CHRISTINE YEE

Content Marketing. Writing. Social Media. SEO. Digital PR

The field of cosmetic procedures is extremely competitive. High bids are placed for keywords associated with anti aging treatments like Fraxel laser and Botox. 

At Fabric, a smaller project that I managed was to create, update, optimize and test Google Adword ads for three Los Angeles physicians who specialized in cosmetic skin procedures.

Mary Lee Amerian MD

Mary Lee Amerian is a leading dermatologist in Los Angeles who provides custom skin treatments for her patients. She has been voted as one of the "Best Doctors in America" since 1996. Additionally, she has also been featured on the show Ten Years Younger.

www.maryleeamerian.com

Michael Persky MD

Dr. Persky is an expert in Fraxel laser. He also specializes in rhinoplasty and regards his practice as both an art and a science.

Dr. Persky has made regular appearances in the media, including a role as a life change expert on the television show, Extra. www.drpersky.com

David Rahimi MD

Dr. Rahimi specializes in a wide range of leading cosmetic procedures to help his patients look younger. Many of these treatments help to regenerate collagen beneath the skin surface. In addition he also developed a mini face lift procedure called the Tuliplift which gives more natural looking results. www.foreveryoung.net

Client Challenges

Our doctors want to utilize online marketing to reach new patients.

Although their sites are SEO optimized, their keywords are used by all their competitors. Other strategies were needed to supplement SEO. However the budget to develop their online presence on an organic level was limited to content development.

In this particular context, traffic and conversions are separate challenges. Volumes of unique site visitors per month does not necessarily translate into new patients.

With these constraints, a more PR based approach was developed to reach new groups of potential patients. Online marketing through regular PPC tactics ran in parallel to this primary strategy.

Content and PR Recommendations

The content on all three of the doctors' sites were characterized by being very technical. Content recommendations were made in the following areas. The ideal objective was to emulate the look and feel of mainstream women's magazines and provide a more engaging experience for site visitors

• Diet and nutrition for the skin
• Recommended makeup tips
• Celebrities who share a common age or ethnic group as the target audience members
• Fashion
• Hair
• Beauty philosophy
• Self Esteem

Gathering and developing this information required structured collaboration with the doctors which proved to be a very time efficient way of addressing the need for quality content.

Additionally, the use of photography on a more frequent scale was also recommended to improve the overall aesthetic of the sites. Although content is commonly thought of as written posts, visuals also contribute to the overall site experience for the end user.

Google Adwords

High traffic keywords associated with cosmetic procedures is instrumental in reaching large numbers of internet users who are performing searches based on them.

However, when clients are paying per click, these keywords can cost them a lot of money if users are not serious about opting for these procedures.

Solution

Instead of targeting high volume keywords, effort was spent in researching key word phrases that users would type in to find solutions to specific skin issues. This provides a direct bridges between what targeted users need and what our clients offer.

Results

Previously, the average click through rate (across campaigns) was less than one percent. For example, in July, the average click through rate was 0.71%

The keyword phrase strategy, described above, produced a much higher average CTR (2.0%) for the month of November 2009

Reaching Specific Ethnic Markets

Dr. Rahimi specializes in cosmetic procedures for different ethnic groups.

• Asians
• Hispanics
• African Americans

Most people are not aware of the different skin needs that ethnic women have. They are more prone to scarring and discoloration from conventional cosmetic procedures and require an anti aging specialist who can design custom treatments for their skin types.

Communicating with each ethnic group required the following areas to be addressed through the site content.

• skin characteristics and structure
• aging patterns
• recommended care regimens
• makeup color tips
• celebrities of the same ethnicity

Reaching women in these groups required PR outreach with niche magazines such as Audrey, Latina, and Ebony.

PR Outreach: Time Broadcasting

Many lucrative opportunities to reach new patients exist outside the internet realm. For example, modeling agencies have their online sites. However networking efforts rely more heavily on personal contacts and attending events at local venues, as opposed to social media strategies.

Physicians realize the importance of networking with models and professionals in the entertainment industry. However these opportunities (in the form of functions and events) are offered to them at a high cost, with very little return.

Time Broadcasting

An independent television network called Time Broadcasting targets the Iranian community in Los Angeles.

They expressed interest in a reality show concept featuring our clients, Dr. Persky and Dr. Mary Lee Amerian.

