If you are starting now, you are late. If you have not sent out something catchy with 2020 on it to your patients, shame on you!!! Practicing in the year 2020 will only come once ever in history. Father Time has done half of your marketing for you this year. I would love to look back at this year and find out that all patients nationally realized that they might not be seeing 20/20 and went to see their eyecare provider.

Maybe you can give Father Time a little help and nudge your patients a little bit. Here are three ideas on how to use 2020 to your advantage.

Texting

You know that texting feature that many practitioners use to send patients reminders? Stop using a boring text message that no one wants to read. Instead, make it clever and personal: “Hey <NAME>, I was looking at your chart and realized that you are due for an exam, and we miss you. There has never been a better time than the year 2020 for us to make your vision fantastic. I can schedule you by text message, or you can call me at the office <PHONE NUMBER> to schedule. Thanks, Amber.”

In an age of Siri and Alexa, my office has Amber. Amber is our virtual texter. She is not real (we don’t have anyone at the office named Amber, so this works). But, by having a “real person’s” name on our text, we find that more patients respond. If someone calls and asks to speak to Amber, everyone in the office knows why the person is calling and offers to help them schedule: “Actually, Amber can’t come to the phone right now (because she doesn’t exist), can I schedule you for an appointment?”

Postcards

Yes, I am encouraging you to send your patients a postcard in the mail. Crazy as that marketing effort may seem, it is pretty inexpensive, and it gets you in front of your patients. Have a big 2020 on the front of the card saying something such as “How are you spending your 2020? We are planning on making patients’ vision perfect.” On the back of the card, ask “Can you help us? We last saw you in <MONTH, YEAR>, and we need your help.” Patients will notice the 2020 and that you want to be fun and funny this year.

Internal Marketing

Today, patients like to see their healthcare providers doing something for the community. How are you able to use the year 2020 for that? Perhaps you can have some items marked at 20% off; for each of those items purchased, you give something away or make a donation to your community. Another consideration is to have your patients’ purchases contribute to something that then leads you to give away 2,020 items. For example, for every pair of glasses that a practice sells this year, it can donate a can of food to the local homeless shelter, with a goal of 2,020 cans of food—or something along those lines.

Don’t Let It Pass You by

The year 2020 is here, and once it’s gone, it’s never going to come again. Act now! Don’t wait till the end of the year and then say, “I wish that we had done something.” Engage with your team, engage with your community, and ask “What should we do this year to set 2020 apart?” CLS