BUSINESS
PREPARE AND thrive
Lisa Kelly shares how to market your clinic, maximise earnings towards the end of the year and drive sales towards the beginning of 2026, so your business can flourish
Now is the ideal time to design your marketing strategy to ensure that your clinic maximises its earnings during the November and December “seasonal surge”, while at the same time taking steps to drive sales for the early part of next year to capitalise on the “refresh period”. However, the marketing strategies necessary to generate business for these two important periods in your clinic’s calendar are different.
In this article, I will share some initiatives you can take and how you can leverage technology to work smarter, not harder, to make the most of these important periods.
BUILDING THE ONLINE FOUNDATION
There are several key online tools in your business that can enable and support your marketing strategy.
At the centre is your aesthetic clinic’s website, a powerful and indispensable revenue-generating tool that will help you capture and convert new clients. Designed correctly, it will drive clients to your clinic through Google searches and act as the logical destination for your email and social media campaigns, providing access to income-generating tools like your online shop and booking system.
These tools collect quality “opt in” information about the interests of existing clients by using newsletter sign-ups and order and booking processes that require them to provide their email address, telephone number, and other data. This information can be used for targeting in your marketing campaigns.
There are a number of easy-to-use and cost-effective tools that can use this data to drive email and SMS contact strategies with offers and promotions.
“THE SEASONAL SURGE”
Q4 is the time to launch your seasonal special offers for treatments that offer quick results for minimal downtime. People want to look good for those Christmas parties and their numerous Instagram photographs. This is also the time they are planning potential gifts for friends and family.
A market focus on non-invasive treatments designed to enhance the client’s appearance and overall well-being is at the forefront.
First, create your messaging and select your visuals. The tools you want to use for this are email, SMS and social media, particularly paid advertising.
Take a look at your booking system; the good ones already have email and SMS marketing capabilities. If yours doesn’t, look at one of the many alternatives in the market or look to the leading email and text marketing platforms such as Mailchimp and Manychat.
Then design your campaign; one communication on its own is not enough, you will need to design a series of communications that follow a logical messaging path.
Make sure there is a call to action, such as a link to the page on your website where they can find out more and book. Inject a sense of urgency using phrases like “limited places” or “book for the rush”.
Don’t forget about your online shop, which can be a huge asset for your clinic.
Our experience shows you can increase your Q4 sales by 20-30%. You should use your online shop to promote aftercare products, gift sets, subscription/VIP membership models, and product gift cards to existing customers. The margins are much higher for online retail sales, so the effort will be more than paid back.
“REFRESH PERIOD”
Running in parallel with your Q4 strategy, you need to start marketing for 2026.
Start by promoting “treatment passes” or gift cards to your clients. Existing clients are your best marketers; you can have no better endorsement of your services than one of your regular clients giving a “pass” to a member of their family or to one of their friends.
You get the cash upfront and a new client. They tend to be used in Q1, and clients usually add more of their own money to them; 6% will not use them at all!
Posting educational content via social media using both organic and paid advertising is one of the best ways to earn new business for Q1.
Focus on a specific skin condition and the benefits of a treatment your clinic offers. Use good “hook” phrases and tell the user you will send them more information if they DM a trigger word like “renew”.
You have now opened up a conversation with a potential client interested in your services. Send them a link to a custom page on your website offering a promotional voucher to use in Q1 if they sign up.
You can then set up a dedicated marketing campaign for this individual, prompting them to use their voucher, offering treatment finance, and other incentives. Once set up, this initiative can be entirely automated with the right tools and reused again.
Take the time to think about your business in Q4 and Q1, and by investing in the right technology, you can make the difference to whether you’ll be a survivor or a thriver in 2026.
LISA KELLY
Lisa Kelly is the founder of Websites For Clinics by Salon Solutions, industry experts helping aesthetic clinics, doctors, dentists and nurses attract new clients and generate new bookings to grow their clinic business.