A basic proposal, depicting a simple show concept was drafted and approved by the CEO. The premise of the show would be to discover effective, minimally invasive procedures that yield real results. It would also interest audience members to learn how modern science offers ways to manipulate skin structure to reverse aging signs. Most people are only familiar with household terms like Botox and facelifts.

Benefits

The Iranian community is an affluent market segment. Beauty is an important aspect of their culture. Science is also highly valued as well. Parents often encourage their children to pursue degrees in science and careers in medicine. Because of this, the partnership with Time Broadcasting served as an ideal solution for Dr. Persky and Dr. Mary Lee Amerian.

White at Fabric Interactive, my main project involved growing and engaging a community of dog lovers through a start up brand called Dogasaur. When I first started, the social network commuity site had just been launched after an extensive development and design phase. Here is a more in depth overview of what I achieved for the brand while I worked on this project (March 2009- December 2009)

Challenges and Objectives

• Lack of continuous dynamic content. This type of material is necessary for continuous engagement with target audience members. Originally the site was intended to be a business directory with a social network component. The content was intended to have the same affect as woot.com by mimicking its humor and appeal. The only existing content was limited to descriptions of quirky, unique dog products. 

• Initially, there was no strategy in place for helping Dogasaur to reach their monthly targeted traffic volume, aside from SEO.

• Overall, there was a strong need for Dogasaur to define their brand personality to appeal to include a stronger lifestyle element. to better engage their niche of dog lovers. 

• The client's business model depended heavily on page views, registrations and the overall growth of their community. 

Solution #2 - Growing Conversations and Community on Twitter

The CEO of Fabric recommended maintaining a daily schedule of 10 tweets. Although this might seem to be a high number, it was quite effective for growing our followers and building a lively level of engagement with other dog lovers on Twitter. 

Initially, the brand had a very minimal number of followers (i.e. about 10-15 at the beginning). To build this base number, I identified prime users to manually follow (i.e. individuals who regularly tweeted about dogs with a small to moderate number of followers) and was able to achieve the reciprocation that I wanted. 

In order to fulfill the objectie of ten daily tweets, I carefully researched and selectively included of curated content pieces ( in addition to original content on the site) to engage the interests of general dog lovers. This included:

• articles on training, feeding
• sentimental articles about dogs in need and heroic dog stories
• celebrity dog stories
• DIY dog food recipes

Solution #3 - Facebook Ads and Leveraging Social Experience To Grow Community Members

I made the recommendation to the client to make use of Facebook ads. Prior to this, the initial strategy for growing the community was to seed links on dog sites. But this was a slow approach. And there were many limitations imposed by these sites which prohibited this type of activity. 

Due to the aggressive traffic goals that the clients wanted to achieve, I proposed that using Facebook ads was a more efficient approach. The client conceded and set aside a conservative budget. 

I wrote several options for ad copy. And I worked with the lead project manager to A/B test the performance of the different ads. One performed outstandingly well, "dog lovers wanted." It implied socialization, as opposed to promoting purchases. And this proved to be a highly effective approach to take. 

Between March 2009- October 2009, the number of registered users had grown to over 3000 members on Dogasaur.com. 

Additional Results Metrics

Applying ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) Theory 

The metrics above support the use theories like Applied Behavior Analysis to create more reliable strategic decisions. Each KPI mentioned inherently represents a specific human behavior:

(1) follows - dog lovers on Twitter can choose to hit the follow button on Dogasaur's profile

(2) site visits - people can decide to click through the Dogasaur link to see what the site is about

(3) page views - individuals who either have a dog, or simply like dogs (future owners) can be motivated to browse through the articles and pages on the site. 

(4)  registrations - dog enthusiasts can take the time to sign up and become a member of the site. 

The Applied Behavior Analysis framework is made of three parts:

(1) Antecedent

(2) Behavior

(3) Reinforcement

With each campaign that I work on, I create thoughtful strategies that continuously incorporate the element of positive reinforcement to motivate desired forms of behavior. 

The main challenge of ABA is to identify specific and relevant rewards that appeal to the unique sentiments and preferences for a particular individual or group. Additionally, it is important to offer rewarding experiences on an ongoing basis and to introduce more potent forms of reinforcement at strategic times. 

In this particular case, inspiring articles, images, videos and news that help dog lovers feel a greater sense of fulfillment and community for their lifestyle was essential for bringing about these results. 

The numbers achieved as well as the relationship we developed with the Animal Planet brand (through our affiliation with the 2008 Groomer of the Year, Artist Knox) all contributed to Dogasaur's ability to sell their first adverstising spot on the site within just a few short months.