Most optometry practice owners get excited to see new patients and watch the practice grow. Practices grow two ways: internally or externally. Optometry journals and vendors mainly promote external means of marketing and practice 
growth. They focus on the excitement of splashy ad campaigns that declare your name to the city, and clever websites that will lure seekers to your practice.
By contrast, internal marketing seems boring. Many optometrists overlook it, or assume it’s simply common sense. However, the secret to many successful optometry practices is stellar internal marketing. In fact, these successful practices know that external marketing can often have a negative impact on the practice. Here are three reasons why patients from external marketing can be a detriment to the practice.
- Low Loyalty – Patients who find your practice on the internet tend to look for an eye doctor only when they have a perceived need. This may be visual or eye-health related but tends to occur only when problems persist. Since they are problem-only patients, they may go three or four years before needing care again, and most likely they will forget who they went to in the past. Therefore, they will end up searching again. If you are not on the top of the list, they might see someone else. Loyal patients are valuable to a successful practice.
- Bargain Shoppers – Many practices are surviving and thriving with very little internet presence, despite the fact that medical journals and experts insist practices must sell contact lenses online and constantly communicate via social media if they want to stay in business. A large segment of the population are loyal consumers, not shoppers. These patients want to know they are being treated fairly, but they do not shop around every time they need contact lenses, glasses, or eye care services. They automatically go to ones they trust and who they have used in the past. Those patients who find your practice via the internet tend to be the true shoppers.
- Lack of Relationship – One fear that all optometrists have in common is the fear of litigation. Patients don’t usually sue doctors they like. If you are picking up new patients through internet searches there is the risk that they are one-time-only patients as described above. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to establish a good relationship with a patient that you’ve seen only once or twice for acute care.
Please do not get me wrong. New patients are great for practice growth and can help keep your new associate busy. And dominance with online searches will bring these new patients. However, be aware of the type of patient online searches typically attract. Some practices intentionally limit exposure to external marketing. If your practice is established but you find growth is stymied, internal marketing is most likely the best place to invest time and money. Whether you grow from external or internal marketing, growing intentionally is one key to long-term practice success.
