EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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74 | EYEWORLD | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 I NSIDE THE PRACTICE by William Rabourn Jr. suit their own needs. However, while the com- bination of formulas used may be unique to each business, there are several considerations that benefit everyone looking to measure ROI with accuracy and ease. Revisit the goal before measuring Before calculating the ROI of a campaign, the ophthalmic business should remind itself what it originally set out to achieve with that campaign. Maybe it is maintaining the business' current size and health. Maybe it is growing a patient base, growing the number of intraocular replacement lens procedures, growing optical sales, or growing brand awareness. Whatever the desired result, define it and keep it top of mind through the calculating process. Why point this out when it seems like common sense? Because managing marketing campaigns can be noisy. Generally spanning multiple marketing channels, campaigns re- quire a lot of coordination. Ideas are natural- ly exchanged throughout the process as the business fields initial audience responses to its marketing efforts. This can lead to exciting— but distracting—new goals that shift focus away from the original. While those new goals are important to note for future campaigns, they should not affect the ROI calculations of the current campaign. For example, if a campaign's goal was specifically to increase laser cataract surgery procedures but the business later de- cided it also wanted to boost sales of premium IOLs, it would not make sense to deem the current strategy a failure if IOL sales remain unchanged. Having the correct goal in mind will help businesses gather and evaluate the correct metrics. Pinpoint your marketing channels As another simple yet essential part of the ROI process, compiling a list of the channels currently in use for a campaign can also help start calculations off on the right track. While M arketing is one of the most valuable brand building tactics at an ophthalmic business' disposal. The stronger the brand, the more likely it is to attract and retain patients and generate revenue. Building an effective marketing strategy is therefore highly important. Maintain- ing its effectiveness requires continual evalua- tion to ensure it is actually delivering a return on investment (ROI). Unfortunately, measuring marketing ROI is a challenging job; it's not always an exact science. Marketing endeavors are often broken into campaigns, a series of integrated messages used to promote or sell that share a single idea and theme. Measuring how valuable the strategies are within these campaigns requires looking at the metrics from multiple marketing channels, some of which are hard to quantify. Despite how difficult the task may seem, it is not impos- sible, and it should be done. Calculating mar- keting ROI justifies current marketing efforts and reveals opportunities for improvement. Over the years, marketing experts have created a variety of useful formulas to help with these calculations, which businesses may customize to Marketing ROI: Measure the true value of your strategy About the author William Rabourn Jr. Founder and managing principal Medical Consulting Group Springfield, Missouri continued on page 76