I am going to share with you what really helped our business to grow.  Five years ago, my business partner and I started out in a small 900 sq foot place.  It was just he and I and two treatment rooms.  We are now in a 3200 square foot clinic with eight employees and now this space is getting tight.  I was just kicked out of my office because the shipping room needs it for them....   

So, here's some of the highlights of what we did to grow so fast.

1.  We started asking our happy clients to give us Yelp reviews.  We asked them more than once - unhappy clients will post in a hot second, but happy ones just go about their day being happy.  Our website has a link to our reviews and it really helps to convince them that we know what we are doing.    When we do get the occasional unhappy review, we contact the person right away to rectify what's not working for them.  Nine times out of ten, they become happy clients again.  Sometimes that means having them come in for a free treatment so we can figure out what's going on.  Mainly, it's making the personal contact to let them know that we truly care about what's not working.  Here's our Yelp reviews.

2.  There are other, not-as-frequented review sites such as Insider Pages and Citysearch that you can also utilize.  All of these, including Yelp, are free.  I posted the first post as the business owner just to get the ball rolling and to have a presence on those sites.  If nothing else, it helps your search engine results.   Just Google them to find them.

3.  Referral Program - Because we are an acne clinic, sometimes word-of-mouth can be a little slower because of the sensitivity issues surrounding acne.  People just don't want to talk about it because of their shame of it; and once their skin is clear, they have no credibility with people who are still suffering with acne.  However, they are likely to talk to family members about it.  We tend to have a large Asian clientele, who tend to be very family-oriented.  We tell them that for every person they refer to us, that they will get $20 credit toward product or service.  We remind them in every Constant Contact newsletter that we send out that we have that incentive for them.

4.  PR - This is truly the most underutilized, but incredibly effective marketing strategy you can use for your small business.  The first thing we did was contact the very small local newspaper to have them do an article about the "new business in the community".  Almost all small newspapers will do this for you, you just have to ask.  We got ten new clients right away.

Then, I read a book called Guerrilla Publicity by Jill Lublin and Conrad Levinson.  I gave it to my business partner and said, please read this and do it, ok?  Well, he did!  He put out press releases to the bigger newspapers in the area and one responded within two weeks.  This was amazing, since the book said it might take a year of consistent pestering to get the attention of a reporter.  Well, we got a huge article in the Lifestyle section of that newspaper. It totally launched our business. I went from seeing 12 clients a week, to literally, 12 clients a day.  It was crazy and exciting - my most thrilling business experience to date. 

Eleven months later, we got a mention in another article about adult acne.  That article went to the Associated Press, which then meant we were mentioned in articles not only around the country but around the world!  We started getting calls from people all over the United States to ask us if we could help them.  One Saturday, I answered the phone and a woman was calling from Dubai!  She said we were in an article (that same one) which was in The Gulf News - a newspaper in her region.  Our Long Distance Program was launched at that point.  This was an aspect of our business that I had no idea we would be doing, but the need was so great, I figured out a way to help these people.  We now have clients all over the world (who also give us Yelp reviews).

So, you see, marketing does not have to be expense in order to be effective.  I did not pay one penny for all the above-mentioned marketing; and it was integral in building the business that we have today.  Feel free to email me if you want more information.

Laura@facerealityacneclinic.com

Face Reality Acne Clinic