6 Essential Marketing Trends for Your Practice This 2022

Marketing is an ever-evolving field that changes yearly and even monthly at times. Successful businesses find ways to effectively adapt to each upcoming change in this sphere and use the most prominent marketing tools to improve their promotional activities. With the second half of the year coming soon, it is a great time to reassess your marketing strategies and start implementing the following practices to elevate your business for the rest of 2022.

1. Customer referral has become even more powerful.

A potential customer’s indecision dissolves when a family, friend, co-worker, or acquaintance recommends your optical store. These referring customers are called your brand advocates. Think of them as micro-influencers who can affect the thoughts and feelings of the people around them on a personal level, so if they are able to share a happy experience from your practice, there is a high chance that the other person is going to come and visit you too.

Referrals are most likely to become actual customers because these people want to have a shared experience as that with their referrer. If you are able to impress and service this new customer well, then your army of brand advocates will just keep on growing which is going to be really good for your business.

So, what’s the secret to creating loyal brand advocates? We say superb and high-quality products and services and genuine after-sales care. These are one of the best ways to make your practice top of mind when it comes to eye care.

2. Social responsibility will come to the forefront.

Businesses that focus on social responsibility appear to have been doing better in terms of marketing. Practices that endeavour to give back to their local community or some select non-profits usually see an increase in sales and revenue. Why? Customers feel good about spending their money in your optical store, knowing that portions of it will proceed to others who may need help. Or, they may also share your mission or advocacy.

Social responsibility for small businesses does not necessarily have to be expensive and grand. Simple efforts like sponsoring a local sports team may do or perhaps, distributing pamphlets regarding proper eyecare to youngsters in their school.

3. Your website should be optimised for mobile.

Most people nowadays spend more time on their mobile phones than on their computers. When a website is not optimised for mobile, your website will not appear properly and as beautifully as it would look when viewed on a laptop or a much bigger screen. What happens is visitors will leave your website thinking that it's buggy and not correctly set up.

When working with a website developer, emphasise that your website has to be responsive across all major devices, especially all newly released Android and Apple phone models. It is also crucial that your website loads fast. If it takes minutes for your website to show on your potential customers' mobile phones, then this is another aspect that your developer needs to look into.

Do you need to upgrade your website? If yes, feel free to contact us here.

4. Be more active in social media.

If you are keeping a steady flow of posts on social media, then you are doing a great job. If not yet, then now is the time to start being more active. Customers go to social media to get bite-sized, and easy-to-read content about the services and products they are interested in, so be sure to prepare posts revolving around eye care, eyewear, contact lenses, and even health, wellness, and lifestyle.

Request from your partner brands, photos of eyewear products that you can share on Facebook and Instagram. Announce new arrivals, joining of new staff, or company updates on social too. Lastly, complete your profile information like store number and email so that customers can contact you directly from these social media networks.

5. Audio content is gaining traction.

Humans are visual creatures, that we know, and so, marketers always put a special focus on developing highly creative great visuals to attract people more effectively towards a brand. For optical stores, this is evident in brochures, flyers, business cards, in-store displays and posters, social media posts, website imagery, and many other marketing materials.

But what is becoming popular these days is audio content, especially podcasts. People are becoming a lot busier, and they want to do other activities simultaneously. Through a podcast, one can learn by listening whilst engaging in another activity, say during a commute, while working out in the gym, or when running an errand.

For optical stores, you need to find your niche topic. For example, pediatric optometry. This is apt if you have many pediatric patients or if you are in a community with many families with little kids. If you are someone who loves giving talks about eye care but lacks the time or (even the opportunity), producing a podcast is for you. You can simply record with a quality computer headset, choose a podcasting platform, edit, and launch.

Another easy alternative is recording yourself using your phone, video included if you prefer, and then uploading it to your website or social media.

6. Ever heard of experiential marketing?

Experiential marketing is defined as a marketing strategy that immerses the customer in a product or service. Your goal is to engage them deeply by making them participate and share in an experience. If it's a brand-new experience and is a highly enjoying and beneficial one, then it becomes memorable for the customer. It will be easier for the customer to recall your brand as it is with you that they've experienced that service or product first.

For optical shops, how can you use experiential marketing? If you have new diagnostics or treatment services available, you can allot maybe a few days for it to be free? Or maybe, make it available for the first two customers during the weekday when the store is not very busy? This way, you sample the experience and educate customers about what the service is all about. You can also post videos on social media of how these treatments are being done.

In other countries, optical stores use an augmented reality (AR) tool called “Virtual Try-on” where customers can try on different specs online before a purchase.

What are your thoughts about these marketing trends? Which ones do you think can you implement to promote your practice? What other marketing tips do you want us to write about in the future? Let us know by writing to us at marketing@opticare.com.au. For your other optical business needs, visit our website at www.opticare.com.au.