Being affiliated with a corporate optical has many advantages. One of those advantages is a large marketing budget that promotes the optical.

While national brand recognition is great for foot traffic for corporate O.D.s, what many O.D.s don’t realize is that they must market themselves as well. As discussed in our New Grad column on page 8, it’s important to market your personal brand in corporate optometry as well as your medical services.

Key to that is creating online content that will help patients understand the value of your service versus “disruptive” technologies and distribution channels.

3 MARKETING STRATEGIES

Some of the important ways to promote and differentiate yourself in corporate optometry are through content marketing blogs, channels like Facebook and Instagram, and patient reviews.

3 Corporate Optometrists

Here are three great examples of how some supersavvy corporate O.D.s market their practices and gain an edge on the competition in the process.

1. CONTENT MARKETING.

This is a great way to promote eye health awareness in your practice. It also creates “trust” among your readers in the community.

Writing educational articles for your website is a great way to move up in search engines locally. Many corporate opticals will have a national marketing strategy, and corporate O.D.s can certainly capitalize on that. However, savvy corporate O.D.s also see an opportunity to capture the local market by embedding keywords in their blogs.

The goal? To attract new patients and retain old ones as well. Content marketing is a great way to become known as an expert in the local community and also to elevate the perception of the optometric office.

TIP: “One marketing avenue corporate O.D.s can really capitalize on is publishing SEO-friendly blog posts on their website. Personally, I like to create articles on medical topics and insurance that patients frequently ask me about during their exam. In doing so, you’re providing new and current patients with valuable content they can learn from. This helps you build trust within your community and on search engines like Google.”

—RYAN CORTE, O.D.,
LensCrafters, Charlotte, NC

2. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.

Another powerful marketing tool is social networking vehicles like Facebook and Instagram. Creating and posting pleasant images of your office—especially ones promoting eye health and underscoring the technology in your office—can help educate new and established patients.

The point? To direct patients to your practice…and away from disruptive technologies like purchasing eyewear online.

The image of your office on social media is vital to the future growth of your practice. Many corporate opticals will utilize social media to promote eyeglass sales or frames, focusing on value pricing. Corporate O.D.s can utilize social media platforms to target potential new patients who are focused on eye health, technology, and education, as opposed to products only.

TIP: “Social media can bring an online presence and interactions that can be powerful tools to help a practice grow. Our expenses last year for marketing and advertising were $0, and we saw incredible growth in our practice. We have patients tell us they saw a post on Instagram and they made an appointment. Pictures of patients, reviews, and health tips can be impactful when posted on Facebook and Instagram.”

—RACHEL WRUBLE, O.D.,
LensCrafters, Charlotte, NC

3. REVIEWS.

The new word-of-mouth referral is online reviews. Patients will search a practice website, Facebook reviews, Google reviews, and health grades before they decide to choose your office. These reviews will also help move corporate O.D.s up the search engines and promote an image of quality eye care for patients who are looking for services besides value eyewear and convenience.

Online reviews will continue to influence potential patients. However, you can’t take advantage of them without having a practice website and social media page.

The key? It is critical to encourage patients to leave reviews, whether that includes an incentive from the corporate optical or simply instructions for the patients on how to create and post a review.

TIP: “At times I’ve had cards made up with instructions on them on how to leave a review. IT HELPS PEOPLE! At least a few times each week, a new patient will comment that’s how they found us…based on good reviews. We used to spend as much just mailing patient recall postcards, but Solutionreach takes care of that, plus they facilitate getting those reviews.”

—PHIL NICHOLSON, O.D.,
Costco, Beltsville, MD

Taking advantage of these three ways to grow your marketing strategy in corporate optometry will create a positive practice image, ignite your personal brand, and differentiate your office from others in the area. Digital marketing is critical to practice success, so don’t miss the opportunity to use resources that many corporate opticals provide leaseholders. COT!

MARIA SAMPALIS, O.D., has been a corporate optometrist at LensCrafters, and an independent optometrist at Sears. She is the founder of the Corporate Optometry group on Facebook and corporateoptometry.com . Currently, she is owner of Sampalis Eye Care in Cranston, RI, and works part-time at For Eyes by Grand Vision in the area.