spot_img

Integrated Practice Marketing and Patient Relation Techniques

One of the biggest challenges facing the aesthetic practitioner is how to keep up with practice marketing and find ways to integrate the many applications of internal and external marketing, along with social media outreach. Dr. Suneel Chilukuri is an internationally-recognized, board certified dermatologic surgeon who specializes in the Liquid Face Lift, a non-invasive face-lift technique, among other interesting and novel approaches to aging.  As a physician who likes to give individual attention to patients, finding a software solution that could help him continue to provide great service, develop better patient communication and increase overall practice efficiency was important. Integrating the AestheticLink software into his practice management system has allowed Dr. Chilukuri to keep his practice as up-to-date and cutting edge as the many diverse techniques he offers patients. This in-depth interview about how Dr. Chilukuri is optimally using AestheticLink to enrich his practice is a MUST listen to episode. Dr. Chilukuri practices in Houston, TX. Learn more at www.refreshdermatology.com.

Integrated Practice Marketing and Patient Relation Techniques

With a busy and diverse aesthetic practice in Houston, TX, dermatologist Dr. Suneel Chilukuri understands not just the need to market his practice, but also the many nuances of making a marketing campaign successful. With the addition of AestheticLink, Dr. Chilukuri can now more effectively target his marketing and create programs months in advance, saving him time and money, something we don’t often hear when it comes to practice marketing. Planning programs that focus on what many of us call the Liquid Facelift – combinations of neuromodulators and fillers including Juvederm, Restylane, Perlane, etc. in combination with lasers, peels, micro needling and skin care has been very effective for Dr. Chilukuri and in this interview with Aesthetic Insider News, Dr. Chilukuri explains his approach to marketing and patient relation techniques using AestheticLink.

How is AestheticLink Helping You Coordinate Such Diverse Marketing Programs?
My experience with AestheticLink has been 100% fantastic. This is one of the few products to truly bring together all the different technologies we use in our aesthetic practice. That includes practice management, scheduling with auto e-mail and text confirmations, real time inventory management, etc. It also integrates our patient newsletter outreach, promotional emails and social media. We are able to identify patient needs easily and target marketing programs around their preferences. The system allows us to literally hand pick which patients will be due, for say, a Botox treatment in 4 months’ time. We are then able to send a reminder or a promotional “special” just to that group. This is tremendous in terms of time saving and has proven to be very effective in bringing patients back to the practice.

Can You Manage This Program From A Smart Phone?
Yes. It’s actually one of my favorite parts and one of the questions that I asked the creator of AestheticLink at the very beginning. I said everybody has a smart phone. Even my 73-year-old father has a smartphone and he knows how to take pictures of himself. AestheticLink has made it really convenient for the patient as the system is HIPAA compliant. Therefore, patients can easily take a photo with their Smart Phone and send it safely via AestheticLink for my review. My patient base is both young and old and it seems that most of them are all using Smart Phones so they are comfortable interacting with me in this way. Plus most marketing campaigns are now viewed on Smart Phones and the integration with the AestheticLink software helps my staff run the programs very efficiently. I can also access patient files, view reports and everything else connected with AestheticLink through my phone wherever I am located which helps me stay connected with the practice and my patients, even if I am traveling.

Is Matching Inventory With Marketing Proving To Be Cost Saving?
It is. With this system I can track how much product we go through by the month, the week, even down to how much we use in an hour. It’s a great application to help predict future buying needs and ensures that we are not over-ordering or over-stocking. As most physicians will attest, overhead can be a killer and keeping on hand thousands of dollars in inventory can be difficult for some practices. It’s interesting because we can also track product that is not moving and is remaining in inventory prompting us to develop a product-specific campaign. We can also look at our calendar of upcoming events or holidays special programs and anticipate how much product is likely to be needed. This really saves staff time from counting boxes or going through charts to see what products patients like. It’s a very useful tool.

Are You Able To Systemize Your Various Marketing Platforms?

At my practice we utilize patient newsletters, emails, texts and social media to keep in touch with our patients. In order to do this, we use multiple systems – Constant Contact, Facebook, Twitter, etc. AestheticLink is compatible with these and a multitude of other marketing systems so my staff can easily create a campaign and then send it out with a simply click of the mouse. In addition, I can enter all future campaigns to be sent at a later date. This has proven to be time saving and very cost efficient. My staff love it too because it really helps them control time spent on marketing outreach so they have more time for development of ideas and creativity.

Are You Able To Check ROI On Marketing?
For the most part we are, as we can monitor patient response to the various promotions we send out. We can view how many responded to an email, or a text, or even social media and then plan the next campaign around what has worked in the past. Also, I have a full patient engagement suite so that means I can do online consults with patients. We have a lot of patients that come in from quite a distance away. We have two people that flew in from Mexico today. Last week we had one that flew in from Belize, another one that flew in from Spain and one from France. It is not that I’m fancy by any means they happen to be coming to Houston for a different reason and they’re saying “Can you help me? My friend is in town. They’ve seen you. Can you help me?” Before I can say yes or no, all I do is I simply send them a link to AestheticLink which is located on my website and they can upload their photos or they can upload a 40-50 second video so I can see them in animation. Much of this occurs because of the marketing that we do. We are able to pinpoint the patient population and their preferences and purchases, and compare that to the true marketing costs. With AestheticLink we definitely have a great ROI.

To learn more visit www.aestheticlink.com

onair.

 

To listen to Dr. Suneel Chilukuri on Aesthetic Insider Radio CLICK HERE!

Related Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Articles