Are you ready to step up your marketing strategy? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 21 million Americans have vision problems. Your optometry practice can help them better enjoy the views life has to offer and positively impact patient’s daily lives.

We’re here to inspire you to try and adapt to the new way of doing business online so you can reach more patients who can benefit from your services.

Follow along as we outline these 13 optometry marketing ideas you can use to reach current and prospective patients. These ideas can help you craft a stellar optometry marketing plan for your business.

Idea 1. Optimize your Website

Search engine optimization (SEO) can take your online marketing to the next level. You might’ve heard this marketing jargon before, but basically, it’s improving the quality and quantity of your website’s traffic. The goal is to rank higher on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

With the strategic use of keyword research, backlinks, and other SEO tactics, you can slowly but surely climb your way up the search engine results page, aka SERP, and reach potential patients organically. But note that climbing up the ladder for results in major search engines takes time, but your efforts will be worth it in the long run.

Search engine optimization can be technical and confusing, but as a start, optometry practices can try these helpful tips to set up your digital marketing efforts:

• Ensure you have a Contact Us page. This should have your phone number, official email address, and optometry practice address. This will aid major search engines in signaling that you’re a local business and organize their results accordingly.
• Discuss everything your optometry practice does. Search engines reward businesses that are excellent at explaining things. Talk about everything your company does and why your services matter. Make individual pages for your services and demonstrate their value to patients.
• Track your search engine optimization efforts. Google Analytics is a free and simple tool to gauge how your practice is doing in terms of attracting more patients to your website.

Idea 2. Integrate an Online Store into Your Website

If you sell eyeglasses or contact lenses at your practice, why not do so online as well? People have embraced online shopping for almost every facet of life, and eyewear is no different. To capitalize on this, adding an online store to your website provides convenience to your patients that they didn’t have before. 

Here are a few examples of products you can advertise online:

• Eyeglasses 
• Contact Lenses 
• Blue Light Blocking Glasses
• Online coupons or promotions your optometry office is currently offering  

The benefits of offering your eye care products on your site as well as in person include:

• 24/7 Shopping – Instead of having to come in-store to get their glasses, contacts, eye drops, etc., they order them on the website and have the products shipped.
• Keeping Track of Metrics – an online store can track where a customer clicks as well as the purchases they make and how often. This can give you insight into the buyer’s journey and products that many are interested in. 
• Wider Availability – a physical store is usually limited to the buyers in that local area who can come to your practice. When you sell online, your products can be offered to a wider variety of potential buyers. 

Are you interested in offering convenience to your patients? We can help you do it! Learn more about adding an online store to your website now. 

• Is Your Practice at the Top of Google in Your Local Area? See how your practice stacks up in Google Search when patients look for the services you provide with a free SEO report.

Idea 3. Start a Blog Page

Creating a blog page is a stellar way of educating prospective patients about what your optometry practice has to offer. Your blog can build loyalty and trust among current and potential patients. It can also help increase your practice’s visibility and help you generate more leads.

Ponder on the topics your patients normally ask you. Discuss patients’ common problems and offer tips that display your expertise in the subject matter. This will help position your clinic as a healthcare provider they can trust for eye-related concerns.

Here are blog topic ideas optometry practices can explore:

• How Eye Exams Can Help Your Vision
• Healthy Eye Care Habits You Should Adapt
• 5 Common Eye Mistakes You Might Be Making
• What Causes Your Contact Lenses To Hurt
• How Much Is Too Much Screen Time?

Idea 4. Get Active on Social Media

If you aren’t already active on social media, it’s not too late to get started. Using social platforms like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram to build a connection with your followers is another way to increase engagement and traffic to your website. You can use this platform, to find those interested in you, and grow your brand.

Social media is a conversation and interacting with your followers is how you stay top of mind. It is an inexpensive yet very effective way to increase your online presence. Social media marketing is an incredible opportunity for creativity and educating current and potential patients.

