The Official VisionWeb Blog

You'll reach a point in your marketing strategy planning where you feel zapped of creative ideas to get your practice on the map. Turning to industry blogs and researching competitor events is a good place to start. However, there are a few internal ways to boost innovation, too.

We suggest that you effectively gather ideas from everyone in your practice through an innovation program. These programs use strategic methods to bring out new, possibly out-of-the-box ideas to improve your day-to-day processes or keep up with the changing industry. Keep reading to see how this could apply to you.

Our last installment of the financial guide was on budgeting your marketing campaigns. Access it here if you missed it. This month we'll be thinking about the return of investment on conferences, tradeshows, and other industry events.

Not only do you have to consider the cost of attendance, but also factor in the flights, hotels, transportation, and loss of opportunity ODs incur taking time away from your practice. As an optometrist, you'll have to choose which conferences are convenient, which CE courses you need, calculate how many days you can afford to be away, and set up business meetings in advance. 

We'll help you break down if you can earn your expenditures back in the post below.

As doctors, you're usually rewarded for having the answers. When you feel like you don't know enough about a topic, you might turn to continuing education courses at Vision Expo West and other tradeshows.

However, when we looked at the CE courses offered at VEW 2019, there was only one or two courses on billing, coding, and managing the profits of your practice. Even though many ODs aren't sure where to start when it comes to optimizing their claim filing or managing cashflow for the practice.

Would you believe us if we told you that we'll give you $25 at our booth MS9035 for NOT knowing the answer to a question? Keep reading to find out more.

Making sure that you understand the needs, desires, and motivators of loyal patients can help you boost retention in your optical practice. As little as 5% increase in customer retention could lead to over 25% more company revenue (Reichheld, 2000). That's why we want you to focus on your existing patients before investing money into outbound marketing campaigns.

Developing a strong foundation with your patients starts with delivering excellent patient care, but can be nurtured though rewards, feedback loops, and patient-centric content. We'll show you how to delight your customers and dabble in relationship marketing in your optometry practice below.

Every eyecare practice is looking for ways to promote their practice and stand out from the competition. Holding a trunk show is one creative way to help reach new goals in your practice. But be wary, a successful event is going to require a lot of planning and effort. It's not as simple as slapping up a flyer in your practice in hopes that will draw enough attention to the event.

Labeling your event as a trunk show might not be the best way to resonate with your client base either. Think about a theme for your event and a creative title that might lure in attendees. Something like, Fall Eyewear Fashion Show and Sale is likely going to catch more attention than an event called, Dr. Smith's Trunk Show.

There is a lot to think about when planning any event. And, if you aren't a seasoned event planner, it can be easy to overlook some details. While there isn't a tried and true formula for success, we've got some steps for you to take to ensure trunk show success at your next event.