48. Which of the following gets the largest portion of your advertising budget?
49. Rank the various traditional media by what you believe to be the most effective to least effective as a marketing tool.
- Direct mail
- Radio
- TV
- Local magazines
- Billboard
- Newspapers
50. If you could choose any one of the following, which would it be?
| A schedule of promoted Facebook posts that reached 50,000 demographically profiled consumers |
|
39%
|
| A deal with your local team’s NFL quarterback to be your brand ambassador |
|
20%
|
| A billboard on road with passing traffic of 100,000 cars a day |
|
10%
|
| A calendar of trunk shows with an elite designer |
|
9%
|
| The dominant advertising slot in your market’s most popular drivetime radio show |
|
9%
|
51. What kind of posts create the most engagement on your social media channels?
| Product images |
|
41%
|
| Client stories |
|
18%
|
| Glimpses “behind-the-scenes” |
|
14%
|
| Contests |
|
6%
|
| Time-driven offers |
|
5%
|
| Photos of your store pet |
|
5%
|
| Other |
|
12%
|
We filtered for responses from those who reported posting to Facebook or Instagram more than once a week. “Other” responses overwhelmingly included variations of “staff”: “staff happenings,” “photos with staff,” “posts about staff and doctors,” “staff Reels,” “staff community engagement.” Another popular topic was
education.
52. What kind of posts create the most engagement on your social media channels?
53. How often do you post on Facebook/Instagram?
| Multiple times a day |
|
1%
|
| Daily |
|
10%
|
| A few times a week |
|
29%
|
| Once a week |
|
8%
|
| A few times a month |
|
15%
|
| About once a month |
|
8%
|
| A few times a year |
|
15%
|
| Never |
|
14%
|
More than half of you (52%) are not posting frequently enough. Revlocal recommends 1 – 5 posts a week for a business, while Sprout Social says if you only post a couple times a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are the best days
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54. If someone in your area makes a generic search in Google for “eye exam” (or the like) what page does your store/practice appear on?
| The first page |
|
76%
|
| Second page |
|
14%
|
| Third page |
|
2%
|
| Later than the third page |
|
7%
|
According to Backlinko, an SEO training and link building strategy agency, only 0.78% of Google searchers — yes, less than 1% — click on the second page results.
55. How much do you spend on advertising as a percentage of revenue?
According to Trudi Charest of Marketing4ECPs, a cold start should budget a minimum of $30,000 for the first year and more depending on geography and competition, while an established, booked-for-more-than-a-month practice should budget 1-5% of gross revenue. Established but not booked solid should budget 3-7% to focus on patient acquisition and branding. A business in growth mode (adding a new associate or medical niche, etc.) should budget 5-10% for acquisition and medical marketing.
56. What kind of promotion is consistently the most successful in getting people in the door?
| Price promotions |
|
52%
|
| Trunk shows |
|
25%
|
| Cross promotions |
|
8%
|
| After-hours themed events |
|
5%
|
| Co-op activities |
|
4%
|
| In-store entertainment |
|
3%
|
| Gift with purchase |
|
3%
|
57. Has a marketing or advertising effort ever backfired on you? Tell us about it.
- Birthday postcards for $50 off. People wanted to combine with vision insurance. The fine print was not detailed enough.
- Yellow Pages. Too expensive and declining readers.
- Once upon a time, we decided to do a surprise 31% off sale on Halloween. People who had bought glasses during the month all wanted the discount. Huge headache.
- Social media contests/giveaways got hacked.
- Unfortunately, we did a giveaway post on our Facebook and someone created a fake account with our name and started telling people they won in the comments and private messages.
- Newly opened and spent more on local newspaper ads without evaluating ROI and audience type.
- Direct mail very early on. We spent too much money in the wrong month. Just plain dumb but we didn’t know better.
- Did a 3-month radio advertising campaign to bring in Millennials. Bombed.
- We did a $200 gift card for $150 a few years back for the holidays. We didn’t have any stipulations on them at all. Every patient for the first few days would buy the gift cards and then turn around and buy their contacts, glasses, pay their copays. Everything. We limited it to one per patient after that.
