WRITER Paul Sallaway

I’ve met practice owners who deliver world-class service while less experienced competitors dominate search results, media mentions, and local conversations. It’s not a reflection of their skill – it’s simply a result of visibility.

If you’ve ever felt that your clinic deserves to be seen and heard more clearly, this is how you make it happen.

Digital public relations (PR) and community engagement are the keys to ensuring your clinic earns reputation beyond the consulting room – getting talked about for the right reasons, appearing in the places that patients look for trustworthy recommendations.

But what exactly is digital PR? And, why does it matter to an eye care clinic? For me, it means shaping how people talk about your practice – building recognition through credible coverage, expert commentary, and media stories that show you as a trusted voice in your field.

When your name appears in respected publications, or your insights are quoted by a journalist, you’re not advertising – you’re earning trust. Patients take notice when an independent source references you as an expert.

And now it’s not just people who are paying attention. Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google’s Gemini, increasingly use media mentions and brand citations as signals of credibility when recommending local providers. If your clinic isn’t part of that picture, you’re missing out on a new layer of visibility.

Put simply: digital PR helps the right people – and the right algorithms – see what makes your clinic worth noticing.

REACHING AUDIENCES THROUGH MEDIA COVERAGE

Who gets the spotlight and who stays invisible? It’s rarely luck – it’s initiative. The clinics that appear in articles or interviews are the ones that step forward with useful insights, and build genuine relationships with journalists.

National and international opportunities are plentiful if you know where to look. Platforms like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) (helpareporter.com), Featured (featured. com), and Australia’s own SourceBottle (sourcebottle.com) connect professionals with journalists seeking credible commentary. Each gives you a chance to be quoted where patients – and search engines – already pay attention. Here’s an example of a SourceBottle request I received recently:

“Looking for an optometrist or optical dispenser to share expert insight on fitting glasses for people with low nose bridges. Comments will be used in an article exploring common fit issues and how the industry can better serve diverse face shapes.”

Local media often delivers great results. Editors love specialists who can explain health conditions in plain English – for example, how digital screens affect eye comfort or why seasonal allergies cause irritation. These small contributions can turn into long-term collaborations. Next time you are out shopping, grab the free magazine and look for the contact details of editors and writers.

The key is originality and relevance. Share perspectives that can’t be found online – anonymised in-house data, real-world cases, or local trends. Leverage topical eye care themes like World Sight Day or Myopia Awareness Month. Journalists remember the experts who make their job easier. Over time, you’ll become the person they call first for a trusted comment.

BUILDING CONNECTION WITH JOURNALISTS

Before pitching a media release, learn who you’re contacting. Read a journalist’s recent stories and bio on LinkedIn or X. Engage thoughtfully with their posts or share an article they’ve written. That small bit of familiarity makes your name recognisable when your email arrives.

QUICK STEPS FOR BETTER MEDIA OUTREACH

• Listen before you pitch. Follow journalists covering health or lifestyle topics and read their latest stories. Shape your pitch to fit their interests, not yours.

• Engage genuinely. Comment or share their posts to build light familiarity – no hard sells, just presence.

• Be clear and concise. Keep your pitch short, personal, and free of jargon. A few crisp sentences work better than a long essay.

• Offer value, not ads. Provide fresh insights or original data from real patient trends. Journalists value substance over spin.

• Respond quickly. Deadlines move fast; a prompt, factual response to a writer’s request often wins.

In a market that’s crowded for attention, being the expert the media trusts is often the difference between being seen and being forgotten.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR PRACTICE GROWTH

True community engagement isn’t decoration or a vanity play; it’s the foundation of local loyalty.

• Sponsor local sports, schools, and cultural events. Sponsorships create trust because they show your practice investing in the same spaces your patients care about. Whether you’re supporting a junior sports club, a local school event, or a cultural event, these partnerships place your name in front of families in genuine community settings. Most organisations will list sponsors on their websites – linking directly to your own – giving your brand a search engine optimisation (SEO) boost. Add physical signage and you’ve created a presence that’s both digital and tangible.

• Host in-clinic events that invite discovery. Bringing the community inside your clinic is one of the fastest ways to turn visitors into patients. Eyewear showcase events work particularly well because they blend healthcare with lifestyle, giving people a reason to visit, browse, and talk about their experience. One of our clients, Picton Eyecare in New South Wales, does an incredible job at networking with local business groups and hosting in-store events, which then feeds high engagement social media content.

• Collaborate with local health professionals. Partner with general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists, and allied healthcare experts. Co-hosting workshops or continuing professional development nights positions your practice as part of a professional network dedicated to holistic care. The bonus is shared visibility. When allied providers tag your clinic on social media, or feature your name in newsletters, their patients see you as a trusted recommendation, not an unknown option.

Community engagement anchors your reputation in the real world and makes it harder for competitors to dislodge your place in the local conversation. When patients see your logo on a sports banner, your staff at an event, or your name mentioned by a trusted GP, they stop seeing you as another clinic – and start seeing you as their clinic.

ENGAGING WITH ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Digital word-of-mouth is stronger than ever, and platforms like Reddit, Quora, and Facebook groups shape how people decide who to trust with their health. The goal is to be helpful, not promotional; to show expertise without sounding like an ad. Every online community has its own unwritten rules though, so it pays to learn the culture before you post.

• Focus on education, not promotion. On platforms such as Reddit and Quora, credibility comes from sharing knowledge, not links. Patients arrive there with genuine questions about topics like myopia control, cataract surgery, or dry eye treatments. When you respond with practical insight, and perhaps an anonymised story from clinical experience, you show authority without self-promotion. Avoid adding links unless someone directly asks for them; unsolicited links are the fastest way to lose trust.

• Join conversations in the right places. Facebook groups, parenting forums, and local community pages are full of people already discussing health needs. Joining these spaces as a health professional (rather than a brand) allows you to contribute to the dialogue where it naturally happens. Instead of repeating standard advice, share context from your day-to-day practice – like how screen habits affect eye strain or what to expect from a first eye exam. Consistent, relevant input gradually positions you as a dependable voice within the group.

Responsible online engagement is a slow burn, not a campaign. Each answer, comment, or shared insight adds another small thread of trust between your practice and the community around it. Stay consistent, keep it authentic, and you’ll soon find that your reputation online mirrors the one you’ve built in person.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Running a practice is demanding enough without trying to be your own PR manager. But in today’s connected world, credibility isn’t built inside your four walls – it’s built wherever people are talking about you. Digital PR and community engagement aren’t luxuries; they’re extensions of good patient care.

When I see a clinic featured in local media, partnering with a nearby health provider, or getting tagged in an online forum for giving genuinely useful advice, I know that practice is thriving – not just in appointments, but in reputation.

Start small. Offer one quote to a journalist. Sponsor one local event. Answer one question online. The momentum builds faster than you’d think.

Focus on trust and credibility; everything else in your marketing will follow.

Paul Sallaway is the founder, owner, and web strategist behind Optics Digital Marketing. His agency specialises in assisting business growth for eye care practices through conversion-optimised websites and data-driven marketing. For a free consultation, visit: opticsdigital.net.