Three steps to prepare your optical

Back-to-school season is just around the corner, which means now is the prefect time to start preparing so you do not miss out on this unique time to grow your practice and financial bottom-line. Here are three simple steps to start your optical preparation!

1 IMPLEMENT A MARKETING STRATEGY

First, decide who you will target for back-to-school season. Options include families with school-aged children and/or college students. This could start with educating your community and patient families about the importance of annual comprehensive eye examinations to safeguard eye health and academic performance.

For school-aged children, targeted flyers, announcements and fact-focused information sheets could also be distributed at pediatrician offices, schools, day care centers and churches. For college students, consider focusing on contact lens exams, contact lens care best practices, backup glasses and/or sunglasses and contact lens rebates.

To truly maximize potential revenue, I find it is also best to have advertisements, announcements and targeted emails out by July for the Northeast United States, or four to eight weeks before school starts.

A marketing strategy could also be paired with August’s Children’s Eye Health & Safety month or September’s Sports Eye Safety Awareness month. Many school-aged children are prepping for fall sports season, and this themed awareness is an easy way to promote children eye examinations and sports safety. (Optometric Management has a great monthly feature with themed resources available at optometricmanagement.com/social-media-hot-list/2021 ).

WHEN IS BACK TO SCHOOL?

Well, the answer depends greatly on your region. Pew Research Center compiled this data based on 509 school districts representing elementary and secondary schools’ 2019 school start dates. The most popular dates include:

2 ENGAGE YOUR PATIENTS

Nothing engages patients more on social media than a contest or giveaway. Contest options include photo competitions, “This or That” voting/polls (Instagram), “Caption This Photo,” or creative hashtags. This year, our practice will be doing a “Teacher Only” giveaway, in which teachers in our local communities will post a picture of themselves wearing their favorite eyewear with the hashtag “#eyesbysmarteyecare” for a $300 to $500 credit toward a purchase in our optical.

I’ve also seen optometry offices across the United States hold coloring contests for “littles” (<5 years of age) and ugly glasses photo competitions for teens. This is a fun and creative way to build up buzz around your optical or optometry practice.

It would also be fun to ask your staff for ideas to equally engage them in back-to-school season.

3 INCENTIVIZE PATIENTS IN THE OPTICAL

For August, our practice often does a back-to-school campaign that offers complimentary polycarbonate material upgrades and blue-light lens treatments for full frame and lens purchases for children younger than age 18. This is a great way to bring patients into the optical and also ensures patients are in a product that is advantageous to their ocular health.

Something else to consider: With a heightened awareness of screen time, parents are interested in blue-light protection. Enticing consumers in the door by offering “free blue-light treatment” on glasses creates an opportunity to educate about eye health and offer solutions to minimize digital eye strain. Incentives drive consumer behavior. It’s a win-win when the incentive benefits a patient’s ocular health and the bottom line.

Planning accordingly for back-to-school season can have great financial implications for your practice. It is worth the time to make sure your optical is ready to provide the necessary tools and services to help your patients to step into school season with their best vision and eyewear look. OM

Dr. QUINT is a co-owner of Smart Eye Care in Maine. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and optometric practice management. She was the 2019 Theia Young O.D. Award winner and consults for Allergan.