Outperforming the Competition in the Optometric Marketplace

The optometric marketplace is a competitive one. No matter how long you’ve been in business—and no matter how strong of a relationship you have with your patients—the fact is that there will always be someone trying to do it better and more efficiently than you. If you’re worried about losing your patient base to local competitors, you should consider optometric marketing.

Healthcare reimbursements from insurance companies are decreasing, but costs are still going up. Reshaping your business strategies to reflect this reality is a must. Your business can surpass your competition by creating and seeing out an optometric marketing plan.
What kinds of things does the term “marketing” bring to mind? Do you think of radio and television ads and other media that come at a hefty price? These traditional forms of advertising are effective, but also expensive. There are simpler—not to mention cheaper—ways to get your message out.

You already have the most crucial part of an effective marketing strategy right in front of you: your current patients. To begin with, you should be sure you’ve got staff large enough to accommodate your client base. Secondly, give them an experience that will ensure return visits.

When you’ve got patients returning on a regular basis, you’re ready for the next step: asking them for patient referrals. While not seeming pushy, ask your current returning patients if they’ll recommend you to their friends and family. Satisfied customers refer other people, and if your patients have a good opinion of you, they’ll do the same! If a patient seems willing to give you referrals, handing them a few of your business cards never hurt, either.

Your patients return to you because you show your concern for them. They will refer other patients to you—their friends and family—because they know you’ll show them the same consideration. Make sure you keep your new patients on with you by keeping in contact with them after their visits. While they are in for an appointment, make sure that they receive a free copy of your newsletter.

A focused optometric marketing campaign is the best way to grow your practice—but it is only as good as the people and ideas behind it. If your employees aren’t on board with your vision, you won’t see the growth you’d hoped for. Make sure that your employees are friendly and caring toward your patients. A little customer service goes a long way

Expanding Your Business through Optometric Marketing

A successful optometry practice requires a solid client base. If you’re happy with that number of patients you currently have, you might be surprised to find out how many more you could have with a few tweaks to your optometric marketing. In any case, sitting back and assuming you’ll always have the same number of patients is the wrong thing to do.

More patients means more success—it’s as simple as that. Your competition knows this, and it’s your job to attract new business before they do. A solid optometric marketing campaign is the best way for you to take on—and keep—new clients.

You might be concerned that since you’re not a large practice, you lack the resources necessary to carry out such a campaign. Don’t worry. As a small practice, you bring the one thing to your clients that larger practices simply can’t: individual attention. And with the advent of the Internet, you can work to get your name just as visible as some of the large healthcare practices.

As a small practice, you are in a unique position. You can offer your patients all the benefits of a large practice without sacrificing the personalized attention that makes you stand out among the crowd. As your practice grows, keep the following tips in mind so that your practice will always retain that “small” feel.

• Make sure that each patient feels special. Your patients are your most important assets; treat them accordingly.

• Make sure you have enough staff. As your practice grows, add doctors and administrative staff as needed to handle the expansion.

• Offer additional services. Observe other practices to see what they offer their patients. Are they offering services that their patients value? Are you offering those same services? Keep up the innovation—adding new services to your optometric practice is a great way to grow your business.

• Use technology to your advantage. Using technology wisely can be a great way to keep expenses down. Though you should be adding staff when necessary, technology can in some cases “replace” employees, and thus keep your costs at a minimum.

Including optometric marketing in your practice is great way to expand your business while retaining the advantages of a small practice. Growing your business doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the things that built your client base in the first place.

Building Your Practice through Optometry Websites

Our patients have spoken, and they’re increasingly saying that they’d like to do their business on the internet. You probably already have a website for your optometry practice, but are you getting the most out of it? I have found that a few simple modifications can turn most optometry websites into excellent resources for patients.

There are many considerations to make when building a website for your practice, but I suggest simplifying the process by thinking of the process in terms of content and how your patients will access that content. Your patients will need to contact your office, so how do you want to display contact information, and what contact information do you want to include?

Your patients will also want to know about the products and services you offer. How will you display these items? You could give each product and service its own page, or list all of your products on one page and all of your services on another. You could even “tag” each product with a link to the manufacturer’s official website.

Some patients might even want to know about the history of your practice: how long it has been established, how it came to be established in the first place, and who works there. And speaking of “who works there,” including information about the optometrists and staff who work in your office—perhaps their own personalized pages, even—is definitely a plus.

Finally, you should consider linking to other relevant optometry websites, such as your state’s optometric association, and other vision-related sites.

While nothing will ever replace face-to-face customer service, well-designed optometry websites go a long way toward building, maintaining, and growing the practices they advertise. Be sure to keep your practice’s website updated to keep up with our ever-growing, ever-changing marketplace.

Using E-Mail for Effective Eyecare Marketing

If you’re using e-mail to connect with your patients and grow your optometry practice, congratulations! E-mail is an essential piece of contemporary eyecare marketing, and using it effectively can help you maintain the patients you’ve had for years and also acquire new ones.

Remember, though, that some uses of e-mail are better than others. Read the following examples, and, in each case, consider whether e-mail is being utilized properly.

• One optometry practice uses e-mail to send regular reminders for annual exams. These e-mails include links back to the practice’s main website for real-time scheduling.

• Another optometry practice uses e-mail to send a weekly newsletter to patients.

• This optometry practice uses e-mail to track clicks over to its website from e-mails that offer special deals on products and services.

• Our final optometry practice uses e-mail to solicit potential new customers, sending communication to a large number of unfamiliar addresses.

Can you tell which practices are using e-mail effectively? How about which ones aren’t? Of the four examples shown above, the first and third represent intelligent eyecare marketing. The second and fourth, conversely, represent approaches that should be avoided.

As with all business endeavors, eyecare marketing clearly has its own list of do’s and don’ts. If you use e-mail judiciously, though, you’ll build trust and loyalty among your patients, and greatly increase the chances of return visits.

Eye Care Marketing: Building Your Monthly Book

Hi Everyone-
Another eye care marketing observation that I’ve found helpful – especially as of late – is sending out a monthly recall and birthday note.

In addition to your normal snail-mail postcard and birthday reminders, you can send out an automatic email version of the same.

The birthday may not sound overwhelming and the recall email is not meant to replace the postcard, but you do get the opportunity and/or excuse to check in with a smaller segment of your practice. You could test an offer or simply point out some aspect of your website.
Here’s an article you might find helpful:

Eye Care Marketing – 5 Ways to Build Your Practice With Email

Best regards,
The Admin

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