Should You Start A Blog?
If you hate writing and find it difficult I’m going to cut to the chase - don’t bother!
Writing is a skill, particularly creative writing. While you might be perfectly able, both technically and emotionally, to formulate a letter or email to a patient, blog writing is a different beast. If writing is not something you enjoy or, proportionally, it takes you a lot of effort or time, you’re better to devote your energy elsewhere. Or maybe you’ve never even tried and you have a talent you don’t even know you have!
You Like Writing
Me too! Maths however…well let’s not talk about it.
If you enjoy writing and it comes fairly easily to you then starting a blog can be an effective element of your marketing plan.
How so?
Educating Consumers: You don’t need me to tell you that the treatments you offer are still shrouded in misconceptions, misunderstandings and malaise; ‘fillers ruin your face’, ‘once you start Botox you can’t stop’, ‘everyone who has lip fillers looks like a duck’, ‘chemical peels burn your face’… there is so much you can address via a blog article, which allows for much deeper content sharing. Do not underestimate just how little people know or just how wrong they are about non-surgical treatments.
Mastery: If you write about a subject with knowledge and authority you position yourself as an expert and a leader, which can set you apart from your competitors and will elevate your position in the industry.
PR: The media is always looking for experts to provide comment and give further information to articles they’re writing. It could be your blog they come across in their quest for new voices and they share your website, clinic and name with a wider audience.
Rich Content: A blog piece can be repurposed for other uses. You can use one blog piece for lots of different posts on social media or email to your patients in a newsletter. Email marketing is often overlooked by practitioners, but your patients will be pretty receptive to your news and views so don’t just send appointment reminders! You can also turn your content into quotes, snapshot videos, memes, images and infographics.
SEO. Search engine optimisation. Nobody really knows how it works and why it works but it does. Sharing original, information content drives traffic. The Google fairies scape the web for content that is interesting and relevant to the search terms people type in Google (what they call ‘key words’) and if yours ticks the boxes it will be shown higher up the results following a search - in turn driving people to your website. If you can entice other websites to link to your blog too, you’ll hit the SEO holy grail!
So I got to thinking… could I be the Carrie Bradshaw of Aesthetics?
Style Of Writing
Writing is a skill. There is a vast difference between writing a formal report and writing an irreverent tweet. A common challenge I have come across in over twenty years working in marketing and PR is that even confident writers may be able to do one style, but not another. I’ve seen many senior executives who can write an exceptionally brilliant letter to a regulator, but are completely useless at customer communications - and they often have no self-awareness that this is the case! Personally, I struggle more with formal writing, compiling an annual report bores me to tears!
When writing your blog you need to think less about you and more about the person reading it. Who is your customer? Have you created a persona for them? Think about the language you use and the social and cultural references you make - is it right for your audience? Write as if you’re speaking to that person, one on one.
What To Write About?
Anything related to your world! It doesn’t really matter.
Avoid, however, writing specifically for SEO. If you start with ‘I need to write something to include the key word lip filler’ you’ll find your content becomes formulaic and dry.
Because you’re writing about the aesthetics word anyway, the key terms that people tend to search for will naturally evolve without any thought. It may be useful to pepper you pieces with your location if possible, e.g ‘Here in Manchester chemical peels are very popular’ as Google will recognise that so if someone searches ‘best chemical peels in Manchester’ they will know to show them your blog.
Obviously, blogs around the most frequently asked questions are a great place to start, whether these are generic or treatment specific.
Other pegs for your content could be:
Seasonal, summer, winter etc
Events: weddings, valentines, giving birth
Life stages: menopause etc
Specific issues; acne, hyperpigmentation, crepey neck, eyebags
Events you’ve attended
Industry news
Whatever the topic, try and keep it chatty and informal. If it’s particularly technical with lots of science, explain things simply and use terms ordinary people who have never worked in medicine will understand.
Story Time
Try and keep a little bit of structure to your blog. Tell a story. Have a beginning, a middle and an end. If it’s a long post, summarise what the article is saying in some bullet points at the top (look at how the Daily Mail structures its online articles - if you can bare it!).
Sharing Is Caring
Don’t just post your blog and let it stew there. Share it on your facebook page, instagram, twitter, linkedin, on email or create a little video preview for YouTube. If you believe your blog is newsworthy and saying something different - perhaps even controversial - then send it to some journalists - local or national. Be brave, the worse that can happen is they delete your email. No big deal is it?
When you share, perhaps pose a question to go along with the blog using the captions. Do you agree with this? Have I gone too far? What do you think? Is this true? Did you know this? You want viewers to engage with the post.
Get Over Those Mental Barriers!
You might be confident writing but you’re letting external doubts prevent you.
“I’m worried what other people will think” - Why? They’ll either read it, love it and share it or they will read it and disagree or they won’t read it. Writing is bit like art, it’s subjective. If you have people disagree with you, that’s fine - if you’re accurate with your facts, then you can’t do much with opinions, and a bit of healthy debate is always good !
“I’m jumping on a bandwagon”- blogging isn’t really a bandwagon, it’s not fashionable or a flash-in-the-pan. People blog because it works. While lots of other practitioners might be doing it, you’re not the same as lots of other practitioners. You’ll have a different voice and something different to say.
“It flopped” - you’re not going to bit on the front page of The Times after your first blog and it might only be read by 3 people. As with all marketing endeavours it’s about consistency and perseverance. You’ll find your stride, voice and tone and it will become easier and easier every time you blog.
Nothing To Lose!
Unless you’re going to write a blog telling your patients and colleagues that you hate them, there really is no reason not to give it a go. You will have so much knowledge and so many opinions and views to share that will be interesting and relevant.
The possible benefits of raising your profile, Google loving you and ultimately attracting more patients, mean blog writing is worth a bash!
Unless you suck at writing - then stick to making reels on Instagram ;-)
