Marketing in the Modern World
Now that we have relocated to Scottsdale I am in the process of establishing all new professional relationships. It was time to make appointments for my middle daughter and myself with an optician. How to begin…the first thing I do is talk to people I know whose opinions I respect and who value the same things I do and ask them for a referral. In this case, that didn’t lead to any possible solutions, so off to plan B.
I sat down at my computer and went to the online version of the yellow pages to search for an optician close to where we live. Once the data was entered and the search results came up, the next thing I did was look to see which entries had a webpage I could click through to. So off I went to check out the practices’ web pages.
I was thinking of how different this process is now than in the past. I can remember my first years in practice always making sure my yellow pages ad was current. I got quite a number of new patient calls this way, some of whom turned into awesome patients in my practice. But today, I never pick up a printed copy of the yellow pages; I always go online. The power is in how these companies begin a relationship with me through their web presence. Is the site a fit with my expectations, is it professional, does the information about who they are as an office match what I am looking for? And so on.
Can we afford in today’s world not to have an online presence? I think the answer is a resounding “NO.” Our web presence is for many people the first time they “meet" us and our teams. Make yours powerful, and make sure it truly does represent you in the way you wish people to know you.
