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Author: Will Scott

  • For Plastic Surgery Marketing, Content Really is King

    As anyone who knows me, or one of our team, or even who has read this blog a few times knows, we do a fair amount of work in online Plastic Surgery Marketing.

    Plastic Surgery Marketing Success: Paul Parker M.D.
    Paul Parker M.D. – New Jersey Plastic Surgeon

    As with any business we have some customers who just go along – who are happy to get our monthly reports, see their return on investment analysis and make the occasional comment or request. While we try, we can’t get all of our plastic surgeon clients on the phone monthly or even quarterly and ultimately, when it’s their business and their paycheck they are the ones who have a vested interest in their marketing effectiveness.

    Then there are the practices, in plastic surgery, marketing like crazy and very involved both in the process and the outcomes. The doctors who spend their weekends and evenings documenting procedures, researching the industry and engaging with prospective patients online using their web sites as a tool for plastic surgery marketing and eduction.

    One such doctor is Paul Parker. Dr. Parker has spent countless hours writing and working with artists and designers to assure the information he presents is spot-on what his patients want.

    Parker Center for Plastic Surgery, New Jersey – Breast Augmentation
    122 East Ridgewood Avenue
    Paramus, NJ    ‎ 07652 – (201) 967-1212

    Recently Dr. Parker, working with our favorite plastic surgery website designer Aimee Ellingsen of Cake Websites & More, spent a lot of time revamping his breast lift pages.

    Now, I’ll tell you. After 3 + years of working with plastic surgeons I know way too much about plastic surgery.

    This stuff is amazing! Dr. Parker, through words and illustrations makes the considerations and the procedure of breast lift imminently approachable.

    There’s a lot to plastic surgery marketing, but the foundation is a doctor who cares enough to educate patients on complicated topics.

    Many plastic surgery procedures are easy enough to conceptually understand. But after 3 + years working with these guys I really never understood all the considerations of Breast Lift. A Breast Lift is a much more complicated decision process. How much breast material is there, how much sag, where are the nipples relative to the breast as a whole? I mean it’s crazy.

    Anatomy of Breast Ptosis Image from Parker Center for Plastic Surgery
    Anatomy of Breast Ptosis Image from Parker Center for Plastic Surgery

    So the point is, Dr. Parker and Aimee Ellingsen‘s team created this GREAT content. Perfectly explanatory works which help one understand not only what kind of intervention is needed depending on the condition of the breast, but what the options are and what the surgical process looks like.

    Breast Lift Options Picture from Parker Center for Plastic Surgery New Jersey
    Breast Lift Options Picture from Parker Center for Plastic Surgery New Jersey

    And now, I get it! I, as a lay person, now fully understand the problem, the solution and, if I were a prospective patient, would be able to begin the process of understanding my need for plastic surgery.

    As is often the case, content really is King. Dr. Parker intending to be informative and educate patients wound up creating great content, which is the foundation of great plastic surgery marketing.

    –

    Related Posts:

  • Triumph of the WhoDat Nation, The Saints & New Orleans

    Who dat?

    Who dat?

    Who dat say dey gonna beat dem saints?

    #whodat - from Maitri
    #whodat – from Maitri

    The above is my best approximation of the phonetic for the entire “Who Dat” chant. Who Dat, used to be a very personal, private New Orleans thing. I was in New York a few weeks ago visiting my mother and she asked “What’s this ‘Who Dat?’ thing all about”?.

    And yes, I use my mother as my barometer for ubiquity. For instance, when my mother’s on Facebook everyone is on Facebook.

    The New Orleans Saints have been a source of pride and frustration for the city of New Orleans since their founding 40-some years ago. I did not grow up in New Orleans but have lived here better than half my life and New Orleans is my home and the Saints are my team.

    “Who Dat?” was a direct opposition to the “Ain’ts” contingent who would go to the games with bags on their heads for shame.

    The Saints are making our city proud, and the nation is screaming Who Dat?

    Sorry Indianapolis, this wasn’t your year.

    But what is this symbolic of really? It’s symbolic of a New New Orleans – the kind of New Orleans which is nurturing of Entrepreneurship. The kind of New Orleans where we have a Mayor’s race with nearly a dozen candidates with many great options.

