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Med Spa Success Strategies
PR & Influencer Marketing for Med Spas - Interview with Reena Goodwin
00:47:09
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- [00:00]
Ricky Shockley
Hey there, I'm your host, Ricky Shockley. Welcome to the Med Spa Success Strategies podcast where Med Spa and aesthetics practice owners come to discover strategies and tactics that help them better market and manage their practices so they can grow, improve profits and have more financial freedom. I'm excited today to be joined by Rena Goodwin. After a decade of working in house at world renowned brands like Columbia Records, the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and Cleveland Museum of Art, rena founded Factor PR in 2016 and pursuit of supporting change makers in the beauty and wellness industries that want to create meaningful impact. She's been recognized throughout her career by outlets like the New York Times, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Savvy, her PR couture, Carnegie Mellon University and more. Reena is also the founder of Real Fluence, an online partnership platform connecting beauty experts with brands. Rena, thanks so much for being on the podcast. I'm excited for this conversation today and to dive into some new topics that we really haven't covered before on the podcast.
- [00:58]
Rena Goodwin
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to reveal to your audience today a little bit more about PR and how it can benefit their business.
- [01:08]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I'm super pumped for this conversation. We've been wanting to do more of these specific conversations on specific topics where we're able to do more of a deep dive and not just cover a wide range of broad things. So we're digging into something we haven't dug in before today, which is pr. So I guess for our practice owners that are listening when we're talking about pr, for the context of this conversation, what are we talking about in a broad sense?
- [01:29]
Rena Goodwin
Absolutely. So PR stands for public relations. So public relations is the practice of communicating with an audience for the benefit of influencing their public perception, specifically of your med spa brand. Communicating outbound to influence your audience, your customers. You can do this through media relations, you can do this through influencer relations. You can also do this through social media as well too.
- [01:59]
Ricky Shockley
So yeah. So anything that people are seeing that's a reflection of your brand and how you communicate with your, with the world around you basically could be pr. So I guess to dig into one specific element of that. To start, let's talk about the, the media relations component to this. Can you dig into a little bit? So when we're talking about media relations for a med spa and this is something maybe people haven't paid a ton of attention to, it's not on their radar as part of their marketing strategy. What are we talking about there? And might this be A place where people want to pay a little bit more attention in terms of diversifying their marketing investment.
- [02:34]
Rena Goodwin
Oh, we are just getting right into it. Yes. This is huge. This is huge for med spots and honestly working with a lot of med spa practices, plastic surgeons even and dermatology practices that integrate med spas into their business strategy as well. Public relations, particularly media relations, is what I see to be the number one thing missing from their overall outbound marketing and communication strategy. Most of them have the social media part, right. That, that is, you know, a little bit easier to get down. But there's a lot of mystery around media relations for med spas and I think that that's not just exclusive to med spas, but in general when it comes to media relations. The big word that you have to recognize in media relations is relationships. A lot of med spas are not, you know, lunching with journalists down the street or pitching editors at the allures and vogues at the world, right. They're focused on running their business. But what media relations, particularly publicity or earned media as we call it in the PR world. So these are placements in high profile media publications, could be digital, could be print, could be podcasts, till television, et cetera. What that affords a med spa is that high profile point of differentiation with their clients and their community. Right? So if you're thinking about, you know, you're someone like me, right, and I maybe want to look for a new med spa, the first thing I'm going to look for is something within driving distance, right. Like that's important and price might have to do with that as well. But I know, Ricky, you talk a lot about the like know and trust, that is the PR portion of it, right? How, how am I going to differentiate myself between med spa A down the street and med spa B, myself? PR can be that point of differentiation that your competitors don't necessarily have. So if I'm comparing the two, and I know that you know, a big part of that, like know and trust is me actually sitting in the seat and my experience at the med spa. But, but first I have to bring them there. Having these media accolades on your website, on your social media, right, on your LinkedIn, what have you can help bridge that gap between the decision of am I going to sit my seat and choose the other men's spa or am I going to go to this one? Because my goodness, they, they must be likable, they must be trustworthy because they're being featured in all these incredible places too.
