An international panel of aesthetic practitioners will share their biggest marketing blunders at AMWC Monaco

Aesthetic clinic marketing to consumers has emerged as a critical success factor for practitioners who are entering the vast field of aesthetic medicine.  

‘No matter how adept you may be at promoting your aesthetic practice, not every strategy works well every time. Even the most experienced and clever marketers take a wrong turn at least some of the time,’ said Wendy Lewis, President of Wendy Lewis & Co. Ltd in New York City. ‘Practitioners must be nimble to stay on top of the shifts in technology, social platforms, and digital marketing trends to be sure they are attracting a steady stream of new patients, and managing the clinic experience from the first point of contact so patients will keep coming back. There are just too many platforms and areas to focus on to do it all yourself anymore, which is why more practitioners are hiring managers with business degrees and extensive training to handle it all.’

Here are ten of the most common errors practitioners often fall victim to, according to Ms. Lewis:

  • Not doing enough research or testing 
  • Straying away from your brand’s unique selling proposition (USP)
  • Failing to keep patients in the practice for the long term 
  • Lack of focus on your patient demographic’s wants and needs
  • Not setting aside a sufficient budget to be effective
  • Choosing to work with the wrong or inexperienced consultants and advisors
  • Hiring staff who are not people persons, or failing to train them properly
  • Neglecting to measure results and return on investments (ROI) from each marketing program
  • Hanging on to staff for too long that need to go 
  • Trying to do it all on your own without engaging with reputable experts for guidance.

Plastic surgeon Nikolaos Metaxotos MD, PhD, Founder of Symmetria, an international consortium of plastic and aesthetic surgery centres, has transitioned from managing a thriving cosmetic surgery practice combined with aesthetic treatments, to expanding his Symmetria brand to London and in the Middle East. ‘Aesthetic medicine is always evolving and what may have worked last year to grow your practice, may not be nearly as effective this year. Looking back to when I first started in private practice, I wish I knew then what I have learned to date. We started out with a robust website and traditional marketing, but word of mouth was what drove new clients to our clinic.   

Facebook and Instagram did not exist, and no one was blogging or sharing videos. Most doctors did not have websites or even business cards. Only a fraction of large practices in big cities did any marketing at all. For those few, printed brochures, direct mailings, advertising in glossy magazines, and public relations were the gold standard,’ he says. 

‘In 2022, there has been a sea change in the way we approach marketing our clinics that is multifactorial. There is no one perfect strategy or tactic that will work for every location, specialty, or demographic of patients. The options that are open to aesthetic practices today are plentiful and many physicians and clinic managers do not have the skills or time to manage the marketing on their own,’ says Dr. Metaxotos. 

According to Dr. Alexander Z. Rivkin of Westside Aesthetics in Los Angeles, CA, ‘We have all spent many years learning medicine, but marketing has never been part of the curriculum. We must be able to market effectively to compete in the crowded aesthetics industry, and we have all been taken advantage of by unscrupulous consultants at one time or another. Aesthetic practitioners need to learn from each other and share our experiences about what works, what doesn’t, and what is a waste of our time and money.’

This panel shall include a diverse faculty of practitioners across specialties hailing from the USA, UK, France, Austria, Greece, Czech Republic, and Russia. Ms. Lewis will moderate the programme, and they will be taking questions from the audience. 

‘Panels like this featured at global congresses are key to making sure that you do not make the same mistakes I did early on in my practice. There is so much we can learn from each other,’ says Dr. Rivkin.  

This is sure to be a very popular session that will cover a wide range of current topics of interest to attendees.

 To register:
My Worst Marketing Mistakes
Ever Panel
31 March 2022, 2pm–4pm CEST
Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
[email protected]