Paul Baumgarthuber, Chief Marketing Officer, LaserAway

I think there are a few things. We’ve been in business for almost 20 years, and medical aesthetics wasn’t mainstream when we started. People didn’t really talk about it—it was done in medical offices and didn’t feel approachable or “cool.” As a company, we set out to change that.

We wanted to make medical aesthetics more mainstream and accessible. We placed our locations in high-end retail spaces—always near places like Lululemon or Apple stores—to make them approachable and part of people’s everyday lifestyles. We focused on providing a better experience for anyone seeking aesthetic treatments.

From a growth perspective, we’ve got an amazing team. We’re always on the cutting edge of marketing, very data-driven, letting data guide what’s working, what’s not, and how to grow efficiently. Operationally, we always ask, “How do we provide the best customer experience?” Because that’s what turns someone into a lifelong customer. When I joined the company, we had 12 locations—now we have over 180. It’s been a fun journey to see that growth over the years.

We’ve always focused on laser hair removal—we aim to be the best. But we also offer laser facials like Clear and Brilliant, other facial treatments like microneedling, RF microneedling, and Thermage. We do tattoo removal, injectables like Botox and Xeomin, and dermal fillers like Juvederm and Voluma.

We’re also launching skincare—we’ve partnered with SkinCeuticals as our skincare solution in our clinics. And two of our newest services are GLP-1s and NADs, which are really popular. These are going to be a big focus for us this year as well.

We have over 24 certified dermatologists overseeing everything. As a brand, we aim to be very approachable. We collaborate with a lot of influencers and make our marketing fun and engaging. If you’ve seen our ads, they’re meant to be fun and relatable.

Being located in high-end retail areas also helps—there’s a lot of foot traffic. Plus, there used to be a stigma around these treatments, but now, it’s much more mainstream. We believe we’ve had a lot to do with that. People are proud to post on social media about getting Botox, laser hair removal, or Clear and Brilliant treatments. That’s a big shift from years ago when people wouldn’t talk about it.

So, what sets us apart is our visibility as a lifestyle-oriented brand that’s approachable, backed by medical expertise, powered by the best technology, and committed to offering a great customer experience

We’re going to continue growing. We want to be in every major market. Right now, we’re at about 180 locations, and we plan to open 30 to 40 locations per year.

Innovation is key to our success, so we’re always adapting, staying on top of market trends, and understanding what consumers want. As CMO, marketing is obviously a big driver of our growth. We’re constantly refining our marketing, figuring out how to position our messaging, and ultimately, how to acquire more customers.

We use digital marketing to acquire customers, but the in-person experience is just as important. A lot of retention and word-of-mouth comes from the service quality and the training our nurses and doctors have. Even that first interaction at the front desk matters—we make sure staff are polite, and happy, and provide all the information customers need, all in a comfortable setting.

It’s about blending digital and in-person experiences seamlessly. Working at a multi-location business like ours is multi-dimensional—you’ve got operations, customer experience, digital marketing, and customer support—all of them need to work together to deliver a great experience and keep customers coming back.

We have a genuine vision to transform the industry—make it better—and provide our customers with the best experience possible. We want to become the go-to name in medical aesthetics—a household name.

I’d like to highlight how great our teams are across the organization. We have wonderful leadership, and the company is founder-run. The same people who started LaserAway in 2006 are still on the front lines and still joining all the meetings. It’s really special in that respect.