    And then, this. The best belated Christmas present imaginable. Better than 100 golden King Cake babies. The New Orleans Saints have brought it home for the WhoDat Nation and won the Super Bowl.

    This surely bodes well.

    Isnt that just awesome?
    Isn't that just awesome?
    Now Thats a New Orleans Saints Fan
    Now That's a New Orleans Saints Fan

    Shame on you NFL.

    Shame on you NFL
    Shame on you NFL

  • Benchmarks for Plastic Surgery Marketing Online December 2009

    Plastic Surgery Internet References Benchmark for December Shows Overall Decline of Less Than 17% from Spring – The Busiest Season of The Year

    We work with a number of plastic surgeons and have the opportunity to really get a sense for their zeitgeist. Right now many of them are feeling a pinch – our review had, to this point, been anecdotal rather than analytical. Suffice it to say we knew there was a problem but didn’t know if it was a lack of traffic, or a lack of conversion (window shopping but no buying).

    One of our clients has been prompting me for some time to start providing benchmarks within his category (where we have some depth) as a yardstick against which we could measure his success. And then, in conversation with another client this evening, the topic came up again as we were discussing a former client who is really suffering.

    For our benchmark we decided to look only at Google organic ranking and to compare a very specific date range, specifically a comparison of December 2009 versus May 2009. This date range seemed appropriate given the seeming decline in traffic and business, and given December is an historically low month compared to May.

    Throwing out the high and the low in our sample, we found that the average decline in the studied group was 16.4% May to December. This is not a surprising number given the seasonality of the profession but it at least gave us a benchmark.

    And in all, it doesn’t explain the massive decline in the client who left and in some of our continuing clients.

    Below are screenshots from Google Analytics of the comparison:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/w2scott/4256105024/in/photostream

    Clearly we’re only looking at one metric, but there are clear correlations between the right kind of traffic and revenue.

    View the whole set of screenshots at flickr.

    My thanks to Dr. Paul Parker a Plastic Surgeon specializing in breast augmentation. New Jersey patients should visit his site http://www.parkercenter.net/.

    Thanks also to Dr. Roy Kim a Plastic Surgeon specializing in surgeries of the face and body including breast augmentation and tummy tuck. San Francisco patients should visit his site http://www.drkim.com/.

    And the moral of the story is: If you’re a plastic surgeon and your traffic is up December over May, good on ya. Give those monkeys a banana.

    If you’re down, don’t sweat it. +/- a few percentage points beyond the mean is no big deal.

    If you’re down 40% or more, look out. It may be time to reevaluate the model. If you’re down 40% or more and your web people aren’t scrambling then definitely change course.

  • Local Search Summit at SES Chicago

    I’ll be making a very quick trip to Chicago on Monday to do a couple presentations at the Local Search Summit.

    I’ll be solo presenting with Steve Espinosa moderating on uses of Social Media for local search.

    And, I’ll be jointly presenting with Steve on Mobile applications and their importance for local search.

    Sadly I won’t have any time to spend with Mat Siltala who will be there Monday, but is leaving Tuesday AM. Perhaps a little dessert!

    And, if I had a personal jet I’d definitely go to the Kelsey Show in LA to hang out with David Mihm and Andrew Shotland. If anybody at NetJets would like to trade a couple rides for a completely unbiased review of the service I’d totally change my mind about Kelsey (ok, it might be a lttle biased).

    While we’re on the subject even if NetJets doesn’t come through I’d be happy to Yelp about a Chicago Limousine Service if I could get a ride y’know (might be worth a review on Yahoo! CitySearch & Google too).

  • Will Scott to Speak on Local Search Ranking Factors at SMX East

    President and founder of the New Orleans SEO company Search Influence, Will Scott often participates in conferences and seminars. Oct 5-7, he will be presenting at the Search Marketing Expo East 2009 on how important local search ranking factors help drive traffic to small business Web sites.

    In a recent press release announcing the session, Will Scott talks about the Local Search ranking factors – 49 of them thought to make or break local business listings.

    He also points out the increasing competition for Internet traffic and business visibility on the web. By using the local search ranking factors, companies like Scott’s own Search Influence can maximize the effectiveness of website promotion for clients. He also says that “collaboration, as in the Local Search Ranking Factors study, can help us predict trends in adjust our tactics accordingly.”

    There are negative factors that can prevent visibility too or example, more than one business with the same name or having an 800 number as the primary contact number.

