Optical Marketer

OP TICALM A R K E T ER SUPPLEMENT TO VCPN & OPTOMETRIC OFFICE

MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR EYE CARE PROFESSIONALS

INSIDE

YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT & FIRST IMPRESSIONS

HOW TO BUILD

A SOLID MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

4 WAYS

TO MAXIMIZE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION AUTOMATE YOUR WAY TO

HAPPIER PATIENTS AND A MORE EFFICIENT PRACTICE

THIS ISSUE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

SEO

PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE

Optimized for mobile devices with SEO, online appointment requests, eye health videos and articles, and an unlimited number of pages and updates included.

SOCIAL MEDIA We set up and design your social media pages to unify your online branding. We also update content twice a week.

DIGITAL MESSAGING

Innexus® is an all-in-one, don’t-do-it-yourself solution designed by certified optical professionals with extensive experience in optometry and ophthalmology.

Unlimited email, text and phone calls for recall, appointment reminders, eyewear ready notifications, surveys, eBlasts, and more.*

MARKETING MATERIALS Professionally designed point-of-sale pieces with staff implementation instructions and website graphics for your practice.

ROI REPORTING

LEARN MORE AT GETINNEXUS.COM OR CALL 888.963.8894 *Innexus PRO includes a full subscription to Solutionreach.

Quarterly ROI reports review email, social media analytics, survey feedback, and more to track your growth.

YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS The question is no longer “will” you market your practice online, but “how well” will you do it? Patients no longer pick up the yellow pages and search alphabetically by a category and name.

Instead, they search online for instant solutions to their product or service needs. Today, nearly two-thirds of all Americans own a smartphone1 and 88% of all local searches are performed from a mobile device.2 For many prospective patients, their first impression of your practice will be formed by your website as viewed from their smartphone, your social media activity, and your online reviews.

Ninety-two percent of consumers read online reviews to judge a business, and 33% of those are doing so on a regular basis. 3 Second only to restaurants, reviews for healthcare providers are the next highest business type searched for online.4 What does this mean for your practice? It means your online reputation is now more important than ever to generating new patients and staying connected with existing patients.

Has updating your website, social media, or marketing strategy been on your to-do list?

TWO-THIRDS OF ALL AMERICANS OWN A SMARTPHONE.1

CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS • Do you have a mobile responsive website including search engine optimization?

• Have you claimed your Yelp page?

• Have you claimed your Google My Business page?

• Are you posting at least 2x a week to Facebook, Twitter, & Google?

88%

• Do you send automated emails after patient visits asking and directing them where to leave a review?

• Are you regularly responding to both positive and negative online reviews?

• Are you measuring the performance and ROI of your online and offline marketing efforts?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, please keep reading. Luckily, there are companies that can help do these things cost-effectively and painlessly. There is now an all-in-one, don’t-do-it-yourself solution that integrates directly with your practice management software. Designed by certified optical professionals with extensive experience in eye care, Innexus® has three packages to help you generate new patients online, stay connected on social media, and reactivate patients with unlimited email, text, and voice calls.

how we interact with one another.

For eye care professionals running busy practices, this rapid and relentless change offers both challenge and opportunity. This ebook is designed to provide you with the knowledge, strategy, and resources required to create and maintain the best online reputation.

My hope is that you find the following information both encouraging and helpful as you continue to grow your practice.

Rapid digitalization and other emerging trends will continue to dramatically alter Samantha Toth is the resident Marketing Rockstar for Innexus® by Innereactive Media, specializing in websites, social media, and marketing, for the eye care industry. Learn more at GetInnexus.com. Samantha also authors the monthly Social Media Advisor column for First Vision Media Group publications.

OPTICAL MARKETER 3

OF ALL LOCAL SEARCHES ARE PERFORMED FROM A MOBILE DEVICE.2

CONVERTING WEBSITE VISITORS INTO PATIENTS

Consumers are now more comfortable searching the internet to find local businesses than ever before. It’s important your website is more than just a “pretty” representation of your practice, but also works as a tool to generate new patients and retain existing patients. For this reason, don’t try and do it yourself. Leave the development of this important marketing tool to the professionals.

