You have a captive audience of consumers interested in cosmetic rejuvenation who are on their screens all day, passing the time away, so I suggest you build your brand and list during COVID-19.

What a great opportunity to get attention and gain market share, while getting in front of thousands of new prospective patients interested in cosmetic rejuvenation.

Building that list now will keep you and your staff busy when we get back to work.

However, build your brand and your list with education and entertainment.

Do not sell or promote right now!

There’s still too much uncertainty and it will hurt your brand and make you look “dense” to the reality most consumers are facing.

Instead, create a content machine to attract new patients so prospective patients see you, get to know you, and visit you when the time is right.

Here’s how you do it…

DEVELOP PLASTIC SURGERY CONTENT

You are probably wondering what content do you have that is interesting? If you think about it, you have plenty.

Consumers interested in improving their appearance can’t get enough information. They are fascinated with the procedures and the process.

Remember, you live in this world every day, whereas consumers do not so you want to become their main source of information.

Educational content is key. The best promotion is to show off your excellent work through your patients. It’s to position you as the expert so the prospective patient is reassured you are the best choice for them.

Here are examples of creating great content while you are stuck at home during COVID-19:

• Perform a mock consult on your wife. Have her explain what bothers her about her face and/or body. Then you give your professional recommendation of what you could do to address her concerns.

• Have your wife or family member ask you questions about plastic surgery that you hear repeatedly at your consultations.

• Show before/after photos of your patients on an iPad and explain the process of what they had done.

• Interview your patients using video conferences with screen share (such as Zoom.us) and have them tell their story:

• What was bothering them (the pain they were in)

• Why they chose you over your competitors

• What the process was like (easier than expected)

• How great they feel now

Add Entertaining Content

Some of the most popular surgeons got that way because they are authentic and real with their patients.

They show more sides of themselves than just their surgeon side. They show they are a family man, an artist, a dog lover, an exercise enthusiast, a great cook, and so on.

Just do what feels most comfortable to you. Your current and new patients will love getting to know you better. When they feel more comfortable with you, they are way more apt to go to the next step and that is to meet you in person.

The content can be still photos, short videos made with your iPhone, longer videos made with your iPad, and video conferencing at your PC while you’re showing your screen of before/after photos.

Repurpose the Content

Here is the beauty of creating this content. One piece of content can be repurposed into so many other bits of content on different social platforms.

That’s the secret to scaling content. Do it once and then spread it all over the Internet to reach a broad range of new prospective patients who go to these various platforms to get their information.

So, let’s say you made a video of a mock consultation with your family member so here is what you do:

• Send to your current patient list first since they are most likely to respond

• You upload the video to YouTube, Vimeo, IGTV (Instagram), and Facebook watch

• You have it transcribed and turn it into articles, blog posts, press releases, and RealSelf Q&A

• You upload screenshots to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat with a link to watch the video

• You pull the audio MP3 from the video and start a podcast and upload to many podcast platforms

And, here’s another growth hack…. whichever content gets the most likes, shares, and comments, turn it into an ad for that platform so it reaches many more consumers than just the little organic reach you get.

Be sure to also add it to your website so when they click on it or anywhere else on your website, you can retarget them to see your ad.

Obviously, this takes tech-savvy know-how but there are plenty of people who can help you (maybe even your own kids who hang out on these platforms all day.)

Collect their contact information

Now here is the caveat to putting in the effort to create this content. …

You must also collect their contact information so you can follow up when this pandemic is over.

Every content piece you create should have a way for your audience to give you their name, cell, and email.

THIS is how you build your brand and list during COVID-19.

Stay healthy!