Short-Term Marketing Tactics to Test for Long-Term Success

A smart marketing strategy can pave the way to business success. With a detailed data- and goal-driven marketing plan and some creative short-term marketing strategies, it’s possible to achieve and exceed your aesthetics clinic’s long-term goals on even the most limited budget. The key: balancing your long-term marketing goals with short-term marketing tactics. The following are some short-term marketing strategies to consider this year to help your clinic reach its long-term targets.

The Difference Between Long-Term and Short-Term Marketing

To begin, it’s important to acknowledge how short-term and long-term marketing tactics differ. In general, long-term marketing strategies are those that take your aesthetics clinic to the next level. Some examples may be brand awareness, establishing your reputation as a leader in a particular type of aesthetic treatment, or expanding your business to a larger location and breaching a new market. All of these goals require several stages of smaller targets to achieve and could take years to fully reach.

In comparison, short-term marketing strategies aim to complete smaller steps that propel your business towards its long-term goals. Short-term strategies are more flexible and provide your marketing strategy with increased agility. However, short-term strategies are developed with the long-term goals in mind, meaning that they support overarching goals and should therefore be well planned within a detailed annual marketing strategy. Striking a balance between long-term brand building and short-term promotions without overdoing it is essential to a successful annual marketing plan. In fact, for some businesses, a marketing make-under could be the right approach to finding that perfect balance and propelling your clinic’s business growth. So, what short-term marketing tactics can help you reach your aesthetics clinic’s long-term goals?

Short-Term Tactics for Long-Term Success

Promotional and VIP Events

Increasing patient retention in the near-term can save your clinic time and money, while continuing to build customer-practitioner relationships and strengthen brand awareness long-term. Hosting promotional events or VIP nights at your clinic to mingle with patients, offer limited promotions to test out new or alternate services, and send attendees away with a small swag bag of your retail products can generate valuable buzz for your clinic on social media while showing your loyal patients that you appreciate their time and business. This short-term marketing kickback can help to foster and maintain positive brand awareness with patients who are much more likely to be loyal to your clinic even if a new one opens just down the street, because you’ve earned their trust by making them feel respected and appreciated. Promotional events don’t have to be expensive, but don’t cut too many corners. Instead, opt for a more intimate evening that is either free or low-cost to attend with optional add-ons like mini manicures or facials at a reduced price to help to offset the costs.   

Seasonal Social Media Campaigns

Tapping into trends on social media can be difficult if you only stick to the same old posts. To help organize your social media content and ensure each post continues to support your long-term goals, consider building out seasonal themes that can help to focus your social media content and create a more cohesive appearance. If you notice a new trend that is taking off—or even a trending hashtag—that is in-line with your clinic’s branding, find a clever way to incorporate that trend into your messaging for a more fluid and natural campaign. But don’t make your social posts appear too much like advertisements. Incorporate a key personality at your clinic to give a face to your business, improve authenticity, and drive more personal connections. Your followers are much more likely to fall in love with the people who make up your amazing aesthetics clinic more than the business concept itself. After all, they are the ones putting your clinic’s mission to practice, so let them have the spotlight. Moreover, add an extra marketing boost with a complementary email marketing campaign that enhances your seasonal strategies and reaches a more defined and engaged audience.

Invest in New Strategies and Learning

It’s best practice to devote some of your marketing budget to testing new short-term marketing strategies that could be a more lucrative alternative to your current preferred advertising avenues. Ideally, you should devote a minimum 10% of your overall marketing budget to testing new strategies and learning from data collection following implementation. For those clinics who haven’t experimented with video marketing yet, this might be an effective avenue to test out this year. In fact, approximately 90% of consumers report that they find videos helpful in informing their purchasing decisions. By testing videos in your overall marketing strategy, you could enable prospective patients to better connect with your clinic, form a positive first impression, lay a foundation for patient trust, and build out improved brand awareness all in one new media marketing campaign.

Next Steps

Looking for more marketing support or a team to help you design and implement your short-term marketing strategies for long-term success? Explore your options with our Practice Enhancement Management program or opt for additional data-driven digital advertising services from 2Two5™. To learn more, contact an expert today using the contact button below.