OPTICAL PRISM | FEATURE
How to market a medical specialty like Myopia control
BY KAIA PANKHURST , MARKETING4ECPS
Specialty services like myopia control lend credibility to your practice and help distinguish you from other eye care providers . But only if people in your area know about your medical specialties , who they ’ re for and why they ' re important .
If everyone around you knew that myopia progression could lead to severe complications , parents would line up around the block to have their children treated . But parents probably don ' t know all of that . You have to tell them .
Marketing medical specialties is crucial to your practice ’ s success and , of course , your marketing strategy . Here are a few steps you can take to get the word out about medical specialties , like myopia control .
DRIVE AWARENESS FOR THE ISSUE
People can ' t seek treatment for an issue they don ' t know anything about .
Before you can drive traffic to your practice , you have to drive awareness to the issue . In the specific case of myopia control , most parents will know what it means to be nearsighted and whether their child is myopic or not .
They probably don ' t realize that myopia gets worse as children get older and that high myopia can cause significant issues once their child reaches adulthood .
You need to educate parents about myopia , the longterm effects and the importance of slowing progression down . You educate patients and their families from the exam room . But it ' s even better to educate people that aren ' t currently your patients . This way , you can bring new patients in .
Creating educational content is an excellent way to bring awareness to the issue . Long-form blogs , infographics , informative videos and other types of content give you the platform to explain the issue and why it requires intervention . Then , disseminate this content on every platform you can – your personal and professional social media accounts , local newspapers and magazines , practice website , maybe even flyers on public notice boards . The key is to put the issue in front of people and show them why they should care .
BUILD A TARGETED AD CAMPAIGN You can drive awareness organically without neces-
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