Business Marketing
Scott Eye Care (2075 Wiesbrook Drive, Oswego) offers comprehensive eye care services and vision therapy to Oswego and its surrounding communities.
Partners Chula Lerdvoratavee, O.D., and Ronald Weingart, O.D., started the business in 1991 in Montgomery. Chula’s sister, Vasana, joined the practice in 1995. Dr. Lerdvoratavee admits that while they were specialized optometrists, they had much to learn about business marketing. Without corporate backing or a deep advertising budget, Scott Eye Care has had to depend on its own ingenuity and cost-conscious strategies.
While the practice receives some leads from phone books and insurance websites, those traditional channels also often present it as but a name in a list. To raise awareness of Scott Eye Care as a distinctive business, Dr. Lerdvoratavee participates in public speaking, volunteer work and community activities, including sponsorships. She issues a newsletter as well.
“Most online directories and search engines don’t tell consumers why they should choose a service provider,” Dr. Lerdvoratavee said. “They will then base their decisions on proximity, random selection or even alphabetical order. To grow and compete, a business must create and maintain an image and a voice for itself.”
Dr. Lerdvoratavee also believes that internal marketing – the reality behind the image presented – is just as important as external marketing, if not more so.
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“Every detail on the inside must reinforce the beliefs and qualities expressed by the marketing,” she said. “This internal brand-building generates positive word of mouth, which leads to the best referrals. External marketing attracts. Internal marketing delivers and sustains.”
Dr. Lerdvoratavee further advises overcoming the urge to market by price.
“Marketing by price attracts the deal and bargain hunters,” she said. “You don’t want to try to win their loyalty, because they’re not after what you provide, which is the very best of yourself. They will save their money with you, and if they can’t keep doing it, they’ll simply move on.
“The key is to focus on marketing that appeals to the right targets for the right reasons. Your prospects need a problem solved. If you can solve it well, people will pay you. The customers you want to keep don’t need to be coaxed with a deal.”
But perhaps above all, according to her, success at marketing calls for a small business to define what it is and what makes it unlike anyone other business.
“Many small businesses – including eye care providers – struggle because their marketing all sounds the same. General claims of service and quality confuse consumers. Businesses must identify their true selves and their core specializations and then shamelessly promote them.”
To learn more about Scott Eye Care’s services, call 630.844.0908 or e-mail scotteyecare@sbcglobal.net. |