Home

MOBILE RESPONSIVE DESIGN Professionally designed, mobile responsive sites are a necessity for all practices. In April 2015, Google released a change to their technology that resulted in a significant decrease in organic search ranking for all websites and individual pages that are not mobile responsive (designed only for large screens). This is reinforced by a powerful 61% of consumers who are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile optimized site.5

AVOID “TEMPLATE” PROVIDERS When choosing a company to develop your website, it’s important to avoid “template” service providers. Some website companies limit you to select from a number of design skins, or templates, with only a few color options, and a limited number of pages.

Although they are often inexpensive, do you really want to risk your website looking almost the exact same as your competition down the street? Of course not! A smart website anchors

your brand and establishes the first-and often unforgettable-opinion about your practice.

Innexus® websites are an ideal choice for eye care practices because they are not built using “template” technology. Every website is custom built using photos and graphics selected by the practice and they can choose from an infinite number of color and texture options. There is also no maximum to the number of pages a practice can have on their site. All three packages include unlimited updates and customer support, too.

YOU DESERVE EXPERIENCE There are a number of companies that can build websites and recite optical industry buzzwords. However, it is rare for a company to truly understand your industry, the unique challenges, and how to overcome them. When interviewing a prospective company to develop your website, if they claim to be “the leader” or “the best,” ask them for more information on how, or why they consider themselves the best.

For example, no website company boasts more experience in the eye care industry than Innexus

by Innereactive Media. All of their provided patient education content is written by American Board of Opticianry certified professionals and over half of their staff has previously worked in an optometry or ophthalmology practice. When you call or email with a website, marketing, or social media question, you can feel confident they understand everything about your business.

DID YOU KNOW?

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Sixty-one percent of consumers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile optimized site.5

ONLINE APPOINTMENT REQUESTS

EASY TO FIND INFORMATION

While digital messaging will never fully replace a phone call, it’s important to offer patients a choice of how they prefer to communicate with you. Online appointment requests are a great feature for your website and enable patients to quickly and easily submit a request with their choice of a specific day and time that works best with their schedule. Website providers like Innexus even offer multi-location support.

When patients visit your website, they care about information that applies to them and how that information can satisfy a need they have. This information should be at the top of your website’s navigation and be as quick and easy to access as possible.

PATIENT REVIEWS & TESTIMONIALS Instant access to information means people form opinions faster than ever. When researching a local business with online reviews, the majority of consumers pay the most attention to a star rating, followed closely by the number of reviews. This means it is important to prominently feature your star rating and as many positive reviews as possible. After obtaining written permission from your patients, you should include patient reviews and testimonials on your website. Innexus PRO websites have the ability to include testimonials from patients who rate you as a 4-star or higher on your homepage. Even more impressive for patients searching for you online, Innexus PRO also enables you to record and post video testimonials from satisfied patients.

AT A GLANCE

Of the 88% of consumers who use their smartphones to search for businesses online in 2015, here’s what they were looking for.

54%

53%

50%

BUSINESS HOURS 6

DRIVING DIRECTIONS7

LOCAL STORE ADDRESS 8

PATIENT EDUCATION TOOLS Your website is an incredible tool for educating patients, or promoting products and services, but they can be time-consuming and hard to do if you’re not tech-savvy. Look for a website provider that includes a library of pre-written eye health articles and videos you can select from to use on your website. If you need to spend hours writing educational pieces, you’re not making the best use of your time. Innexus websites include a variety of eye health articles and videos for practices to choose from, all written by ABO certified eye care professionals. Innexus also includes an interactive eyeball for patients to explore on your website to learn about the anatomy of their eyes.

Professionally designed, mobile responsive websites are a necessity for all practices. More affordable than ever, marketing solutions like Innexus include a professionally designed website with patient education videos, informative eye health articles, interactive eye, online appointment requests, and a number of other robust features designed to convert website visitors into patients.

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L NATURAL L A

ORGANIC SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

WHAT IS ORGANIC SEO? Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results.

WHY IS ORGANIC SEO IMPORTANT? Appearing high up on the first page of results is essential to generating new patients.

