New practice suggestions

[planex]

With all that is in the news it would seem to be a poor time to open a practice; but assuming someone did (this week )
DOes anyone have good marketing strategies. I have heard anything from discounted exam prices to giving gas cards away with purchase of eyewear. I personally feel the gas cards would be a little unprofesional; but the business needs to start somehow.
Suggestions ( serious ones please )

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[EyeWitness]

With all that is in the news it would seem to be a poor time to open a practice; but assuming someone did (this week )
DOes anyone have good marketing strategies. I have heard anything from discounted exam prices to giving gas cards away with purchase of eyewear. I personally feel the gas cards would be a little unprofesional; but the business needs to start somehow.
Suggestions ( serious ones please )

Try a television commercial, I always admire and trust doctors who advertise while I'm watching Jerry Springer. Or you can offer happy endings.

 

[planex]

Try a television commercial, I always admire and trust doctors who advertise while I'm watching Jerry Springer. Or you can offer happy endings.

Thank you for offering such an intelligent suggestion.
I wish you well in your future with optometry.

 

[EyeWitness]

Thank you for offering such an intelligent suggestion.
I wish you well in your future with optometry.

Hand out those cards with the letters that get tiny-er and tiny-er to people at malls to persuade them they need reading glasses. Call local elementary schools and tell the nurse for those students that bomb the poster with the tiny and tiny-er letters you'll offer parents a discount if they bring their child to your place that way you'll get them young and for life. Not bad huh?

 

[qwopty99]

Any ideas?

 

[KHE]

With all that is in the news it would seem to be a poor time to open a practice; but assuming someone did (this week )
DOes anyone have good marketing strategies. I have heard anything from discounted exam prices to giving gas cards away with purchase of eyewear. I personally feel the gas cards would be a little unprofesional; but the business needs to start somehow.
Suggestions ( serious ones please )

None of that gimmicky type stuff works well in this industry. The only thing that works, both short and long term is referrals from satisfied patients.

Someone on here suggested "advertise, advertise, advertise." I respectfully diagree with that. Targeted advertising is good to initially let people know that you're there but as a means of attracting and maintaing patients in the long term it rarely works.

Little things can go a long way. For example, someone phones and makes an appointment. Your receptionist says "Is there anyone else in your family that needs an appointment as well? Mom? Dad? Children?" The person on the phone then says "My husband Bob hasn't been examined in a while. Put him down for next Thursday at 2:30pm"

Little things like that go a lot further than spending lots of money on advertising or gimmicky discounts and promotional things.

 

[qwopty99]

Whenever I advertised, I'd have people calling my office for appointments. I'd ask how they'd heard of me, and they'd tell me through the mailer I had sent.

 

[qwopty99]

It's well known Coke loses to Pepsi in taste-tests everywhere. But why does Coke undisputedly dominate the world's soft-drink beverage market? There's something called marketing.

 

[EyeWitness]

It's a good thing you don't run Coca-Cola.

It's well known Coke loses to Pepsi in taste-tests everywhere. But why does Coke undisputedly dominate the world's soft-drink beverage market? There's something called marketing.

You'd drive the Coca-Cola Company into the ground.

You're right about Coke dominating because of marketing but completely wrong about pepsi tasting any better. "findings suggest there isn't any scientific basis for claims made during the Pepsi ad campaign in which testers purportedly chose Pepsi over Coke when they were not told what they were drinking."

 

[KHE]

It's well known Coke loses to Pepsi in taste-tests everywhere. But why does Coke undisputedly dominate the world's soft-drink beverage market? There's something called marketing.

There is a big difference between advertising and marketing. That's all I'm going to say on this.

 

[qwopty99]

yup.

 

[qwopty99]

duplicate post

 

[EyeWitness]

I'm willing to admit if I'm wrong, but according to these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_Challenge
"The results of the test leaned toward a consensus that Pepsi was preferred by more Americans."

.

Your using wikipedia first and foremost to prove your point? wikipedia! lol you do know who edits wikipedia, right? next time I need hard evidence, look out wikipedia.

 

[Ben Chudner]

I'm willing to admit if I'm wrong, but according to these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_Challenge
"The results of the test leaned toward a consensus that Pepsi was preferred by more Americans."

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp
"Batteries of well-controlled taste tests showed folks liked the taste of Pepsi better."

http://www.greaterchinacrm.org:8080/eng/content_details.jsp?contentid=2073&subjectid=101
"Pepsi tasted better than Coke - 57% of testers chose Pepsi and only 43% chose Coke."

So am I "completely wrong"? Can you show that Coke won all the taste tests? Anyways, I think you're completely wrong about me being "completely wrong".

You are not completely wrong. Pespi beats Coke in taste tests. This really concerned Coke, so they went back to the lab and created a product that beat Pespi in taste tests. Anyone want to guess what that product was? Yup...New Coke. We all know how that turned out. New Coke beat Pepsi in the same type of taste test that the original Coke (now known as Coke Classic) lost. Of course, once released New Coke tanked so they went back to the original. So to comment on the point that Coke loses in taste tests yet dominates in the market, I would say that it has nothing to do with marketing. If it did, the same marketing that worked for Coke Classic should have worked for New Coke. The real reason why Coke dominates even though it loses to Pepsi in taste tests has to do with a poorly designed test. By only allowing the testers to drink a small amount of product, the sweetness of Pepsi wins a majority of the time. But people don't drink just a little sample. They drink 24, 32, or even 64 oz at a time. Pepsi is just too sweet for most people in those amounts. That's why New Coke tanked, and why Coke Classic is the worldwide leader in soda. And for the record, I am a Pepsi drinker.

Now to comment on what works for a practice, I would listen to KHE. There are no short cuts to building a big practice. The majority of patients that will seek you out will do so not because of advertising, they will do so because you are on their insurance panel. If you want to spend money on a mailer, newspaper ad, TV, or radio that's fine but make sure to track the results so that you are positive the return on investment is worth it. Good luck with building your practice.

 

[qwopty99]

Your using wikipedia first and foremost to prove your point? wikipedia! lol you do know who edits wikipedia, right? next time I need hard evidence, look out wikipedia.

So everything on Wikipedia is exactly the OPPOSITE of what it says?

What about the other two links? What can you tell me about those sites?

What's your source, friend?

You're right about Coke dominating because of marketing but completely wrong about pepsi tasting any better. "findings suggest there isn't any scientific basis for claims made during the Pepsi ad campaign in which testers purportedly chose Pepsi over Coke when they were not told what they were drinking."

 

[qwopty99]

Your using wikipedia first and foremost to prove your point? wikipedia! lol you do know who edits wikipedia, right? next time I need hard evidence, look out wikipedia.

I have an idea. Why don't you correct the entry on Wiki?

 

[Mucho Dinero]

Try a television commercial, I always admire and trust doctors who advertise while I'm watching Jerry Springer. Or you can offer happy endings.

I usually only see commericals for surgical procedures from MDs