- [05:13]
Ricky Shockley
Yes, I love that and that's one of the things we talk to our clients about all the time. It's like really, we're trying to figure out a way to incrementally differentiate. You just have to be slightly more attractive. Like you said, people are doing that comparison every day, right? They're looking at your med spa and they're trying to figure out whether they want to schedule that first Botox appointment or that consultation with you or your competitor down the street. And so many times it's going to be the smallest thing that'll help you differentiate and get that person to pull the trigger, right? Like they could be going to Google. And you both have 4.95 star ratings on Google. Website looks pretty nice. Maybe even you're both running the same promo, right? You have a free consult or a deal on Botox. The thing that can be the tiebreaker at times are these pr, you know, little cherries on top. In terms of reputation points, people go to the website, they look at Instagram, they're like, whoa, this person's been featured, like you said, on Allure and the local news was quoting them and featuring them. That's one extra data point in terms of that know, like and trust bucket. So that's one of the reasons that I love this. We try to incorporate some version of this which crosses over into like our SEO service, but this is not our focus area. So, yeah, I love that. So in terms of kind of action steps, so we've, we've identified that this is something we want to do as a med spot owner. We really are interested in obtaining these kind of features. It's something that we maybe didn't have on our radar before. We have no idea where to start. What are some of the things that are on the table in terms of options to start a PR type of initiative?
- [06:36]
Rena Goodwin
Great, great question. The first one, just to level set these important expectations, is are you positioned for public relations, especially media relations? So using your word in terms of differentiation, that is so, so critical, right? Because people tell stories in the media and if you're going to get picked up by the media in the first place, you have to have some kind of personal perspective. And particularly when it comes to med spas, that perspective has to be a credible perspective. So you must be licensed in your trade. I'm assuming most of your audience is, right, they're licensed, you know, nurse practitioners, injectors, whatever that looks like. That is absolutely number one. So you have to have the actual credentials. Right. The second thing of course too is just to Kind of explain, is this something that you want to pursue on your own or is this something that you want a partner to pursue? You can absolutely do public relations on your own, right? It just might take a little bit more time, more resources, of course, because again, relationships are so key in this case. So an agency like ours at Factor pr, we work with beauty editors, wellness editors, healthcare editors at basically all of the top tier media outlets in the country, and then someone a local level as well, too. So most med spots might not have as much of a difficult time earning local press coverage because of the relevancy right there in, you know, these outlets are in their backyard. But what I especially love, which I feel like in so many ways is like this secret sauce that a lot of med spas and wellness practices don't really recognize or just starting to talk about are these national media accolades, right? So it's kind of the duty of the local media to cover, you know, what's going on, what's new and noteworthy in their communities, but it's not the national media's duty, right? And so what I love about national media coverage for med spas is the leverage that it affords you locally, right? So again, leveraging those logos, that content from, from those media accolades in maybe your advertising to target a local audience, or putting it on your website, in your email newsletter, your social media. I mean, there's so many different ways to leverage PR content in all of your other sort of marketing activities too. So you kind of have to think about what your end goal ultimately is by, by all means. But looking at, you know, not just local press coverage, but national press coverage as well too. So perhaps linking arms with an agency or someone like that that already has those relationships, if you have, let's say, more money than time, right, to do it on your own. But if that's not the case, you know, a very sort of, you know, gentle way to start, so to speak, is building some of these relationships in your community. Depending on where your med spa is located, chances are in addition to the local media, you actually do have some national freelancers in your backyard. I'm personally based in Cincinnati. Most of the journalists that we work with, no surprise, are based in New York City. We have team there. But here, based in Cincinnati, we have a lot of media that, you know, write for some of these larger publications. So one place that you can kind of look to see where they are, there's a website called Muck Rack. There's a free version, and then there's a paid version the paid version is what a lot of us professional PR people use. It's very pricey, but the free version can at least let you search for who might be covering beauty or wellness. Or, you know, you can also look up keywords like who recently wrote, wrote about Botox and fillers, right? And then you can kind of use that, follow them on social media as well too. One of the things that I think is such a benefit of med spas kind of going down the PR path is that they are selling, I mean they are selling a product, right? Like whether it's like Juvederm Botox or whatever, but really they're selling an experience and Excel and selling a service. And there's no better way of sharing that experience than offering a journalist or an influencer into your med spot to actually, you know, get a taste of what it's like for themselves. So, you know, sort of on the, on the other side of the media relations part of the coin are leveraging influencers too. And sometimes we see a lot when it comes to pitching the media. If you don't have some of those relationships, creating content, especially authentic content with influencers and taking that in your media relations outreach can really be a game changer as well too.
- [11:25]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, awesome. I love that actionable tip too. Of like. So if like we always like to do that, right? It's like the fast track is you get a partner, right? You call arena at Factor pr, that's your fast track built in relationships. But we like to go into kind of the tactics. So even if you're hiring, what are we doing? And one of the things you just mentioned there was Muckrack. So if you're a med spa and I don't know, you've got an office manager with some extra time, you've got an in house marketing team, whatever that might look like. And even if you're hiring, I think it's important to kind of understand some of the fundamentals. So you mentioned Muck Rack as a place to try to identify some journalists that write about your industry that are in your area and just start maybe trying to allocate a little bit of time every week to developing relationships with those people. So do you have any ideas or any sort of frameworks for initial outreach? Let's say the people listening are going the DIY option. What are those first steps in terms of engaging someone in the media that you might not have any sort of relationship with Prior?
