via paid ads that target your ideal audience, and via newsletters that nurture existing patients and email list subscribers. Additionally, having blog content on your website helps increase time on your website and helps your practice show up in search when prospects are searching for answers to these questions.

Case Studies

They also want to read about patients they identify with, patients for whom you delivered successful outcomes. Case studies are an excellent way to provide compelling stories to prospective patients about the kind of outcomes you can provide for them.

4. Reach Patients Where They Are.

Patients planning to undergo an expensive procedure with a potentially lengthy recovery time will do a lot of research. They’ll want to find a specialist whose background, expertise, and reviews assure them of the facial rejuvenation outcomes they want and can expect. There may be many who initially fit the criteria, so they’ll do additional searches to narrow the decision pool.

Over the course of this path to decision, you’ll want to make sure your practice shows up as frequently as possible on the first page of the search engine results, and you can do this through Paid Search, SEO, and Relevant Content. Stay front of mind with Social Media, and share valuable content to ideal patients on Facebook and Instagram.

Fedok’s marketing is multi-dimensional - presence in Google Search, Instagram, billboards, magazine ads, and word of mouth.

5. Communicate & Cultivate Healthy and Trusting Relationships with Patients.

Happy patients will refer other patients. The following are a few best practices Fedok recommends for cultivating relationships that yield happy outcomes and patient referrals:

1. Listen
2. Communicate and be honest with patients
3. Manage expectations
4. Understand what patients are willing to tolerate

Communication and trust are HUGE in this expensive space that includes numerous treatments, both invasive and noninvasive.

“The term facial rejuvenation has many definitions,” says Fedok, “and what you do depends on the biological age of the patient. For some, it may be totally appropriate to operate with injectables and skin tightening. For others, the most appropriate treatment may be surgical intervention such as a facelift.”

“Any of the treatments have validity, but the trick is who do they work best in. I’m a big proponent of diagnosing in terms of what’s going on and communicating with patients -- what are their interests, needs, and what will they tolerate?”

There’s an art to the medicine and communication of it all.

6. Establish a Strong Intake Process.

Fedok’s practice holds a 70% closure rate! We asked Fedok to share some secrets behind his strong closure rate.

1. Fedok has a patient guide on his website with recommended information that patients read prior to the consultation. It includes educational information and helps patients anticipate what to expect.
2. At the time of the consultation, the patients first meet with their medical assistant, who takes a series of specialized photos and gets preliminary information. That information is shared with Dr. Fedok so he can review it before speaking with the patient.
3. Fedok asks open-ended questions such as how can I help you? What can I do for you? Sometimes patients are on target about the treatment they need to get their desired outcome, and sometimes they’re a little off. But he looks at them thoroughly and communicates clearly with them. In facial rejuvenation, it’s a matter of looking at their biological age and looking at the patient - he identifies what things are aging them. He draws on experience, referring to it as a matter of pattern recognition.
4. If they say they want their eyelids corrected, it might be their eyebrow position, amount of fat on the eyelid, etc. “I usually give them options,” states Fedok. “You should at least let people know the parameters.”

Fedok’s advice on getting buy-in from paying for these out-of-pocket procedures? “Tangible and well-communicated outcomes are the best vehicle for patient recruitment,” he says. “And a positive track record is essential.”

30% of those who come in for facial rejuvenation consultations decide at that time they’re going to do it. Others shop around or think about it and come back. But at the end of the day, 70% convert.

7. Ask for Reviews and Feature Testimonials.

Patients trust other patients and will turn to search for social proof of the experience and outcomes you provide. Ask happy patients to give a review on your Google Business Listing.

For those reviews that are particularly compelling, reach out personally to the patient and ask for permission to feature the review as a testimonial on your website. You might choose to have a page dedicated to testimonials on your website, as Dr. Fedok does. Also, consider incorporating previews of testimonials on relevant service pages.

This blog was originally posted on May 10, 2022 and has been revised and updated as of October 12, 2023