85% OF GOOGLE SEARCH PARTICIPANTS NEVER GO PAST THE FIRST PAGE OF RESULTS.10

90% OF SEARCHERS NEVER GO PAST THE THIRD PAGE.11

FOUR WAYS

TO MAXIMIZE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Practice owners are always asking about what they can do to rank higher for organic searches in search engines. They want to know how to beat out the competition, and how to get more leads. Organic SEO is the process used to obtain a higher ranked listing in search results without paying for them. In fact, you cannot purchase higher rankings from major search engines. You can bid on top paid advertising spots, but this requires a big budget, and your ads may still be blocked by users. Good organic rank can give your business the boost you need.

While many people believe they have to do something secretive and mysterious for SEO, the truth is there really is no mystery. Search engines rank listings based on a complex algorithm designed to seek out and list quality content. The secret to ranking higher without paying for it is simple: create and share good content.

It may be an old phrase, but the reason we say “content is king” is because generating relevant keyword-rich content for your website is far more important than trying to get very detailed with SEO. However, it does take time, and does not produce quick results. If you’re focusing energy on SEO, but not generating good content, you’re not going to get anywhere. It’s like sending out a really beautiful resume with no credentials listed. You’re just not going to get anywhere.

The truth is, a lot of business owners decide they don’t have time to post to their social media accounts and update their own website. That’s totally understandable, and it’s why many eye care professionals choose to partner with an optical marketing and website company like Innexus. Innexus by Innereactive Media stays on top of social trends, and has ABO certified copywriters and social media specialists on staff who work closely with their clients on content strategy.

Regardless of your partnership decision, here are some SEO tips you can follow to help get your website higher in organic search engine results.

DID YOU KNOW?

6 OPTICAL MARKETER

Reviews for healthcare providers are the second highest business type searched for online.4

SEO TIPS UPDATING YOUR BLOG

CONSISTENT DIRECTORY LISTINGS

Regular content updates like blogging greatly increase SEO. Search engines like Google use what’s called “spiders” to “crawl” your website on a regular basis. If you change your content frequently, the spiders come back more often because the search engines want to have the latest information on what you do. During the crawling process, the spiders pick up information about you: keywords you’re using in your content, overall content quality (including length, how varied your media is if you include pictures or video, and other factors), and less visible information including metadata that is coded into your website. Writing good, original, regular content for your website is the best thing you can do for SEO. Many busy practice owners consider marketing programs like Innexus PRO that include writing and posting blog content for your practice to make sure they’re maximizing their organic SEO potential.

Make sure the main directory websites have your correct business information, but be careful! There are some companies or services that will say they will correct every listing you have across the internet for a price. They set up huge directories with no regard for updated information, so when an unknowing practice owner comes along and requests to update their listing, the directory company says you can only do it for a fee, or that they will only update your listing if you pay for their SEO services.

That’s a scam.

COMPLETE “ABOUT US” INFORMATION Make sure all of your social media pages have correct information and an “about” section that includes your services. Having your business name and website URL on various websites with a concise “about” section that lists your services will help connect those keywords with your web presence. This SEO tip is pretty easy because you should have been prompted to do it as you were setting up your social media pages, so most people have this set already.

CONSISTENT POSTS TO SOCIAL MEDIA Post regularly to social media pages so the search engines see that you’re engaged with the public and care about connecting with your patients. Even though Google+ doesn’t have as much traffic as Facebook, posting to Google+ helps SEO.

You want your Google, Bing, and Yahoo listings to be correct, and the main directories like some Yellow Pages and Yelp, but don’t worry about chasing those unheard of directories. It’s not worth your time and won’t have a noticeable effect on your SEO. While there are many more attributes to create great organic SEO, the good news is that many of these strategies can be done for you!

GOOD NEWS!

Companies like Innexus by Innereactive Media include this type of SEO with their website development at no additional charge.