- [12:17]
Rena Goodwin
Great question. So the first thing that I would do, let's say you're on Muck Rack you've identified, you know, Sally Donahue at X publication, she came up in your search. The first thing that I would suggest doing, and this is what we do at our agency for not familiar with that reporter, is read their work. This is so important because reporters. I had a meeting recently with the new beauty editor InStyle recently and she told me that she gets 800 email pitches a day. Now that is in style obviously is huge, right? Not all journalists, but my point being is that targeting the right person and making your pitch hyper focused are so key. So the first thing that you need to do of course is make sure that you're pitching the appropriate person. If they, you know, showed up in your Muck rack search because they wrote a story about a med spa opening five years ago, you know, see what they wrote in the last five years. They might not cover something like that any longer, right? So that's the first thing. But if you've identified the right person, they seem like they would be a fit. The second thing is to sort of formulate your pitch. Um, so I know I had mentioned, right, you want to follow these journalists on social media. Most of them these days are, are on Instagram. We see them very active on Instagram, more voyeur type activity on TikTok, although most of them are on Tick Tock as well. But most med spots that we work with at least have a good Instagram presence. So following them on Instagram do not pitch them on Instagram though. That is, that is a big no no for the most part. It's a great place to engage, get some visibility and so forth. But we don't want to pitch journalists via social media. What we want to do is send them an email first and foremost. So there are many ways of course to go about doing this. But again, you know, putting on your journalism hat. What, what? And even your human hat. Shorter emails get read more, right? So the shorter the better. So covering kind of your basis but you know, explaining to the journalist why you're reaching out to them and what you are trying to offer them and what I find to be honestly one of the most successful tactics when it comes to building honestly any relationship. Ricky is offering something before asking for something. So going to, you know, ex journalist and saying, hey, I saw that you occasionally write about, you know, injectables and aesthetics trends in your pieces. I'm so and so I own X Med spa and I'm licensed in X. I would love to, you know, be a resource for you on any Future stories, I can talk about these topics. I'll be in touch with, you know, some story ideas in the future and just kind of extending that olive branch, if you would, to say, hey, I'm here, I exist, I am here for you as a resource. We have seen with our clients. Get back, honestly, you know, five different interview requests in anywhere between 30 to 60 days. Not pitching a story, but just pitching a perspective. So that is one, like, hot tip. If I can share with people that in terms of media relations is so, so vital because I think a lot of people just sort of like, cut to the chase, right? And they're like, hi, I want you to write a story about me. And people are like, you got to buy me dinner first. Like, I don't have no idea who this person is. And it's kind of off putting. Right? And journalists are people too. So we want to make sure that we're treating them as such and, you know, being very respectful of their time. And honestly, public relations is not rocket science. It's just kind of like psychology and human science. How do you want to be approached in your day to day? That's exactly how we want to approach a journalist as well.
- [16:19]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's, that's awesome insight. And, and that's even been our experience where it, like, crosses over into some of the stuff we're doing on the SEO side is once you have that relationship, they kind of keep going back to the well too. So for some of you listening, this might seem like, okay, I've got so much on my plate. This is a lot of work. But some of the things that were going through my mind as you were talking. Marina, again, you have the option to hire for this, right? That's the fast track. But in terms of a framework where you can get started now, you've inevitably got someone on your team that's responsible for social media. They're the one that's posting the stories, making sure that, you know, Instagram gets updated, things like that. So a good first step seems like from what Reena, you just said, is identify some of these journalists that, you know, cover topics that are in the niche, go follow them on Instagram, and as you're pulling up the Instagram app throughout the day and throughout the week, start engaging maybe a little bit, right? Like a story, comment on a post, be authentic, start some actual relationship building. Do you recommend that people do that part first before sending the email? Send the email first and then keep additional touch points with social media, or does it not necessarily matter any rhyme or reason to that we've seen it.
- [17:22]
Rena Goodwin
Honestly work both ways. I like to kind of slide into their follow list first just to kind of have some kind of familiarity once we're in their inbox. Right. So depending on what your med spa is called or what your own personal brand is called, hopefully that is clear. Right. And then when you're in your email, it's just kind of another touch point. So they hopefully will have recognized that name by now.
