ASK ALEX

“What technology can aesthetic clinics employ to streamline their marketing?”

ALEX BUGG

Alex Bugg works for Web Marketing Clinic, a familyrun digital agency, which specialises in medical aesthetics. The business builds websites and delivers marketing campaigns for doctors, nurses, dentists, distributors and brands. Contact her at: alex@webmarketingclinic.co.uk or follow her on Instagram: @webmarketingclinic

There are loads of apps and tools out there that you can use to make your life easier. Every time you meet up with colleagues, I’m sure you’re asking each other something like “Hey, what’s that app you’re using?” because it seems that there’s always something new that people are favouring. The rise of generative AI has powered this even more.

Whydowe looktotechto make ourmarketing easier? To savetime, save money, and streamlineyourprocesses, soyoucan spend moretime treating patients, engagingwithyourcommunity, andwithyourfamily.

So, what technology should we be looking for?

SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

Creating and scheduling social media posts in advance is such a simple way to buy back time when running your clinic. You keep your feed consistent if you have a regular stream of content going out, and it’s vital to maintain a consistent online presence and engagement with your followers. Scheduling content allows you to take breaks from social media, if you’re away from clinic for whatever reason.

Most social platforms now have inbuilt scheduling, however it’s even easier to plan and schedule in one dashboard if you’re running multiple platforms like Instagram, X, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Social media tools often come with analytics features too, which help you understand social media campaign performance, so you can then adjust or repurpose your content accordingly.

Check out: Later, Meta Business Suite, Buffer, Sprout Social

GENERATIVE AI ASSISTANTS

Generative AI is all the rage. It can be used to create both written and visual content at practically the click of a button. It’s saving clinics time by helping generate ideas, write ad copy, suggest improvements and analyse audiences. ChatGPT is perhaps the most well-known, because of its easy-to-use, conversational format. Prompt it with a task or question (this takes some refinement to get the best output) and marvel as the hard work is done for you. I love using AI tools to come up with ideas to inspire my work, but dislike using it as a tool to do all the creative work.

My warnings about gen AI are always as follows: 1) Always fact-check the output before using it, as it cannot always be trusted – these tools are taught by all the content on the internet, so no idea is original

2) Always edit the work, don’t just copy and paste, as both social media and search engines are penalising AI-generated content with decreased visibility.

Check out: ChatGPT by OpenAI, Google Gemini, Microsoft CoPilot, Jasper, Dall-E

EMAIL

Email is often neglected by clinics, but it’s a powerful engagement tool which is immune to algorithms – you control the messaging and when it goes out. Using an email platform will allow you to create and schedule promotional emails, meaning you could send multiple emails throughout the month but get them all done in one hit.

Like social media tools, email marketing software will allow you to dive into the data analytics, so you know what works with your patients and what doesn’t.

You can also set up automations to send welcome information, book follow-ups, repurchase skincare products and any other generic admin you find yourself emailing out. Treats such as automated birthday discounts will make the patients’ experience with your clinic even better. Engaged patients are loyal patients.

Check out: MailChimp, Substack, Constant Contact

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project management (PM) tools might seem like overkill, but they can improve communcations between team members, set deadlines, and work as a place to organise ideas – I love to track progress from idea to post. I use these tools even if I am running a project solo, as they give me a visual representation of how my month on social media, or my new marketing campaigns are going. Ifyou’ve got multiple staff members looking afteryourcontent (email, social posts, website updates) then it’s much easierto collaborate and provide updates in a dedicated PM tool than yet anotherWhatsApp group.

Asana andTrello are the big players in PM tools, but challengerNotion is free, and it allows you to build a workspace that fits exactly how you think, work and create (plus, you can download templates to try). Check out: Asana, Notion, Trello

Although streamlining your marketing and communications efforts using tools will free up your time in the long run, choosing the right apps and tools in order to do this takes time; don’t try to jump in to every tool at once. Prioritise where your biggest marketing holdups are and look for a tool to help – they often have free trials to get a taste. You can always try several of the same type before committing to use a particular one. For the technophobes out there, YouTube is a great resource for learning how to use these tools.