Seth Carlson: I’m doing well. How are you, Ajay?

Ajay Prasad: Good, good. Where are you located, Seth?

Seth Carlson: I am in Denver, Colorado.

Ajay Prasad: Oh, you are in Denver. Okay, good. So, tell us about your business. Again, the purpose is for our audience to be able to relate to you with their needs and the experience that you have.

Seth Carlson: So, I’m the owner at Acquired Salary. From that standpoint, Acquired Salary is a minority partner with a few medical clinics, an optometry practice, complete eyecare. We celebrated our 25th year anniversary last year. And then I’m also associated with Dimension Dry Eye and Aesthetics which is another medical practice that focuses on medical aesthetics. From that standpoint, the aesthetics practice was launched in 2021. I’m excited to have a good conversation today.

Ajay Prasad: Okay, good. So, I don’t have any questions about your business. I understand what you’re doing. So, when you say aesthetics practices, what exactly would you mean by that? What kind of aesthetics?

Seth Carlson: Yeah. So, in terms of the aesthetic side of things, it’s a unique combination correlated with the optometry practice. So, we’re in Colorado. And from that standpoint, dry eye is rampant among the state. So, from that standpoint, we started the Dimensions Dry Eye and Aesthetics practice…It first started out with the more aesthetic-based, dry eye treatments. So, we focus on IPL. That’s one of our biggest revenue generators, just because of the market that we’re in. And then we’re also moving in to doing some injections like fillers as well as Botox. And that’s where the practice is kind of focused right now.

Ajay Prasad: Okay, good. All right. So, this is very good. Let’s dive down into your questions that you have for me.

Seth Carlson: It sounds good, yeah. So, from that standpoint, I’m curious. What do you think are the key components of an effective healthcare marketing strategy?

Ajay Prasad: Sure. And by the way, I would focus exclusively on the digital aspect of the marketing. Obviously, there is another component. People do direct mail. I have been there, done that. But now, that is not my focus. So, I will be very exclusive about going to bring your document strategies digital. The reason we start to do that is about 80% of the search for medical healthcare providers literally starts on the internet. People searching about their reasons, about the procedures, about the doctors and everything. So, for you to be successful online, obviously you need to get found. When people are searching for your services, you have to have a very robust online presence. The second thing that people will always do is when they find you, before they call you now, about 80% of them will check your reviews.

So, I always say that you should have very stellar online reviews. And the third, you have to have a system. And by the way, in order to get that stellar online review, you need to have an ongoing effort to keep on improving patient satisfaction. So, I always say that the three keys to a very successful healthcare business is you need to have a robust online presence. You have to have a large number of patient satisfaction, satisfied patients. And then obviously, the third is you have to have a very stellar online reputation. So, those, I would say, are the three pillars that we call it for your healthcare success, the practice’s success.

Seth Carlson: Yeah, that makes total sense. And that’s a really interesting stat that you bring up. It makes sense. Customers or patients are searching online. And so, in order to get found, you have to be online. And having a good online presence with strong reviews is super important. Of course, as a business will scale, you’re going to have to continue to ensure there’s ongoing patient satisfaction.

Ajay Prasad: Yeah. And the patient satisfaction, interestingly, the component literally starts from the first time a patient calls you. When they find you on the internet and they check your reviews and then when they call your front desk about whatever question they had before they even show up. The whole satisfaction with them talking really starts from there. So, having a solid process in place so not only our patients feel welcome when they first contact, but then when they leave, they also feel satisfied. So, the whole process, I think, is very important. I know, unfortunately, that’s how it is in the US these days, but the people who are on, for example, in California who are on Medicaid, they don’t have a lot of choices because many doctors don’t see them. So, they will go to whoever they can find.

But the patients who have the ability to pay the cash or when they have good insurance, they are the ones who are the pickiest ones. Even the most charitable doctors need to have a good percentage of well-paying patients in order to be able to subsidize the patient who cannot afford to pay. So, that’s what we were talking about is that’s even more important when you have patients when you are talking on the subject. That’s where they’re paying cash. And so, they have a choice. And those are the ones who are doing all the research.

Seth Carlson: Yeah, it’s almost not saying quality of patients, but per se, the cash-paying patients are going to have more options. And so, I think that emphasizes the point that you’re making of ongoing patient satisfaction is so important.

Ajay Prasad: Yes.

Seth Carlson: Kind of moving into another question about the healthcare marketing side of things, how can healthcare content marketing really help in capturing search traffic or differentiating the healthcare company?

