Marketing for ophthalmology clinics
Refractive surgery is thought about for years and booked in a fortnight. Cataract arrives with a diagnosis and a waiting list. Two completely different patients, one clinic, and almost always a single generic website trying to speak to both.
A 30-minute video call. The audit document and the 90-day plan.
What changes
The patient has been thinking about it for four years and nothing on the site addresses the fear that is holding them back.
The comparison is entirely on price and technique names the patient does not understand.
Cataract patients arrive from the public waiting list and nobody has told them the private route exists.
The clinic is competing against national chains with a media budget and a call centre.
One decision, years of thinking, a lot of fear to answer.
Ophthalmology gets split in two from the first day, because the refractive patient and the cataract patient share nothing except the building. The refractive side is worked as a long fear-driven decision: what the tests rule out, who is not a candidate, what the recovery is really like, what the differences between techniques actually mean for a person rather than for a brochure. The cataract side is worked as an informed second option, explaining the private route without ever criticising the public system or leaning on the anxiety of a waiting list, which is both wrong and against the rules. In both cases the surgeon is the reason a patient chooses, so the content carries their name and their criteria.
How it runs
Two content tracks, refractive and cataract
Separate pages, separate language and separate booking routes. Trying to serve both from one page serves neither.
The fear questions, answered without drama
What can go wrong, how often, what the checks rule out, what happens if you are not a candidate. It is the content that unblocks a four-year decision.
Technique explained in consequences
Not the acronym war. What each option means for recovery, for the result and for who it suits, in language the patient can repeat at home.
The surgeon’s name on the material
Cases, criteria and a professional presence outside the site, which is what separates a clinic from a chain in this speciality.
Every service
Content & SEO
Rank for the treatment your city is searching for.
Newsletter & CRM
The patients you already have are the cheapest diary you own.
Social
Measured in first appointments. Never in likes.
PR & Media
Be quoted where a patient checks whether you are serious.
Branded & Cases
The material that closes the treatment after the first visit.
Strategy & Data
Cost per new patient. The only number the owner looks at.
Questions
Can we use the public waiting list in our messaging?
You can explain that a private route exists and what it involves. What is not done here is building the argument on the anxiety of waiting or on criticising the public system: it uses fear as a lever, which the brand rules out and the advertising rules discourage.
Should we publish the price of refractive surgery?
A range with what changes it, yes. The patient is comparing prices anyway, on sites that will not explain why one figure is higher than another.
How do we compete against the national chains?
On the surgeon and on the depth of the answers. A chain runs a campaign; a clinic can be the only place that properly explains what happens if the tests rule you out.
Can we publish patient results?
Documented processes with consent, yes. Promised outcomes, no, in this speciality least of all.
Book your free audit
A 30-minute video call. The audit document and the 90-day plan.