The Official VisionWeb Blog

Events like trunk shows in your dispensary can sometimes be a big hit or a big miss. If you've never held this type of event before, you probably have a lot of looming questions going into it. Every practice and patient market is unique, so what is a success for one practice could be a total miss for another.

It's important to understand the customers that you're targeting and how you can cater to them for your event. Let's take a look at some of the general mistakes you can avoid when getting prepared for a trunk show in your dispensary.

Combatting and predicting lulls in patient flow into your practice will be more difficult moving forward, so that's why we suggest you have special marketing event ideas ready. Depending on what you're allowed or able to do, these events can bring your patients into your practice or just delight them if they were already showing up for their exam. Some of them can even provide good social media content, something that many ODs have said they struggle with.

We handled the brainstorming for you below with a few event ideas to carry you through until spring. Hopefully you implement these soon or they help you think of ideas more specific to your patient base.

Every business owner likes to treat their employees a nice party or gathering during the holidays. But, tight budgets can sometimes make it difficult to do as much as you would like.

Luckily, there are plenty of budget-friendly options out there to help you and your team get in the holiday spirit, all while having a little bit of fun. We'll provide a few ideas that you can customize to your staff's needs and interests here. Some of these can be converted to virtual or distanced events while necessary or booked in advance for 2021 fun.

You can promote your eyecare practice all you want, but typically the strongest and most successful types of promotion will come from your current patients and their word of mouth recommendations to their friends and family. Without overtly asking for patients to post reviews or share stories on social media there are ways you can encourage your patients to do this on their own throughout your office.

Creating fun areas in your dispensary where patients can take selfies or have photos taken of them when trying on their new frames is a great way to beef up your marketing. Patients will be likely to share their photos on their own social media pages, and you will have pictures on hand of patients wearing your frames. Here are a few ideas for creating picture-worthy spaces in your optical shop.

It’s important to give back to your community, whether as an individual or as a practice. When you find and contribute to a charity that aligns with your values as an eyecare leader, it can reduce stress, increase happiness, and improve self-esteem for your entire staff and patient base.

Whether you donate your time, your money, or your support, finding a way for your practice to give back to a cause will also improve the way your community and peers look at you and your practice. The team at The Optical Journal listed out 97 vision charities for you to browse. When looking for a charity to support, we recommend first listing out your budget, the geographic area you'd like to help, and any particular values your team supports.