Eye Care Marketing and E-Newsletters: Does Frequency Really Matter?

Many of us who commit to email marketing as part of our overall eye care marketing strategy get hung up on which matters more:  Frequency or Content?

Well, it depends…But first,

Content Is King

Okay, so you’ve figured out that email is an extremely cost-effective way of getting your message out to the patient base.

Your email systems set up and ready to go and you even have a few emails collected.

So what are you going to talk about? The answer is easier than you think.

The key to is to give patients what they want – useful information about their eyes.

Yup. That leaves it wide open.

Whatever topic you focus on, it must be about them – for them – with them in mind.

But of course, written by you, from you, and with some semblance of your voice included.

Great content delivers value in style. The style is you, the practice, the doctor, or the eye care owner. The value is whatever topic promises to help people.

So you create an email broadcast and you send it. To your surprise it gets lots of opens. A few patients even write back to you. And if you are truly on the ball, more than a few decided it was time to see you…

So they clicked your online appointment link and now you’ve paid for the hosting, email service, and time it took you to put the email together.

Now you are ready to send the next one?

How about next week?

What Will Patients Think About Another One So Soon?

The answer again, depends.

And this time, its about your track record.

Or, to follow along with our discussion, how you put together that first message together.

Another thing about great content is that it always takes people on a bit of a journey. Everyone likes a story so its natural to cover a topic and mention that in the future there will be more about this.

For example, the topic of this discussion is one part of a much longer story that I’ll covering in great detail as we go on. Indeed, I’ve been putting this stuff together for you for quite some time, but I have my own practice to run.

In fact, I’m in the process of getting my next series of emails out to my patients about our upcoming Trunk Show. So I better keep this short.

The point is this:  If you are delivering good content – or information that does not sound corporate or smell of sales and marketing or looks like the last three messages in their inbox, then you can send them out as much as you want – especially if you told them  -as part of you story.

Maybe your not convinced and worried about turning patients by sending to many marketing messages. Most eye care professionals tend to discount the power of email in their overall eye care marketing strategy.

Eye Care Marketing For The Internet Age: How To Use Your Blog

So you’ve got your website set up and humming in the eye care marketing backgroud – pre-selling qualified patients by offering information and answers that they are looking for.

And your email system is steadily growing, maintaining a healthy list of actively engaged patients who can’t to see what you’ll send them next.

So now it’s time to test things out with an  eye care marketing event or a promotion.

You set up an announcement on your home page and start talking about this in your email broadcast.

Obviously, not everyone will be interested, and the last thing you want is to turn off your loyal followers with an intense marketing campaign.

So what do you do?

Take the group that wants to know more to your blog. As you know, blogs are incredibly simple to set-up.

A Wordpress blog is free and you can have someone set one up for your for the cost of a pizza.

Once you have a simple, clean looking template set up, you’re ready to start posting.

Okay. Back to your promotional campaign.

Here’s how to use your blog for a profitable event:

Somewhere in your email broadcast, let people know about the upcoming event.

This could work for trunk shows, special promotions, community events, and many other eye care marketing strategies.

And tell them that they can learn more about it by visiting your blog.

The click the click the link that takes them to the blog post.

Of course, the best part is that your blog post will encourage comments and questions that the other folks can see and be a part of

And we all know the power social proof. Of course, this is merely one use of a blog.

I plan to cover others in future approach – especially with regard to how your blog can build traffic to your main website.

Finally, eye care professionals tend to discount the power of email in their overall eye care marketing strategy.  Again,

We’ll be covering more of this as well.

Optometric Practice Managment: Your Local Word Wide Web

Technology has certainly changed the way we think of optometric practice management.

It wasn’t long ago that the idea of linking image systems with an EMR was only a pipe dream. Now it is commonplace.

In fact, many of you have learned how some of these technologies actually become a working part of your marketing mix – with the ‘WOW’ factor of diagnostic technology exhibited at the chairside.

Therefore, for most, there is a natural progression to expand this premise further as we re-evaluate our optometric practice management offerings.

The new and improved patient cycle.

