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As an optometrist, you understand vision; as the owner of an optometry practice, do you know how essential an optometry marketing plan is to your practice’s success? Do you see the needs and wants of your patients?
Can you envision the ways that modern digital tools can help you to engage with patients to develop lasting relationships?
If you are struggling to grow your optometry practice, PracticeVIP can help. We are a full-service and US-based digital agency with expertise in social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), website design, paid advertising, direct response marketing and more.
We have a proven track record of helping eye care providers and optometrists with custom marketing strategies to accelerate practice growth!
If your optometry marketing plan is to be successful, the first thing your potential patient will see is the landing page of your website.
Does it engage your viewer and connect with them? Does the visual layout guide them where they need to go to learn more information, schedule an appointment or contact you? Are page views translating into actions? If not, you need to initially focus your attention here.
Create a website that attracts your “perfect patient,” and will convey information efficiently, which leads the user to take action. Whether you are seeking new patients, reaffirming relationships with existing patients, or reaching out to the community, you need a website that aligns with your marketing strategy and reinforces your brand.
The most visually appealing website on the planet won’t do you any good if your patients can’t find it. Search engines like Google provide search results to users using complex algorithms. Good on-page SEO designs web content to rank highly in the search results.
Websites for local businesses can be optimized so that they rank highly in searches for businesses in a certain area. For example, if someone searches for “optometrist near me,” SEO can put your web page at the top of the list to attract more patients.
Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing through Google Ads or other search engine marketing providers allows you to advertise your optometry practice along with search results. As with SEO, choosing the right keywords ensures your ads appear in front of your ideal audience.
You pay every time someone clicks on one of your Google ads, so it is vital to turn as many clicks as possible into new leads.
A digital agency can ensure your PPC marketing is cost-effective by tailoring your optometry ads and keywords to maximize the likelihood that potential patients click through and engage with your site.
From there, you must have a strong follow-up system in place. This can be achieved through automation which includes email, text messaging and voice message drops.
Facebook and Instagram Ads for Optometry Marketing
Using social media is a cost-effective way to direct web traffic toward an optometry website, reaching out to potential patients as they are using social media. Because social media platforms obtain a wealth of data about their users, this allows marketers to target their ads precisely to the most receptive audience.
Using techniques like retargeting, you can position optometry advertisements to people who have had contact with you before or clicked on similar interest ads.
Reputation Management and Correct Provider Listings
Patients put great care in their choice of healthcare professionals, including optometrists. Growing your practice requires persuading new and potential patients to trust you with their vision care.
Consumers look to online reviews and provider listings as “social proof” and a testament of your treatment modalities. Providing up-to-date information about credentials, office location and services is critical.
Ensure your online listings with Google-My-Business (GMB), Healthgrades, Vitals and other sites are up to date and monitor and respond to online reviews. If there is negative feedback, we can offer tips on how to address the situation without causing damage to your online reputation.
Reaching Out: Patient Database Reactivation
Former patients are a valuable potential source of revenue and online marketing resources. A satisfied customer can provide market research data or post positive reviews.
They might also refer new patients to your practice. A call or email reminding an old customer of your services, prompting them to schedule an eye exam or merely a card on their birthday, can rekindle a business relationship and help grow your practice.
Don’t lose patients by neglect; maintain active relationships with your entire patient database. We can help you with database reactivation to include email communication, text messaging and voicemail drops.
Optometry Social Media Content Posting
People spend so much time interacting with social media that modern advertising strategies must include social media marketing. Maintaining a social media presence with frequent updates and relevant content reminds potential patients of your practice and promotes your brand image.
Social media offers a free opportunity to engage with potential patients, respond to current and past patients and increase your presence in your community.
You need to focus on the primary social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Consistent and helpful content should be published 3-5X per week. And don’t forget retargeting which can be very effective and executed at a low cost on Facebook and Instagram.
We will also target Facebook ads to potential patients that have visited your site in the past. Leverage social media as a revenue-generating engine for your optometry practice.
Online Content Creation for Optometry Practices
In the modern digital age, a website should not be “static,” meaning it is built and just sits out there online. A strong website should include an active blog with 1-2X high quality articles per month. Websites should contain only 20% marketing for optometry services and 80% authentic content.
Genuinely interesting content that provides solutions to common problems will attract a higher quality patient.
PracticeVIP can assist you with content creation and syndication, in a way that enhances your brand and professional reputation. Additionally, we automate posting schedules to generate the most impact for your content.
Patient Follow-up and Nurturing Long-term Relationships
Optometrists know that patients sometimes take an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude toward eye care. It’s not one of those annual visits that the average patient is compelled to stay on top of.
A phone call or email to remind a patient to schedule an appointment can have a big impact on your patient retention. Develop an automated patient follow-up sequence for new leads and a long-term nurture campaign to stay in touch with your entire patient database.
If you are looking for a solid email marketing provider, we recommend Aweber.
Conducting Patient Education Events
Patient outreach and education is an important part of optometry marketing. Educational events that raise awareness about eye care services and provide patients with helpful eye care tips will generate goodwill, new appointments and referrals.
Events that help the community by providing free eye screening to people in need, or raising awareness about eye diseases, are a great value-added service.
Step one is strong outreach to get prospective patients in seats; it can’t just be one email for a Facebook post. You need to send multiple emails and run ads to your existing patient base and prospective patients within a given distance from your office.
There are also other creative ways to advertise such as Eventbrite and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Once people sign up, you must remind them to attend. This should involve multiple methods such as email and text messaging. The final step is scripting out a compelling presentation with a strong Call-To-Action (CTA) to close attendees into booked appointments.
How to WIN in the Competitive World of Optometry Marketing
You went to med school to learn eye care and to deliver exceptional patient experience, this is where your focus should be.
That said, you have three options for marketing: 1) Market yourself 2) Add it to the list of responsibilities for someone in your office 3) Outsource to a US-based digital agency that exclusively works with optometry and eye care practices.
The team at PracticeVIP understands your world. Our founder & CEO, Jeff McGeary, spent 15 years walking into offices just like yours as a pharmaceutical sales rep. He called on optometry practices specifically with dry eye and glaucoma products. We know you are busy and we take optometry marketing off your plate so you can 100% focus on seeing patients.
For a free practice acceleration consultation for your optometry practice, contact us at 877-962-2642 or right here on our page. We look forward to hearing from you!
