The optical landscape is vast—so it’s crucial that your marketing tactics make your eye-care business stand out.

To help, we have created a platform-focused guide to help define and deploy a strategic and successful digital marketing plan for your practice—including social media, the web, targeted email, and more.

Here, we divulge exclusive intel—platform by platform—from three digital-forward eyecare professionals, all former #EBGameChanger awardees:

Optician Julia Gogosha, owner and founder of Gogosha Optique in Los Angeles

Harbir Sian, O.D., co-owner of two optometric practices in the Vancouver area and the host of “The 20/20 Podcast”

Optician and optical manager Sheena Taff of Roberts & Brown Opticians in Vancouver The Backstory.

THE BACKSTORY.

We asked each expert to share their overarching digital marketing strategy. Here’s what they told us.

Julia Gogosha: “Instagram. Emails. Website. Our outreach really isn’t strategic; it’s simply reflective and informative. To let people know we exist, these choices of unique, independent handmade frames exist, and what makes them and us different. We want people to see themselves represented. Expand, explore, and excite what it means to need to wear glasses. Consider glasses as a frequent purchase to build their wardrobe of expression they get excited about and look forward to.”

Dr. Harbir Sian: “We manage a few different digital marketing outlets for our practices. It all starts with making sure we have a beautiful, user-friendly website. From there, we utilize social media, Google Ads, and email marketing.

“In the early days of Covid, email marketing was our most effective way to connect with our patients. We were able to answer questions, arrange telehealth calls, and even make sales through email.

“Since then, social media has been the outlet that we have spent more time and focus on. It’s clear that many of our patients (across different generations) are comfortable with communicating, researching, and even purchasing through social media.”

Sheena Taff: “The strategy for all our digital marketing is to make a positive and lasting impression on how we are different and what makes us unique. The optical landscape has become very homogenous; the big players can dominate in number of locations and advertising, but the message is often quite similar.”

WINNING PLATFORMS.

We also asked the three digital experts to name their strongest, most successful platform for digital marketing. Their answers may surprise you.

Julia Gogosha: “Instagram and direct email marketing are the two platforms we utilize to communicate with our clients. Our content is chaotic and consistent. It’s a reflection of what’s happening in the store. We post daily. Then [Instagram] Stories frequently, and I still do all the posting. Being responsible for the voice of the shop even when I’m not there.

“It’s largely intuitive and I have not yet gotten organized enough to calendar out posts. They’re sporadic and authentic.”

Dr. Harbir Sian: “Social media has been a favorable outlet for our clinics for years. The most effective content is always when our doctors and/or staff put their faces on the camera and share valuable content.”

Sheena Taff: “Our strongest platform for digital marketing is our website, followed by Google, Facebook, and Instagram.”

PLATFORM #1: SOCIAL MEDIA.

STEP 1: Create a Plan: At Roberts & Brown Opticians, Taff typically does the posting, but she has also enlisted staff members to help create posts and add them to the Planoly platform for final approval. This business employs a ¼ split system for social posting:

• ¼ products and promotion
• ¼ educational content relevant to the industry/business
• ¼ client experience (testimonies/client photos)
• ¼ staff, practice, and “personal” content

“Ideally, we are posting three to five times per week,” she says. “I favor static posts because we utilize tagging products for purchase, which increases traffic to our website.”

STEP 2: Get to the ’Gram: Does your practice have an Instagram? If not, create a channel and be sure to highlight staff members.

“In the past, Facebook was most valuable,” says Dr. Sian. “But in the last few years, we have focused more on Instagram. Staying on top of trends and posting content that is relevant to the time of year has helped us stay engaged with our audience.”

• Full Disclosure: Taff shares an internal story of how her business’s Instagram was taken down and how she gave it a fresh perspective in the process of getting it back. “Full disclosure: I have to start by saying that our Instagram account was recently deleted due to a past employee’s nefarious attack,” she shares. “So, we are starting from scratch. It has given me the opportunity to reflect on what worked, the challenges in remaining inspired, posting regularly, and providing engaging content that has value to our followers and brings value to our business.”

STEP 3: Try a Theme: Unsure of what to post? Ideas include sharing new arrivals, video content of your practice’s interior, hosting a social media frame giveaway, or sharing top eyewear trends. “We were the first back in 2009 to coin and feature ‘Frame of the Day’ and ‘Face of the Day’ (back in the Tumblr days),” shares Gogosha. “Now it’s common industry practice.” Peruse the hashtag #FrameOfTheDay for inspiration on crafting your own post.

PLATFORM #2: EMAIL + TEXT.

STEP 1: Dial in Appointment Reminders: Use email and text to confirm appointments and follow up with patients after their visit. “After appointments, we will send a link for a Google review and any information that is pertinent to their exam,” says Dr. Sian. “We are currently working on recording short videos to review common discussions such as dry eye protocols, how to use eye drops, etcetera.”

STEP 2: Educate + Entice with Email: Roberts & Brown Opticians keeps email newsletters to only once per month and includes an educational element in each—“information that sparks a client’s interest or plants a seed of need,” says Taff. “Our sales email blasts are in addition to the newsletters, but we use them only three to five times per year to avoid overexposure.”

Gogosha has opted out of utilizing SMS texting for her business—instead, she looks to email. “In 2022, we had a dedicated person who worked on this and saw results greater than the cost of doing so. In 2023, we’ve applied what we learned and brought some of the duties in-house,” she says. “I still write all the copy and have my operations manager, who was also an English major, proof and distill. We go a few rounds until it’s honed.”

STEP 3: Track Engagement: Be sure to gauge how marketing campaigns are performing. “We plan out direct email marketing with messaging or promos each month,” says Gogosha. Her insider tip on tracking? Gogosha Optique utilizes the Klaviyo marketing automation platform to track engagement and results to better inform future campaigns.

PLATFORM #3: WEBSITE.

STEP 1: Think Video: Dr. Sian’s practices recently hired a company to build a beautiful, state-of-the-art, user-friendly website for each practice. Something they’re including to enhance search engine optimization? “The new website has helped improve our SEO and conversion from potential patients who are surfing for information to active patients who come in for an eye exam. We are working to bolster our SEO with new, high-quality video content shot in our office,” he says.

STEP 2: Stay True to You: Your practice website should stay true to its roots—something that Gogosha Optique has mastered. “We have a site manager on retainer who also built the site and is familiar with our DNA,” says Gogosha. “We update with new frames weekly, news and events monthly, and site design tweaks a few times a year to keep it fresh for reoccurring visitors.”

At Roberts & Brown, Taff found a stronger voice by bringing website management in-house. “Having a website that was outside of my control—meaning I had to have a third party intervene every time I needed a minor edit—was impractical and expensive,” she says. “Using Squarespace allows me to update it anytime.”

STEP 3: Steer Clear of Stagnation: Unsure of what to post on your site to keep it engaging? Try sharing blog posts, information on upcoming practice events or sales, or fresh frames. “We update multiple times a week with new products and add information regularly to create a website that has fantastic SEO,” shares Taff.