Distinguishing Yourself as a Practitioner is a blog by Doctor Uche which aims to discuss the reasons you should aim to stand out as an authority in your field within you chosen healthcare profession.
As human beings, our brains are conditioned to spot those things that stand out in a crowd; it is an important survival instinct we all share. But while our days as predator-or-prey are long behind us, we’ve continued developing this knack for noticing outliers and have even learned how to use others’ skills of perception to our advantage. Survival on the modern savannah–our global economy–is predicated upon a business’s ability to stand out amongst the competition. This market force holds especially true in the world of aesthetics, where the difference between thriving enterprise and withering on the vine often comes down to distinguishing yourself from the competition.
But for many of us with medical backgrounds, the practice of standing out goes against the grain in which we were trained, and for good reason: the standardisation of our training is meant to ensure replicable quality of service. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that many aesthetic practitioners are struggling to lean into what sets them apart.
Our colleagues’ responses to a recent (Fraser, 2020) questionnaire truly highlighted these struggles:
- 60% of the 350 practitioners questioned felt their greatest challenge was increased competition within the aesthetics industry
- 54% of practitioners believed marketing was their greatest struggle (Fraser, 2020)
The fascinating, and revealing, thing about those two statistics is their inextricable link. Fear of increased competition is directly correlated with a lack of confidence in effectively marketing oneself. But should we practitioners be more confident? The answer is no, for most, often because we make a crucial mistake. Many practitioners market themselves as businesses would, when our true value proposition lies almost entirely with our medical skills and knowledge. So in order to effectively market, and thus distinguish, yourself, you must apply strategies that play to those strengths and cement your status as a person of influence: someone with a transformational idea in their field of expertise. In doing so, you will separate yourself from other offerings and break competition driven price resistance, increase foot traffic, and open opportunities for multiple income streams.