92% of people who should have LASIK are not presently responding to your advertising for two fundamental reasons. First, your ads are not interrupting their thought patterns when they hear or read them because you’re not hitting their hot buttons. Hot buttons are the fears, concerns and points of interest they have about the idea of getting rid of their contacts and glasses.
 
The second thing to do is to give them an offer that is truly “no risk”. Contrary to what most surgeons think, a free consultation is a relatively high risk action to take. Think about the time commitment, the idea of the prospective patient having to meet new people and face the possibility of receiving a sales pitch.

What Is The Purpose of LASIK Marketing?

Its purpose is actually threefold: First, capture the attention of possible LASIK prospects. Second, give them the hope or promise that if they continue to read your ad (or listen/watch) they will gain valuable information to make the best decision possible when choosing a LASIK surgeon. Third, lower the risk for them to take the next step in the LASIK buying process by making a free, low risk offer.

Why Many LASIK Practices Are Overspending on Marketing?

Many LASIK practices are trying to “brand” themselves by running newspaper, radio and TV ads that are based upon “branding” techniques that are only effective with huge budgets. Unless you can afford a million dollar branding budget to engrave your name on your prospects’ minds you need a more scientific approach. That’s where the The Marketing Equation comes in!

How The Marketing Equation Works for LASIK

Interrupt: capture the attention of your LASIK prospects. The headline or the first sentence in a radio ad is the “ad for the ad.” You can interrupt by using something that is familiar, unusual or problematic (or a combination). For branding (Madison Ave type marketing) they use the unusual and familiar (think about Budweiser Super Bowl ads with talking frogs). That might still work if you have a billion dollar ad budget. Small businesses need to use “hot buttons” to get their prospect’s attention. What’s the biggest “hot button” for a LASIK prospect? That’s right – FEAR.

Engage & Educate: Once we’ve captured the LASIK prospect’s attention by identifying with their fears and concerns, we engage them and educate them on how advances in LASIK surgery have made the procedure safe and how to choose a surgeon that’s right for them.

Offer: The Final Element of the Marketing Equation is Critical.

The offer must be low risk and preferably free. Most LASIK practices think that coming into their office for a “free” consultation is a good offer, but it’s really not low risk. A better offer is to bring your office into their home via an informational DVD which educates them about the LASIK process and shows them why your practice is different from other LASIK offices.

Fast Track marketing has produced DVDs for LASIK practices throughout the country. These DVDs in combination with the “The Marketing Equation” have increased net profits for many LASIK practices by actually reducing their advertising expenses and producing a better ROI for marketing dollars spent.

Marketing

Many LASIK practices are trying to “brand” themselves by running newspaper, radio and TV ads that are based upon outdated “branding” techniques from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. TV advertising in the 50s through the 70s was very inexpensive - but not today. Unless you can afford a million dollar branding budget to engrave your name on your prospects’ minds you need a more scientific approach. That’s where the The Marketing Equation comes in!

The Marketing Equation: Interrupt + Engage + Educate +Offer = $$$$$$.

Before we discuss how using the Marketing Equation in LASIK marketing can reduce your advertising expenses, we have to discuss the purpose of LASIK marketing itself.

What Is The Purpose of LASIK Marketing?

Its purpose is actually threefold: First, capture the attention of possible LASIK prospects. Second, give them the hope or promise that if they continue to read your ad (or listen/watch) they will gain valuable information to make the best decision possible when choosing a LASIK surgeon. Third, lower the risk for them to take the next step in the LASIK buying process by making a free, low risk offer.

How The Marketing Equation Works for LASIK

Interrupt: The headline or the first sentence in a radio ad is the “ad for the ad.” It interrupts by being something familiar, unusual or problematic, like a “hot button” to get the prospect’s attention. One hot button for a LASIK prospect is Fear, another is being able to trust the doctor.

Engage & Educate: Using this button to capture the prospect’s attention, we next engage and educate on how advances in LASIK surgery have made the procedure safe and how to choose a surgeon that’s right for them.

Offer: This final element of the Marketing Equation is critical. The offer must be low risk and preferably free. Most LASIK practices think a “free” consultation is a good offer, but it’s really not low risk for the prospect. A better offer is something the prospect can do in his own home, such as an informational DVD which educates about the LASIK process and shows why your practice is different from other LASIK offices.

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