    Will joins a star-studded panel including:

    SMX East is jam-packed with very current information. Some of the brightest minds in SEO will be presenting.

    Some of the presentations we’re really looking forward to (and there are a ton more):

  • LinkedIn Company Profile Tutorial from Dream Systems Media

    Our colleauge Mat Siltala of Dream Systems Media (Mat was Social before Social was cool) has a nice video tutorial with some great screen shots on how to set up your LinkedIn Company Profile .

    Among the benefits are:

    • One more positive reference for your brand (reputation management)
    • Ability to show your depth with automatic pickup of employees
    • Rich text opportunities

    Mat put together a nice video and has many more screen shots of building the LinkedIn business page on the DSM internet marketing blog. Definitely worth a quick review.

    Here’s the video:

  • As soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there

    I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.

    Mother Teresa

    http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/authors/mother-teresa/index.htm

  • Facebook Marketing – Sneaky, Subversive, Effective!

    The tactics of Local Facebook Marketing just got a whole lot easier to understand. Sarah Smith gave up the goods in her presentation at the Local Search Summit. It turns out there are some very subversive ways to use current Facebook technologies. Marketing on Facebook just got a lot easier. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="265" caption="Local Search Summit 09"]Local Search Summit 09[/caption] Don Campbell gives a great overview of the ideas presented in our "Using Facebook and Twitter to Drive Local Leads" session. And, I'm looking forward to Aaron Irizarry posting the rest of the video... ... But in the mean time, I'm going to share some ideas based on the Facebook marketing presented by Sarah Smith. I'm so excited by these ideas that we're going to be implementing some of them THIS WEEK with clients. But look, I'm even more excited by what YOU are going to do with them. Please comment and let us know what you think the opportunities are. Ok, ok - so the list:
    • Kinda mundane but still very helpful: Sarah indicates there is now radius based targeting for ads (e.g.: 15 miles around city X)
    • Real-time Search with greater search granularity.
    • Target just your fans or people coming to an event with Facebook Ads (this is definitely cool, and I can see some good applications but not mind-blowing).
    • Birthday Targeting! Holy cow! This is huge. I have a whole program already laid out for this one.
    • 1 to 1 communication with Event attendees/maybes. The pain point here is less obvious - you'll get it when I 'splain it.

    Killer Facebook Marketing Opportunities:

    Birthday Targeting:

    [caption id="" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Happy Birthday to You!"]Facebook Marketing - Happy Birthday to You! Cake Picture[/caption] So, Birthday Targeting - my goodness, how subversive can you get?! Imagine yourself cruising along in Facebook and Blammo
    "happy birthday Bob, click here to register for your birthday gift - good all month".
    Notice, we plan to message "good all month" (or "all week", or "for the next 10 days"). There is still a serious call to action but clearly it's an obtainable goal. The challenge of the Birthday message in Facebook marketing is that if you make it a "today only" deal you may miss those who sign in after work hours or who are otherwise unable to commit today. Maybe they've got a party to go to :D. You can see how this would be a killer tactic for a local business. Let's say you have a non-impulse product. You could make an offer of a $25.00 commodity gift card (Wal-mart, The Gap) or $100.00 gift certificate for your service. Even if you're not perfectly targeted you have the opportunity to start a dialog with a local buyer who knows someone who is.

    Event Focused Permission Marketing:

    Facebook event invitations are becoming much more prevalent. And, it turns out given this new feature, they're a sneaky marketing opportunity. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Ant Party"]Ant Party[/caption] One of the problems we've had with "Fan Pages" vs. Facebook Groups is that there is no way to push communication to your fans. You can post something which will show up in their feed but  you can't get into their inbox without a more personal connection. So, Sarah says that all you've got to do is get someone to respond "Yes" to your invitation (or "Maybe", I think - hopefully Sarah will clarify) and you can then message them up until the event. But wait, there's more: You, the group owner don't necessarily have to initiate the "Event" invitation. Meaning that you can easily convert the Fan to a Friend with much less restriction on continued messaging. I'm not going to tell you how we're going to put this one into use 😉 but I'll tell you once we're done. --- As you can see, these two opportunities, "Birthday Ads" and "Event Focused Permission Marketing", enable much greater attention getting behavior on Facebook. Marketing through these channels can get you past the banner blindness of the usual ads and may even get you into the Inbox. With the rate of adoption of Facebook and Twitter we'll take any opportunity, the more sneaky and subversive the better, to build community and then hopefully move that community offline to buy something. We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how to best leverage these new Facebook marketing opportunities and any of the others Sarah detailed at Local Search Summit. --- Related Posts: Image Credits:

  • Twitter for Local Business

    This is the slide deck from my presentation at Local Search Summit “Using Facebook & Twitter to Drive Local Leads” this afternoon.

