Why your med spa or dental practice doesn't need more patients

Really? More is bad?

When I would meet with spa owners or dentists and right off the bat, ask them what they would wants, they would answer me like it was obvious: "More patients, duh."

Why Not?

I then have to spend some time explaining that if they were running ads and continuously getting more patients who wanted teeth cleaning, or more patients who wanted Botox, it wasn't benefitting them financially, or improving their rankings. They were hindering their own growth, and causing a headache. When I quizzed three spa owners about which type of patient they'd want coming through the doors, one said "lipo," and two said "fillers." This was obviously telling me that they wanted a different type of patient than they were getting- at that time they were getting similar amounts of Botox and fillers.

The 4 dentists I spoke had a bit more variety, from more ortho patients, to more veneers, to more surgical procedures. But the ads were similar- more free X-rays, free whitening, subscription plans, etc. This is why they were missing their goals.

What should be done?

• Create short-from content that attracts ideal patients: Ideate first, and produce multiple pieces at the same time. You can script or not-whichever looks and sounds the most natural

• Ask for reviews from those who booked the ideal procedures: Don't request a review from everyone- not everyone will have had a 5 star experience, and not everyone will speak about the ideal procedures you want to target. Set up a system to get reviews from those who are prescreened beforehand to have had an amazing experience, and provide within the system a guide on what should be mentioned within the review to benefit your practice, and the lead doctor or owner.

• Optimize your site for more desired procedures: Show more procedures you want. Discuss those more. Add metadata including those, whether in photos or videos.

• Stop all ads that don't bring in desired patients: Whether you have an agency or you run ads yourself, don't target the procedures you don't want. It just doesn't make sense. Basically, optimize ads, and content in general, to not include patients who may not contribute to your end goal. Resources are not unlimited, even if you may think you're not busy.

• Create target long-form content to organically place doctor/owner as leader of desired procedure : You have to make it to YouTube eventually, but the right way. Videos shouldn't be talking about where you grew up or your passion- they should be providing evidence and tips for your expertise, as the goal is to build authority.

More reviews is not always good either

This follows the same logical fallacy: more reviews means more patients will value the practice. Your practice will not rank with AI just because it has more reviews. Why? Because if someone asks AI, "Who is the best lip injector with experience in Carlsbad," and the majority of your reviews are about Botox, you will not be seen as a trusted source even if your practice lists injections as one of the offered procedures.

Everything must match so that the trust is there, and you will be recommended by ChatGPT or Claude. You can't fake it to the front of the line, even if you look good in your YouTube videos. The days of SEO and keywords are almost gone. Adapt of be lost behind.

Content tips

• Come up with a long-term strategy

• Make short-form content episodic to attract long-term viewership

• Start every video with a hook

• Don't optimize for just more views, but more views from your ideal audience

• Respond to all comments, even trolls (or delete them)

Conclusion

Aim for a target, not all targets. What type of patients would benefit your practice most if you got more of them tomorrow? Which ones would be more fulfilling? Yes, it is possible to target the ones you want. Don't settle for an experience you don't want to have.

-Arash Tebbi