AI: 00:08
We are back with the Med Spa Growth and Profitability Podcast and I am here with my good friend Alex Coursen. Alex is the founder and creative genius behind Finity Creative her brand. Can you tell us a little bit about what you guys do at Finity Creative Alex?
AC: 01:18
So Finity creative does medical spa branding, so we tell stories that are as powerful as the work that people do and we have had the privilege in about four short years as April has seen it, my, five years now.
Really telling a lot of these stories from a digital front as well as from a messaging standpoint and really getting people’s stories out there, showing the differentiation and what makes not only the owners take but the stories of the businesses as well because it’s totally separate.
AI: 01:59
Awesome. And you know, we’ve known each other through the last five years of really growing both of our businesses and I love the work that you do.
I love how you’re able to really get the look, the feel, the emotion really through the brands. And sometimes people don’t really think medical spa branding, that it’s that important for med spas and really it’s extra important, right?
AC: 02:22
Yes. So important, so important. It’s actually and we primarily focus on four verticals and, and one of the main verticals that we have is health, beauty, spa, and, and specifically the medical spa branding industry. Because it is so important, so. Yes, absolutely.
AI: 02:41
Yeah. And you know, from what I see in the industry, a lot of times people just buy the generic website and you know, they copy and paste and put their own information in because it’s easy to do and the websites do look great, they look very professional.
But when people are comparing like a medical spa to medical spa, you know, what are some of the things that you think that’s gonna catch their eye and make them want to actually do business.
AC: 03:11
Oh Wow. Yeah. So you’re absolutely right, the cookie cutter website, do look fine. I’m not saying they’re not great, they look okay. In fact, some of them look beautiful, so people go on wix and throw it up in five hours and you know, it is what it is. That is not medical spa branding.
AI: 03:28
And don’t ever use wix guys if you want, especially if you’re going to do facebook ads, right?
AC: 03:34
Not when medical spa branding. I said that specifically because I cannot standwix. Um, you know, it’s what people do at the very beginning though to cut corders, right? It does. It serves a purpose and there’s nothing wrong with that.
First thing you want to look at in your website; How are people finding you and who you’re speaking to? And then video is absolutely huge. That is probably the first thing that’s going to grab people even if it’s an animated Gif or a loop. And no stock photos when medical spa branding.
AC: 04:27
Guys, if I see stock photos, I will personally call you and say no. Um, and then the next thing that I would say is, and April can attest to this because she’s the queen of this, right?
Get a way to get information from your potential clients. So some sort of screen, a email capture or a pop up. Don’t let them leave. You want to attract them and weave that story of why you’re better, show them something visually appealing and then give them some sort of an incentive to give you their information.
AI: 05:32
So I know that you have some pillars that you stick to when getting people started off branding or when you know somebody is just opening their business and not really sure what to focus on with branding. What are your pillars with medical spa branding?
AC: 05:48
You’ve got four basic steps to submitting a brand and launching it out there. We start with foundations and, you know, used to call Finity foundations, but now it’s just if people know Finity is foundation, so we go with the foundation’s alliteration isn’t important anymore.
The foundations are your look, your feel, your colors, and when I say look and the feel, it goes everywhere from the website to the photos to what’s inside your office. Everything ties together and it’s really a consistent, nice pretty bow and package so that when people feel that consistency and that connection, they can recognize it no matter where you are.
AC: 06:38
It’s similar to the Nike symbol of just do it wherever you are, I don’t care if somebody swearing at leisure or sneakers or out playing basketball and you see that little swoosh, you understand that it’s Nike. I’m not even saying that that has to be, we’re not trying to make a Nike because these are very localized companies and organizations, but that feel that for the feeling that is evoking some sense of trust needs to keep the consistency. So that goes from the foundations.
Then we go into a little bit more of the the digital storytelling, right? You have your facebook, your instagram, your youtube channel, and if you don’t have a youtube channel… and then you also have where that digital footprint is going and how it’s interacting with the others.
Once you have your medical spa branding out there in a consistent and creative way, it just makes you look so much better and it gets your searches up so much faster.
AI: 08:01
I just want to touch on something before you go into the other ones because I think it’s so important and people have different profile pictures for each different social media platform.
I think that’s just like branding 101, you know, even you’ll see some of my pictures and I’m switching them all now, but some of them have where when I have long hair and that was, I didn’t change it for so long because that was my brand. People recognize that picture and said, that’s April, let’s do it. But when you have the different pictures on all the different platforms people don’t see or don’t recognize that they’re all your medical spa branding.
AC: 08:42
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well that and what’s really funny? So just because you said that I have to jump in on this, right? So if it’s how we go on a tailspin and this happens every time I talk to April, like we’re just like, oh, yeah!
