What does the future hold for LASIK marketing?
According to Market Research Future, the global market is projected to grow steadily until 2022, registering a 6.5% compound annual growth rate over a five-year time period.
Some research claims that a growing population and urbanization—and subsequent lifestyle, environmental, and workforce factors—will continue to compound vision problems. An increase in human usage of laptops, computers, and mobile phones will only contribute to the demand of refractive surgery.
Technological advancements and better treatment options also contribute to this growth. As more products are developed and launched, the industry will become more accessible. And according to experts at the Refractive Surgery Council, this can boost consumer confidence.
Staying on top of LASIK marketing trends is essential.
Last week, we discussed how digital marketing can keep firms competitive. However, to truly set yourself apart from the pack, it’s important to understand LASIK marketing trends—and what others are doing in a crowded, competitive ophthalmology industry.
So, who's doing it right? To make sense of this changing landscape, Workshop Digital analyzed five metropolitan areas—Richmond, Charlotte, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Dallas—to get a sense of local, regional, and national competition. Below are three things we learned.
1. PPC players are big payers.
In each geographic location, we found two to four ads at the top of Google search results. And generally, larger, national practices pay top dollar to claim these spots. This includes:
- LASIK Vision Institute
- LasikPlus
- TLC Laser Eye Centers
As can be assumed, heavy hitters generally have the resources and dedicated digital marketing teams to run national campaigns. Within the paid ad space, we saw a scattering of single players. For high-value keywords (e.g. "lasik surgery dallas tx"), supralocal providers—those that cover multiple locations or regions—were sometimes the only ones present.
This represents both a challenge and an opportunity for small- to medium-sized LASIK providers. While multi-location providers drive up ad costs, smaller firms could become the first truly local practice to leverage paid ads for immediate visibility.
2. Local SEO competition isn't just local.
The same supralocal LASIK practices present in paid ads also dominated organic local pack listings. Generally, large players took up one or two critical local pack listings—which made the remaining spot (or spots) more competitive for local firms.
So, why do supralocal providers rank so well? Because of high domain authority. Search engines determine domain authority based on both the quantity and quality of links pointing from other websites. Basically, every authoritative link represents a vote in favor of the trustworthiness of a website.
As is the case of these supralocal LASIK providers, multi-location chains often have a competitive advantage—because individual location pages are located off the root domain. While this creates a challenge for smaller firms, investing in local SEO can boost rankings.
Interested in where you stand? An agency can analyze your backlink profile to build credibility and improve conversations.
3. Major hospital systems are making a major play.
In addition to the supralocal providers mentioned above, we also found that major hospitals are making waves in the industry. For example, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Emory Healthcare in Atlanta both enjoy a strong local presence in the LASIK surgery space.
The strength of these hospital’s domains benefit from links found across all healthcare offerings, which creates an inherent advantage across organic SEO queries. These major healthcare systems also leverage PPC campaigns to support core services, giving them access to expertise and messaging that help influence LAISK campaign success.
Whether you’re facing national or local competitors, the LASIK industry is experiencing high growth. Staying on top of LASIK marketing trends is only the first step in staying competitive.
LASIK digital marketing helps firms of all sizes.
What to learn more? Our free guide reviews LASIK marketing trends—and how digital can help you stay competitive. From taking on major players to competing locally, our research shows you how to make the most of your SEO and paid search efforts to drive LASIK results.
See results with digital marketing.
Our LASIK digital marketing guide can help your practice compete.
