Why your optometry marketing isn’t working with Jeremy Bono from IDOC Marketing

Your next patient may already be looking for an optometrist—and choosing someone else before you ever know they existed.

On this episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry, I’m joined by Jeremy Bono, Director of Optometry Marketing Services at IDOC, for a wide-ranging conversation about what effective marketing actually looks like inside an optometry practice.

We start with a bigger question: does the public really understand what an optometrist does—and, more importantly, why they should regularly see one? From there, Jeremy and I explore why simply saying that you provide “exceptional eye care” isn’t enough to differentiate a practice, how storytelling can make your marketing more memorable, and why practice owners need clarity around their ideal patient before deciding where to spend marketing dollars.

We then get much more tactical. Jeremy explains why Google Ads can be one of the fastest ways to generate new patient demand, how practice owners should think about marketing as an investment rather than simply another expense, and why measuring leads without tracking how many actually become patients can create a misleading picture of ROI.

We also discuss some of the seemingly small things that can quietly sabotage otherwise good marketing: making patients call instead of allowing online scheduling, forcing them to interact with your practice the way you prefer rather than the way they prefer, ignoring existing patients while constantly chasing new ones, and failing to maintain the digital presence that Google increasingly uses to determine which practices deserve visibility.

The larger lesson is that marketing isn’t one campaign, one social post, or one advertising budget. It’s the entire journey from someone discovering your practice to deciding you’re the right place for them—and then making it incredibly easy for them to become a patient and stay one.

NBS: Set aside an hour this week and define your ideal patient avatar—your “IPA.” Write down who they are, what they value, what problems they’re trying to solve, how they search for care, and how they prefer to interact with a business. Then look at your current marketing through their eyes and identify one point of friction you can eliminate.

Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!

Resources:

IDOC Marketing Service

Book a Triage call with Adam

Download the Practice Owner’s Financial Toolkit

20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass

OD Mastermind Interest Form

Check out Adam’s book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice

—————————————————————————————
Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms

Apple Podcasts

Spotify
—————————————————————————————

For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!