Follow these eye care-specific pages so you can always have relevant content to share with your followers:

• EyeSmart – American Academy of Ophthalmology –  this page posts content about eye diseases and information on how to protect your vision. 
• American Optometric Association – this page highlights any news or updates regarding the optometry industry. 
• National Eye Institute – this page is an excellent source for information about all eye care factions (optometry, ophthalmology, and opticians) as it is part of the National Institutes of Health, a federal government agency. 

Do you follow iMatrix on Facebook? We share eye care content as well as useful marketing tips just for you! 

Read On: Eye Care Social Media Marketing Ideas to Boost Engagement

Idea 5. Offer a Referral or Loyalty Program to Your Patients

Retention is an important part of any business. You don’t just want one-time patients. You want people to continue to come to your office and have those people advocate for how well-run your practice is. 

If someone has been your loyal patient, you can offer a referral or loyalty program. When a patient has a certain amount of visits to your optometry office or refers a friend, you can offer some form of a reward or discount. This will encourage existing patients to keep coming and bring more friends with them!

Some ideas you can try include:

• Refer-A-Friend: Ask your customers for referrals in exchange for discounts.
• Family Checkup Deal: Offer discounts for full families. For example, a four-person checkup for a reduced price.
• Yearly Loyalty Program: Offer reduced rates that stack every year if your patient comes in annually. For example, 5% off, 10% off, and 15% off each consecutive year.

Idea 6. Send Out Patient Surveys

Have you ever wondered what people thought about your business after they left their appointment? Surveys offer a way to find out! Patient feedback gives you an insight into things your practice may be doing great at and areas that could use some improvement.

Do you know the best time to send a customer feedback request? Right after their appointment. Post-visit surveys can be a great mine for positive reviews because the experience would still be fresh in your patients’ minds. Moreover, it’s an excellent excuse to promote your business and its offerings.

You can send out simple surveys asking questions like: 

• How was your experience during your visit to our optometry office?
• What did you like/dislike?
• Are you satisfied with your new eyeglasses/contact lenses? 

Take this opportunity to reflect on your responses. Are your patients happy with your service? Is your office environment professional and well-kept? Could you add a little flair to spice things up? How about some snazzy optometrist posters to liven up the office? Get creative and have fun with it!

Idea 7. Respond to Online Reviews

Responding to online reviews is an integral part of patient satisfaction. Before the internet, word-of-mouth marketing was one of the few ways to get your name out there, and to an extent, online reviews are the new word of mouth. Take this opportunity to reply to some reviews and address negative ones professionally and promptly.

Their confidence in your optometry office increases as patients discuss their online encounters. This is why reputation management is a powerful marketing tool to have at your disposal. 

Did you recommend LASIK to clients or get them a custom pair of glasses they loved? Email them an invitation to leave you an online review on your Google reviews, Yelp, or both. You may be pleasantly surprised at what a satisfied customer can say about your practice!

Learn More: How to Encourage Clients to Leave Feedback and Strengthen Your Online Reputation

Idea 8. Advertise Your Practice Using PPC

PPC, which stands for pay-per-click advertising, is a form of online marketing where you pay a fee every time a user clicks on your business’s ad. It is essentially a way to buy traffic to your website versus getting it organically through SEO. 

Before crafting your PPC campaign, you must select keywords relevant to your industry and the users you are trying to target. Some keywords that may be useful for your practice include optometrist in (your location), eye exams near me, and eyeglasses in (your site). Once you have selected your target keywords, you can bid on those specific keywords for ad placements. When someone does a search query on one of the keywords that are related to your ad offering, your PPC ad appears in the search results. 

Although you may have done your research, selecting valuable keywords is only one component of creating a successful PPC ad. 

You also need to consider:

• Compelling messaging in your ad copy that captures the attention of users. For example, 2 Pairs of Glasses for as Low as $59.99 or Glasses Ready the Same Day – Anderson Optometry.
• The quality of your website’s landing page (it should be optimized with a call-to-action on the page).
• Getting creative. Yes, PPC ads are meant to increase traffic to your site and, in turn, generate revenue. But, you should focus on how appealing your ads are to the human eye. Designer-quality ads will encourage the user to stay on your page. 

