In his latest book, The Icarus Deception, marketing guru Seth Godin says that going into business takes more than just opening your door and waiting for customers to come. You are now in the spotlight, and thanks to the internet everyone has a voice about you. You have to put a load of work into developing and maintaining your brand. To quote directly from the chapter: “The doctor who spends 25 percent of his time writing articles, blogging, or appearing on television to tell the story of his new procedure is certainly not practicing medicine the way his father would recognize.”
Amping Up Your Brand
The takeaway here is clear: a cosmetic surgeon can’t just be a doctor, and frankly that’s been the case for quite some time. What’s changed is the intensity of “Brand You” promotion and persuasion that all our clients must do at every step of the way. The classic movie star model where stars have mastered the art of self-promotion and agents pump up their clients at every opportunity has disseminated to almost every area of business.
So to remain competitive, you essentially have to become a movie star within your field. Just being an excellent doctor isn’t enough. You have to be social, topical, and in a sense, show off. That last thing can be particularly tough for doctors who have learned to be conservative, skeptical and analytic. But more and more, it’s what it takes to be a success.
If I’m a prospective patient and I see a doctor is in the spotlight, I’m going to think that there must be some reason why this doctor is featured over others. The news coverage, the articles, the Facebook activity, it’s all working together to persuade me that he or she is better compared to the doctor who just has a website and does very little in the spotlight.
Practicing Marketing while You’re Practicing Medicine
Success always comes at a price, but increasingly it’s not just about your raw talent and abilities. It’s about how well you’ve learned to market yourself. Often, the hardest thing for a dedicated surgeon with a passion for practicing medicine to do is to transcend that track and master the practice of marketing as well. We can guide you on that pursuit, but we can say without qualification that the clients we work with who truly understand the value of persuasion and promotion in today’s health landscape are greatly outperforming anyone still rooted in the “they’ll come to me” attitude.
The takeaway? It’s probably time to take a closer look at your brand. How do prospects see you? How are your relationships in your current patient base? What are you doing each and every day to make sure more people are choosing your practice? In short, are you a movie star that people want to watch?