AI: 08:52
But you’re going to get amazing information for medical spa branding.
AC: 08:55
Exactly. It’s great. When April is talking about your profile picture consistency, absolutely. You can shift on the channel art as long as it’s a consistent look and feel and it talks to the channel that you’re on. For example, youtube would be specific channel art leading towards subscribing and following and checking back for videos. Twitter would be probably actually for a medical spa branding specifically would be saying, ‘Hey, make sure you follow us on facebook.’
AI: 09:36
I was gonna day, do they really use twitter too much? Haha
AC: 09:39
Yeah. It’s more to share on instagram and to drive for video content, but it does help with the searches and then you can tell them to follow on facebook which is where you’re going to get the heavy hitters so you have a purpose for everything you’re doing, but then you go to the next pillar.
The expansion place where you’ve got the story of the brand, so that’s where you’re forecasting. Where you’re growing. You’re having your conversations of who are you internally versus who are you outside and the conversations.
You have in the messaging that you’re having for that, which that can get really deep. It takes a while and those are the fun pieces because that’s when you’re really starting to to have that next phase of development and conversation. It’s so cool to see when people start realizing that their internal communication and external communication really has to be different and the pieces have a relationship.
AI: 10:55
When you say internal and external, and I have to clarify this because I know some people that are watching are like, okay, well you mean an internal dialogue with myself or internal like office-wide and team-wide.
AC: 11:09
Yes. The office-wide and team-wide so most Med spas that I’m aware of typically are not solopreneurs. Now, I do know that there are some that have that started out with very humble but gorgeous beginnings and rented out rooms inside spas and those are great as well.
If you are going to scale, which if you are working with April, you better be willing to scale, so you’re going to be looking at those terms of speaking into inside your team as well as speaking out to the public out there. You’re now creating that sense of the culture. Consequentially, important to medical spa branding.
AI: 11:44
Absolutely. You are medical spa branding using your culture almost.
AC: 11:51
Yeah. Correct. Then the fourth that we have is the expansion, that is the scalability story of either more stores or more locations or maybe it’s just more services. You know, a story that I tend to tell my clients when we get to that level is the story between Dell and Apple, right?
Dell or I’ll even go Gateway is probably an easier because Dell is a monster. Do you guys remember like the little square boxes that looked like cows that would come in and you would order your computer back in the 90s?
AI: 12:33
Now that you said that, I did. I had to think about what gateway was for a second.
AC: 12:37
Gateway computer and this is why, it’s sad because it was good. It was a great computer, was a great product, but they decided that they were going to be the best computers ever. That is how they advertise it. How they put that out there.
That’s how they branded and this, this guy is such an important story because it’s going to show you the importance of branding yourself right the first time. They were going to be this amazing computer store and then little by little they decided, okay, you know what?
We’re going to go ahead and come out with a music device, like a little, uh, mini MP3 Player. Nobody bought it because they were computer guys. They didn’t need that. What are these cow people doing with these little MP3 Players, like no one’s going buy it, right?
AC: 13:24
Then they came out with little tv routers. People didn’t get it, so little by little gateway kind of went the way of the Dodo and got absorbed into another company and they are no longer around. Now what apple did was different. They told the story saying we’re going to bring the best tech to people and create a society and a culture of people that want to be different and make a difference.
There’s a lot of people in branding that use this story because it’s such a great example. If that, I’ve tried to cliff notes version cause I don’t have a whole lot of time, but it starts from that idea of who you are, who you serve, and what you deliver. As opposed to what you deliver who you serve and what you are.
AI: 14:27
I know we kind of jumped ahead and gave everybody the overview, but again, if they’re just starting out right now or let’s say they’ve been in business for a few years and they’re like, crap, my brand is horrible, you know?
I have that cookie cutter website that I paid a lot of money for, but it looks like everybody else’s. Just so you know, when you have that kind of presence or that kind of branding, it’s absolutely fine.
I’m sure you have a great business now but people aren’t going to remember you. That’s when they’re going to price shop you, that’s when they’re going to check out your website, keep it open in a tab, but go check out 20 other ones because you’re not going to catch their eye right off the bat.
AI: 15:20
Or that’s where you’re going to have your front desk answering a lot of phone calls rather than just booking appointments online, rather than them getting to know you through your branding, through how you show up on social media through the story you’re telling with your customer testimonials and your videos that ultimately are going to drive them back to your website, not to check out your pricing, not to do anything but to book that appointment or that consultation.
So again, I’m getting off on a side note there, but if they’re in that spot where they’re like, I need to rebrand or I’m just starting out, what are the few things that they should worry about? Like color, logo, what type of things? Like give me the top three to start. I know they need a whole outlook.
