A Unique Take Based on the Principles of Plastic Surgery
Five Familiar Principles Applied to Marketing Your Practice
The Plastic Surgery industry has in many ways paved the way for medical specialty marketing in the modern age of internet presence. Long gone are the days of competing for the back of the Yellow Pages book, or full-page ad in the local publication as the sole marketing medium. Plastic surgery marketing is here to stay and will always be the first medical specialty to take advantage of new ways to reach their vast target market pool of prospective patients seeking aesthetic or reconstructive improvement. Marketing the modern plastic surgery practice can now include numerous mediums, most of which are internet platforms. This digital marketing age allows for extended information to be provided in order to attract ideal patient candidates while also providing education on the procedures presented. The procedure presentation by way of content creation should consider the long-proven Principles & Art of Plastic Surgery as coined by Sir Harold Gillies and Dr. D. Ralph Millard and how these Principles cross over to guide the modern plastic surgery marketing plan.
While this article is not an explanation of the Principles as created and written for plastic surgery, the Principles can be identified and attributed to almost any surgical specialty and infinite area of life in general. Dr. Millard and Sir Harold Gillies knew this more than any reader and/or follower of the Principles. Dr. Millard states in Principlization of Plastic Surgery, “Life, science and certainly plastic surgery demand the acknowledgement of facts and the flexibility to change with new facts.” The Principles are a merger of life, science, and plastic surgery. Here plastic surgery marketing is addressed and explained in a “principled” fashion.
Principle 1: Correct the Order of Priorities
“What a man puts foremost in his life will tell you not only where he is going but about how far he will go.”
D. Ralph Millard, Jr. M.D.
Dr. Millard opens this chapter of Principlization, “Of the three cardinal virtues, Truth, Beauty, Goodness, priority must be given to Truth.” Dr. Millard was not a fan of plastic surgery marketing in his time as his generation had the sole referral system of practice security based on reputation within the medical community. The introduction of the plastic surgeon web presence was new to him during his retirement. We had several discussions about the presentation of truth and the future of the digital web presence and information available to the plastic surgery patient. It is no secret that truths are often skewed and distorted to create false impressions, surgical results, and fabricated credentials. Obviously, following the Principles to create successful marketing plans can only truly apply to the real board certified plastic surgeon when it comes to marketing credentials. Therefore, correcting the order of marketing priorities should maintain truth in surgical results by way of untouched-up photos and truth of information content regarding surgical recovery, expectations, and surgical qualification.
Principle 8: Know the Ideal Beautiful Normal
Adhering to the Ideal Beautiful Normal Principle while maintaining a consistent internet presence for the modern aesthetic surgical practice should be every surgeon’s long-term practice goal. Dr. Millard stated in Principlization of Plastic Surgery, “Perception beauty is also influenced by culture and fashion.” Focus internet content to include your patient photos that present Principle 8. As Millard wrote in Principlization, he himself bases his argument solely on centuries of artists, authors, poets, and scientists always citing and reverting to the integrity of beauty. Dr. Millard concludes “beauty is integrity.” This foundation principle, affectionately referred to as the “unspoken” Principle by those privileged to have been trained by the Chief, should be the primary principle to every practice business plan, thus plastic surgery marketing plan. Ideal marketing content will include beautiful photos of actual patients, beautiful color palette, and elegantly written content.
Principle 6: Seek Insight into the Patient’s True Desires
The Principles are for the practice of plastic surgery and not limited to the operating room. With Principle 6, this insight needs to include any social media norms the patient may be including. Social media is filled with extorted and unrealistic expectations painted as cultural norms. These reflections are often created with innocent and playful photo filters but can feed a small pod of the plastic surgical patient sea. Creating content for the sole purpose of riding the current social media hype should be approached with caution. The ever-morphing social media mirror often reflects unrealistic cosmetic surgery goals as current cosmetic surgery trends. These negative trends can be a black hole for any long-term practice plan and should be approached with caution as to not be painted with this disappearing ink. Avoiding this black hole will allow for more productive consultations, de facto patient selection, and keep your name from becoming a has-been along with the has-been surgical goal (trend). Nonetheless, one post of a dramatic post-operative result that does not align with Principle 8 could scare away a more significant potential patient pool as fearing their results would be the same.
Principle 25: Avoid the Rut of Routine
Opening this chapter, Dr. Millard states, “ Total dependence on a cookbook, once the information of that guidebook is known and understood, can be confining.” Flexibility is key with this Principle. In the operating theatre, the surgeon must practice “lateral thinking” in order to avoid an “intelligence trap.” The marketing comparison is to be open to new marketing ideas, and to avoid a cruise-control marketing plan. The internet is ever changing and growing. Your plastic surgery marketing plan needs to keep up with internet evolution as your target demographic may grow out of one platform or simple SEO linguistic adjustments.
Regardless of your practice goals, remaining up to date with your internet presence, SEO trends and platform market share will help better understand your patient population and the information they seek and/or are exposed to. Discoveries are to be made that will feed your content creation muse to better educate prospective patients. After all, the best patient is the educated patient: Principle 30: Teaching our Specialty is its Best Legacy. Allowing yourself to step over to the other side of “the table” will gain insight to evolve your marketing plan for the most effective engagement as no plastic surgery marketing plan should remain the same year after year.
Principle 32: Go For Broke!
“Go for the jugular of mediocrity. To never give up and to never be satisfied with second best depends on dedicated determination through motivation engendered by pride in perfection.”
Dr. D. Ralph Millard
In so many ways, this Principle sums up Dr. Millard’s personality and reflects his career as one of the greatest surgeons of all time. This Principle explains his determination to develop and perfect surgical techniques for the most challenging deformities. The Chief never settled for mediocrity. The communication mediums of his time were through scientific papers, presentations, and textbooks. Albeit those professional mediums still exist today, it’s the modern marketing platforms that define the expertise of the modern plastic surgeon. Dr. Millard’s presentations of his cleft lip rotation advancement surgical technique became his viral content attracting international following and popularity.
The Go For Broke Principle is a reminder to all plastic surgeons to embrace the procedures you have truly perfected and allow that one or two procedures to be your viral content. You do not need to create content across the board to expand followers. This is not a call to limit your surgical skill in order to expand reach, but a reminder to perfect your surgical skill rather than perfecting your viral achievements. The greater reward is in the operating theatre rather than the social media theatre. The more you perfect your surgical skill, the more content will become easy to identify as social media content.
This is merely a sample of the 33 Principles and how they can be applied to the practice of plastic surgery marketing. To finish this brief article is the reminder of Principle 23: When in Doubt Don’t. The very Principle that requires zero explanation as it pertains to surgical decisions in the operating room and business decisions that umbrella marketing decisions. Do not be afraid to take control of your internet presence. Simply contracting and granting carte blanche to a third party to handle your marketing is reckless at best. Principle 12: Do not Underestimate the Enemy. That enemy could be a laissez faire approach to the modern plastic surgery marketing and internet presence.
