However, on a recent afternoon I found myself sitting patiently at the optometrist’s office, waiting to be fitted for contacts. Why the change of heart?
Technology!
I want to be able to see the screen on my smartphone!
That crisp, colorful screen, all those amazing
apps, I want to whip that
puppy out and be awesome with it like my daughters
and their friends.
Fumbling for my glasses doesn’t fit with that image. Squinting, missing letters and backtracking…that’s worse than not owning a smartphone at all.
Why Am I Telling You This?
OK, so now
you know I’m vain about how I deploy my technology,
especially among young people. But what does that
have to do with e-newsletters which, as you know,
I see metaphors for in everything I do?
Here’s my
point:
the same basic human drives that sent me back
to the optometrist after 10 years – vanity
and social pressure – are working in
your favor all the time. Cosmetic medicine, like
the latest technology, is part of the zeitgeist.
Our culture promotes it on hundreds of levels.
The pressure
to look young and beautiful is relentless. It’s
in the air. It’s all over the media. It’s also
part of our DNA. You don’t need to do much to
get women to desire the benefits of cosmetic medicine.
You Guys Are Golden
With the deck
stacked so much in your favor, I’m always surprised
when I see aesthetic e-newsletters and blogs that
take a self-serving approach.
- They won’t send out useful
information without adding a plug for themselves.
- Their topics must be about
procedures they currently sell. They won’t educate
for the sake of educating.
- They insist every communication
end with a “call to action.”
- They give off a general air
of desperation.
This
is completely unnecessary. Can’t they feel
that tail wind driving women inexorably toward their
services? All they have to do is stay on their patients’
radar, affirm their position as the trusted provider,
and our youth-obsessed, beauty-obsessed culture
will take care of the rest.
Overselling
Backfires
Paradoxically,
sticking to the grabby, old-fashioned Madison Avenue
model of marketing will lose patients, not keep
them. Desperation is a big turn-off.
While your competitors
reach out with freely-given information, you appear
uptight and grimly determined to make a profit.
They’re
delivered to your patients’ personal inboxes. They’re
personal messages, and they should exude bonhomie,
like a friend dropping in to chat.
Join the Fun
Instead, relax
and join the fun. The latest marketing channel,
social media, has been compared to a cocktail party
where charm and openness are the winning currency,
not sales spiels. The same goes for e-newsletters.
They’re delivered to your patients’ personal inboxes.
They’re personal messages, and they should exude
bonhomie, like a friend dropping in to chat.
Compose your
e-newsletters in a spirit of warmth and
confidence and watch your business thrive.
Yours in continued
prosperity,
