Summer days are slowly coming to an end, and the back-to-school season is here! Now you and your staff may be years out of school but that doesn’t mean the learning should stop there. When it comes to your practice, you need to find the most efficient and innovative methods to keep your business growing. As you know, it takes a huge amount of work to keep your practice up and operating efficiently. According to NCLEC, optical marketing techniques, when used correctly, can increase profits up to 33%. Common misconceptions about marketing are viewed specifically towards print advertising, newspaper ads, billboards, and direct mailing. Marketing is actually any technique that moves towards the desired goal of building your practice. So we’ve put together a library of additional optical marketing resources to take your practice back-to-school!
Optical Marketing Resources For Your Practice:
Social Media Tips and Advice
It’s no surprise that social media is an important part of marketing your practice to your target audience. One of the most efficient ways to promote your practice is to have a positive social media presence. According to recent marketing research, consumers and future patients search online for eyecare-related terms, such as eyeglasses and optometrists, 2.2 million times per month, or once every second! This includes searches on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, LinkedIn, and the list continues. There is a large increase of social media presence in the optical industry in recent years and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Check out some of our social media resources to get your practice started:
- 7 Pieces of Advice to Ignore In Your Optical Social Media Campaign
- Social Media for Optometrists: How-To Create Content Your Followers Will Love
- Social Media in Eyecare: 5 Things Your Patients Wants to See
- Twitter in The Optical Industry: 6 Slices of Why an OD Should Tweet
- 16 Great ODs on Facebook: Eyecare at Its Best
An Image is Worth a Thousand Words
When kids are first taught the alphabet, photos are used to help them better remember letters and words. Today, everything from infographics to business logos are used to convey messages quickly and to keep viewers interested in the text. They’re becoming increasingly more important in the world of marketing. Plus, viewers will most likely remember images over words themself. Why do you think Instagram is so popular?
Infographics tell a visual story, and limits text heavy articles with quick and easy to follow information of statistics of the subject. They can be used in presentations, blogs, and newsletters. Infographics can help position you as an expert in the field as they show your knowledge in the content.
As humans, we tend to be visual creatures, so we interpret images much faster than reading plain text, and remember visual content much more. As patients are waiting in your office, they don’t want to entertain themselves by reading text from magazines or newspapers. Try creating infographics for your practice that can help your patients understand a wide variety of topics, and help get your message across. There are tons of free tools online to create your very own infographics like Stat Planet, Tableau, and Creately to name a few. Once an infographic has been created, they can be printed to post around the office for patients to see, or easily shared in social media to increase traffic to your site and attract more customers.
To help you get ideas on creating your own, check out some of these infographics relating to optometry.
Continuing Education Resources
As with any industry, the optical industry is constantly changing. Continuing education is especially important for your staff members to understand the latest developments, and newest technologies emerging in the field. Just because you’re not in a classroom anymore doesn’t mean you and your staff shouldn’t be continuing your education. There are programs offered at various training centers and online. Often times, they’re flexible and will work around your schedule so you can complete the program efficiently. Not only do you gain more knowledge about your practice but continuing education helps you function more effectively, and improves your focus and overall confidence! Another way to continue education is to attend conferences and networking events to learn more about the newest products and latest trends in the industry.
Here are some ways for your staff to continue their education.
- Ophthalmic Coding Resources for Electronic Claims Processing
- Why Paraoptometric Certification is a Worthy Investment
- OpticiansWorks: A Complete Online Optical Dispensing Education Program
- Future of EHR Systems – Listen Live on the Power Hour!
- Continuing Education at Vision Expo
The optical marketing resources provided can help your practice increase your bottom line up to 33%. It’s never too late to "go back-to-school" to keep your practice growing! The more you’re willing to learn about this industry, the greater success your practice will have!
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