- [17:50]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah. Awesome. Cool. I love that. And again, that sounds like a lot of work, but these are relationships. This can be the thing that every day, right. You got a handful of these features after putting in some work. And I think so many of us, especially from a marketing standpoint, that we just want to not have to do anything. Right. And we don't want to be involved. But the reality is you either have time or you have money. So you either have money to hire to make sure this is getting done, or you're going to have to make the time to make it a focus. I think it's an important part of your marketing mix because it can help you differentiate incrementally from your local competition. And like we said, one or two of these features, it's around you, you have that as a badge of honor to wear for years to come. Right. Like, so we had a client featured in GQ last year and it's now they get to mention in all of their marketing messages for the foreseeable future that they were mentioned in gq. It doesn't matter. They could. You don't have to even do anything at this point. They already had that GQ article. You can't take that away from them. So, so I love this. I think this is an important part of your marketing mix and your marketing strategy. You also mentioned in addition to direct media relations and trying to get some of those media placements, maybe some local engagements. Does it generally work where if you're getting the national engagement, you can spin that into some local features? Is that, is that kind of the framework there?
- [19:04]
Rena Goodwin
Yes. So again, we've seen it kind of both ways happen where local can influence national, but typically we see more of it happen the other way around. So ways that you can kind of leverage national media with local media. Again, think about public relations, especially national media relations, as like part of your CV or almost like part of like a pedigree. Right. So I love what you mentioned, Ricky, about like once featured in GQ, always featured in GQ. This is 100 right on the money. When you think about the ROI of PR. The ROI is usually not realized over time. But what other marketing vehicle can you invest in to actually see results and leverage results from honestly for forever, right. That you cannot take that away from someone. So what we'll sometimes do is say, hey, you know, my client XYZ was recently featured on the Today show. I'd love to talk with you about how we can, you know, bring this to the local community and, you know, kind of encourage a local spin on it. Because the way that we're seeing local media really change and this has been, you know, kind of a roller coaster over the last few years, of course, is that most local media is focusing first and foremost on what they call hard news. So as a med spa, the time that you're going to get unpaid earned media in the news with a local TV station, for example, or a print publication is during an opening, you know, something that is new and noteworthy and newsworthy for the public. I'm sorry, but your sale on Botox units is not going to get media coverage. It's a great marketing hook, but it's not a story. Right. Like everyone's doing that. So you have to kind of think outside the box. How can I, you know, leverage what's going on in the national media, in the local media? And where we see a lot of these med spa experts or experts in med spa get the most bang for their buck when it comes to whether it's national media or local media is actually leveraging their expertise, not their services, not the products. It's them. It's them and their expertise. Right? So for example, if, you know, we've got an esthetician that owns a med spa or works at a med spa and maybe there's been, you know, something going viral on TikTok or, you know, rumblings in the news, or maybe it's a national month of some kind. Like, you know, it's summertime. We want to talk about sunspots. That's your story, right? That's relevant to the community, not your sales, not, you know, your promotions. That is relevant to the community. And bringing that back home can be a really solid strategy for getting local media based on something that's going on in the national spotlight.
- [21:54]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's really cool. So you're trying to find you're basically the value you're adding here is your expertise. Because these people, they need to cover the story, but they need someone to quote, they need someone to reference as the expert. So that's really what you're bringing to the table in terms of value. And then the two things that you identified there was find something that's trending. So like you have these TikTok trends and all these things that are coming up that you can use to kind of create a pitch, if you will, that's going to be newsworthy and actually give you a chance at coverage and, or look at things that are just happening on the national calendar that you can tie in. Like right, it's, it's the middle of summer and it's 100 degrees here in Nashville. Like right. What are we talking about in terms of sun protection? You need probably going to do a story on that. If you've watched the local news, there's probably been multiple stories on a heat wave and the summer temps and what to do to protect yourself. And so this is where you can pitch yourself as the expert that's going to fill that gap in terms of that news coverage. So that's great. This episode is brought to you by Med Spa Magic Marketing, my agency. We help Med spas and aesthetics practices grow with more effective marketing strategies. And I know that's a vague phrase, right? That's a vague claim. So I have an offer for you. I offer this to any new prospects. If you're interested in exploring any of another marketing option, a new agency or just getting into Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads for the first time, I'd love to show you why we're different, what we're doing for clients. And we can do that via a one and a half hour planning session where I'll outline a specific marketing plan and I'll give you all of the blueprints that we would implement if we were to do business together. Now you can take that, use that on your own, hire someone else to help you execute it or work with us. We really don't hold anything back on that strategy call. And I think you'll have a lot of confidence in how you manage your marketing investment moving forward. Understanding some of the nuances that can help you implement more effective marketing strategies for your business. So if you want to do that, you can go to medspamagicmarketing.com Is there any thought too behind. So when I was thinking local news coverage, probably what's going through everybody's head like so I'm in Nashville, it'd be like our local affiliate news stations, right? But then in my suburb where I live there are these little like mini publications too that are very specific to the town. Is there anything that, that you had experience with there or any Tips or words of wisdom in terms of connecting with that hyperlocal media?
