Thank you to Rachel Cunningham of iMatrix, an optometry website developer, for today’s guest post.
If you haven’t considered using online video to market your optometry practice, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities to attract more patients and build brand awareness. Online video is a popular and impactful medium that has a wide variety of uses. As you may already know, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world behind Google. This means that when people aren’t using Google, they are often using YouTube.
Online video is impactful for a local business because it builds trust. The viewer becomes comfortable with a business and feels like they “know” the business after watching a video on the business. Additionally, videos have the ability to communicate more information in less time than text. Recent studies have concluded that one minute of video is worth the same as 1.8 million words (Video Brewery, 2012) – that’s a lot of information! A prospective patient won’t read 1.8 million words on your website, but they will watch a video on your website.
The great thing about online video marketing is the versatility and options available. As with other marketing mediums, you can decide to manage the process in-house or work with a professional agency. In an ideal world, you can incorporate both options of in-house and professional video into your practice’s marketing strategy to take advantage of the benefits each has to offer. There are four main video styles that can be used for marketing your practice: patient testimonials, service demonstrations, documercials, and behind-the-scenes. Each style of online video has a specific purpose and provides a different benefit.
Video Testimonials Increase Conversions
Video testimonials are a great starting point if you are just beginning to delve into online video marketing. A video testimonial enables you to capture a patient’s experience with your practice and services in a visual and audio format. While online reviews are excellent for your practice’s search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, video testimonials tend to carry more weight with potential patients and increase conversion rates. Online viewers are extremely savvy when it comes to identifying fake reviews, so a video testimonial earns their trust quickly because they are tough to fake and show that a real person is providing the review. Consumers searching online for a local business put a lot of faith in online reviews so a video testimonial increases the likelihood a video viewer will become a new patient.
Demonstration Videos Educate Patients
A video demonstrating your services (a typical eye exam, a frame-fitting session, etc.) provides viewers with a clear idea of what it is like to be a patient of your practice. Demonstration videos educate viewers about what services you offer, make potential patients feel comfortable, establish you as an authority, and spread the word about your practice. You can shoot multiple demonstration videos showcasing your most popular services and continue to add videos as you expand your services. By uploading the videos to a video sharing site like YouTube, you will also reach a broader audience and become an authority on optometry.
Professional Documercials Market Your Practice
As an optometrist, you will need to invest in marketing to get a higher ROI. A documercial of your practice produced by a professional videographer is a great investment. As the documercial showcases your services, includes patient testimonials, and gives a bit of behind-the-scenes sneak peek, it provides the most impact and widest range of benefits. A professional documercial of your practice enables you to market your practice, reach a broader audience, lets viewers get to know you and your services, and builds your credibility as an eyecare professional. Using a professional video company enables you to get expert advice without having to do all the work of setting up, filming, editing, and publishing.
Behind-the-Scenes Videos Create a Personal Experience
A behind-the-scenes video is a wonderful way to humanize your practice and casually showcase your service. Online viewers love behind-the-scenes video because it provides a personal experience. This type of video is a great way to engage with your existing patient base and improve recall rates. As a business owner and doctor, you always want to put your best, most professional foot forward when patients are in the office. It’s difficult to be casual with a patient and maintain your authority. A behind-the-scenes video allows you to step back from your professional demeanor for a moment and remind patients that you and your staff are humans who enjoy working with patients. Because it is tricky to get this behind-the-scenes aspect just right, only try this style of video after you have successfully produced the other three styles of online videos.
Quick Tips to Get Started with Video
Now that you know the benefits of using online video for your practice, it’s time to get started. Here are quick and simple tips to help you navigate the video marketing world.
- Use a high-definition video camera. If you don’t have an HD video camera, use a smartphone that has great video and audio quality.
- Consider lighting, sound, and the setting before you begin shooting video. Make sure the lighting isn’t too dark, there isn’t any background noise, and the setting looks appealing and clean. Inside settings are preferable.
- When looking to capture video testimonials, always be ready. You never know when a patient is going to have a wonderful experience and you can capitalize on that opportunity by being ready to capture their experience on film.
- When on camera, smile. A genuine smile puts the viewer at ease and makes you look friendly and approachable.
- Share and promote your videos. Don’t just add the videos to your YouTube channel and your website, share it on your social media. Social media is the best way to spread the word and get more views.
Video is a dynamic marketing tool that enables you to accomplish a variety of goals. It’s also a very flexible medium that accommodates the growing needs of your practice and allows you to reach a broad audience. The best part is that with sites like YouTube and advancements in smartphone technology, creating and producing video is becoming easier and more accessible. Once you get familiar with using online video to market your practice, you can streamline the process and efficiently get results.
Rachel Cunningham is a Marketing Content Writer at iMatrix, a provider of affordable web marketing solutions for small, practice based businesses. She earned a Master of Arts degree in English from CSU Long Beach and a Bachelor of Science from Boston College in General Management. Rachel is experienced in writing content optimized for search engines and users, creating engaging content for social media, and crafting articles about SEO and social media marketing for small businesses.
