6 Things to Look for When Choosing an Optometry Marketing Consultant

04/14/21 | by Czarina Greaney | Marketing

You’ve decided you wanted to grow your optometry practice and reach more eye care patients online. Marketing consultants can help you achieve your goals, but how do you know which one is right for you?

No matter the size of your practice, digital marketing is more important than ever before. Marketing your optometry practice online allows you to increase your digital presence, attract ideal patients, outrank your local eye care competitors, improve your reputation, boost engagement with existing patients, become an online resource for your patients, and more.

Most of your current and potential patients are online searching the web for eye care information, eye exams, contact lenses, frames, and other specialty services you offer. Digital marketing can be confusing if your practice has never done it before, so you’ll need advice. Let’s discuss how to choose the best optometry marketing consultants for your practice.

optometry marketing consultants what to look for

1. Look For Marketing Credentials & Practical Experience

A qualified marketing consultant will identify your practice’s needs, uncover potential areas of opportunity, and be well versed in addressing the challenges your practice faces. If you want to find out if they’re certified marketing experts, look for a Google Premier Partner Badge. This badge indicates that they have gone through training on Google Ads and take an annual assessment. They will also apply Google’s best practices to your marketing efforts.

When looking for a marketing consultant, ask the following three questions:

How have you helped other small practices like mine and what results did they get?

A consultant should have a proven track record of delivering results, clients who are in a similar position to yours who have exceeded their business goals.

What experience do you have working with optometry practices?

You’ll want to work with a consultant who knows your industry and has plenty of experience working with small eye care practices like yours. In contrast, corporate consultants may not be familiar with a small business’s organizational structure and resources, so they can suggest strategies that may not be necessary.

What eye care organizations are you involved with, and why?

It’s important to find a marketing company that’s part of associations related to your industry. It builds credibility and allows you to recognize them as an established marketing company with a great reputation.

what to expect when you invest in an optometry marketing strategy

2. Can They Set Realistic Expectations?

If your marketing consultant fails to understand your practice’s needs, they won’t have much of a positive impact on your profit margins. Keep in mind your marketing strategy is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every practice comes with different challenges and needs, so your consultant should be aware of this fact and create a marketing plan that is tailored to your business.

Also, it’s important to discuss what the onboarding process will look like and what to expect. Make sure to ask how long-term and short-term results are measured and how things will look in the next months to a year.

For example, If you’re looking to get your practice on the first page of Google in the next few months then your plan would include an SEO strategy because you’ll see results with a 6- to 12-month period. But If you’re looking to generate more eye care patients quickly, a targeted ads campaign might work best. Again, your marketing consultant should be able to create a plan that will deliver maximum results and sustain business growth.

elements on an optometry marketing strategy

3. Do They Offer A Full Range of Digital Marketing Services?

Hiring a full-service marketing company doesn’t mean you have to use everything it offers. Services can be purchased separately or as a package, depending on your practice’s needs and objectives. The process begins with a personalized and comprehensive website audit, analysis, or research to identify the most direct and cost-effective approach to reaching your business goals.

A skilled marketing company can create a strategy that meets your budget, your goals, and your practice’s needs.

Their services include:

For most optometry practices, the goal of hiring a full-service marketing company is to generate more ideal eye care patients, outrank their local competitors, get to the top of Google search results, improve their online reputation, increase brand awareness, retain more patients, and optimize listings on top healthcare sites.

4. Check For The Kind Of Support You Will Receive As A Client

It’s important to have a good working relationship with your optometry marketing consultant. In the initial conversation, you’ll want to ask if they have a support team available to you at any time to answer questions about your eye care website or marketing strategy. In addition, ask if there are resources available to you like digital marketing webinars, ebooks, blogs, and tools designed to help your practice grow.

For your website, you’ll want to make sure you are able to make unlimited edits to your site yourself or have a team member make those changes for you. Check out their website gallery to see what type of themes they offer and if they are relevant to your specializations and practice style.

Lastly, see if they invest in improving their marketing services and adding more features built to generate more patients. A company that updates its products and services values its clients’ success and puts their clients’ best interests first.

5. See What Their Customers Have To Say About Them

Do your research beforehand! It’s important to check their online reviews to see what previous and current clients have to say about them. You’ll want to see what type of experience you might receive as a client. You can also look at their website for client testimonials to hear it from someone who is currently working with them and to see what type of results they have generated since signing up.

For example, Dr. Cecilia Nguyen, O.D. at Today’s Vision Barker Cypress shares how iMatrix has helped her increase her online visibility, generate more reviews and outrank her local eye care competitors.

Don’t just rely on a marketing expert’s recommendations, look into their online reputation to help you make an informed decision.

6. Keep Your Budget in Mind & Look for Flexible Prices

Your budget should always be kept in mind when communicating with various eye care marketing consultants. Many factors must also be considered in determining a budget, such as your practice size, your revenue per patient, the types of patients you want to treat, the eye care products that you sell, and what your local competitors are doing. Here are a few marketing pricing questions you should ask:

What’s included in your digital marketing services?
How much is it going to cost?
Are your payments flexible?
Are their different plans available?

You’ll want to find a marketing consultant that is able to provide you with sufficient services at a reasonable price.

Let Us Help You With Your Optometry Marketing Strategy

As you gain a better understanding of what you should look for when choosing a marketing consultant for your optometry practice, iMatrix is happy to provide you with a free marketing consultation.

See how we can help you attract more eye care patients, increase sales, target specific eye care conditions, symptoms, and services, become more visible online, save time, and money.

Give us a call at 888.792.8384 or click here to schedule your free personalized marketing consultation.