    We had a great crowd and I enjoyed the heck out of putting this slide show together. I was trying to position some real tactics in using Twitter for local business.

    I’m hopeful that it was tactical versus theoretical and I look forward to your feedback.

    Twitter for Local Business

    View more presentations from Will Scott.

    Please, please, please ask questions and let me know what more you’d like to know.

  • Use Twitter for Business? Tell Us About It

    UPDATE: At the suggestion of Terri Troncale I want to invite submissions for non-profits as well. Please, please – fans, recommend your favorites! I’m really happy to have the businesses self-submit but I want to get rid of these iTunes cards 😀

    Also, my original limitation on location was because of driving distance to http://socialsouth.org. Please submit anyone, anywhere using Social Media to drive sales, membership, contributions, or any trackable outcome.

    —

    Twitter Bird - Tweet, Tweet, Tweet
    Twitter Bird - Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

    Let’s get one thing straight right here: I’m not above buying your love. (Just ask David)

    I’m going to be taking part in a couple presentations at Social South in a few weeks and in preparation I’ve been asking: who’s doing it?

    The “who” I’m talking about: Small businesses in the Southeast United States (hopefully within a day’s drive of B-Ham (that’s Birmingham Alabama, you dig) and non-profits?

    The “it” is – using Social Media to promote their business or organization.

    So in other words, do you know a small business or non-profit in your area who is trying to use Twitter for business (or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Orkut, or YouTube, or Blogging)?

    Now, a couple caveats:

    • I would prefer local businesses/non-profits: plumbers, lawn guys, doctors, spas, hair salons and organizations trying to promote local causes
    • I may feature home-based businesses but I’d rather they have a product sales or membership action component

    Cash Register goes Cha Ching
    Cash Register goes Cha Ching

    What’s in it for the small businesses? First, I will do an email interview and a follow-up phone call which will be featured as a blog post on the Search Influence blog. Those which represent the best case studies will also be featured on Local Search News (and may appear on Search Engine Land).

    And, I will do a half-hour interview follow-up in which I’ll make recommendations and offer ideas for other promotional opportunities. And hopefully we’ll all learn better how to use Twitter for business (and other social platforms).

    And, finally, a select few will get an opportunity to join me on-stage at Social South to talk about their experiences.

    What’s in it for you? (I know, I know, it’s all about you) I’ve got a stack of $10.00 iTunes cards burning a hole in my pocket, y’hear. I will give a $10.00 iTunes cards to 10 randomly selected participants – in other words, comment below including a link to the business in question and their Twitter account page (e.g. Nancy’s Corner, New Orleans Gift Baskets, Nancy’s Corner on Twitter).

    [Ginsu Style] But wait, there’s more – 1 lucky entry will win a $150.00 gift card / certificate to the business of their choice from the entrants listed (small print – I need a minimum of 20 entries to execute on the $150.00).

    So, please, let me buy your love – help me find participants for this great panel at Social South, I’ll help you get a little more enjoyment out of life with the gift of music and we’ll both help a local business get a little more exposure online and learn about how to use Twitter for business.

    All you have to do to enter is comment below with a link to the business (home page or online profile page is fine) and a link to their Twitter, Facebook, or other social media profile.

    Oh, and you should definitely Tweet about it – here’s a good example: RT @w2scott: Know a small biz or non-profit using Social Media? Promote ’em 2 win great prizes – details: http://bit.ly/vQqTA Please RT

    Don’t want to copy and paste, if you’re logged in to twitter just click here to automagically retweet (may not work while Twitter is having issues).

    Look, this is serious, I’m trying to help others understand how to use Twitter for business (and Facebook and LinkedIn and the others) and you can help a local small business get a little further down the road with this internet stuff. And, like I said, I am willing to buy your love.

    Thanks in advance for your help!