I'll admit it, when it comes to looks, I'm a little vain, so things always get a little bit heated when I end up having dinner with my good friend Carter, who has a tidy little plastic surgery practice downtown. He honestly believes that I could use a stronger chin, and when he says that, I have to respond that he needs to find better ways to look up customers. So the other night we happened to be at a sushi place near the river and I told him again that there have to be better ways to get customers, and for once, he decided to agree with me.

“There are plenty of plastic surgery marketing services for physicians out there,” he said, neatly snagging the last bit of spicy tuna maki roll, “but you need to make sure that you find the right one. There are lots of choices to make and honestly, some could hurt you a lot more than they can help you!” My interest piqued, I asked him to continue and over another half hour of sashimi and plum wine, he told me a lot about what it takes to make sure that you stay in business.

“When people go looking for a plastic surgeon,” he told me, “they want to go to the best. They want to know what you've done, how it looks, how well it holds up and what you can do to give them the same results. If I can get them into my office, I can show them all of that in my portfolio, but if

they're online, I just can't pop over with a bunch of before and after pictures, can I?” While door to door plastic surgery might have a certain lazy appeal, I had to agree with them.

“What that means is that I have to have a killer webpage. They have to come and take a look and be happy with what they see, but it takes a lot more than that. They wan to make sure that the surgeon they are going to is someone who knows what they are talking about, and this is where submitting things to article writing directories can help out a lot. You'll find that just by writing a few pertinent articles or having them written for you, you'll be on the road to success. The more good information you can give them, the happier they'll be.”

“So how do social networks fit in?”

He grinned at me.

“Maybe no one likes to admit that they've had a little bit of work done, but you'll find that they need to be able to find you. Being on Facebook or Myspace is a great way to get an instant referral; you can meet lots of prospective customers that way, and you'll find that they're happy to contact you to see what you know. In addition, if I'm on Facebook, they can get a quick reply and know that I'm not all that far away.”

All in all, it was a great night, and I learned a lot about how plastic surgery marketing services for physicians can work, though I remain unconvinced on the matter of the chin!