- [24:06]
Rena Goodwin
Oh yeah, absolutely. So the first thing that I would like, let's say a client was interested in those hyperlocal publications, the first thing that I would kind of wonder about is who their target audience is. So I know for a lot of med spas it sort of runs the gamut, but perhaps right now, right, maybe if they're focused on, let's say, promoting lip fillers. Those hyperlocal publications, particularly if they're in print, I would bet, based on my own local community, are usually read by an older audience. So that might not be relevant for them. So in that case, I don't know that I would put too many eggs per se, in that basket. Again, when you think about time versus money, that might be more worthwhile to place an ad or some sort of incentive in there, kind of targeting that, that direct audience versus working on a story with them. I also see with those super local publications that their, their staff is very small, so they're, they're not quite easy to get into. And sometimes, I shouldn't be saying this, but sometimes they actually request that you write the story, interestingly enough, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. So that's not, that's not across the board, but something to keep in mind as well when you're considering. Do I actually have time for this?
- [25:23]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, gotcha. I was thinking about that because I feel like sometimes those really hyperlocal publications, like they seem, like you said they're asking you to write the story, they're struggling for content, sometimes even just a story at all. There's someone they're probably not getting outreach to nearly as much as your local news station and definitely not the national. There are probably very few people pitching them. So I was wondering if there was maybe an angle there. So it kind of depends. And maybe the easiest way is just to do paid placement. And I'm sure with some of those small media companies at the local level, the paid placement probably pretty easily spins off into an organic placement. Does that happen too where all of a sudden you're an advertiser and now they're doing a feature on your new office that opened or like whatever type.
- [26:02]
Rena Goodwin
Of stuff happens, it totally can happen as well. And I know some of those community papers, like, you know, pay to Play isn't just, you know, pay for a two dimensional ad, but it could be, you know, hosting an event together, right, like where the media, you're almost the sponsor of that event. And you're getting those in person types of interactions. That can also be, you know, a pretty successful tactic to employ as well. Especially when you can kind of link arms with a local media outlet on the event level. Yes. Then we have definitely seen that translate into editorial coverage too.
- [26:38]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's awesome. Another, that's another good takeaway for everybody. Like local event engagement. Right. Figure out what you can do to get in front of your community and in front of your target prospects. One of the quotes that I always use is that quote from the book Advertising Effect and it's action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action. Again to just meaning the best way to shape a perception of a prospect is to actually engage with them. I'm thinking about even just a personal example. We were at like, I think it was like a fall festival in our town last year and there was a local like children's dentist that was there and we ended up getting her card and like when we go to take our two and a half year old to the dentist, that's where we're going to be going, to the dentist. And that was all because we had that engagement. Right. She could, she has great Google reviews, of course we checked that kind of stuff. But nothing replaces that authentic engagement with your community. So that's another reminder I feel like, get out there, right? Be engaged. Don't, don't just, just always hide behind the desk. You're a local business, your customers are local. You have the opportunity to interact with them face to face. I know that's a sidetrack from our conversation, but I thought that was a good little tidbit too.
- [27:37]
Rena Goodwin
Oh, it totally actually folds into, I mean you bring up such a good point. Like marketing is so solid of a strategy when it comes to awareness that you need that awareness. People cannot buy from you if you, they don't know you exist. Right. But what pr, which you know, these face to face interactions absolutely are PR with that kind of affords you. Right. And what any type of PR should afford you is that trust building aspect of it. So 100% kind of marrying the two awareness building tactics, trust building tactics, marketing, PR. It's like peanut butter and jelly. Like that is the winning combination.
- [28:13]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah. Awesome. All right, so switching gears I guess first, any last thoughts on media relations? Do you think we covered the key components? Any last tidbits you wanted to add to the conversation on media relations?
- [28:23]
Rena Goodwin
The only thing that I would add to the media relations conversation is just this awareness that media relations, as I just mentioned, is an exceptional compliment to marketing, but it cannot replace marketing. And it's different than marketing in a few ways. One of the most important things to keep in mind when embarking on a media relations campaign is that there is an element of patience that we must have. So in a marketing campaign, ultimately, right, you can kind of flip on a meta campaign on and off as you choose. You can't really do that with media relations. Right. So something to keep in mind, of course, is that we are beholden to these editorial news cycles and these schedules. So please have patience. Right. And also recognize, like as you said, pr, it does take work, but it is the gift that keeps on giving. Right. And as we often see, it does snowball. So the heavy lifting that you're sort of putting up upfront, right. We see pay dividends for med spas and practitioners over time because what we see as, you know, full time publicists is that these journalists, exactly as you said, Ricky, they come back, right, if you nailed the first interview, the second interview, they know they can trust you to meet a deadline. You've got the expertise, they'll come back to you and continue to feature you in these stories as well. So definitely an important while underutilized strategy in your marketing and communications efforts to attract new customers is media relations.
