Marketing

Marketing is a huge subject so we are just going to give you a few insights into what has worked well in some of the clinics that we have cooperated with. It is not a definitive list, but hopefully will provide a little food for thought.

The first job (Ideally done prior to purchasing equipment) is deciding which treatments you want to offer and establish if the market exist in your area for that treatment and who is going to come to come to your clinic. (Establishing the target market).

You need to decide what sort of service you want to offer? Quick treatments with a large turnover of clients or exclusive settings with dedicated service levels?

Look at clinics around you and see what they are offering, what equipment they are using. No point in having the exact same equipment as the clinic 4 doors down from you, as you will be competing for the same business.

Always try to offer something unique to your rivals, as this is a great way to achieve repeat business.

Once you have answered these question you should now be a little more focused on what you want to offer and why!

One of the most important aspects of marketing is to find out what people want and what people are talking about, so get out there and ask.

• Maybe do an in=house survey
• Maybe look at clinics all over and what they offer
• Maybe stand in a busy location and ask people

The more you know the more chance you have of being a success.

Your research into equipment options is going to be important so, as well as talking to us here at Laser and Aesthetics, what else could you do?

• Visit websites
• Visit social medial
• Attend conferences
• Market research with your clients and general public
• check out trade Magazines
• check out related Journals and blogs

Once you have done your research

From this you should be looking to create a sound business plan to help you move forward.

A business plan should contain 3 important ingredients.

• What are your goals
• How are those goals achievable?
• What have you done to research those goals?

Set goals

The first step of this process is to look at all your costs and determine what income is needed to keep your business afloat and “viable”

From this figure you can estimate how much you need to earn in total to make a profit, which is generally why we start businesses in the first place!

Your costs are likely to include a combination of:

• Equipment
• Property costs
• Utilities
• Furniture
• Staff
• Licensing
• Insurance
• Training
• Marketing

How are those goals achievable?

This is where you make a clear indication of why you think the business could be a success:

• Experience - You may have been working for 20 years and managing a clinic for someone else so you have the knowledge base to do it yourself
• Training - Have you got the right level of training not just for the treatments but also for running the business. Do you need a business partner to help you with this aspect?
• Location - are you going to start from home to keep costs down or are you going to rent a room or a building.
• Is your location and what you want to offer a unique opportunity in that area?
• Is your equipment a good one? Does it have a resale value if your business is not successful or you want to upgrade?  
• Have you already got a client base from a previous role?

Once you have done a comprehensive list of reasons why this is achievable, the last step

What have you done to research those goals?

This should be a collection of all the market research you have done and why you have chosen that business in that area offering such treatments.

Do not build a business plan without doing the research to prove why it will work. 

The more research, the better.

Obtain multiple quotes if possible for each part for the business

• Equipment
• Insurance
• Training

All this information will help you build a good business plan and get your business off to a good start ready for marketing.

To help you consider marketing in further details we have created our downloadable marketing guide

Please download or free marketing guide on the right hand side of the webpage

We can also put you in touch with our marketing company here at Laser and Aesthetics who may be able to assist you with website building and social media marketing.

If you have read all our buying guides you are now ready to start looking at used equipment or new equipment or maybe you want to revisit some aspect of our buying guide.

Alternatively, please download our free guide from the column on the right hand side of the webpage