Top ophthalmology marketing and advertising strategies

In 2019, the average person in the U.S. reported spending nearly four hours per day on their mobile devices. And they’re not just idly scrolling. Prospective patients are making important decisions about their healthcare online. They’re researching providers, conditions, and treatments before they book appointments. Ophthalmology practices that are maximizing digital marketing opportunities are growing and succeeding in this competitive landscape.

Referrals and word-of-mouth are no longer sufficient to sustain your ophthalmology practice. You need a robust set of digital-first strategies for prospective patients to find your practice and get to know you online. The good news is that the rise of digital solutions is not just better for patients, but it offers huge advantages to ophthalmologists as well.

While traditional marketing and advertising tactics remain useful, they can be costly and don’t offer as much control, flexibility, or data to track their effectiveness. On the other hand, digital marketing and advertising put ophthalmology practice owners in the driver’s seat. It allows them to maximize their return on investment with data and use advanced targeting to reach the right people at the right time.

Here are a few of digital marketing’s many benefits:

• You set the budget and scope. Even with a modest budget, digital marketing can deliver a strong return on investment (ROI). And you, as the practice operator, have total control over how much you spend and who you want to reach. Proven digital-first marketing strategies allow you to set your targeting preferences and desired outcomes. Choose your audience by age, location, demographics, and interests or attributes, and then choose how many impressions, clicks, or conversions you want to pay for. It’s highly customizable to your needs, and with so much digital ad space available, you have nearly limitless options.
• You know what’s working (and what’s not). Once your digital marketing campaigns are up and running, you have access to real-time analytics to measure how well they’re performing. That level of insight is simply not available with more traditional marketing and advertising methods. Performance data also helps drive decision-making, so you don’t waste time and money on tactics that aren’t working.
• You adjust as you go. Digital advertising lets you refine your strategies as you go. You can swap out the headline, text, or image on low-performing posts or ads, or adjust the budget to scale up content that’s delivering great results. This allows you to get creative and try new things, since nothing is set in stone (or print).

Digital marketing can also help grow your ophthalmology brand, building recognition for the world-class eye care you provide. Strong branding starts with an attractive visual identity, which includes a well-designed logo, pleasing color palette, and simple typeface.

Meeting your practice growth goals begins with attracting new patients. Sixty percent of people look online regularly when seeking a new doctor, dentist, or medical provider, according to a 2021 survey by PatientPop. Even before patients begin searching for a provider, they’re looking online for answers to common health-related questions. That’s why attracting new patients often depends on how visible your ophthalmology practice is online.

That’s why maximizing your online presence is important to your patient acquisition strategy. First, an attractive, modern, and high-performing website is a must. Thriving ophthalmology practices also claim their listings on online provider directories, such as Google My Business and Yelp. Making sure your practice is well represented everywhere online that a prospective patient might spend time not only drives patient conversion, but it can also boost your search engine ranking.

Managing your online reputation also has a real impact on patient acquisition. Most healthcare consumers (69 percent) will only consider a provider with an average 4.0 rating (out of 5) or higher, according to PatientPop. Google calculates your overall star rating by averaging the star ratings from your patient reviews. Soliciting patient feedback with automated surveys after every appointment shows patients you care about their experience, and also increases the likelihood that they will proactively write a review on sites, including Google or Yelp.

Standing out in the digital marketplace is imperative for ophthalmology practice growth. You need a powerful online presence that includes top-notch website design, up-to-date online profiles, an engaging social media presence, and an exceptional online reputation.

Your website is a critical element of your ophthalmology practice’s online presence. Your ophthalmology practice website is the one place on the web that you have full control over. Invest in an impactful website design, and make sure it’s optimized for mobile and loads quickly. Offering detailed information on your providers, staff, the conditions you treat and the unique services you offer can help patients determine if you’re a good fit for their ophthalmology needs.

Here are some key elements a first-rate ophthalmology website should include:

• Information about providers. Include professional bios and photos for every provider on your staff. Make sure to include additional information about your providers’ approach to patient care.
• Office location and contact details. Prospective patients should know how to locate and contact you at first glance. One-click contact buttons for mobile users are also helpful for conversion.
• Patient testimonials and reviews. An excellent patient review is probably the best free publicity in your toolbox. Prominently display patient testimonials and online reviews on your website as this can convince website visitors to make an appointment.
• Content that showcases quality of care. List the specific eye conditions and diseases you treat, and provide in-depth information about the quality care and treatments your ophthalmology practice provides. Focus your content on your specific expertise, whether you’re a leading expert on pediatric conditions like strabismus or amblyopia or an expert on cataract surgery or macular degeneration. The more information prospective patients can get from your website, the less they have to rely on other sources.
• A clear call to action. Make it easy and convenient for prospective patients to take action. For ophthalmologists, this generally means booking an appointment or contacting your practice. Offering online scheduling can increase your odds of converting website visitors, so make it easy by putting a “Schedule an Appointment” button front and center on every page of your site. Other calls to action could include prompts to follow your practice on social media, subscribe to a newsletter or watch a video on a complex eye health topic. Getting visitors to take action increases engagement and improves your odds of landing more new patients.

