EYE ON EQUIPMENT

Marketing Edge

3 simple but highly effective ways to promote your in-house lab

the cornerstone of a successful business is offering something that your competition does not. For those practices and shops that do their own edging, the ability to turn eyewear around in a day completely changes the level of service they are able to provide their patients.

But just because your lab is (most likely) tucked away in the back room, there’s no reason you can’t spread the word—loudly—about what it can do. Marketing your lab services, even stealthily, is a great way to build business.

Here, we lay out three highly successful ways eyecare professionals are working in their labs—and also making their labs work for them.

1. COMPETITION BUSTER

“We frame the value of our lab right in our advertising,” says Peter Grimes, ABO, president and CEO of five EYEQuity optical shops that operate as modern kiosks in malls. Fresh frame inventories and on-site lab capabilities keep customers happy.

“Our core message of four points—style, ease, quality, and speed—stays consistent regardless of our marketing vehicle,” he says.

When your nearest competitors’ patients have to wait up to two weeks for their finished eyewear, your in-house lab makes for an attractive asset. This is true whether you simply edge or do your own surfacing as well.

“[Fast] turnaround time is a big one for us—our patients have come to expect it and have trouble being satisfied if they ever stray to other competitors,” says Kevin Schmidt., O.D., co-owner of Eyecare Plus, P.C., with six locations in middle Tennessee.

Each Eyecare Plus location has its own finishing lab, and several have small-scale surfacing labs. “Quality and the state-of-the-art surface are equally important,” continues Dr. Schmidt. “I want my patients to know that they are receiving a product and process that very few in the country can provide—and it’s right here at their favorite doctor’s office.”

He adds that word-of-mouth-related referrals from satisfied customers have resulted in a 20% increase in business.

EYEQuity’s lab is a major player in its fast-and-accurate delivery philosophy

4 Simple Tips

Got in-house lab marketing? Here, we serve up four simple strategies to get a leg up on the competition via your lab marketing—on your business’ website, social media channels, and in your office.

PROMOTE: Promote your lab capabilities on your website. Let visitors know that they can have their glasses QUICKLY. A common misstep is to mention, in small letters, at the bottom of a web page that same-day service is available.

SHOW: Film your lab tech in action. Post it on your website and to social media. If custom lens work is your thing, take photos of your work and display them in your shop and online.

LINK. Continue to educate potential patients by linking to other videos that show or explain the amazing technology that goes into crafting lenses. Ask your equipment or lens vendors for link suggestions. Better yet, add these videos to your video loop in your waiting area. But don’t stop there. Link to articles and blog posts that tout lens trends and the technologies you use.

ENGAGE. Your staff is always your best tool for communicating your message. Keeping employees educated about the intricacies of what your lab offers means they are motivated to pass the information on in an exciting way.

2. BROWSERS INTO BUYERS

ECPs who offer quick turnaround from in-house labs will attest that if the quick service isn’t what brought people in the door, it often is what stops them from walking out.

“The lab is not a major factor in attracting customers to our ‘see-osks,’” says Grimes of what he calls his optical kiosks. “However, it’s a powerful factor in converting browsers into buyers.”

How can you get browsers interested in what your lab can put out?

Videos—playing in the exam room and waiting areas while patients wait to see the doctor—that explain high-tech lenses and show off your equipment can pique browsers’ attention. Messaging (even subtle) that shows you create the eyewear on-premise will do the same.

3. AN ARTFUL NICHE

Contemporary retail finishing equipment has gone beyond the ease-of-use and one-click operations that made it so attainable. Today’s equipment allows operators to become lens craftsmen—manipulating bevels for superior fits, cutting custom lens shapes, and creating art on a spectacle lens for the patients who want a truly unique look.

Now, that is an artful niche worth promoting.

“We let our patients know how rare it is that practices have the technology that we have in-house,” Dr. Schmidt says.

Custom designs, high-tech digital production, and sophisticated lens designs—done quickly and with superior customer service—are what make one optical much different from another. Making sure customers know what you can do that they can’t can mean big business.

—Susan Tarrant