10 May 5 Revenue-Driven Eye Care Marketing Ideas
Investing in marketing is key to successful long-term results when you grow your eye care practice. Setting time aside for marketing is challenging when you’re busy taking care of operational and patient care initiatives.
To obtain the most effective results from marketing, you need to create a solid plan that will help you stay organized and consistent. There are many different marketing strategies and ideas, but you need to find the ones that work best for your practice. Here are five eye care marketing ideas you can start doing now.
1. Design an Attractive Website with an Online Store
Your website is often people’s first impression of your business, so ensure it represents you well. People often decide if they can trust your practice based on the first few scrolls and clicks. Therefore, including who you are, what you do, the services you offer, and where you’re located on the front page is essential.
Mobile-Friendly Website is a Must
A clean website that is easy to read and navigate will give people the best experience possible. According to statistics from Exploding Topics, 92.3% of internet users access it from a mobile device. Your mobile-friendly website will remove people’s frustration from navigating and learning more about your business. Your website should target existing and prospective patients.
Use Online Website Builders
Depending on your budget, you can create your own website with easy-to-use online builders such as Squarespace, WordPress, and Wix. Or you can hire a freelance website designer on Fiverr.
Don’t forget to factor in Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track your online visibility and traffic, along with tools and reports for performance fixes.
Online Stores Bring in Extra Income
Add an online store to bring in an extra income stream for your business, allowing people to see your stock items and make purchases directly. It will also help you keep track of metrics to determine which items are selling the most, allowing you to plan accordingly when replenishing your inventory.
For instance, contact lens online ordering, patient reorders, and centralizing patient data are now easier than ever with the cloud-based CLX System® and MaximEyes.com software. Connect your practice directly to contact lens distributors with a single order entry. Improve the patient experience with convenient e-commerce options, personalized reordering links, text and email reminders, and real-time performance reports.
2. Stay Connected with Existing and New Patients
Once your website is up and running, you’ll need something to attract new patients. Below are a few ideas to consider.
Lead Magnets Bring in New Patients
Use lead magnet documents to help you draw traffic to your website. A lead magnet is an offer you give away for free in exchange for their contact information. A lead magnet could be a free eye exam, discounts for eye-related products (contact lenses, sunglasses), or an eye health checklist. Create a spreadsheet to keep track of your patients so you can reach out to them frequently—without going overboard.
Text Messaging Improves Patient Engagement
Text messaging and email marketing are the most common communication channels with your patients. To avoid overwhelming people, make sure you ask for their preferred method of communication.
With text messaging, you can communicate quickly by sending a mass broadcast to all your patients. This communication channel works excellently for short promotional reminders and upcoming events.
According to statistics by SimpleTexting, 1 in 3 people check their notifications within one minute of receiving a text message, meaning more people would stay in the loop with what is happening in your office.
Pro Tip: Communicate with your patients and improve office efficiencies using the built-in MaximEyes.com patient engagement module with texting, emailing, and direct online scheduling within the all-in-one eye care EHR/Practice Management system. No third-party integration is required, and creating and customizing your notification templates is easy.
Develop a Consistent Email Marketing Strategy
While some marketers have claimed that email marketing is dead, know that it’s still very effective communication for hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. Email is also great for connecting with past, current, and potential patients. While text messaging is a popular marketing tactic, you can share more content with patients with bi-weekly or monthly emails.
In your email, include all the exciting things happening at your practice, such as important events, discounts, promotions, new employees, or even announcing a new location. Email patients to notify them of office closures or if there have been any changes to your practice policies and procedures.
A consistent email marketing strategy will help your patients remember your business when they need a service. Check out these popular email marketing automation tools that make emailing easy and cost-effective: Constant Contact, Intuit MailChimp, and Zoho Campaigns.
3. Build Brand Consistency and Create Interactive Content
Another essential marketing idea is brand consistency and interactive content. Brand consistency is critical when creating quality content that people recognize and trust. To set yourself apart from your competition, always strive to create quality content that is meaningful and interactive with your patients.
Create Intriguing Content
Find a style and language that best fits your branding and use it with all the resources you make. Use the content you create as an opportunity to connect and engage with your audience and casually inform them about your practice and what you offer.
If your content appeals to your audience on all platforms, more people will be intrigued to interact with your business. You may often run people off if you are overly promotional and always sell instead of providing value.
Use an Editorial Calendar
Take some time to brainstorm and gather ideas on the type of content that benefits your audience and how often you will need to create it. Have fun with your ideas, and get creative!
Some great interactive content ideas include creating include newsletters, videos, flyers, brochures, or blog posts. Create a simple editorial calendar (such as an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets) to help plan and keep you on track.
Check out our blog, 43 Marketing Tools to Supercharge Your Eye Care Practice, for helpful video creation, content writing, graphic design, photo editing, search engine optimization, free stock images, survey management, and other helpful tools and apps.
4. Get Active and be Consistent on Social Media
Social media provides a huge potential to connect with prospects—more than enough to keep your revenue stream healthy. As of 2023, there are 4.76 billion social media users, according to statistics by Tech Jury. Did you know the average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily?
If you haven’t used social media regularly to grow your business and bring in new patients, now is the time to get active on your channels. Post and curate content consistently, considering what your audience will enjoy and find useful.
At a loss for content? Create posts about fun national holidays and use Canva to create eye-popping interactive graphics or infographics.
Create Social Media Content Calendars
Use a social media content calendar to help you plan accordingly and keep track of the days and times you need to post on each social media channel. Create your own social media content calendar, or download a free one from Wepik.
The more social media channels you are active on, the more audience you will reach. However, don’t go overboard; instead, focus on the social media your customers are gravitating to so you maximize time and resources.
Best Times to Post
Did you know that research shows that specific days of the week and times of the day have higher traffic, giving your posts more engagement? Read The Best Days and Times to Post on Social Media in 2023 to learn more and add those times to your social media calendar.
Many social media management apps will help you plan and schedule your posts and track engagement. For more features and additional social media management platforms, consider one of the following tools: Agorapulse, Buffer, Hootsuite, Planoly, or Semrush.
Want to help new patients discover your optometry practice and increase engagement on your social media channels? Take a look at our social media tips for eye care practices blog.
5. Leverage EHR Data Mining
Analyze your EHR data to be more proactive with revenue goals while keeping you on top of your patient’s needs and goals.
Using the advanced search tools in MaximEyes.com EHR helps you quickly locate annual appointments that fit your search criteria and saves this information for future marketing campaigns.
See the blog (and video), How Eye Care EHR Data Mining Drives Revenue, for ways to dig deeper with data mining and advanced search tools that help you make smart marketing decisions.
Send intentional, personalized marketing messages to your patients with the right data set. Intentionality (telling a unique story about your business and how it solves your patient’s needs) leaves an impact on people allowing them to trust you with their eye care.
WATCH MAXIMEYES.COM ADVANCED SEARCH TOOL VIDEO ABOVE
Marketing Brings in More Business Opportunities
It’s time to implement these eye care marketing ideas to bring in more business. Marketing your practice is more accessible with technology that fully supports your staff.
With the help of marketing and business tools combined with a robust all-in-one eye care EHR and practice management system like MaximEyes.com that offers built-in patient engagement and advanced data mining tools, you’ll confidently manage your business to ensure long-term success. Schedule a demo today.
