Content Ideas to Promote your Eye Care Practice

Here are some content ideas you can use to promote your eye care practice.

Because it’s no secret in today’s online marketing world that every business owner needs to create content to get noticed, I’ve created some content ideas to help you promote your Eye care practice. These are certainly not all inclusive, but they may spark some of that creativity you’ve been dying to exercise!

Before I get started with the content ideas, I wanted to share with you some basics of content marketing.

When creating content to attract more patients, it’s important to keep these 4 things in mind:

1. Make sure your content is relevant for your patient “avatar(s)” (this is what digital marketers call their ideal patients/customers/clients – I now prefer to use the word “human” instead of “avatar” to depict a real person). It doesn’t make sense to create content that won’t excite your current patients or attract new patients. Defining your patient avatar(s) is imperative to the success of your online marketing. All of your website content should be written with this in mind. To learn more about creating or tapping into your ideal patient (avatar), click here.
2. You also want to write content that’s relatable to your ideal patient. If you’re writing about the latest advances in sports vision therapy, but your ideal patient has been identified as a 65-year-old who doesn’t play any sports, but is an avid computer day trader, you probably won’t relate!
3. In this crowded space of digital marketing, it’s getting much more difficult to stand out from your competition (hence the reason this blog was born!), so you have to make your content, and yourself, more remarkable. Ask yourself these questions: “How am I better than my competition? How can I stand out? What makes me unique in my practice’s location? Why would a patient want to see me instead of Dr. [insert your biggest competitions’ names]?” Not only do you need to answer those questions, but you also need to answer the toughest one: “HOW will potential patients see that I’m remarkable?” The sections to follow will spark ideas for you.
4. Lastly, your content needs to be timely. Once you tap into who your ideal patients are and where they hang out online, you need to make sure the topics you’re discussing are the most current for them.

Before I get started with the ideas, however, I want to talk about the kinds of content you can create. This will also most surely spark some creativity on your end.

Forms of content to promote your eyecare practice

In other words, where are you posting this content?

Blog Posts

Your Own Website/Blog: This is, by far, one of the best forms of content you can create because it belongs to YOU. When you post content on social media, you are at the mercy of the company that owns that particular platform. Not that Facebook is going away anytime soon, but there are often changes that may affect the content, itself, or the number of people that will see your content. I’ve also seen companies lose their content (though rare) because they violated Facebook’s Terms of Agreement and their Facebook page was taken down! Having said that, social media is one of the best places to share your blog posts (more on that in a minute) and get even more engagement for your content.

Posting to your blog on a regular basis (consistency is key) will also have the following benefits:

1. increase your rankings on Google (there are blog posting “best practices” that I’ll share with you in a later post),
2. give you more opportunity to share content on social media and other places,
3. start positioning you as an expert, and
4. build trust with your current and potential patients. People like doing business with people they know, like, and trust.

Others’ Blogs/Newsletters: You’ll see some ideas below that suggest writing for some of your professional connections’ newsletters, blogs, and more. Don’t underestimate the power of writing for others as they are already reaching out to their demographic, which may be your perfect avatar. In a later post, I will give you ideas on how to find the right connections that make sense for your avatar(s), build a relationship with those connections by providing value to them, and ultimately get referrals from them to grow your practice.

Social Media Posts 

Sites like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and more are great places to share original content, your blog posts, and other curated content (content you get from others). As I’m sure you’ve realized, you can no longer NOT be active on these popular sites. Believe me, even if you’re not on these platforms talking about your practice, your patients most likely are.

I’ll also mention here that live video is becoming very popular on many social media sites. If you’re a bit shy about getting in front of the camera, no worries, I’ll have more ideas for you in future blog posts!

Facebook™ Live and Facebook™ Local

One of the quickest ways to grow your practice is by using Facebook Live. The best way to get patients to know, like, and trust you is to have them see you discussing the latest eye wear products and eye care technology that will help them save time, money, and their eyesight! Specific ideas for what you can showcase are listed  in the ideas section below.

In addition, there’s more potential than ever for local businesses and practices to promote themselves by using the new Facebook Local app – check out this explanation by Social Media Examiner’s Mike Stelzner as he talks to the “Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith and Alisa Meredith:

This is going to give apps like Yelp a run for their money!

You’ll want to drive followers to your practice’s Facebook page, then provide consistent Facebook Live broadcasts (I usually recommend once per week, at least) to attract more patients to your eye care practice.

YouTube Videos

One of the first questions I ask my eye care clients about marketing online is this:“What is the number one search engine?” to which they always reply “Google.”

Then I ask the next question: “What is the number two search engine?” They ALWAYS get it wrong!

The answer is YouTube.

Then I ask “Who owns YouTube?” Most of them don’t know this answer, either.

You may have guessed by now, it’s Google.

Doesn’t it make sense, then, that creating YouTube videos may be a smart way to increase your rankings on Search Engine Results Pages (known as SERPs in the online marketing world)? This, in turn, gets more clicks to your website which, if your website is optimized for conversion, should attract more patients into your practice or online store.