Technology now offers any size practice the ability to expand its reach-big time. We now have the capability, through internet and email marketing to build systems that automatically deliver these ‘WOW’ factors in between patient visits, while providing robust and measurable framework that makes it easy to add value.

It’s all about providing value.

Most people think of eye care marketing and email or optometric websites as extensions of the storefront or optical display. This is a mistake.

We worry about the visibly presentation and design much more than the actual substance or content.

The unfortunate reality is that we waste a lot of money on developing flashy (and often beautiful websites or email templates), without spending much time on the message and content.

I made these expensive mistakes myself.

It took me a while to come around and let go of the flash and focus on the patient.

Email broadcasts are an extension of the chairside.

You don’t fancy pictures, logos, or templates to create an effective message. By simply talking to patients through short, personal, yet informative notes, you are providing an invaluable service.

In essence, you are creating a unique conversation with hundreds or thousands of patients, both listening to their feedback, while teaching and training them how to use these systems.

As you gradually teach patients about their eyes and health, you are simultaneously showing them:

• How to make appointments conveniently online
• How to order contacts through YOUR online store
• Links to your blog or other places for information
• How to refer friends and family
• How to take advantage of special offers or new programs and/or services.

The best part? These systems are so cheap that it almost seems to good to be true. What other optometric management system can deliver this much ‘WOW’ and cost less than the average revenue collected from one patient per year?

Your Eye Care Marketing Niche

ou know how a lot of practice management consultants will say you need to develop a specialty within that practice?

Low vision, specialty contact lenses, and vision therapy come to mind.

It’s true.

So, why don’t you just have one big practice that does it all?

As optometrists, we pride ourselves in being the general eye guy – we can take care of most problems – or at least get people to where they need to be.

So why all the fuss about developing a side-specialty?

For the very same reason why niche-focused marketing is the most
effective way to grow your patient base.

You see, today, in early 2009, we have become a very specialized
society.

For example…

Years ago if you needed legal advice you went to a general attorney.

Today, if you needed an attorney for something, you wouldn’t think of going to a general lawyer.

You’d choose an attorney that specializes in your area of need
(i.e. divorce, personal injury, trial, intellectual property, etc.)

(We’ll talk about WHY in a second.)

And, we see this kind of specialization in every area of commerce… from ultra-specialized doctors all the way to stores just for a specific type of sunglasses.

Fact is, today, people want products and services that appear to be designed for their specific, targeted needs.

They want a SPECIALIST, NOT a generalist.

If they have cardiovascular problems, they want the cardiologist. Not a general doctor.

If they have a foot injury, they want the podiatrist. Not a general doctor.

If they have chronic sinus problems, they want a sinus specialist. Not a general doctor.

Funny thing is… people will happily pay more money for a specialist than they will a generalist.

It’s why the cardiologist gets paid a heck of a lot more money than the general M.D.

Or, why a Mercedes Benz mechanic gets paid a lot more than the Goodyear mechanic.

People want SPECIALISTS, and they happily pay more for their “perceived” expertise.

**So, what does this have to do with the low vision or vision therapy and you and your practice?

Well, the reason the practice consultant recommends these specialities and doesn’t want you to have just one big general practice that they don’t want to be perceived as one big general practice!

You want to accommodate those sliced, targeted, specific groups and their needs.

In return, you are able to attract a larger share of each of those little
groups AND charge a lot more for the service.

Which is the same exact thing you should do when marketing your practice.

You NEVER want to appear as a generalist in your marketing because it totally devalues what you do and causes people
to NOT think of you as a specialist or expert.

Hence, general eye care marketing lowers the perceived value prospective patients have of the care you provide.

Instead, what you want to do is target specific niches and conditions in different marketing pieces, so you position yourself as a
specialist in that particular area.

This makes prospective patients feel you are an expert with solving their problem and INCREASES the perceived value of your care.

Remember, people want someone who is an expert with solving their needs. NOT someone who is just a generalist.

My point is this…

Specialization in marketing is key, today, because of society’s move toward specialized solutions for their specific needs.

They want stuff just for them.

Good thing is, you don’t need multiple offices to accomplish this.

You just need specialized marketing that does it for you.