Article Outline
Appropriate marketing is essential as optometric practices continue to grow as providers of eye and vision care.
Optometrists are increasingly important providers of a wide range of eye and vision care services, according to the AOA Research and Information Center's latest
Scope of Practice Survey. Among the survey's findings: optometrists, over a typical 6-month period, now diagnose an average of 104 cases of anterior segment disorders—including 24 cases of glaucoma—providing all of the treatment for 80% of those anterior segment patients and two thirds of the glaucoma patients. As a result, optometrists now prescribe or dispense pharmaceuticals to patients more than 400 times over a typical 6-month period (and more than 1,600 times in the most actively prescribing practices)—substantially more than just 2 years ago. Moreover, an increasing number of practices are now emphasizing areas such a neuro-optometric care and low vision rehabilitation.
Yet, many optometrists continue to report that they could still accommodate many more medical eye care patients in their practices than they are currently seeing. Similarly, some practitioners who have begun to emphasize areas such as low vision or pediatric care say their practices are not growing as rapidly as they expected. In many cases, optometrists must consider whether their marketing efforts are appropriate.
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Establishing a reputation
The reality is that a practice, or any business for that matter, cannot expect to be all things to all people. Past marketing efforts may have been successful in bringing people into the practice, but those patients may have been there only to get affordable eyewear and may not have even known that the practice also offered quality medical or rehabilitation care.
What can a practice do now to reinvent itself and change people's perceptions? How can it begin to market a different message to a different audience? It can be difficult for a practice to shift gears and start attracting a different clientele. However, here is how it can be done.
1.Modify the kind of marketing campaign the practice has been running. This seems obvious, but this will most likely mean taking a deep breath and biting the bullet. After all, the campaign probably has been effective in generating revenue, but now may be the time to cut ties with the past and shift course.
2.Talk to existing patients who trust the practice for medical eye care. Find out some of the reasons these patients have been using the practice for medical eye care, for example, even though the practice may primarily have a reputation for discounted eyewear. The reasons patients give for obtaining eye care through the practice should be considered as the messages to be conveyed through the practice's new marketing campaign.
3.Armed with this knowledge, see what the competition has been doing. Are the marketing messages suggested by the patient input different from those already being delivered by other practices in the area? If there are unique reasons why patients have selected the practice for medical eye care, they should be emphasized in the practice's new marketing campaign. Any practice wants to be able to create its own niche, one that differentiates it from the rest. Development of a marketing program should not simply be a matter of following the medical eye leader(s) in the area. When developing marketing messages, the “path less traveled” is likely to be the way to go.
4.Draft a direct mail letter and send it to a small percentage of existing patients. This is the beginning of the testing period. Here, the practice can reinforce what the patients interviewed said about the benefits of coming there for medical care.
5.Call a sample group of patients who received the letter and find out what points are most important to them. What messages are best remembered? Which have the greatest impact? Is it the new technology? Better office hours? The emphasis on excellent customer service?
6.Develop marketing pieces (e.g., a newspaper advertisement, public education materials, or a direct mail piece) that drive home those key messages. Now that the opportunities have been identified, it is time to deliver the messages in a cogent manner.
7.Test the response to the marketing. The practice can feel comfortable that the message is right, but what about the execution and the channel? Changing perceptions will take some time. However, the practice should be able to determine rather quickly whether the message is effectively impacting on the right people.
Like the high school student who goes away to college with the desire to change an image (and even a look), it is unlikely to happen by chance. However, a carefully constructed and implemented plan can make it work.