Ajay Prasad: Sure. So, one of the major I would say component of Google ranking is the onsite-based content. There are a lot of other things. Just adding a page content is not fruitful enough. If you want to get Google ranking for different key words, you need to have those pages, the content. And the more content, the merrier. Right now, at least, Google’s approach, it has to be very original and it has to be very to-the-point, in other words, very relevant. Believe it or not, if you have content and people go there and just bounce quickly, that is almost like a negative sign for Google. So, the first thing, you want content for Google ranking. Again, like I was saying, you need to get found before you can even start to think about capturing or acquiring the prospective patient who is searching for your services. So, it really helps with the Google ranking first.

And then the other thing is that also gives you a chance to showcase your expertise to your prospective patients. So, when someone comes in and depending on the procedure, people now do a lot of research. So, giving them most relevant information on the website itself, that also helps the patient understand what you’re doing and understanding your approach to addressing their needs. That will always help you with acquisition. Doctor relevance is important. But what is interesting is Google now looks at that relevancy off the content as the key indicator of ranking, also. That means when people come to your page, suppose you have a page about Botox or a blog about Botox or several pages in the Botox section.

Someone goes there in two seconds, that’s a negative. If they stay there and they click on that page to say reach out, fill out the form or something, what Google considers “conversing,” then that in Google’s eyes means this page is more relevant. And you start to get higher and higher ranking for that. So, the content is very important for both, for patients to demonstrate that number one it is explained to them what it's all about and also your approach to treatment, treating that. And then of course, if you have done a good job there, then it helps you with Google ranking.

Seth Carlson: That makes total sense. It’s all about the search intent. You don’t want the intent to end up on a page and leave right away because then in a roundabout way, that first impression is like, “Oh, this isn’t what I was looking for.” And whether it’s conscious or not, they can interpret that to be, “Oh, this isn’t what I was looking for.” And so, perhaps you get thrown into an association of, “Oh, I don’t need to look into that potential treatment option or company in general.”

Ajay Prasad: Yeah. Exactly. For example, if someone is looking for what are the options, I am nearsighted, what the options are. So, the pages about nearsightedness and then there are treatment options, and it could be from like glasses to elective surgery, having those different sections and all. The more people that engage, so that’s one thing. Engaging content is very important. Once people are engaged, then they are going to different areas and they contact you. That is considered a very good signal for Google to say, “Okay. This is a relevant one and the consumer will want it.” So, Google is trying to mimic people so that if you see something and rejecting it, they will like to reject that content also as much as they can. That’s where they are going and all of that content and everything is going to do it more so. So, yes, the content and how they’re getting your content is going to be really a critical piece to your marketing.

Seth Carlson: Yeah, and I think that kind of helps answer the next question that I have around the benefits of content marketing. It sounds like if you have engaging content and perspective patients are reading the content that you have and it’s engaging and then you demonstrate your expertise and your approach to treatment, it can really go a long way into reducing patient anxiety. And eventually, that will convert into generating a lead for the business by the sounds of it.

Ajay Prasad: Exactly. I couldn’t have said it better. You are 100% correct, Seth.

Seth Carlson: I guess from that standpoint, what do you think differentiates healthcare content marketing when it’s in a business-to-business context or a business-to-consumer context?

Ajay Prasad: So, in either case, when you are looking at your target customer, whether it is a business or a consumer, they are focused on, “What’s in it for me?” So, when you’re targeting business, whether you are selling your service or you are looking for partnership, it’s like how does the business benefit? So, most of it is going to be monetary. So, when you are targeting businesses, it’s much more rationale – let me put it this way. You make very rational decisions where it’s almost like a formula. And you say, “Okay. This is what I am spending. This is what I am getting. Is it worth it for me or not?” That’s the business-to-business marketing where you talk about how they are going to benefit financially, either by simplifying their operations or increasing sales or whatever. When you’re doing a business-to-consumer marketing, consumers are not rational, I guess. It’s not surprising to you. People are not rational.

So, their emotion makes up a big difference. So, it’s like I have always said that it’s not the need as much as the desire that you want to address. And so, when you’re talking from business-to-consumer, so that’s where number one you’ll have more clients, also. So, you want to have your own I would say philosophy very well defined and laid out there. Because you know that not everyone is going to be a customer. So, you want the customers who are aligned to your philosophy in terms of cosmetics and how you want to do that. You go to a chiropractor, they will say never ever medication, never ever surgery. It’s a very small percent of the population are big believers in that. But they are large enough for the chiropractors to have a thriving business and be very successful.

I am not saying that it is quackery or something. I go to a chiropractor and I think that they have a very interesting role. There have been things that I will go to a chiropractor for. But their whole philosophy helps them also. You can say, “I cracked a customer.” That is going to be happy with their services. If something that you are doing is always black or white or red, whatever you are doing, if you are like, “Okay. I like the red color, and so all my program is going to be around that,” you want the consumers to relate to that and come to you. So, consumer marketing becomes in an interesting way. Segmentation becomes much more complicated compared to segmentation of businesses because there, you know that I am targeting this kind of business, this size and who I am targeting when I am targeting a business. It’s the CXO, CMO. Consumers is like I said, a lot of it is very emotional. And so, you want to appeal to their emotions and their desires, much more than just the core benefits.