OPTICAL MARKETER 7

AUTOMATE YOUR WAY TO

HAPPIER PATIENTS AND A MORE EFFICIENT PRACTICE Here’s the simple truth for doctors running a busy practice: you can’t do it all. The reality is that advancements in technology, combined with ever-increasing regulations and rising patient expectations, have forever changed healthcare. The demands on your time are not going to decrease. The new challenge is how can you work with greater efficiency so you can focus on superior patient care while still running (and growing) a profitable practice?

The answer is automation.

Automation allows what currently must be done manually by you or your staff to be done automatically and on-demand. These innovations not only dramatically enhance efficiency, they are also designed to improve patient engagement by proactively delivering communications that are timely and responsive to better meet patient needs.

8 OPTICAL MARKETER

According to a recent Forbes Magazine article, there will be 20 billion electronic devices worldwide by 2020, translating to 10 internet connected devices per household. This unprecedented connectedness has dramatic implications for healthcare. The focus must be placed on implementing more advanced management of your practice and patient relationships in order to succeed.

Programs like Solutionreach and Innexus PRO securely integrate with the majority of PM, EHR, and EMR systems, giving your practice access to a wide range of features that significantly enhance efficiency while deepening patient engagement and communication.

IMPROVING STAFF EFFICIENCY In a traditional office, staff is often tethered to the phone, confirming appointments, making reminder calls or following up on missed appointments. This is all time that could be better spent focusing on the needs of in-office patients, or other high-value activities.

Programs like Solutionreach and Innexus PRO can effectively handle automated appointment reminders delivered through email, text, and phone call messages. In addition, this technology allows patients to confirm their appointments and even download appointment information into their digital calendar with the touch of a button.

SAY WHAT?

91%

Despite the fact that 91% of US citizens have their cell phone within reach 24/7, patients are increasingly unable or unwilling to answer phone calls.12

90%

Ninety percent of cell phone users ignore incoming phone calls.13

KEEPING PATIENTS INFORMED Many automated solutions like eBlasts and eNewsletters offer access to extensive up-to-date educational materials that can provide patients with a solid baseline of knowledge to ask better questions during their visit. In addition, they can be customized and sent via email to a group, or to an individual patient. Companies like Innexus by Innereactive Media even write the content and send it out on your behalf with approval.

DECREASING NO-SHOWS Patients who fail to show up for appointments cost your practice essential revenues. The average revenue per optometric patient is $300 and most independent doctors see about 10 patients per day. At an industry average of 10%, no-shows represent a $300 loss to the practice per day. This calculates to a loss of $1,500 per week and approximately $6,000 per month. Automated appointment reminders included with programs like Innexus PRO that include Solutionreach, have consistently seen no-show rates drop down to 4-5%. This program not only saves you $3,000+ per month in lost revenue, but it also includes marketing strategy and updates to your website and social media pages. It pays for itself.

Text messages are typically responded to within 90 seconds.14

FILLING LAST-MINUTE CANCELLATIONS Last-minute cancellations are costly and disruptive to your practice.

Since emergencies happen and they will always occur, the best solution is to try and quickly fill the slot with another patient. As opposed to manually making phone calls to patients on your wait-list, the process can happen in moments with on-demand messaging that sends mass notifications to waitlisted patients when an appointment opens up. It’s a win-win. You don’t lose revenue on a missed appointment, and the patient who fills it is appreciative that they were able to see the doctor quickly.

INCREASING PATIENT SATISFACTION Another clear benefit is the ability to administer customized patient surveys that can be sent on-demand, and automated to go out to patients immediately following their appointment. Surveys enhance patient engagement by allowing patients to readily rate their experience and share their opinions. Innexus PRO and Solutionreach also provide built in analytics, so you can quickly evaluate the data and use it to make continuous improvements in your practice based on patient feedback.

People check email on their smartphone an average of 34 times per day.15

Americans spend 26 minutes per day texting.16

Americans spend 6 minutes per day on phone calls.17

By embracing automation, you can keep pace with change and run your office more efficiently and profitably. You and your staff will benefit from spending less time on routine tasks, and your patients will experience the benefits of automated technology.

