BLOG: AI and ophthalmology marketing: Pandora’s box or Cassandra’s prophecy?
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Key takeaways:
- AI gives ophthalmology practices new marketing capabilities.
- Human oversight is needed to mitigate unintended consequences from AI marketing.
In this five -part series,“Rewiring the Ophthalmic Marketing Brain,” we will explore the potentially transformative effect of artificial intelligence on ophthalmic practice marketing.
Ophthalmology practices increasingly face a choice in how their marketing operations are run: Embrace AI-enabled systems and stay competitive, or maintain traditional but proven promotional strategies and possibly be left behind.
In Greek mythology, Pandora unleashed a multitude of evils and hardships upon humanity when she opened her forbidden box, despite warnings of unintended consequences. Similarly, diving headfirst into AI adoption could present as marketing-specific evils and hardships for ophthalmology practices. Machine learning algorithms can perpetuate or amplify racial, gender and other societal biases if deployed without oversight (the topic of my son’s PhD thesis). And generative AI’s “hallucinations” are well documented. Flawed algorithms may also target ads incorrectly, waste budgets on low-value patients or recommend inappropriate services.
Some experts also warn that if human expertise is not maintained, reliance on AI may erode in-house marketers’ expertise over time. That said, AI could present multiple opportunities for optimizing marketing efficiencies for those who use these systems wisely.
Lack of transparency around AI-guided decision-making could also undermine staff accountability (“It wasn’t me. It was the AI!”). There are signs that readers are beginning to tire of poorly written AI-generated content (more on that below).
Furthermore, if AI marketing succeeds in boosting patient volumes, practices must ensure they have the capacity and staffing to handle increased demand. Otherwise, quality of care may suffer, as would the practice reputation. (Note: This is something that will be covered in future posts.)
AI marketing also mirrors Cassandra’s gift of prophecy. The Greek myth of Cassandra is often used as a metaphor for individuals who have important insights or warnings that go unheeded by others. The term “Cassandra complex” refers to the psychological phenomenon of not believing someone who is making accurate predictions about future events. Likewise, AI can surface predictive insights to identify promising growth opportunities that practices overlook. But are those promises exaggerated?
For instance, based on online behavior, AI systems scan micro-target digital ads with precision. AI can direct promotional spending toward prospects who are actively searching for or are open to evaluating new providers. AI can greatly contribute to optimizing websites, which boosts search engine ranking and traffic. AI chatbots can provide on-demand engagement with website visitors. Properly designed, they can provide higher-order services like prequalifying, appointment setting and providing patient education over multiple channels all at once; think email, SMS and direct messages from key social media channels.
AI-enabled customer relationship management platforms could analyze patient data to execute patient retention and recommendation processes, along with reputation marketing, reviews and, finally, local and health care listings. Of course, AI can manage all aspects of proactively engaging specific at-risk patients to schedule exams exactly when needed, improving preventive care and assisting with chronic disease management. AI programs could also segment patients based on personalized engagement preferences for more effective communication. As a side note, remember to always get specific permission to send patients marketing communications.
To fully realize AI’s marketing potential while mitigating unintended (or embarrassing) consequences, ophthalmology practices must provide human oversight. Marketing directors should scrutinize AI models for accuracy and fairness before deployment, not blindly accept automated decisions. AI should complement staff skills, not replace them, to maintain nuanced marketing expertise even as algorithms handle tedious tasks. Think of them as employees under the supervision of your marketing director. AI work products should not diverge either from the practice’s brand or its messaging. If they are forming and dynamically publishing content in “your voice,” then it behooves you to tightly control what is produced and how it is pushed to the public.
And if you think that social media platforms and search engines don’t really care if or how much you use these tools, think again. We are starting to see pushback. Google’s March 2024 core update particularly targets AI-generated content that lacks genuine value, focusing on penalizing websites that mass-produce low-quality content solely to manipulate search rankings. Google insists that content, whether AI generated or not, must prioritize user value and demonstrate clear expertise and authoritativeness. Medium is now banning AI-generated content from its Partner Program, even if you disclose its use.
And even though LinkedIn has a new suite of “helpful” AI tools, its algorithm is not so AI-friendly. Based on the most recent LinkedIn algorithm report by Richard van der Blom and AuthoredUp on the use of AI for LinkedIn content:
- AI-generated posts have 30% less reach and 55% less engagement.
- AI-generated visuals get 70% less clicks.
- AI-generated comments have four times less response by the author and five times less engagement in general.
Above all, remember this: AI marketing systems provide decision support, not definitive answers. Just as Cassandra’s prophecies required human interpretation, the insights from AI analytics become truly valuable only when marketers evaluate them in the larger context of their practice marketing strategy. AI can most certainly assist with the tracking, measurement and analysis of marketing goals and objectives.
Remember the saying, “Data is not information. Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom.” When AI is involved, your knowledge and wisdom are what give practice marketing its power.
The key is selectively applying AI systems where they amplify your marketing efforts, while preserving roles that require emotional intelligence, creativity, ethics and clinical knowledge. With responsible implementation and management, AI gives ophthalmology practices new capabilities, especially of predictive, targeted and data-driven outreach. The predictive prowess of AI at amplifying ophthalmic marketing can be enjoyed while the risks of opening a Pandora’s box of frustration and expense can be mitigated.
In upcoming posts, I explore the myriad technologies that comprise AI and marketing systems, a peek under the hood on how they might be successfully incorporated into your practice marketing strategies.
There is a simple framework for preparing your practice to adopt AI. Three actions can help you make sense of it all. You must:
- Rewire your marketing brain.
- Rethink your marketing budget.
- Retool your marketing operations.
When you consider it, AI has just one job: to amplify the volume and velocity of your premium service line opportunities and deal flow through your pipeline from phone, web and social lead sources.
Next blog: Overview of marketing transformation to AI.
Reference:
- Why not to use AI for your LinkedIn content: huge impact on reach and engagement. https://medium.com/aimonks/why-not-to-use-ai-for-your-linkedin-content-huge-impact-on-reach-and-engagement-d443e8f17fba. Published Feb. 9, 2024. Accessed May 23, 2024.
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