AC: 16:12
You don’t want five hours of answering a phone going, ‘well this is why we’re better.’ You want to have such a buzz wherever you are that you’re so in their face that they’re like, oh my gosh, we have to go there.
What’s the phone number? How do I book? What’s the, what’s the coupon code? All of that. Because at that point they’re already sold. So the idea, again, I’m going to go back. I know it’s silly, but I can’t say it enough times. I’m going to go back to the consistency factor.
You know you’re not doing anything wrong by having that website that you got and you probably did spend money on it and there’s nothing wrong with doing that when you’re first kind of like rolling it out, but now it’s time to get your big boy pants on and move on.
AC: 17:04
Yeah, we’re playing the bigger game, now it’s time to get consistent on your logo. Make sure that you have a brand guide. This is probably the first thing that you get because that is going to set the tone for everything you do in print, on facebook, on any other social. A brand guide so you know what your logo’s going to look like.
You know what you’re logo’s going to look like if you get an affiliate to post anything for you, you know what your colors are going to be because you had the guide to just email it to them. I know it sounds so silly guys and everybody that I speak to at the very beginning, I don’t have time for that it’s a waist. I’m like, well guy that’s getting all of the clients, did that five months ago.
AI: 17:54
You know when you’re hiring an agency to do, whether it’s us doing facebook marketing, whether it’s search engine optimization, all of these different things we’re going to ask you separately for the colors you want us to use.
If you don’t have them, we’ll figure it out for you and work with you. If you have something that’s going to stay consistent rather than talking to each the website developer one way your marketing agency in another way. Because you’re building this team. You’re building the culture.
If they know the look, the feel, the, the overall brand, how to answer the phone, all of that stuff is done right from the beginning. You know you’re going to create that amazing brand that no one’s going to question who is that or what do they do or anything like that.
AC: 18:48
Your story, Right guys? There’s a little overlap as well, but there’s this avatar right, that you’re going to figure out with more branding agency, with your business strategists and typically if you get the whole team together because we are your team because if you’re outsourcing we’re your employees, right?
We’re your team. If you get everybody together and they craft the Avatar, which means in branding speak, it’s your target audience. It’s your client. You absolutely know the voice that we’re going to be using to speak to them. We know if it’s going to be kind of casual flip flops and the keys and you also know if it’s going to be a little bit more clinical. So, if you have that as well, that’s huge.
AI: 19:40
I want to interrupt you there for a second because I know, most of the people listening right now are thinking, okay, well I serve women between the ages of 28 and 48 is my target market and yes they probably where your bread and butter is going to be.
You might be a higher end medical spa where you only do procedures that cost, upwards of $2,500 for the base or you signed them in on a yearly maintenance contract.
Maybe you’re looking for the person that is very cut and dry and knows exactly what they’re looking for and really wants to make sure that it’s super clean. You don’t have somebody that looks like Barbie sitting at the front desk. Make sure that you are having that overall feel of the brand for your particular audience and not being intimidated by someone that comes in that’s greeting them overly done.
AC: 21:19
Right? Yeah. No, absolutely. I could not agree more, it’s consistency with medical spa branding. It’s everywhere. It permeates your office, your messaging, your emails, your email campaigns. Oh my gosh. Guys, the email campaigns have to sound like you.
AI: 21:36
Perfect. Before we jump off, I want to talk about the three biggest mistakes that you see. Hopefully we can say med spas, but we could say business in general when people are doing their medical spa branding, what are the three biggest mistakes that they make?
AC: 21:51
Actually, I’ll keep it directly to medical spa branding. My first one honestly is not doing anything. A lot of you sit around and I’m not saying sit around late not working because we’re working really hard. Maybe you’re working too hard because you’re not putting forth the effort to brand. You’re doing the one and done promotions that they’re not going to get anybody else to come in the door.
You might get somebody picking something up once, but let’s put a strategy together so that when you’re messaging is out there, people are responding to it in a way that is strategic so that you’re not having to do seven hours extra for the two hours of work you do on that one person.
AI: 22:45
That’s, before you jump to number two, people might think of, ‘Oh yes, I do need to rebrand, but I’m going to put that off.’ You know, I have more urgent things that need to be taken care of right now or something that’s a little more important.
I have to buy a new piece of equipment or something else to put my money too because branding seems like it’s just something you could put off, but it’s more important for you to set it up right from the beginning or once you realize that you do need to rebrand, do it right away.
AC: 23:16
No. What I say to people that say, oh, well I want to get this new piece of equipment, right? Yes you may be having transactions based on the tech that you provide. So you know, if you’re doing any sort of like dermoplasty or you’re doing anything where you’re using the latest and greatest lasers and everything like that, I get it.
