Casting a clearer vision for the future

Eye-care professionals are providing better service and connecting with more customers by reaching out through mobile marketing.

If you build it, they will come.

For years, that classic line from the movie “Field of Dreams” served as the primary strategy for businesses large and small.

Pick a great location. 

Erect a brick-and-mortar structure.

Hope potential customers find out about you.

Work tirelessly to grow that client base. 

Join local service organizations to expand your professional network.

Duplicate yourself with more employees and new locations.

Leave the business in great hands for the next generation.

Retire and watch it happen all over again.

Those were the days.

Go where the eyes are.

But as cities sprawled into suburbia and travel became easier and more frequent, marketing strategies began to change.

Billboards.

Television.

Magazines.

Newspapers.

Anywhere the megaphone was loud enough to be heard.

But in the midst of all the noise comes a whisper.

And it continues to grow bigger as technology grows smaller.

Fewer and fewer eyeballs are engaged in traditional media.

They’re too busy looking down.

Just look around.

That’s some sound advice for business owners from Steve Buttry, an adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C. He also serves as director of community engagement and social media at Digital First Media.

“To see where people's attention is focused these days, look around a restaurant, airport lounge or busy street,” Buttry says. “Count the people whose attention is on a smartphone or tablet. That's why small businesses need to reach the mobile audience.”

Buttry has plenty of support from recent Pew Internet research.

•56 percent of all adult Americans own a smartphone

•81 percent of all mobile phone users send or receive text messages

•60 percent of all mobile phone users access the Internet from their devices

•49 percent get directions, recommendations or other location-based information

•30 percent use their mobile phones to decide whether to use a particular  business.

And then there’s this mind-blowing statistic from Dr. Steve Vargo, an optometrist in the Chicago area: of the world’s 6.8 people, 5 billion of them own a mobile phone — while 4 billion own a toothbrush.

So, the question today is no longer, “why mobile?”

It is simply: “why not?”

Seeing is believing.

And so a different strategy has emerged for businesses.

They now have the ability to connect with clients from anywhere — to anywhere — with a device that fits in the palm of a hand.

“Mobile isn’t just a market anymore, it’s integrated into our daily lives,” says John Foley, a mobile marketing expert who serves as president of InterlinkONE and Grow Socially. “We have small computers in our pockets every day.”

While it’s true that voices still carry, small-business owners see plenty of power in letting their fingers do the talking through text messaging.

Many eye-care professionals have joined the movement, believing it’s an effective way to communicate with patients who may have short attention spans. They’re employing the strategy in three distinct ways:

•Appointment reminders — Sending a quick message to patients the day before or, perhaps, the day of a scheduled visit.

•Notifications — Alerting customers that their lenses or glasses are ready to be picked up.

•Services — Sharing information about special offers, promotions and tips for clients. 

Vargo, who founded iMobile Communications to help small businesses create and manage digital strategies, said his practice entered the mobile fray about three years ago.

“Without a mobile strategy, you are really missing an opportunity to stay connected and engaged with your patients.”

Recent studies show that it can take up to 11 hours for someone to open an e-mail. Most people read a text within 90 seconds.

Even more important, Vargo noted, 97 percent of all text messages are opened.

“Mobile has been quite successful for us so far,” says Cheryl Grenga, manager of the contact lens department for Eyecare of CNY, located in Syracuse, N.Y.

“It definitely saves us a lot of time.”

Grenga has been sending texts and e-mails to patients with smartphones for the past 18 months. She said Eyecare of CNY initially entered the mobile market to alert clients when their contact lenses were in. Now, she adds, the firm contacts customers with notifications on upcoming “trunk shows” and discounts on eye-care products.

“It drives a lot of business for us.”

Vargo offers some suggestions for eye-care professionals new to texting, which is strictly regulated by the federal government:

•Get permission

•Be relevant

•Add value

•Limit the frequency

Permission, both Vargo and Grenga agree, must always be the first step. Eye-care professionals do not want to end up on a “blacklist” because of perceived spam.

Grenga said each patient at Eyecare of CNY is asked to share their cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Few, she said, balk at the request.

“I’d say we connect with about 95 percent of our patients through texting and e-mail.”

Vargo says to be careful when using third-party providers to reach your customers.

“Make sure they are compliant with all regulations pertaining to mobile marketing. There are strict regulations ... especially for solicitation purposes.”

Still a little blurry.

SMS? QR? NFC? BLE?

How does an eye-car provider with little background in technology wade through the alphabet soup of the mobile market? Isn’t it nearly impossible to jump in now?

“Absolutely not,” Foley argues. “Knowledge is power. Once you understand that mobile is extremely powerful and necessary for your business to survive, you’ll be well on your way.”

Because a website is now the primary way clients discover a business, Foley suggests eye-care professionals start by examining their current sites and enhance the customer experience from there.

“You don’t want to make a bad impression,” he says. “No one wants to ‘pinch and zoom’ on their mobile device, or worse yet, not be able to see your website on an Apple device because your website is in flash.”

Vargo concurs.

“People do not want to scroll and magnify the screen on their phone to view tiny print. In fact, research has shown that many people will actually abandon a website within seconds if they have to do this.”

Foley offers some simple action steps to see if your current website needs an update:

•Study — Start by looking at your website on a phone or a tablet. Is it easy to interact with?

•Seek — Get some unbiased feedback on your current set-up.

•Spend — Make the nominal business investment in a mobile site or responsive website (a site that automatically adjusts to phone screen sizes.)

•Share — Spread the good news. “Once you complete the project, tell your customers and prospects about it to increase traffic. They’ll love it.”

Buttry says adding value to your customer base is crucial.

“Develop a useful app, mobile site or product that helps your target audience perform valuable jobs,” he notes. “Help me find something of value, save some money, etc.”

Vision for the future.

In recent years, we’ve witnessed the CD morph into a digital download, and the bulky desktop computer down-size into a hand-held device. We can only dream of what’s on the horizon for business owners.

Vargo believes it’s moving pictures.

“Video,” he says, “can help connect you emotionally with your audience.”

And marketing experts from Zig Ziglar to Seth Godin to Dave Ramsey will tell you that sales are often based on emotion.

“Obviously, video is not strictly mobile, but people are increasingly consuming online video with their mobile devices,” says Vargo, who is now forming a company that specializes in mobile video. “This can be posted on social media, a website, or even include a link in your e-mail or text messages to patients.”

And for those who once thought social media was just a fad, tell that to the nearly 7 billion users of Facebook or the millions on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Foley believes a mobile strategy fits beautifully into the social strata.

“Mobile is highly targeted, interactive, can have the ‘wow’ factor and it’s affordable.”

Social media, Foley adds, isn’t just your kid hanging out with friends on Facebook and posting what they ate for breakfast.

“There’s a culture and a community here, and it’s driven through mobile.”

He suggests four strategies for social media success:

•Encourage people to check-in through Foursquare and Facebook when they come to visit you

•Start conversations on Twitter using hashtags

•Seek out recommendations on Yelp

•Connect with your clients through Linked-In. 

In addition to the social aspect, mobile also offers a platform that is still growing in ways it can be monetized.

“Mobile marketing reaches a huge and engaged audience on a device where many of them are already comfortable spending money,” Buttry says.

And the numbers can easily be measured.

“I always say that if you can’t measure your marketing, it’s not worth doing. With mobile, you can really analyze behavior in almost real time, especially in retail environments.”

The mobile market, Foley offers, continues to expand at an incredible pace.

“There’s a whole world out there just waiting to help you grow socially.”

Small, it seems, really is the next big thing.

And that message is getting out in ever-changing ways.