OPTICAL MARKETER 9

HOW TO BUILD A

SOLID MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY The first step toward marketing effectively comes with the creation of a marketing and social media strategy plan. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet for marketing your practice. There is no guaranteed, one-size-fits-all tactic to grow the size, quality, and ROI of your audience. Most practices select quarterly marketing topics to focus on such as digital lenses, multiple pair sales, or back to school, just to name a few.

Once these topics have been selected, start by taking advantage of the technology and benefits automated systems like Innexus PRO and Solutionreach provide to personalize your patient outreach. This customizable,

digital messaging will reach 100% of your patient base with each individual’s preferred method of communication: texts, emails, or land-line phone calls personalized with your own voice.

Practices that effectively engage their patients across all of their preferred channels will create intelligent interactions every time, today and into the future.

Professionally designed point-of-purchase should be posted around your office to help communicate your quarterly focus of your marketing plan. This should include posters, window and mirror clings, as well as content and graphics updated on your website. Lastly, social media posts

BEST POSTING PRACTICES

10%

Promotional in nature

70% 20% Sharing

other’s ideas or posts

10 OPTICAL MARKETER | MAY 2016

Add value to your business and brand recognition

at least twice per week, and monthly email blasts with a strong call-to-action should also be sent. In addition to the development of custom marketing promotions, Innexus PRO also includes printed point-of-sale marketing materials for practices.

WHAT TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA Successful practices use social media to connect with their patients on a personal level and not like a soapbox for their marketing message. Seventy percent of social media posts for a practice should be about adding value, or personality to their brand. Twenty percent of social media posts should be the sharing of articles, pictures, or other information your patients would find interesting.

Only 10% of social media posts should be promotional in nature. Marketing programs like Innexus PRO write and post content on behalf of your practice with approval. This helps make sure the value and promotional posts work in tandem with your practice’s personality posts.

DON’T OUTSOURCE 100% OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA If you were single and new to town, you might check out Match.com to meet someone.

If you did this and asked someone out on a blind date, would you ask your friend to do it for you? Would you ask them to dress like you, act like you, and talk like you? Then ask them to come and report back the next day to find out if that person liked you? Of course not! Then why would you hire a company to represent you

online 100% of the time? Programs like Innexus PRO offer supplemental posting to your social media pages two times per week to supplement your own posts.

Never should you hire a company to handle 100% of your social media. Your patients want to interact with you. Let them, and make sure you reply and respond.

to jump on their phone and “check in” on one of your social media pages. If you do a health tip, joke, or quote of the day, advertise it in your waiting room and use that as incentive to get patients to your social pages. Social media platforms change quickly, so consider working with a company like Innexus PRO to supplement your internal efforts.

The better you know your audience, the more easily you’ll produce personal posts.

Encourage patients in the waiting room

Rapid digitalization and other emerging trends will continue to alter how we interact and communicate with one

another. For doctors running busy practices, this rapid and relentless change offers both challenge and opportunity. You will be pleased with how new technology and programs can help you generate new patients, improve your efficiency, and enhance relationships with existing patients by increasing opportunities to connect and communicate with them in meaningful ways.

SOURCES: COVER: Bloomua / Shutterstock.com 1 Pew Research Center, 2 Google, 3 BrightLocal, 4 BrightLocal, 5 BrightLocal, 6 Google, 7 Google, 8 Google, 9 Bright Local, 10 Google, 11 Google, 12 Morgan Stanley via Mobile Marketing Association, 13 Netscape, 14 CTIA.org via hubspot.com, 15 Study in the journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 16 Attentiv.com, 17 Attentiv.com

SEND THE RIGHT MESSAGE, TO THE RIGHT PATIENT, AT THE RIGHT TIME. The Solutionreach platform bridges the communication gap between vision providers and their patients through effective engagement and education outreach. The tools and services from Solutionreach will increase your revenue, eliminate no-shows, and revolutionize your office efficiency.

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SEO

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WEBSITE, SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING SOLUTION Innexus® is an all-in-one, don’t-do-it-yourself solution designed by certified optical professionals with extensive experience in optometry and ophthalmology.

LEARN MORE AT GETINNEXUS.COM OR CALL 888.963.8894 *Innexus PRO includes a full subscription to Solutionreach.