Customer Spotlight | Jonathan Kaplan MD, MPH, Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery

Dr. Kaplan has been a Paneau customer since April 2019. Read on for his take on being a small business owner, advertising, and how he makes it all work.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a cosmetic plastic surgeon.

What made you decide to own your own business?

I was employed at a hospital in Louisiana after I finished my fellowship training at Cleveland Clinic but as I grew the cosmetic side of my practice, I knew I wanted to be in private practice with my own office-based operating room. It’s just so much better at providing a private, VIP experience to the patient. I found a practice here in San Francisco that already had its own accredited operating room so we packed our bags and moved here!

What’s the biggest challenge of running your business?

You have to wear many hats, like marketing and HR, but still remember you’re a plastic surgeon first, where patient care and safety is paramount.

What’s your favorite part of running your own business?

I love the marketing side of things. It allows me to present serious topics like surgery or even non-surgical treatments, in an educational and sometimes entertaining way that’s palatable to understandably nervous prospective patients.

What marketing methods have you used in the past to promote your business? Was your experience positive/negative/neutral?

I find that Facebook and Google Ads are now “traditional” methods of advertising that are so expensive that they’re not even practical for a small business. For example, the keyword “breast augmentation” would cost me $50 every time someone clicked on that ad. And it’s probably my competition clicking on it! Less traditional ways to micro-target mobile, 20 to 40-something healthy individuals in the immediate area at a more reasonable cost is my preferred method. Marketing like radio, even TV, and especially Paneau are less expensive and more effective than Google and Facebook in my field.

How has Paneau helped you as a business owner?

Aside from the basic brand awareness that Paneau offers, you’d be amazed at how many riders take a picture of my ad, which catches their eye because I’m referred to as “Dr. Bae on social media,” and then repost to their Snapchat or IG Stories. So they’re advertising and spreading the word on my behalf! Even @overheardmarinasf took a photo and shared it! So I’ve been very pleased.

Stay in touch! Dr. Kaplan’s practice, Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery, is located in San Francisco, CA. You can follow him on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok (@RealDrBae).

Thank you to Dr. Kaplan for being a part of this post! Stay tuned for more stories from our awesome customers.

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