Seth Carlson: Yeah. I read Michael Masterson’s Ready, Fire, Aim and it’s kind of interesting what you’ve spoken about. B to B, it is about solving their problems, but then as you go upstream with that, it’s in a mostly monetary and rationalized point of view. And then the B to C side of things, it’s perhaps less rational. And I think this kind of goes into the big problem that economics tries to solve. It’s like all economic assumptions are based on we’re rational beings and we act in a rational manner. When on the B to C side of things in the consumer market, it’s perhaps not as rational and emotion does play a big role in how consumers decide what they want. And of course, that’s kind of tying it back into Michael Masterson’s book. You want to sell the customers or serve customers and patients that want your services not per se need your services. ‘Cause there can be situations where somebody needs something, but they don’t make the rational decision to go ahead and obtain what they need.

Ajay Prasad: Exactly right. And so, that’s the reason the role of copyrighting, advertising, the headlines, those things is much more critical. It’s always critical. Don’t take me wrong. But because you want to invoke a very different kind of reaction from the ads to consumers versus when you’re targeting the same thing to businesses.

Seth Carlson: Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. Moving into the actual tactical application, what are some proven strategies that you have for optimizing a medical practice’s marketing for attracting more patients and growing the healthcare business?

Ajay Prasad: A couple of things, so marketing, we have found that marketing, frankly the healthcare providers are in the big scheme of things…It’s easier because it’s all local. I would say a very, very large percent, unless you are advertising or marketing from hospitals, are just trying to attract patients from all over the world. By the way, we do some. But generally speaking, when you are local, number one, it’s definitely easier. Like I’ve always said, additional marketing is a maritime that never ends. But having said that, you are only competing with 10, 15, 20 maybe 25 people. You are running the race and you need to be number one, number two, number three kind of thing. So, it is much easier to analyze what is the strengths and weaknesses. I’m talking now marketing. I’m talking with presence in terms of their online reputation. And also, you are in a much better situation to gauge your competition, to see what versus your own practice. And then you can identify your competitive advantage and play on that.

So, that is the area where I think that healthcare marketing because you are targeting consumers. You will be surprised how much information you can glean out of just the reviews that’s written over a period of time. Because there are tools that you can run through all these reviews of anyone and you will know the drivers of the satisfaction and dissatisfaction. So, this is where tactically, the way you use it is you have to look at where you stand in terms of patient satisfaction measurement. To an extent, this is how satisfaction is reflected on the reviews. Although, unfortunately, most of the people when they are not managing their review – in other words, they don’t have a process for managing the review from everyone. Then they seem to have more of a reflection of people who are not happy than happy. Obviously, at least 95% of patients are happy if not more. But the 5% are the ones, unhappy seems to be more vocal online.

But having said that, even if someone is not managing, you can get a good sense of what are the drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for them, for you? Where do you stand versus everyone else when it comes to obviously the web presence? Where are you ranked with this competition? What’s the other online reviews compared to competition? Of course, there are areas that you would like to address where there is a weakness. But then you have a chance to now play on your strengths. To give you a simple example, suppose you have the best reviews, even though you have six, seven reviews out of 7,000, so you have 4.8%. So, you lead with that in advertising. Now someone who values that, the reviews, you grab their attention. When they come and check, you know that when they will check your comparative, they will be found lacking. So, that’s what I mean by you play with your strength. And because you are competing with a handful of people there, you are able to strategize better. But you will need to have a very specific strategy, depending based on where you are, your customer base and your competition. Am I making sense?

Seth Carlson: Yeah, that makes sense. Just speaking from personal experience, for the most part, if I go to a small business or some kind of business, I don’t automatically tend to leave my review if I’ve had a good experience. It’s more so if I’m extremely dissatisfied that I’m like, “Okay, maybe I’ll leave a review.” But from that standpoint, it’s like converting your satisfied patients and obtaining those reviews. It sounds like it’s incredibly important because you can use those reviews. It creates that social proof. You can use the reviews to kind of generate a unique selling proposition or idea or competitive advantage. And then you can further take that and you can use it in any further advertising endeavors.

Ajay Prasad: And by the way, it’s not just one thing. So, suppose it just turns out that your competitor is better than you when it comes to reviews. You don’t emphasize that. And all of a sudden, suppose you have gone to Harvard and they have not. Then you just emphasize the fact that you have a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist or optometrist. All of sudden, again, whoever that appeals to with find everyone else lacking. So, understanding what is your unique strength versus your competition and then also, obviously, it has to have a value. So, if you’re the tallest doctor in the city, that may not be enough for people to sit up and take notice and say, “I want to go to him.”