When it comes to your online presence, many will see your website first, but others may encounter your practice in an online provider directory, on social media, or in a search engine. Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward, regardless of how or where your practice is found.

Start by taking stock of all the places your practice is represented online. There are many healthcare provider directories in today’s digital world, and using them to your advantage means more free promotion for your practice. Claim your profiles, update all contact information, include a link to your website, and upload photos or other personalized elements to differentiate your listing from the competition.

Google My Business, in particular, is worth your time. Updated and complete profiles on Google My Business are a major factor in determining Google’s “local pack”, the top results highlighted in a standout box of a search results page.

Social media is another important tool for optimizing your online presence. Many healthcare consumers consult their Facebook networks for business recommendations. Make sure all the practice information listed on your profile is up-to-date, share blog content to drive traffic back to your website, and make an effort to engage in conversation with page visitors – answering questions or responding to feedback in a timely manner.

Your online reputation is also a critical element of your online presence. In fact, the star rating Google gives you from your online reviews is a key measure of your online performance. It not only impacts your reputation itself, but it can control whether or not you show up in searches such as “best ophthalmologist near me,” because any practice with less than four stars will be filtered out of any ‘best’ search query results. Having a higher volume and frequency of reviews can help you improve your star rating while also enhancing your search engine optimization efforts. Practices that implement automated patient satisfaction surveys can improve review volume as patients who are asked for feedback are twice as likely to submit a proactive online review.

Thriving ophthalmology practices take patient satisfaction seriously. They know that a strong patient-provider relationship increases patient retention and an excellent online reputation helps drive patient acquisition.

Prioritizing patient satisfaction leads to more word-of-mouth recommendations, better online reviews, and even more engagement on social media, which can all help bring in more patients to your practice. Patients who feel you care about their experience and are responsive to their needs feel a stronger sense of connection to your ophthalmology practice.

Even ophthalmology practices that get most of their new patients from direct referrals need to have reputation management strategies in place. Even with a referral in hand, most people who need ophthalmological care will first go online to research your practice by browsing patient reviews, visiting your website, and perusing your social media content.

Here are some top tips for increasing patient satisfaction and maintaining a top-notch reputation:

• Offer convenience. Digital tools for appointment scheduling and intake paperwork, options for telehealth care, text message appointment reminders, and automated patient surveys are becoming the norm for modern ophthalmology practices. Consumers have come to expect a greater level of convenience and ease in today’s digital world, and healthcare is no exception. Ophthalmologists who use preferred patient communication methods — for example, nearly 67 percent of patients want text message appointment reminders — will differentiate their practice in the competitive digital marketplace.
• Request reviews and feedback. It’s important to regularly solicit patient reviews. Qualitative feedback about the patient experience can also give you valuable insights you wouldn’t otherwise get that can drive practice improvements. Again, the best way to get feedback is to make it easy and convenient for patients to share their experiences with you. By automating patient surveys after every appointment, patients can respond in real time with just the click of a button.
• Respond to concerns. Even the best ophthalmology practices will get some negative feedback from time to time. Responding to a negative review shows prospective patients that you genuinely care about the patient experience and are committed to patient satisfaction. In fact, in a 2021 survey by PatientPop, patients listed a “good listener” as what they want most from a healthcare provider.
• Reduce wait times. Moving intake paperwork and registration online means patients can spend less time in the waiting room. Lengthy waits and negative interactions with staff are common causes of patient attrition and bad online reviews. A streamlined intake and registration process helps alleviate those problems and improve the patient experience.
• Engage regularly. Reaching out to patients on an ongoing basis keeps them connected to your ophthalmology practice and may increase return visits, word-of-mouth recommendations, and patient loyalty. Content marketing tactics such as email campaigns, blogging, and social media are a great way to keep in touch with existing patients and stay top-of-mind for them when they think about eye care. Providing timely and relevant information about new treatment options, common eye conditions, and reminders for comprehensive eye exams and vision testing are all excellent ways to stay in touch.