- [30:00]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I'm enjoying this conversation. I feel like we all get so obsessed with the newest, flashiest thing. We're like, can we do TikTok ads? What's new with meta ads? And going back to some of the stuff that's been around for a long time, but obviously has a place in your marketing mix, I'm excited to go into this topic, so thanks again, Rena. And also the snowball effect there. It also works with the features, right? Like, you were featured in a few major media publications. Guess what, you go to get Featured on the 4th and now you've got a whole list of credible markers there that are building your reputation to increase the chances of you obtaining that next hit.
- [30:30]
Rena Goodwin
Exactly.
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Ricky Shockley
Now, there are other media publications already vouching for your expertise and credibility, so it makes it a little bit easier for the next person to say, well, they must have done their vetting. This person must know what they're talking about. I'll use them as an expert source. It'll lend additional credibility to my article 100%.
- [30:44]
Rena Goodwin
And same thing with even like, for example, podcasts or wanting to get on, you know, more national media as well too. Like, that's one of the things that we develop for our clients that can actually live on your website is you know, putting together something like a media kit. Here are all the places that I've also seen spoken at. Again, how powerful of a differentiator is that as well too? What I also love and what we encourage our clients to do because med spas are all physical practices as well, is that not only is media a great way to attract clients into the door, it's a great way to keep them. So imagine that experience when you come into a med spa for the first time or maybe it's your fifth time. And a lot of med spas, they've got, you know, some sort of digital technology rotating screen. What if your media accolades were on there? You know, Dr. So and so was featured recently in this press story or you know, our esthetician was quoted here, like those are things that, you know, kind of spread those warm and fuzzies, if you would to your clients and make sure to support them in their choice of choosing your med spa versus another as well.
- [31:52]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, absolutely. And right. Don't hide these things. You do a lot of work to earn these features. These are things that are going to be a really cool part of your marketing credibility that know like and trust bucket. So don't just throw them somewhere deep on the website in a press section. Right. If they're on the press section of your website, highlight it somewhere on the homepage, put little blurbs about it, link to the full articles, reference them in your meta ads on your Google Ads landing pages in your office. Right. Those I think I had a client that was featuring like Women's World print magazine like seven or eight years ago. I used to be in pr. That was one of the first things that I did with the agency that I worked for, a small little PR firm in Wellington, Florida. But she had, I remember she had the printout of the Women's World feature on the back wall of her office. She probably still has it there today. Right. And those are cool things like you said that, that they reconfirm as you're in there for that fifth visit. Everyone is still always making the decision consciously to do business with you every visit. Right. You're not going to have 100% stickiness. So people have to make that decision to purchase from you again and again and again. Let's keep making them as confident as they can be that you're the go to expert for the services that you provide. And those little features are just a little bell and whistle that I think put the cherry on top in terms of reputation. So switching gears a little bit into influencer because this is something that I really don't have much familiarity with. I know people have kind of dabbled in it, but I feel like everyone's really uncertain of how to do it, how it works. So can you speak a little bit about influencer engagements in terms of being, you know, a local med spa and what those might look like?
- [33:21]
Rena Goodwin
Absolutely. So to be clear, there is no necessarily right or wrong way to do influencer, but pull back the curtain a little bit. I will share with what works for our clients at Factor pr. When it comes to influencer relations, ultimately we take a very like, you know, start with the goal and work backwards approach and we want the influencer experience to really mimic what any client or customer would experience in the med spa. So, you know, starting with a consultation, you know, putting together a plan and then executing of course on that plan for the goal of long term engagement. We talk a lot about lifetime value of a client or a customer. Same thing goes with an influencer. So we really shy away from one and done deals. We might start with an influencer just to kind of like test the waters a little bit to make sure that it's a mutually beneficial match. But in general, what we try to achieve is a longer term engagement with an influencer. Right. Because med spas in particular are very poised positively to, you know, get those repeat customers back in through the door. So. Right. Because things like especially popular items like injectables or weight loss solutions, etc. There is no end to those journeys. There is, you know, it's, it's a journey, right, like you go back every three months or four months for your, you know, Botox or dysport or have to come back in for your appointment checks and so forth. So we want to make sure that the content that the influencer is creating is reflective of exactly what that experience would look like as, you know, a regular human being down the street as well. So our team, the first thing that we do is vet influencer. So we research some of the influencers that we would like to work with. These also might not be just like your typical like beauty, lifestyle type influencers. They could