Guest post by Rachel Cunningham of iMatrix.
Online marketing for optometry encompasses a broad range of mediums and tools, making it easy to get lost or side-tracked. A comprehensive online marketing strategy should include everything from a dynamic website, to social media pages, to professional quality videos, to pay-per-click advertising, to search engine optimization. It may seem simple, but when you start to delve into each category, all of the options often become overwhelming. For instance, when considering social media, the first question should always be which ones should I use? Jumping into social media, without first asking that question, is setting yourself up for a mountain of extra work with little-to-no ROI. A smart strategy will save you time and money.
There are several things you can do to streamline the online marketing strategy for your practice and make it both efficient and effective. The main things that will help you get the most out of your marketing efforts are a clear strategy, effective tools, focus, and metrics. The following tips will help you to design and execute a smart marketing strategy that maximizes your time and available resources.
Strategy
Start with a plan. Ask yourself what you can reasonably manage, given your current workload and budget. A website is essential to a local optometry office as it will enable you to be found by patients searching online. Social media is a great, cost-effective way to connect with your patient-base, but how much time do you have to manage it? If you have not invested in a professional website or organized your social networking, it will not make sense to jump to video marketing, pay-per-click ads, or search engine optimization. Those aspects of marketing can be added to your marketing strategy once you have built the proper foundation.
Set goals for your strategy and create timelines. Creating a schedule of goals and deadlines is the best way to stay on track and eliminate activities that waste time. Stick to your deadlines and do not push them back unless something urgent comes up.
Professional Website
You may have heard the saying, “You get what you pay for.” With the advent of sites like Groupon, people are expecting more and more for less. This can be said of websites as well. While a free website may seem like the best option when you open up a new practice, it will not sustain the growth of your practice. Additionally, a free website will likely not have the professional design, interactive tools, and simple usability that come standard with a skillfully designed website.
Investing in a professional website will not only save you money long term, it will save you time. The design and functionality will already be there and you will typically have access to a support team that can troubleshoot issues for you. As more and more people turn to online searches to locate local service providers, including doctors, a website is instrumental. Without a website, your practice will likely not appear in search results. If you do have a website, it will likely be the first impression that a potential patient sees of you and your practice. The website should reflect your professional nature and instill trust in the user.
Social Media
Before launching into social media and setting up pages for your optometric practice, make sure you have a narrow focus. Do not go and set up a page on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and every other social network you hear about. As a small practice owner, it would be a nightmare to manage all of those accounts concurrently and if you neglect any of them, it looks as if you do not maintain any of them.
Rather, select one or two sites that you feel you can properly maintain an active presence on. Facebook is always a great option due to the sheer number of users and the availability of applications for managing it. Facebook is also tightly connected with Bing and may help to increase you visibility on the quickly growing search engine. Selecting the right social media site will always depend on your goals for sharing. If you plan on sharing a lot of videos and images, such as the frames you offer, Pinterest may be a great choice. If you only plan on sharing quick tips or funny optometry jokes, Twitter might be a good bet. Either way, limit yourself to what you can reasonably manage given your time restraints.
Alerts
Alerts are a great way to stay on top of your social media or your website traffic without having to login to your computer. Set up alerts when a new patient signs up on your website or requests an appointment. You can often select the email address the alerts go to. For social media, you can use notifications to alert you when someone mentions your practice or interacts with your business page. Socialmention is one such resource. With alerts you do not have to check your website or social media each day, freeing up your time to manage other aspects of your practice.
Tracking
A quality website and most social media sites provide analytics on traffic and interactions. These tools are invaluable when it comes to your strategy. They enable you to see what is working, what users like, and what you can improve to make the visitor experience better. Check your analytics on a weekly or monthly basis and adjust your strategy or actions based on the metrics. For instance, if patients don’t interact with your “joke of the week” post, try posting it on a different day or at a different time. Always use your metrics when redefining your strategy.
An online marketing plan should always add value to your overall marketing plan. Create an effective, smart online marketing plan that is also reasonable and efficient. Maximize the time you spend marketing by targeting your efforts on aspects that will give your practice the solid online presence you need to succeed.
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.
