Marketing can be internal, like when a patient recommends her optometrist to a friend, or external, which includes advertising like billboards, radio ads, and mailed flyers.
Many optometry practice owners put little emphasis on external marketing. Owners tend to believe they are not impacted by marketing, so they see spending money on marketing a waste of time. However, studies show four out of five Americans are influenced by external marketing and make decisions accordingly. Considering this, forgoing external marketing seems like a grievous error.
An often-overlooked form of external advertising is promotional products. Spending money on apparel and gadgets may may feel like a black hole, but when done right over time it can have an exponential impact.
Here are three great resources for promotional products that every optometrist should be aware of when looking for creative external marketing:
- 4imprint – 4imprint has a good variety of products that can be imprinted with your office logo for competitive prices. We have been impressed by the quality of their regular fare, and 4imprint offers high-end options also. We were pleased with the response we received from our most recent marketing promo item, infuser sports bottles. OptometryCEO does not receive any proceeds or benefits from recommending this company.
- GotPrint – They offer the best prices with the “rounded corner” business cards. We had used Vistaprint for years and found their pricing to be a moving target. They would advertise low prices but charge extras that drove up the per-card price. After frustration with them, I landed on GotPrint and haven’t used anyone else since. OptometryCEO does not receive any proceeds or benefits from recommending this company.
- CustomInk – If you want a T-shirt that everyone is sure to love, use these guys. They have available the American Apparel brand, which are some of the softest, most comfortable shirts to wear. When you spend the money for great shirts you find that your staff, doctors, and patients love to wear them, and they talk about them to their friends. OptometryCEO does not receive any proceeds or benefits from recommending this company.
Marketing your optometry practice requires you to be resourceful and creative. Most optometrists do not have a large marketing budget, so all dollars must be spent wisely and have the greatest impact. Finding resources that you can use to save money is one of many ways to keep expenses down and profits up.
