Web Marketing in a Down Economy
Many LASIK practices make the mistake of pulling back on their marketing budgets when the economy turns sour. Especially where web marketing is concerned, a down economy is precisely the time to increase your spending. You have to fight harder for the leads on the web because there are fewer of them. You will still turn a profit - again, especially where web marketing is concerned, because you will see patients as a result.
Web marketing is so crucial in these hard economic times because it is pound-for-pound the most cost effective marketing medium there is. Try launching a television campaign for $20K. Even when you consider the monthly investment for search engine marketing, the web is cheaper by folds.
Be aggressive in your web marketing. Now is the prime opportunity to pass up your competitors that stop marketing because of the slow-down. When others slow-down - you should speed up.
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Jonathan's Web Marketing Blog
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posted by Jonathan Fashbaugh @ 1:33 PM
2 Comments:
Jonathan,
I can tell you from our own organization's experience that your advice is well founded.
Although the demand for Lasik will wax and wane with consumer confidence and economic concerns, the desire is constant. That means that when demand dips, people are still interested.
Our nonprofit patient advocacy has a very popular website with an active bulletin board and thousands (literally) of pages of information. We try to keep objective about vision correction surgery. We just provide the facts and let people come to their own conclusions.
What we have found in the last 10 years is that when consumer confidence wanes and volume goes down, the demand for information skyrockets. I attribute this to the consistent desire for Lasik, even if the decision will be delayed. When you want something but are not yet able/willing to purchase it, you research. A major research source is the Internet.
In the six months ending April 30, 2008, the www.USAEyes.org website experienced an increase of unique visitors of 38.4% and an increase of page views of 73.5% with an increase of the amount of time on our website of 28.1% when compared to the previous year. More people are visiting our website, reading more pages, and spending more time than the previous year before the recent economic downturn.
During the week of recent government hearings on the quality of life after Lasik, our website experienced a 36% increase in visitors (year to date) and requests for surgeon referral information doubled.
It appears obvious that patients are getting ready for more economic stability by researching Lasik and potential doctors on the Internet.
Glenn Hagele
Executive Director
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
USAEyes
Thanks for the feedback and great statistics, Glenn!
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