Idea 9. Start an Email Newsletter

Here’s the thing: not everyone is ready to become your patient right now. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t become your patient in the future. Sometimes, people are simply gathering information and exploring their options. In the meantime, you can request their email address to entice them to visit you one day.

Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing tool to build trust with potential patients and strengthen relationships with current ones. Your email newsletter allows you to connect with these people; one day, they might end up booking an appointment with your optometry practice. From sharing your latest blog posts to seasonal promos, you can create campaigns to keep your business top-of-mind regarding optometry care.

You can even give your email newsletter a personal touch. Maximize the data you have on hand, and curate the content you send to email recipients. For example, you can send a birthday greeting with an exclusive discount to patients celebrating their birthday. People appreciate it when they feel seen and valued, and the fact that your business remembers them can make a difference.

Idea 10. Claim your Business Listing

Most people search for optometry practices online if they have eye care-related concerns. You can keep your business top-of-mind by claiming your business listing. Claiming your business listing is an excellent way to improve and increase your overall search rankings. Best of all, you can do this for FREE (at least, for most listing websites).

Aside from claiming your business listing, you should ensure that all information you share is updated and accurate. You should make it easy for people to locate your optometry practice by adding your business hours, contact details, and address. It would also be fantastic if you could share photos and videos so people would be able to locate your business quickly.

Every time you make changes, like updating your phone number or moving locations, you should ensure that these listings are updated. Your presence in these business directories would establish your legitimacy and increase brand awareness. Even if you’ve been operating in the same city or town for years, some people in your area might not even know you exist. Claiming your business listing allows them to discover you in case they search for optometry practices near them online.

Idea 11. Sponsor Local Events

There will always be a local event that you can support, and they’re always in need of sponsors. This particular marketing strategy will require you to donate. However, the returns can be impressive.

How can your optometry practice benefit from sponsoring local events? You get exposure to the right audience within your vicinity. However, it’s a fantastic opportunity for your community to get to know your business better. You might be offering services that people need. They’re just not aware of it yet.

This is also a chance to network with local businesses that you can partner with in the future. Your network is your net worth. That’s why you should take opportunities to learn what kind of other businesses are also in your town or city.

Idea 12. Explore Print Advertising

While digital marketing is vital in this interconnected world, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of offline marketing. Strategically placing print advertisements in magazines or newspapers can help more people discover your business.

You should also explore giving away brochures to passersby. You never know who might end up receiving your brochure. The next recipient might just be someone in need of your services. Contrary to what people might say, print is not dead. Your optometry practice can unlock plenty of tremendous opportunities if your print advertisements get the attention of the right audience.

Idea 13. Work With Experts in Marketing for Optometrists

Developing a stellar optometry marketing plan can be challenging, especially with everything you have on your plate. Fortunately, you can focus on what you do best by partnering with digital marketing experts. When it comes to optometry marketing, you shouldn’t get a partner with any other agency, you need experts who understand your business, and how to attract your target audience.

We at iMatrix specialize in healthcare marketing, and our services cater to optometry practices like yours. We ensure that all your digital marketing efforts are geared towards the right people.

Implementing Your Optometry Marketing Strategy 

Taking your optometry marketing strategy to the next level can be challenging, but with the right game plan, you can crush your goals and open more people’s eyes to what you can offer.

Our team of experts is here to make sure you succeed! To get started on an effective marketing strategy that will help you reach all your goals, call us at 800.792.8384 or click here to learn more about our digital eye care marketing solutions.

FAQs

What is optometry marketing?

Optometry marketing is a science of carefully crafted strategies, specially crafted for optometry practices. It is the process of using various online and offline marketing tactics to attain your business goals.

How do I promote my optometry practice? 

There are various ways to promote your practice online and offline. Digital marketing allows you to market your practice online, while offline marketing is any marketing that isn’t done through the Internet.

What is optometry PPC advertising? 

Optometry PPC advertising is pay-per-click advertising crafted for optometry practices. Businesses pay their chosen platform each time a user clicks on that particular ad.