So, obviously, those strengths need to mean something to your perspective patients. And then you play upon that and while you’re addressing the weaknesses. So, that’s why knowing your strengths and weaknesses versus your competition is very important.

And then, obviously, when you address the weaknesses behind the scenes, you want to play with the strengths so that again, suppose the medical school was important to people. It’s again going to be only 5%, 10% of the people. But for those who has value for that, you are it. So, that’s why you want to figure out what are the areas where you are it? And then you play upon that and you will find that all of a sudden, people who come to you, they will not find anyone else. So, it’s automatic. And in marketing, I’ve always said is half science, half art. There’s a lot of things you can only try to figure out how your perspective patient will react. Start with those core presences that we talked about. Patient satisfaction, which by the way, you have to gauge from the reviews if you read it. Or like I said, there are tools you can use where you just run it. Download the reviews, run it through that and you’ll know what’s the strengths and weaknesses. So, you know the patient satisfaction. You look at the online presence which is again analysis that can be done. And then you look at the reputation online.

So, with that starting point, you will start to differentiate. You can say, “Okay. This is my strength compared to my competitors.” And then you want to further distill and just trim so that you can come up with a message that should resonate with your prospective patients. And once it resonates, if they get interested, you’ll say, “Yeah, most of them couldn’t find someone else who does better than us.” So, that’s where you want to play with your strengths. But again, please do not ignore your weaknesses. If you find out that reviews need a lot of improvement, just work on it behind the scenes while you are getting the benefit of patient satisfaction. Maybe the reviews, 90% is policy. But whatever, having to figure out your unique – something that no one else can claim, that is going to be your ticket to success.

Seth Carlson: Yeah. I really like the approach and the idea of leverage your strengths. And then while you’re leveraging your strengths for continuing to bring in perspective patients, you also work behind the scenes to improve your weaknesses. I’ve worked in clinical trials and medical devices. And that’s just one of the core concepts that I always found sound beneficial in that work. If you focus on continuing to improve experience and satisfaction, you’re going to continue to head in an upward trajectory. And so, I think that even is very relatable.

Ajay Prasad: Okay, good. Thank you. Anything else?

Seth Carlson: I think that’s been kind of my main questions for discussion today. It’s been a great conversation in terms of identifying the marketing strategy and what to focus on and how to lean into that and identifying the weaknesses to work on those on the backend. And the strengths, to really use those to help grow patient satisfaction.

Ajay Prasad: Perfect. Yeah, if you can just identify the areas for your marketing for acquisition, identify things that only you can claim and something that matters to them. But those things should also matter to the perspective clients and you can start to leverage that to acquire more patients. And like I said, measuring and trying to figure out how you can improve patient satisfaction, how to get more reviews and those things should be certainly ongoing. So, good luck with your business. Like you said, you are new at it, this vertical position?

Seth Carlson: Yes. I’m a new partner in the business. So, Complete Eyecare has been open for 25 years and would like to continue to grow that practice. It’s doing really well. And then I’m really excited about the new opportunities with the Dimensions Dry Eye practice.

Ajay Prasad: Okay. Perfect, perfect. So, best with it for success. And you are already, it seems like you are very strategic anyway. You understand the components of business. You have read – what was that title? I read that book, too.

Seth Carlson: It was Michael Masterson’s Ready, Fire, Aim.

Ajay Prasad: Yeah, Ready, Fire, Aim. Yeah, yeah. I read that one.

Seth Carlson: It was such a great book.

Ajay Prasad: Yeah. I have read it twice, by the way, also. It’s a good book to help you take a step back and strategize based on where you are. So, I love how he breaks it down about the startup, what you have to do. When you are a million, what you have to do and when you’re 10 million what you have to do kind of thing. So, you can just pick up the right section and focus on that rather than – depending on where you are. So, yeah, it’s a good book. You are already well versed in the strategy. So, that’s great. Hopefully, this will be helpful to you. And by the way, if you have any specific question, if something pops up, feel free to send it to Duyen and Duyen can always reach out and we can send you an answer back.

Seth Carlson: Awesome.

Ajay Prasad: Certainly, if it’s [inaudible] [00:35:04], I forgot this, don’t worry about it. Just send it to us and we’ll be happy to answer that. Okay?

Speaker: All right, Seth. Since we are wrapping up our podcast, do you have anything to say to the audience? Any promotion going on?

Seth Carlson: You can find me personally at AcquiredSalary.com. And you can always find Complete Eyecare in Denver, Westminster are as well as Dimensions Dry Eye and Aesthetic.

Speaker: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Founder’s Corner podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and follow us on iTunes, Stitchers, Spotify and SoundCloud. If you are interested in being a guest, be sure to visit our main page at www.gmrwebteam.com/the-founders-corner.