Optometrist's Flexible Marketing Strategy & Budget Equals Consistent Quality

Posted by Emery Pearson on Aug 8, 2022 2:32:40 PM

Gem State Eye Care YOY growth

Gem State Eyecare began as a vision care clinic in Boise. In the past few years, Gem State has expanded their offerings to include specialty eyecare and ocular aesthetics, brought on another optometrist, moved to a new office in Boise, navigated a global pandemic, and recently added a second location in Moscow, Idaho. 

With an understanding of the importance of online marketing and advertising, and a willingness to budget appropriately, Gem State teamed up with Tribute Media in order to leverage the possibilities of improving their online presence through inbound marketing.

THE CHALLENGE

Gem State needed a marketing strategy that could evolve alongside the practice. Initially, their goals included adding new clients and increasing online reach, but over time those goals changed to reflect the importance of their new services, new locations, and a growing practice to support the health of their community.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic changed things for Gem State. This meant closing the practice down for a period of time, followed by months of reduced hours and even more months of uncertainty.

Bottom line? Gem State needed flexibility in their services but without sacrificing the quality of the results.

THE SOLUTION

Gem State's initial marketing strategy included SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media posting and advertising. Our SEO strategy focused on creating quality content around eyecare and ensuring that the site was well optimized for search. Regular posting on Google My Business also helps to keep the practice on Google map pack. Social media advertising, organic posting, and weekly follower engagement rounded out their strategy to make sure Gem State was being represented well across various platforms. 

Gem State has taken an active role in their marketing efforts, sharing in content creation, social posting, and keeping Tribute Media updated when it comes to new products, services, and special offers in order to help support those efforts.

When the COVID pandemic made it more important than ever for of businesses to be found online, our team helped Gem State update their website.

During the upgrade, Gem State and Tribute Media focused on:

  • Updating Gem State’s branding to reflect their evolving business
  • Adding website content related to new services
  • Add ability for patients to pay online 
  • Promote additional clinic location in Moscow
  • Updating existing website content with new imagery 

As the practice changed (both internally and due to external factors), we revisited monthly budgets and how that budget would be distributed, ensuring that Gem State never spent more than they were comfortable with—and never more than was actually needed to hit ROIs. We also made sure that spend was well distributed based on goals, limitations, and other factors.

THE RESULTS

The website has seen a huge increase in visitors since 2019.

In 2021, organic traffic (traffic routed through online searches) more than doubled year-over-year. So far in 2022, total traffic is up more than 40%. Visitors are spending more time on the pages they visit, and many of the blog posts on the site are ranking well on search engines.

Social media (including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) engagement, visits, and reach have seen steady growth over the years. Gem State's page visits have grown 77% year over year, with 15% more followers, and more than 13% more engagement. 

Gem State's Google Ads have been consistent, offering the practice regular appointment scheduling for both locations.

THE BENEFITS

Gem State Eyecare has seen tremendous growth and change in the past few years, and their marketing has evolved along with them. Organic traffic and social posting are solid sources of traffic for the website. It offers rich content that attracts searchers from all over, making them a credible source for information on vision care. It also brings in new clients and the site makes it easy for visitors to make appointments or learn more about the practice.

Emery Pearson

Written by Emery Pearson

Emery is the content strategist at Tribute Media. She has an MA in rhetoric and composition from Boise State University, and she is currently an MFA candidate in creative writing at Antioch University. She lives in southern California with a bunch of creatures and many plants.