8 Best Optometry Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Practice

Looking for optometry marketing ideas to grow your practice?

This blog post will cover some of the most effective strategies that will help generate more visits.

1. Improve Your Google My Business Listing

For local-based businesses like optometrists, it’s imperative to show up in locally-based search results (i.e. Google Maps and Google search).

First and foremost, that means improving your Google Maps listing (also known as your Business Profile) via your Google My Business account. While Google outlines the foundational ways to improve your ranking here, you’ll notice that the more ratings you have (and the more positive they are), the more your ranking will improve.

At the same time, more positive reviews also create more trust and credibility for the actual humans trying to decide which optometrist is best for them.

2. Invest in Local SEO

Just like Google My Business, local search engine optimization (SEO) is also critical for brick and mortar businesses and for optometry marketing in particular.

It’s all about ensuring your website shows up at the top of Google search results when people enter “Vancouver optometrist” (and other similar location-based searches) into their search bar. 

This topic alone is very vast, but a good place to start is by incorporating location-based keywords into your webpages, including your about page and service pages. 

A digital marketing agency can help with this.

3. Referral Marketing

We talk a lot about referral marketing on our blog. That’s because it’s so effective! Again, it goes back to that trust factor.

When we consider that research shows recommendations from family and friends are the most credible, it’s easy to see why you would want to leverage your current customer base by incentivizing them to refer you to others.

4. Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads

There are many different types of online ads, but Google PPC ads are more effective for optometrists because they show ads to people who are searching for eye care services in that exact moment.

This is particularly significant for optometrists given that most people tend to only visit an eye doctor when they have a particular problem. Unless you are targeting people who already visited your website via remarketing, PPC ads are more effective than simply showing your ad to people who may not have any intention of visiting an eye doctor for another couple of years.

5. Social Media Giveaways/Contests

Most optometrists are already posting on social media regularly. 

But it’s also important to incorporate highly engaging content in the form of giveaways and contests. These can help generate more brand awareness or even leads in some cases.

As an example, “tag three friends to win” type giveaways are always popular on social media and can be a great way to generate awareness for your practice.

For instance, Hakim Optical launched a “Canadian Staycation Contest” that enters people into a draw when they tag themselves wearing glasses.

6. Offer Online Booking

Scheduling software makes it possible to add “Book Now” buttons to your website and social pages. Convenience is key in today’s world, and these buttons effectively keep your practice open 24/7, giving you an edge over eye care centres that only accept appointments during business hours.

Here’s the thing: various studies continue to show that up to 40% of bookings happen after hours. So once again, if you can leverage this, it can work to your advantage.

Research has also shown that out-of-hours appointments are very popular as well, so it stands to wager that this would also extend to online booking.

While we are most certainly biased, more and more optometrists are offering online booking. 

In fact, not only can it put your practice on the scheduler’s own Marketplace of people, promoting your practice to thousands of people searching for services like yours, but it also reduces revenue loss due to no-shows. A scheduling software also promotes more bookings through automated rebooking reminders (such as yearly exam reminders and so on).

7. Influencer Marketing (Paid Partnerships)

Another way to market your optometry practice is through a paid partnership with a locally-based influencer.

Influencing marketing continues to be an avenue that businesses are investing in. For instance, Influencer Marketing Hub’s most recent benchmark report showed some important insights, including:

• The industry is expected to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021
• 90% of respondents believe it to be an effective form of marketing

As for the ROI, their 2019 study showed that businesses make $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing.

Hakim Optical, for instance, partnered with entrepreneur Claire Buchanan with the Instagram handle “crueltyfreewithme” to advertise their glasses. 

8. Boosted Posts

Boosted posts are controversial, but because organic reach on social media is so low these days, boosted ads are a great way to make sure strategic posts are actually reaching your customer base.

Wrapping It Up

What has worked for you when it comes to optometry marketing? Let us know in the comments!