Special Feature
1
Information Night
The eye care industry has a wealth of
knowledge just waiting to be shared. Ideas
include putting on medical information events on
topics like eye health and nutrition, diabetes and
eyesight, dry eye and new treatments available
to eyewear makeover events where the focus is
on teaching how to choose the perfect eyewear to
match your wardrobe and lifestyle.
You can also highlight new equipment as the focus
of your information event, showcasing what the
technology can do like digital retinal imaging
and OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomography) to IPL
machines for dry eye can do to help vision and eye
health.
2
Customer Appreciation Day
The goal of a customer appreciation event
is to make sure customers know about
it and how much you appreciate them. It gives
you the opportunity to reach out about the event,
but also in the same communication tell your
customers how much you love them.
There are lots of great ideas on the Internet if
you type in “customer appreciation day,” but the
objective is to make it fun and exciting to visit
your office on this day, from giveaways, prize
draws, special discounts to food and refreshments.
Showing the “love” to your customers every year is
simply a good business strategy.
3
Moms Around Town
Want to know why Williams Sonoma
puts on “cupcake-building workshops
for kids?” You got it, it’s to get mom into the
store. Mothers not only make the majority of the
healthcare decisions for the family, they are also
the ones booking the appointments and reading
information on childcare.
36 Optical Prism | July 2019
According to a Canadian Association of
Optometrists study, one in four children has
an undetected vision issue. What better way to
introduce moms to a child’s eye health experience
than planning a fun, kid-focused event? You can
plan an activity that keeps the kids busy while you
get a few precious moments with mom to educate
her on the importance of regular eye exams for
children.
4
Networking Event
Think of all the businesses in your
community. Just like you, they are looking
for ways to grow their business and
customer base. Utilize the power of networking
and invite them to an event to get to know
other like-minded companies and learn ways to
collaborate and support each other.
You can give a tour of your office and technology
as well as a package with information on services.
Include business cards they can hand out to their
customers on your behalf. Collect all of their
information so you can also share referrals. Don’t
forget to invite local influencers and community
bloggers.
Last note…one last idea regarding events is to
tie the event to a charitable cause. People love
to support causes. It could be industry related,
like one of the many eye care-related charities
supporting third-world country missions or it
could be as simple as a donation to the food bank.
It drives a message of community and support,
which goes a long way in saying your business is
giving back when it can. OP
Trudi Charest is the co-founder of
Marketing4ECPs, a digital marketing company
focused in eye care. Trudi can be reached at
[email protected] or www.marketing4ecps.com.