For years, the only real marketing medical practices such as ophthalmologist surgeries had to do was provide excellent service in a well-maintained practice. Word of mouth and customer loyalty pretty much took care of the rest. Even if you could invest in TV or radio ads, the public might be suspicious and think it’s unsavory for a doctor to use such explicit methods of self-promotion.

Also, customers don’t feel the same sense of obligation or duty once they’ve had a good experience somewhere, so they’re less loyal. With so much access to information online, they can search around and try out different places. As such, ophthalmologists’ marketing should be aimed at both acquiring new patients and inspiring loyalty from previous ones.

You can use social media, your website and content marketing to drive additional loyalty from customers and increase your visibility online. It’s easy to slip into comfortable habits and stop updating your website and digital output — but this could be lethal for business. The marketplace is changing faster than ever, so to keep up, you’ll need to continually update your digital marketing offering. Some important aspects of ophthalmologists’ marketing in the modern era include:

Where the outside of your surgery used to be the first impression clients would get, it’s now your website in most cases. In the last couple of years, people have started using mobile devices more than any other way to access information — so all your digital output should be optimized for every device.

Missing out on these details could be costing you potential patients. The modern consumer is discerning and fickle, so you’ve got to find creative ways to engage them and hold their attention — all while still delivering the same excellent standards of service.

One of the most useful aspects of your digital marketing efforts is access to extensive data. You can learn about who visits your website and how long they stay on it and identify which areas they leave. By doing this, you can refine the online patient experience exactly as you would for their experience in the ophthalmology practice itself.

By using real data instead of guesswork, you take out any biases or preferences and make decisions based on what works and what doesn’t.

If you haven’t optimized your website for local SEO, you’re missing out on so much. Potential patients will find it harder to find your website, there will be less valuable content to engage them with on your website and you’ll miss out on highly lucrative local Google search intent. People are searching for services near them more and more — and Google is encouraging it. You can use the tools provided by Google to make the most out of these local search intentions while paving the way for a strong online presence and a torrent of inbound leads from prospective patients searching locally.