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Combined Hearing Aid & Optical Campaign

I have already spoken before about engaging an associated Medical Professional in a synergistic business relationship. A relationship and strategy that will drive both your and their business. A relationship that will bring value on both sides and strengthen both Practice’s value offerings. The idea that I deployed here in this market revolved around building a relationship with an Optician, the campaign was run by a couple of people and was very effective were deployed.

The campaign was run around both a mailer and localised advertising. The strength of the campaign is based on the synergy of the two medical device services and their possible combined attractiveness for our particular demographic.

The campaign is based on the premise that when a customer buys a set of hearing instruments they receive a set of spectacles free, or indeed a monetary contribution voucher towards a set of spectacles. The exact pair of spectacles or indeed the monetary contribution voucher will be based on the level of technology of instruments purchased. Dependent on hearing instrument price points, there can be three or four levels of contribution such as made by the Dispenser.

Key to the strategy is the agreement of a local Optician to partake in the campaign. The campaign is a strong one and should be attractive to any Optician in the current economic climate. Key to the campaign is the following elements

· Agreement of an Optician to participation

· Negotiation of discounted pricing on three or four levels of price of spectacles

· A strong mailer designed for database merging

· Localised advertising elements including possible news media and posters for the two practices

It would also be of key benefit to the Optician to utilise his own database as part of the campaign. The combination of hearing aid services and optical services is an attractive one for our demographic. It will also afford the optical practice the opportunity to mail their database leveraging a strong marketing offer. The campaign also gives strong marketing potential for a, “Hearing Aid Dispensers for hearing aids, Opticians for glasses” type marketing campaign.

This campaign meets needs on both a tactical and strategic level for both the Hearing Aid Dispenser and the Optician. At a tactical level it could encourage business within a set time frame. It raises both brands to a higher level of integrated services and raises the attractiveness of both brands to our demographic. Strategically, the relationship fostered during this campaign can be leveraged by both parties on a long term basis for ongoing marketing activities, brand awareness and possible further service deliveries.

The offer in the campaign can be cost neutral to the Dispenser, if the Dispenser factors the usual level of discount at each price point as the contribution towards the glasses. In fact with intelligent negotiation with the Optician it should be possible to reduce the contribution below what would be the normal discount within each price point.

The benefits of the campaign should be;

· Lower discount levels on price points

· Access to a wider targeted database

· Possible ongoing strategic relationship with an allied health professional

· Cross marketing of specialities

· A new element to the Dispenser’s referral network

· Possible future combined route to market with specialised products

I realise that different markets have different operating procedures, but if you think in a co-operative manner with a view to adding value across stakeholders, you can identify a possible partner and deploy a strategy along these lines. I hope that if you engage in this strategy it is as successful as it was for some of my customers.

Kind regards

Geoff