Patient testimonials, third-party reviews and endorsements, media coverage these can all differentiate your medical spa, plastic surgery, or cosmetic dermatology practice and convince potential patients to give your clinic a shot.

Medical spa marketing with search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (ppc) and direct mail can put your clinic in front of potential patients, but great patient testimonials can provide the needed level of 'trust' to initiate a first phone call or walk in.

Medical spas, plastic surgeons, and cosmetic dermatologists usually utilize one of three types of third party validation:

Existing Patient Testimonials: Very common. (You've seen this if you're not already doing it.) Prominent display of your patients saying nice things about you.

Trusted Cosmetic Medical Associations: ASAPS, AAD, FACS, or ASDS logos on your site build patient trust. Of course, these medical associations understandably restrictive and very protective of their 'status'. This leads to less the formation of restrictive medical associations. MAPA was formed was to add some legitimacy to a group of non-core physicians practicing cosmetic medicine that wouldn't be accepted to core physician associations.

Large Third Party Endorsements & Validations: The Botox 'Diamond Level Injector' status is an example of third party endorsement (by Botox) as are others that are run by companies trying to help their physician customers. (Medical Spa MD links to your site are also a third party endorsement.) Interestingly, many third party endorsements actually have a more favorable impact for patients searching on the web than association endorsements since the third party is often more 'relevant' to the information a patient is looking for.

When you receive these kinds of accolades or promotions from prominent third-party players, it validates what you're doing and provides the potential patient you're marketing to a level of instant comfort that you've already been checked out and are the 'real deal'.

Subtle changes to the way you're handling your patient testimonials and third party endorsements can produce dramatic effects, especially online, where the majority of patients are now searching for information.

Medical Spa MDs quick strategies for piling up and using patient endorsements:

Seek out the places your patients are, starting with your existing medical spa or cosmetic practice. Smart thinking with your marketing tactics can reach far out into the community and gain the endorsements of prominent businesses and individuals.

Next, identify third-party recognition programs from high profile physician-respected sites like MedicalSpaMD.com. These are most often paid inclusion but there are ways to get these types of third party endorsements for free, or at a greatly reduced cost.

Prepare legal and media write-ups: The media only runs two types of story; we found something good and, we found out something we thought was good, was really bad. Uncover the ways to build this kind of content that you can use on your own site, and share with you local media outlets.

Write strong cosmetic medical and human interest content with nice visuals: If your Thermage or breast augmentation before and after pictures look amateurish, you're losing paying patients. Learn how to make your before and after photos consistent and attractive.

Make sure patient testimonials receive prominent placement: Have your patients smiling photo, real name, and a stellar testimonial. Beg, borrow or steal to get these. (Many patients won't want to be identified but some won't care. These are NOT in the before and after section.) Learn how to get patient testimonials that are truthful, candid, and impressive.

Testimonials produce long-lasting, latent patient traffic increases, not temporary spikes: Effective third party endorsements and real patient testimonials work and drive patient flow, but not overnight.

If you're practice is not using real patient testimonials and prominent third party endorsements to drive patient flow, start, your medial spa, cosmetic dermatology clinic, or plastic surgery practice will benefit.