“What really makes the consumer buy or not buy is the content of the advertising, not the form.” - David Ogilvy

Fillers: How to fill appointments with paid ads

One of the realities that aesthetic clinics and medical spas face is that having the best facilities, most qualified staff, or best technology is not enough. If you don't promote it, it's like it doesn't exist.

One of the fastest ways to promote your clinic or spa is by using pay-per-click advertising.

Do you remember the first results that come up when you search "how to rejuvenate the face" on Google?

Well, those are the famous Pay-Per-Click or PPC ads. This means that the ad you bid the most for a keyword will be displayed to those who include that word in their search, but the advertiser only pays if someone clicks on their ad.

The group of people who visit your website is known as traffic. So, PPC is the best way to get immediate and predictable traffic to your clinic or spa. This is the big difference with organic traffic obtained from search engine optimization (SEO).

Organic traffic varies based on Google's algorithm and internet content, which constantly changes and is not under your control. On the other hand, PPC traffic mainly varies based on the budget allocated to the campaign, graphic design, and ad copy. This is under your control.

An analogy between the two types of traffic is that organic traffic is like rain and paid traffic is like a tap. It's very difficult to predict when it will rain and how much water will fall, whereas with a tap, you control the timing and amount of water you need.

SEO and PPC are complementary tactics, and both are required to optimize your digital marketing strategy. Just as we need rain and irrigation water to have a good harvest.

Incorporate keywords naturally so that Google and search engines know that this landing page is associated with your ad and reward you with higher positions in search results.

SEO is a long-term strategy and is used on search engines like Google. On the other hand, PPC is used to generate traffic in the short term, and in addition to being used on search engines, ad campaigns can be set up on almost any internet channel where your prospects gather: third-party websites, mobile apps, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

When investing in advertising, it's essential to have a clear understanding of your Customer Avatar. This will help you define the best channel, graphic design, and type of messaging to use.

Of course, depending on the channel, we will vary the ad to optimize results:

• Google: People on Google are in search mode, their purchasing intent is higher, so investing in PPC ads is a good idea. Especially when you have made a good selection of your keywords, and your prospects are searching for the treatments that characterize your clinic or spa. It's money well spent.

• Facebook: People on Facebook are in entertainment mode, so your ads should blend in with the content of this social network. The news format works very well. Facebook ads are among the most sophisticated, allowing you to define your audience with details such as geolocation, gender, level of education, lifestyle, and much more.

• Instagram: People are in creative mode. This is the visual network par excellence and ideal for showing quality graphic content from your clinic or spa, the results of your treatments, and aspirational or motivational content. Instagram will let you know when an organic post performs well and suggest advertising it to reach more people. Generally, it's money well spent.

• YouTube: People who visit YouTube are looking to be entertained or learn, so your ads should be created with this focus.

• TikTok: People are in entertainment mode. Your ads should blend in with the native content of this platform.

In our experience, both Google and Facebook/Instagram ads generate the best results as long as you have experience optimizing ad groups on these platforms.

Before starting a paid advertising campaign, it's very important to understand the cost of each platform and the minimum budget you need to generate sales without breaking your business.

Very often, inexperienced ad agencies launch campaigns for your clinic or spa without understanding your closing percentage or conversion rate, your average ticket, and the amount of money a customer leaves you over time.

All of these parameters are very important when determining the budget for your campaigns. To clarify why, let's look at a small example.

Let's say we run an ad campaign and it costs you $10,000 to generate 10 visits to your clinic or spa. If your closing percentage is 50%, 5 of them will buy a treatment from you.

Let's say the average ticket is $3,000 with a margin of 33% and they buy 6 treatments over time (while they remain as customers).

Doing the math, each customer will generate $6,000 (6 x $3,000 x 33%). Multiplied by 5 customers, this campaign will generate $30,000 over time.

Viewed as an investment, you invest $10,000 in advertising and generate $30,000 in gross profit. That is, your return on investment is 3 times what you invested.

These results are phenomenal. You don't need to be an investment expert to understand that it's time to break the piggy bank and invest your money in ads.

But what if your conversion rate is only 20%, your average ticket is $2,000, and your customers only buy 4 treatments on average?

Your return would be: 10 x 20% x $2,000 x 33% x 4 = $5,280.

You would be losing money by advertising on the internet! That's why it's critical to know those numbers before starting ad campaigns!

The above leads us to another important conclusion: the average ticket and repurchase play a decisive role in the profitability of your clinic or spa. The good news is that both can be positively impacted by your marketing plan.

If you want to know how, don't stop reading until the end, where you will learn about the wonders that Marketing Message Automation can do for your clinic or spa.

But before we go there, I want to tell you about Retargeting or Remarketing, which is nothing more than presenting ads to prospects who have already visited your site or are already your customers.

Without remarketing, your prospects could visit your site and then get lost in the vastness of the internet, forgetting about you. To prevent this from happening, once they visit your website, we can "follow" them wherever they go on the internet and present ads to get them to take the next step, whether it's downloading your content, scheduling a meeting, or calling your reception.

Do you remember the last time you left an abandoned shopping cart on a website and suddenly started seeing ads for that product while browsing the internet?

That's remarketing and it allows your clinic or spa to stay in the minds of your prospects and generate brand awareness. Awareness generates trust and trust leads to more conversions.