Improve digital marketing to attract, retain ophthalmic patients
Key takeaways:
- Digital marketing is needed to attract patients and sustain existing relationships.
- Practices can utilize positive reviews, refine the patient’s online experience and embrace social media.
ORLANDO — In 2025, improving digital marketing is key to building an ophthalmic practice, according to a speaker at Telling It Like It Is.
“We are all in the marketing business,” Troy Cole, founder of LogiCole Consulting, said. “We are all marketing our practices and marketing our services to potential patients and to patients who are already with us to continue their care and build that lifetime value.”
To improve a practice’s visibility online, specifically on Google, Cole recommended implementing a “five-star review system.” To do this, practices can send review requests on a regular basis or ask patients directly in the office for reviews.
“It's a very, very high conversion rate when we do that in the office,” Cole said.
Making the process easy for the patient helps to grow an online review profile, so consider incorporating streamlined tools such as QR codes. Once there is a collection of positive reviews, sharing them with the staff can help cultivate passion about the practice’s mission, according to Cole.
“It's an asset that you can leverage in a dozen different ways,” he said. “Mobilize your five-star reviews to do the work for you.”
To improve marketing for a practice, allow patients to “choose their own adventure.” Simply booking an appointment can be overwhelming for some patients, so Cole suggested adding smaller steps to a practice’s website, such as self-tests for LASIK, cataract and reading vision, pricing guides, and opportunities for a welcome call or virtual consult.
Importantly, Cole emphasized that social media is a must for practice marketing and can be used to address common patient concerns as well as educate, entertain and engage them.
“We're trying to educate people — answering [frequently asked questions], talking about new technology that you offer, maybe highlighting certain procedures, teaching people what to watch out for and what to avoid,” Cole said. “This is very critical and persuasive information.”
Sharing patient stories through social media will get attention while adding to the ophthalmologist’s credibility and humanizing them, according to Cole.
“We want to balance both of those,” he said. “It makes patients comfortable coming in.”
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Cole T. Dominate your local market in 2025: How to leverage marketing systems and assets to be more efficient and effective in your practice promotion. Presented at: Telling It Like It Is; Feb. 13-16, 2025; Orlando.
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