Practice owner shares pearls on effective practice, brand marketing in the digital age
LAS VEGAS — Marketing to patients and standing out from competition requires optometrists to effectively utilize traditional strategies as well as newer tactics, according to a presenter at Vision Expo West.
“None of us has a million-dollar budget to just put towards marketing alone,” Jason Compton, OD, FAAO, owner of Compton Eye Associates, said. “But fortunately, there are so many things that we can do in our practices to get our information in front of the right people.”
Compton said that traditional marketing, which involves marketing through television, newspaper and radio advertisements, may still play an important role in expanding a market in the digital age, if done effectively. This may include obtaining a unique phone number that is exclusively used on traditional marketing efforts such as print ads, which will allow practices to track where their ads are being seen and better understand the demographics primarily being reached.
It is also important for the optometrist to understand digital age marketing to target the practice’s most ideal audience and see exactly how a marketing campaign is contributing to a business from beginning to end, he said. Two of the most important marketing tools in the digital age are search engines and social media, which require understanding intent marketing vs. distraction marketing.
“You go to Google because you want a recipe, you want to find some Nike sneakers, or you want to find the definition of a word. You're going in with a very specific intent,” Compton said. “Now, when you're on social media, it's a completely different scenario. Social media isn't designed for that stuff. It's designed to connect you with things that you're interested in.”
Distraction marketing includes tapping into customer interests by including broader topics such as sports, polls and celebrities on social media posts to get customers to stop scrolling and engage with a brand.
Alternatively, effective intent marketing can help optometrists increase a company or brand’s spot in a search engine’s results, which is valuable, considering 92% of people receive their information from the top 10 results on Google, according to Compton. Optometrists should find a balance between paying for spots on Google’s first page and achieving a spot through organic means, including the look and design of a website, social media connections and positive reviews, which all contribute to increased website traffic.
Compton also discussed the importance of engaging patients in waiting rooms through an effective and knowledgeable front office staff and sources of entertainment. Optometrists may want to consider creating a TV channel for their waiting rooms that offers fun content with educational value, such as videos that feature optical illusions.
“There are always different ways to stay up-to-date,” he concluded. “I love marketing, and all the stuff that I learned about it has nothing to do with our industry. I'm a consumer of podcasts, and I read all sorts of blogs with this stuff just to see what the real estate agent is doing in the industry, and I transform that stuff into my practice.”
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Compton J. Global Contact Lens Forum: Marketing for specialty contact lenses. Presented at: Vision Expo West; Sept. 14-17, 2022; Las Vegas.
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