You can stream live video right to your YouTube channel about any of the content ideas listed below. Then (and this is the oh-so-awesome part about this!), your YouTube live stream can be recorded and added to your channel for further search engine optimization and a way to point back to your website! More ways your avatar(s) can find you when searching for local eye doctors.

Podcast Episodes

One of the biggest audience-builders (and, hence practice builders) that has arrived within the past few years is Podcasting. If you haven’t listened to one of these yet, it’s like having your own radio show that you create on iTunes (or other platforms) where you get to decide what types of content you create for your listeners. Two of the major formats are:

1. Host only, where you are the only one talking and
2. Interview, where you (the host) interview guests you believe would make sense for your audience.

Why podcasting? Think about it. We are a culture of wanting things NOW and of trying to multitask because we have too many things on our plates. Statistics show that listening to podcasts has increased by audiences around the world. It is a way for us to learn something while we drive to work, do chores, workout, and more.

Wouldn’t you love to know that someone is listening to your voice in his or her ears, positioning you as someone they trust because they hear you and your advice? Audiences feel closer to these podcasters, who they begin to look at as major influencers in their industry or profession.

Ideas for content you can use to promote your Eyecare practice

These ideas will work for either your current patients (to increase their trust in you to become raving fans and refer more patients) or to attract new patients to your practice. 

These ideas are just to get you thinking about the types of content you can create. I suggest keeping a notepad (either physically, on your smart phone’s notepad, or in a software app like Evernote) to jot content ideas every time you think of them. Most ideas will pop into your head when you’re NOT sitting at the computer trying to write or record your content.

Your Eye Care Practice News

Any time you add new technology, services (eg. vision therapy), staff, location, or anything you deem newsworthy and relevant for your perfect patient avatar, don’t be afraid to brag about yourself.

Eye Conditions 

I wouldn’t just stick to the basic stuff. Everyone does that! You want to stand out as an expert. Produce content about more serious eye conditions, emergency eye treatments (of course, being careful not to subject yourself to liability), and rare eye diseases.

Specialty Practice Offerings

As part of your content, always offer the number of doctors in the area that provide this benefit. If there are no others, even better. Don’t assume potential patients know that your practice provides these special offerings. Or that they even exist. Patients were always surprised when we told them about vision therapy. And even more surprised when the results were life-changing!

• If your practice provides vision therapy, discuss the undiagnosed signs and symptoms associated with learning-related vision problems and how you can remedy them. So many people are still in the dark about this. Show them examples of how patients perform before and after a course of vision therapy is completed. Consider writing content as a guest blogger for any schools in your area to explain the benefit of vision therapy to students that show typical signs. You can also create a YouTube video about vision therapy and try to get featured on a local news station. We did this twice simply by reaching out to all of the local radio and tv stations. It’s not as hard as you may think. A subcategory of this would be writing about your sports vision therapy practice if you have one. Consider writing content for local schools, colleges, sporting goods stores, extracurricular sports teams, and if you’re fortunate enough to live in an area that hosts semi-professional and professional sports’ teams, most definitely  get your content in front of them.
• If you fit Ortho-K lenses, discuss the criteria for the best refractive error that this would remedy and describe the process. Think about professions that may benefit the most from this and make sure your content gets in front of them.
• Discussing Low Vision evaluations and devices can be easy content to write for local retina specialists, nursing homes, and centers for low vision rehabilitation if you have established good relationships with them through professional networking.
• Other specialty contact lens offerings such as multifocal contacts (yes, you can still call this a specialty as many Optometrists do not like to fit multifocal lenses – they feel it takes up too much chair time!), scleral lenses, and ortho-k lenses as discussed above.

Events

• Discuss local health fairs, free eye care screenings, or practice open houses you’ll be attending or hosting. Create offers specifically for attendees (20% off sunglasses, etc.) and promote these events on all of your social media platforms and other platforms that help you promote offers (like Groupon).
• Don’t forget to promote educational events held at your office for current and potential professional referral resources, current patients, and potential patients. Think outside the box on this one! If you provide vision therapy, have an event for the local school nurses, principles, and teachers. Or, if you provide sports vision therapy, hold an event for the local sports complexes, sporting good stores, batting cage entertainment companies, etc.

Community Involvement

• Patients LOVE it when you get involved in your local community. It shows that you really care about the people who live in your area, it increases your visibility and keeps you top of mind when potential patients are looking for an eye doctor, and it gets you valuable referrals.
• Include events that you and/or your staff attend as well as charitable events or donations your office hosts. We often don’t want to brag about ourselves, but if you don’t, who will? Don’t trust that your good deeds are being discussed – take control and make SURE they are being discussed.

Use Content Marketing to Promote Your Eye Care Practice, Attract More Patients, and Grow Your Profits

By implementing even just a few of these ideas, your content marketing efforts will promote your practice, help you attract more patients, and ultimately grow your profits. As you know, it’s no longer a “build it and they will come” mentality. This pertains to building a physical practice as well as a digital presence. There’s just too much competition, threats of online eye exams, the explosion of online eye wear companies, eye wear industry mergers and acquisitions, and eye care insurances often dictating our decisions.