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Marketing Your Optometry Practice in 5 Steps
There are plenty of effective methods out there for marketing your optometry business. Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just starting out, there are always ways you can spread the word about your company. Here are some steps you can take to market your optometry practice:
1. Engage on Social Media
If you haven’t already developed a social media strategy, you might be way behind your competition. Make sure you are present and active on all the major social media platforms and create action plans to deploy on each. Also, you might consider participating in paid social advertisements to spread the word about your brand at a faster rate.
2. Create an Email Strategy for Repeat Business
According to a 2018 report by Emarsys, 80% of businesses use email as their primary tool for customer acquisition and retention. So how do the most successful companies accomplish this? A great place to start is an email list of prospects and consumers relevant for marketing your optometry business. Then you can send out special promotions to convert leads and encourage past customers to engage with your services.
You might even send transactional emails to customers, which contain electronic copies of their receipts. According to research from Mailgun Technologies, transactional emails have an open rate of 80 to 85%, which is much higher than the average marketing email. Having the ability to send transactional emails, even after purchases in brick-and-mortar locations, can lead to increased brand recognition and repeat business.
3. Social and Community Outreach
Community involvement marketing is a strategic approach aimed at building relationships with local communities. So you might connect with nonprofit organizations that operate in your area to establish a partnership. Or you might initiate a relationship with nearby schools. These partnerships can make a big impact on your brand’s reputation, making socially conscious shoppers more likely to engage with your business. And they can also improve brand recognition, making more consumers aware of your products and services.
4. Improve Your Google Local Search
Google has updated its approach to promoting businesses in certain regions. So when someone searches “car wash,” for instance, the first few listings will likely be car washes in the same or approximate zip code as the searcher. Google explains further ways businesses can improve their presence in Google’s Local Search feature:
- Verify your location
- Add and update business hours
- Include all relevant information, such as phone number, address, and business type
- Insert high-quality photos
- Respond to customer reviews
When someone local searches for “eye doctor near me,” you want to make sure you’re coming up at the top of that list for the best results when marketing your optometry practice.
5. Strategize Your Google Ads
Originally launched almost two decades ago, Google Ads first operated under the name Adwords before undergoing rebranding in 2018. This paid advertising channel is a pay-per-click (PPC) strategy. So businesses pay for each click or impression on an ad appearing on the search engine. PPC promotions are effective in lead generation, helping to get a return on investment.
To optimize your PPC strategy on Google Ads, you may want to link Google Analytics to the ad and to your website. HubSpot suggested that businesses set up conversion tracking on Google Ads to inform exactly how many leads and consumers they’ve gained from a particular ad. It becomes clear pretty quickly that a PPC campaign isn’t enough without a solid action plan.
Marketing Your Optometry Business with Working Capital
When you’re ready to grow your business, you may want to take part in certain marketing initiatives. But if you don’t have the room in your current budget to invest in these strategies, it may be smart to invest in working capital. Marketing business loans from QuickBridge can provide the financial help you need to begin paid promotions and advertising. Our small business loans can help companies in all industries grow and thrive, including your optometry business.
