MARKETING VISION

With a prize of €1,000, the second annual Marketing Case Study Competition seeks to highlight the innovative ways that ophthalmologists are marketing their practices around the world today.

To be judged by Paul Rosen, chairman of the ESCRS Practice Management and Development Committee, and marketing expert Kris Morrill, the winning submission will demonstrate a successful campaign that resulted in an increase in patient volume or practice revenue.

Entries should consist of a three-to-four-slide presentation which illustrates the campaign, costs, as well as the results. The winning entry will be announced at the ESCRS Practice Management and Development Workshops on Sunday, 6 September, at the XXXIII Congress of the ESCRS in Barcelona, Spain.

Practical points

Entries should demonstrate examples of marketing campaigns executed in the 12 months prior to submission. They should also include the following:

• Type of marketing campaign

• Target audience, e.g. cataract-age patients

• Cost of the campaign

• Examples of the material used (photos)

Submissions should also include metrics to demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign. For example – how many new patients resulted from this campaign?

Last year’s winner

Bilić Vision Ophthalmology and Orthopaedic Polyclinic, Zagreb, Croatia, was the winner of the first Marketing Case Study Competition at the Practice Management and Development programme during the XXXII Congress of the ESCRS in London, UK.

Represented by its founder Nadežda Bilić MD, PhD, Bilić Vision’s entry focused on its successful radio education campaign to attract more cataract-age patients to the clinic.

On an investment of €11,000, the clinic was able to generate an eight per cent increase in new patient visits based on the twice-weekly, two-minute health information series over a 12-month period. The clinic tracked if the new patients came via word of mouth, its website or the educational radio series.

The judges felt that the Bilić Vision entry was an excellent example of a marketing campaign developed on a small budget with a good return on investment.

“The four finalists gave compelling presentations of their marketing campaigns, but in the end we felt that Dr Bilić and her team demonstrated that they had put into practice what they had learned after attending previous ESCRS Practice Management and Development programme workshops,” said Dr Rosen.