Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Hi

I find that giving flyers away at random places is not only a waste of money but it also doesn't quite reach your target market effectively. How about giving something out for free, eg a quick eye test, with those machines you use.
Try looking at your campaign from a diff percpective eg the customer. What do they want, that you're not doing? How do they perceive your company? etc
Build a client info database and do more research before embarking on promotions.
How about having the board say something like, " What do you really see?" Having letters placed randomly with diff sizes, shapes and some blury. End it by saying, put your vision to test now and win bla bla bla

Hope this helps..

I'm with Mkting guru on that one... stay away from flyers and ESPECIALLY stay away from human billboards. Both are a sure-fire way to cheapen your brand (even though you're lower price than CostCo doesn't mean you have to LOOK cheap).

Free eye exams with glasses purchases are always nice. I switch optometrists every couple years depending on who's running that kind of promotion. That, and I move around a lot. I'm sure not everyone switches that often.

It sounds like being buried in a grocery store may be hurting your brand awareness. For an outside-the-optometry-box idea, try partnering with another person (or three) in town... like a dentist, chiropractor, plastic surgeon and nutritionist. Maybe between the lot of you, you can run a contest for a "total body makeover" and fix someone up for free, while advertising your respective businesses. Once the winner is chosen, you can put their pictures up on your web site and in-store to show off the stylin new frames the winner recieved. Keep the entries restricted locally and get some stories run in the local papers for the contest and the end results.

Is that huge parking lot really a resource? How many people in that huge parking lot need your service...now?

I think that the parking lot and some of the great promo stunts/tactics suggested are all about building awareness that you are there - for WHEN your potential customers are in the need for an eye check and need a new pair of specs.

And handing out flyers or marching up and down is, (as said above, at risk of cheapening your brand), only about building awareness - not directly driving customers.

You need a long term strategy that should incorporate building awareness, positioning your business (in particular in competition with the guys across the road), soliciting new leads (other events, cross-promotes as mentioned in the Total Body Make-Over, which is also a fabulous opportunity for a local media tie-in) driving the repeat business of your existing customers (reminder notices, free gifts of lens cleaner after 6 months).

This may seem like an odd question, but your business is an optometrist practice - that is what you do. But that does your business mean to your customers? (Charles Revson of Revlon said: In the factory we make creams, in the shop we sell hope. Or words to that effect).

What is your point of difference - other than price. If if it is just price, what are all of the tactics that you can apply to build awareness that you are really inexpensive?

And is there a better point of difference for you that isn't as open to attack as price?

(One last tactical idea that may or may not suit your utlimate marketing strategy - how about doing a cross-promote with some nearby fashion retailers, or the reasonably priced fashion at Target, etc., for fashion parades? If you tied in with fashion - Are their customers interested in the coolest, hippest specs - which therefore have to be upgraded at least every three months or better still you need multiple pairs for multiple outfits/looks - which drives more customs from a smaller customer base? Maybe that is a stronger position for you than price?).

I'd first focus on the 2500-3000 people that are walking past you - they're a captive audience for you.

Realize that people, unless they have a problem, don't want to visit an optometrist. Doubly hard is that people that come to the market are looking to purchase food, not optometry services, so that even though they are walking past your store, they might not "see" you.

Wherever there's a long line, you have an opportunity to help. Provide a concierge service - you'll provide someone to wait in line for them while they get their eyes looked at.

You already can probably pick a pair of glasses for someone based on their face quickly - so give them a 2 minute glasses makeover. Let people borrow loaner frames to let them try on a new look.

See if the market's register can custom print a coupon for your business on it.

Who can you fusion market with? Can you volunteer to give exams in schools and assisted living centers? Are there nearby doctors you can ask for referrals?

I just helped a retinal doc do a referral brochure which we distributed to area docs-- its her main marketing piece. A geriatric, pediatrician or general MD probably has patients who come in for a headache-- and the problem is they can't see. They'll tell them to go somewhere-- it might as well be you. You are in a good position-- because the docs main reluctance to refer a patient elsewhere is that they won't come back. But with your limited services-- that won't happen. We slanted all copy on the brochure to stress that. And that you'd communicate any treatment back to the doc to keep communicaiton open.

My advice is never build a differentiator based only on price-- its a losers game. Someone will come in eventually with a lesser price someday. Sit down and do your own SWOT analysis and delve into your mission statement. Two good resources for the mission statement is the "mission primer" which should be in the library including a handy CD. Or Nightengale's website has a free process to guide you thru. You will find things starting to just bubble up.

Look at what you are doing and why you are doing it.

SWOT is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Look at your business through those four traits. You should have a deeper purpose than simply selling eyeglasses at a lower cost then the competitor. Is your "mission" to help empower Latinos through better vision? Is it your mission to help Latino children see to achieve? Look deeply into what is motivating you to this business and use those things to help you move your business forward. Stephen Covey says - Begin with the End in Mind - think about where you want to be in 20 years and then map out how you could get there. That's another good book to read - "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.

Good luck!
CVN

Sorry for the acronym. Here is the Nightingale site-- https://www.nightingale.com/homepage.aspx?org=intgoogad05&promo=intgoogad05... there is a link to build a free mission statement. Yes, its the 4 steps book. I like the book better-- but to someone unused to mission statements, the nightengale will get the creative juices flowing. The reference "begin with the end in mind" is solid advice-- but don't worry about 20 years from now. Begin with the immediate end in mind-- your office full of patients. That is the only end you need to focus on. Be a guerrilla marketer-- do everything lazar sharp.

Good luck