Practical management EP 3: Reaching your target audience

Maria Sampalis, OD, owner of Sampalis Eye Care in Cranston and Providence, Rhode Island, sat down with Optometry Times®' editor Kassi Jackson to talk all-things practice management.

Editor's note: This transcript has been edited for clarity

Jackson:

What are the initial steps to get that branding ball rolling? And how do you identify your target audience? You mentioned demographics, how do you get that started?

Sampalis:

Yeah, I mean, if you're a new practice, I would imagine you want to target a large range to get patients in.

But let's say you're starting a myopia management practice: you want to target a younger audience, or even parents, right? So you want to kind of figure out, the parents are on Facebook, maybe the kids are on Instagram.

You want to put articles together to be able to get their attention. So, the newest technology out there to help your kids stop the progression of nearsightedness, and you have a blog, so you do the blog. And the blog doesn't have to be anything amazing, it's just content that you're pushing out.

So sometimes what I'll do is, I will record it, and on downtime, my receptionist will type it up and post it on the website, and then we'll post it on the Facebook page, as well. And also boost it. And then do an e-blast within our own marketing—our own patient base, as well. Because word-of-mouth is how it gets out, as well.

And social media is a is a great way—and tool—to really get a lot of information out there, and branding is easy with social media. As long as you present the content that you want that you're the expert, and you're authentic in your message, I think you're gonna get a lot of followers and a lot of new patients in your office.