be athletes in your community or other people of note, even journalists. Right. Like journalists are, they're, they're mug shots on TV every night. Like, you better believe they care a lot about the way that they look. So sometimes we'll work with journalists as influencers, right, and invite them into the med spa for a complimentary treatment of some kind too. So don't, don't be Discouraged, Especially if your med spa might be in like a smaller community. You might be thinking like what? We have no influencers. Who are the tastemakers in your community? Think about it in terms of that way and don't get extremely hung up on, you know, how big these influencers are. I totally understand that, you know, especially if you're giving a complimentary service to an influencer, you know, that's, that's money that's not in the bank for your med spa. But I like to encourage and challenge these med spas to really consider the investment that they're making back into that influence influencer. I work with a lot of product based businesses at Factor. So our sweet spot is really like the service experts like med spas and germ practices. But we do also work with beauty and wellness brands on the CPG or product side for those influencers that we're working to help support. Our product based businesses are commanding something like three to $5,000 per, per reel for an audience size of, let's say about 100,000 followers. Right. So think of it in those terms. I have never paid an influencer to come to a med spa. They are usually very happy to come in for a complimentary service. So, you know, consider that like, you know, kind of making lemonades out of the situation. Like consider that you're not paying the influencer when they normally would, you know, be commanding some sort of compensation on top of the service if you were a product based business. So that's something to kind of keep in mind in that case as well too. And just like with media relations, like it is a relationship. Right. So meeting the influencer halfway is so important if you are the type of med spa practice. Like I know with a lot of the med spas that we work with right now, they really want to push things like lasers and weight loss right now. But most influencers are right now comfortable with Botox and facials that they want to. Yeah, that's how we get them in. Exactly. And it's a hard thing to pitch. Like you can't pitch someone be like, we have weight loss, you know, like that might not, you know, so, you know, also kind of consider that in your efforts to seek out and secure the right influencer partners is like, we really do need to meet the influencer answers halfway. Again. It all comes back to authenticity. Right. So, you know, making sure. And we want that for our, our clients and patients as well. I know too, is like, what do they need? Right. And how can we help them? So coming Back to just, you know, kind of problem solving and then how you can leverage that exact experience with, you know, in terms of content that you can leverage on your own social channels to help promote as well.
- [38:35]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, and I like that you're thinking of it as a long term approach because like you said, the credibility and authenticity is there. If you're just working with influencers on a one and done basis, guess what? Those people, their audience knows that they're just selling out every second for a new thing and they're not really lending a lot of credibility to their recommendation. If they see that influencer is always just doing something new and a bunch of one and dones, their thought is going to be, well, this person doesn't really like that place that much. They don't actually go there all the time. They just did this once because they paid them some money or gave them something for free. So if that person's consistently coming in and it's a long term relationship strategy, it's going to be a lot more credible, a lot more authentic and it's going to lend itself to better results, I would assume so. I love that part of the strategy too. And then like you said, not just thinking about people, that's job title is influencer. Who? You said, who are the tastemakers in your area? Local journalists, local celebrities, athletes, people that run, I don't know, whatever it might be, where people have influence and they have a following or an audience, those people in your local community are the people that you probably want to be reaching out to, trying to make connections with and make those offers too. And the price that you're going to pay in terms of free services is nothing compared to the goodwill and the visibility and the other clients that you end up obtaining from that type of a strategy. So the cost is very minimal, especially if you're really just giving away free services, in my opinion.
- [39:58]
Rena Goodwin
I totally agree with you, Ricky. And think about it too in a couple, couple main ways, right? When we work with influencers, we're working with them for two main results, content and visibility. Right. So the visibility is the content that they've created and that they share on your platform. But typically you're also, I hope, leveraging that content on your own platform as well too. So it's a kind of a great two for one in terms of marketing. Marketing strategy, right, where you're marrying something like public relations with marketing for the purpose of a sale. Now speaking of sales, that's something to keep in mind when working with an influencer is that if you do want to see sort of that ROI is to make sure that you have a trackable call to action. So maybe it's a specific phone number, for example that only you know is used on social or a code that they can use when they book their appointment. We've seen, you know, things like free samples when you mention ex influencers name, you know, something along those lines so you can kind of be able to track it. In addition to things like engagement and social media followers, we understand at the end of the day you want to see new people in through the door as a result of working with that influencer too.