However, you can monetize what you’ve got going on right now and bringing more people in and then you’re creating more income and more revenue to get that new piece of equipment. You’re not falling into a deficit. Rebranding and getting that message on point and the visuals and the images to get more people in to make money on what you’ve already got going is probably the more strategic and honestly it’s going to save the most money.
AI: 24:07
Absolutely, without a doubt. So I interrupted you after number one. So number two, biggest mistake:
AC: 24:13
Number two. So two and three are totally tied. Number two is not investing in photos and video. A lot, I don’t even want to say a lot, 99.9% of the med spas. Honestly, not just med spa, it is throughout, the ones that make it invest in their image and invest in presenting a good video.
I’m not talking about somebody friend’s sister down the street that has a camera because that’s not the same thing. You need a professional photo shoot, you need a professional video and you need a professional video cut.
AC: 25:00
It’s so important because it is going to raise the bar even if you’re, you’re sitting there saying, ‘well, I’m kind of going after that target mom,’ okay, well, target moms like quality and they’re the ones that are going to target, they’re not going to walmart.
The reason that target not Walmart is because the level of quality in the presentation has made such a vast difference. Look at that as your bar. For those of you that are doing more luxury, prove it, bring it up a notch and bring the music and the video and bring that serene feeling to that because that, that video and photos, that’s so important.
You want to create a story and a life style piece opposed to a technical piece. Highlight what you, again going back to apple and gateway, you want to highlight what you deliver and what their benefits are versus how you’re delivering.
AC: 26:19
The third one is: second guessing yourself and that’s why it was a tie for the two because I’ve seen a lot where the commitment is there. Um, but…
AI: 26:33
Hold on. So as you’re doing whatever you just did on your screen, I’m seeing your sparkling new engagement ring.
AC: 26:39
So sorry.
AI: 26:41
No, we’re live. I’m just saying congratulations and on her brand new engagement. And guys, if you are not watching us if you’re just listening to the podcast, she has a gorgeous ring and a gorgeous new fiance. So congratulations on that!
AI: 27:05
Sorry, back to number three. Number three for medical spa branding…
AC: 27:09
Number 3 is second guessing yourself and committing fully and then backtracking, and I mean you could probably say that this is very permeable throughout this industry specifically. I don’t know why that is other than the fact that the people that I have found commit really well and they know who their target is and you can go out six degrees of separation so you can speak to the thing that you do or to that person that you’re speaking about and you can. You can offer resources that don’t go beyond that.
Don’t try to be everything to everybody because it’s not gonna work. Even though you get really reactive, like, Ooh, we got a little bite or, a little nibble… Stay the course
AI: 27:57
Or if somebody is asking for this now. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I’m so glad you said that. And yes, truthfully, you know, we work with businesses worldwide and it’s not just the medical spa branding. It’s all over the place and you’re probably going to not only the services you provide your target market, you’re going to go back and forth and second guess yourself a million times, stick with it.
What I tell my clients at least about 9 months, commit to it for 9 months before you say it’s not working. Nine months is a short period of time. You commit to it for nine months before you say, I’m going to change my colors again, or I’m gonna, you know, change my whole messaging completely for my brand.
AC: 28:51
Absolutely.
AI: 28:52
Very, very good medical spa branding tips.
AC: 28:54
Don’t even give it 5 months, just get it right the first time and stick with it. If you take that extra five meetings, take the extra five meetings, commits you with what you do.
AI: 29:05
And so if people want to find out more about branding and get their story, not their story, um, but get their branding guide right from the beginning. Or if they decide they need to rebrand our medical spa branding, how would they work with you?
AC: 29:19
Well, you can reach out to me via email, which is always an easy, easy catch. It is Alexandra@finitycreative.com and I or one of my team members will reach back out to you and set up the consultation, which is completely free, so don’t think that you have to commit to anything.
Let’s get a feel for each other. You can check out our website at trinitycreative.com, but we are a branding agency so it’s more fun to find us on instagram @finitycreative. So any one of those three and then like I can absolutely give them a gift if they are on your podcast.
AI: 29:59
Go for it. We always like extra gifts.
AC: 30:02
So if you can email me and you all want a Gimme we are going to do an audit on your brand, so if you want to just have a seven point audit where you fill out a little bit of information on a digital worksheet that we will send to you, just email me again that’s at Alexandra@finitycreative.com.
We’ll send that worksheet right over, fill it out, and we’ll give you a seven point audit on your brand and make some recommendations. Either way if you want to work with us or not.
AI: 30:30
Very cool. So if you’re wondering if you should rebrand or not, this is a perfect opportunity to reach out to Alex, have them just take it a second set of eyes over your brand or actually you probably have like five extra sets of eyes looking at their brand during the audit. Um, and you know, you’ll have more of an idea. Thank you so much. It’s always fun talking to you and I look forward to talking to you soon.
AC: 30:55
Yay. Bye.