- [41:20]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's great. So I like that. That's, that seems really easy to just mention my name when you're checking out. You'll get this free add on. It's going to, it's going to be very obvious then the people that are coming in from that type of engagement. But again, don't make this judgment. I think one of the things that's happened in the last five to 10 years is we've become so data obsessed that we don't want to do anything that's serendipitous and I think that's a mistake from a marketing standpoint. So you start doing something with an influencer and you're looking for that long term relationship. Don't do this for 30 days and go, oh, a bunch of people didn't come in and buy our services. This must not be working. You're reaching those people. The message is penetrating. Most people are not going to be immediate responders, especially from following an influencer. I think about purchases that I've made. There are some people that I've been following on YouTube or social media for years and then all of a sudden I'll buy something, you know, as a show of support to that person even. And I might have not done anything in terms of a financial transaction for a really long time. So. And then there are the untrackable components of that, right? They might have seen that influencer. They don't necessarily remember the call to action, they just remember seeing it. The name's ingrained. They're reading your Google reviews and six months later they go perform a Google search or see a Facebook ad and respond. And now the influencer engagement is out of their conscious, but it's something that led to the purchase decision. So some of these things are serendipitous. So I love that that is trackable to an extent. But even like Facebook ads, right, People can see a Facebook ad and that could be stuck in their mind. They could go a week from now and perform a Google search and you'll never be able to attribute that to the Facebook ad they call, hey, I saw that you guys were running a special on this. You don't necessarily know it came from the ad. So allow for some serendipity too, right?
- [42:54]
Rena Goodwin
I. I could not agree with you more. It, it actually brings up a very important point too in terms of public relations, whether it be social or media or influencer or what have you, that is so important to keep in mind as you are scaling your practice. Right. Is that I think you're 100% right in terms of the data. People want to see cause and effect, but what you're getting with public relations, cause and correlation, Right. So that being said, you know one of the ways, just as one example, that public relations or media relations in particular can help make you more money. Right. Imagine again, your med spa practice has been getting a lot of press pickup. Now you can raise your prices, right? Because it's justified that like you've got to be the best in town because you've got all of these third party unpaid endorsements. So we're not going to discount as much because we're the best of the best in our community. So I'm going to raise my prices. That is how PR can actually help you build your revenue base versus like, oh, I was featured in an X article. Where are all of the sales?
- [44:06]
Ricky Shockley
Yes.
- [44:07]
Rena Goodwin
What you do with that public relations, that's what brings the sales. So if you think about like the trifecta in terms of communicating and marketing and selling with your business, it's all of those things. It's pr, it's marketing, it's sales. They work together, but they're three separate things.
- [44:23]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, it's kind of. It's a layer that impacts all of your marketing. Just like your Google reviews, right?
- [44:27]
Rena Goodwin
Yeah.
- [44:28]
Ricky Shockley
There's people that come in just because they read the Google Review and found you on Google. But then there's people that they see that when they're researching after they found a Facebook ad. It's just a layer that benefits all things. Like a better Google Review rating is going to mean a lower customer acquisition cost and more effective Facebook ads. These PR features are probably going to lead to lower cost per lead, higher close rates on your Facebook ad leads, more conversions from your website, the potential to charge higher prices than your competitors, all, all sorts of benefits that are a little less trackable but super impactful nonetheless.
- [44:59]
Rena Goodwin
Amen.
- [45:00]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah. All Right. Reena, any last things to add to that? I would love to do another episode maybe on like social media. I know we're close to out of time today, but I'm glad we got to touch on the the owned or the earned media there and then in influencer marketing a bit. Any last words on those topics for today?
- [45:15]
Rena Goodwin
I honestly could go on forever, but I think. I think we nailed a lot of it down. Just again, that reminder that. And maybe it's not even just a reminder, but just a little bit of motivation. At Factor pr, we've worked with med, spa and different dermatology practices in Beverly Hills, Miami, you know, some of the big cities. But we've also worked with them, you know, in Cincinnati, Ohio and, you know, small towns in Texas. Right. It's easier than you think to get press coverage for your practice. So just kind of keep that in mind. As long as you've got a unique perspective, you are able to meet deadlines and share that perspective within those deadlines and work on building those relationships. It's absolutely with within reach and can certainly be leveraged to help catapult your brand.
- [46:14]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah. And so, Rena, where can people find out more about you in Factor pr? We'll make sure we include the links in the show notes too.
- [46:20]
Rena Goodwin
Awesome. So we are very, very active on social media as we must be probably most active on Instagram. So you can follow us@factor PR and then also@factor PR.com and I know the.
- [46:35]
Ricky Shockley
Spelling is F A C T E u R. So I'll make sure again that's included in the show notes. L to Instagram and the website. Rena, thank you so much for joining us. I really enjoyed the conversation.
- [46:44]
Rena Goodwin
I did as well. Thank you so much for having me.
- [46:46]
Ricky Shockley
Looking forward to doing it again.
- [46:48]
Rena Goodwin
Thank you. Me too.
- [46:49]
Ricky Shockley
Thanks everyone for tuning in. This podcast is a production of medspa Magic Marketing. If your med spa or aesthetic practice is in need of digital marketing services, help with advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Google lead generation and booking more appointments, please visit Medspamagicmarketing.com.