Kate Virzi is the Director of Sales & Client Success at Marketing4ECPs, a digital marketing agency that helps eye care professionals grow their practices. With over 15 years of experience in sales, advertising, and client strategy, Kate has extensive expertise in helping businesses grow. She leads initiatives focused on driving patient acquisition, strengthening brands, and increasing revenue across North America. Dedicated to building long-term, value-driven relationships, she works closely with clients to create strategies that deliver measurable results.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [00:55] Kim Carson discusses how AI is revolutionizing optometry appointment booking and chatbots
- [01:33] Why telehealth and AI medicine will dominate in 2026
- [02:32] Kate Virzi talks about the secret goldmine in your current patient database
- [07:13] Strategies for getting more five-star patient reviews
- [09:06] Tips for identifying and marketing to your ideal patient
- [13:18] Why direct mail is making a big comeback in marketing
In this episode…
The pace of change in marketing and technology keeps accelerating, and what worked a year ago is already dated. As we enter 2026, which shifts actually matter and which ones are just noise?
Kim Carson believes that the biggest trends heading into 2026 revolve around smarter use of AI, more intentional communication with patients, and a renewed focus on trust. Drawing from her experience as a marketing strategist, she points to AI tools that reduce friction, from booking appointments to personalized outreach, while still keeping the human connection intact. The takeaway is clear: practices that combine innovation with consistency will be the ones that stand out and grow sustainably.
In this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, Kim Carson and Kate Virzi discuss key trends to pay attention to as practices prepare for 2026. They explore how AI is reshaping marketing workflows, why email and audience segmentation still matter, and how local SEO continues to drive patient discovery. Kim and Kate also talk about creative tactics, like standing out in unexpected marketing channels, to build trust and visibility in the year ahead.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Kevin Wilhelm on LinkedIn
- Marketing4ECPs: Website | Instagram
- Cleinman Performance Partners
- Kate Virzi: LinkedIn | Email
- Kim Carson on LinkedIn
- Intuit
- Mailchimp
- Google Business Profile
Quotable Moments:
- “I think in 2026 we’ll definitely get more of that, even like telehealth and AI medicine.”
- “Email is a really great tool to keep your practice top of mind.”
- “Instead of sending an email to your entire email database, you can start tailoring those messages.”
- “I would argue more important than ever when it comes to local SEO going into 2026.”
- “When you lead with value and educate your audience, you’re building that trust.”
Action Steps:
- Integrate AI tools into patient touchpoints: Using AI for booking, chatbots, and workflows helps save time while improving patient accessibility and experience.
- Build a consistent email marketing strategy: Regular, thoughtful communication keeps your practice top of mind when patients are ready to act.
- Segment your audience for targeted messaging: Tailored content increases relevance, engagement, and trust by speaking directly to patient needs.
- Strengthen local SEO and online presence: Optimizing search, reviews, and social content ensures patients can easily find and choose your practice.
- Lead marketing efforts with education and value: Teaching patients builds credibility and trust, which are essential for long-term growth.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Marketing4ECPs!
Working with them is like hiring a full-time marketing professional who knows the industry and understands your goals. Except, instead of one experienced marketer, you get a whole team in your corner.
Whether you’re an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician, they can help you grow your business with a plan that’s completely customized for you. Learn more here.
Episode Transcript
Intro: 00:07
Welcome to the Cleinman Connect Podcast, where we discuss marketing, ownership, growth strategies, and everything else surrounding the business of optometry. Cleinman is Optometry’s trusted business partner for over 35 years.
Kate Virzi: 00:31
Hi everyone. Welcome to today’s webinar. My name is Kate Virzi. I’m Director of Sales and Client Success at Marketing4ECPs. And today I’m joined by my lovely colleague Kim Carson.
Kim, would you like to introduce yourself? Yes.
Kim Carson: 00:41
Hi, I’m Kim Carson from Cleinman, and today we’re going to be talking about 2025 review on trends that we saw and what may be coming up in 2026.
Kate Virzi: 00:50
I’m excited. Let’s jump right into it. What were the biggest trends you saw in 2025?
Kim Carson: 00:55
Well, I think I definitely saw an uptick in anything AI booking appointments, the chatbots on websites, there’s lots of developments in AI and then a lot of AI just getting involved in things that already existed. Absolutely.
Kate Virzi: 01:11
And I think the cool thing about AI is the ability to help get you part of the way there. What optometrists struggle with, I think, is finding that time and that energy to be able to do everything. And so from a marketing standpoint, AI is really a great tool to help get you part of the way there. And I would agree. We’re seeing so many advancements when it’s coming to AI and just what’s happening in the industry.
Kim Carson: 01:33
Yeah, I think too, there’s been a lot of developments, not just for the booking of appointments. And, you know, I think when I think about early AI and technology, especially for practices, it’s that list that you would call and you’d be like press number one, press number two. Like, that’s kind of an early version of AI. And now we’ve evolved to have that more online. We do have the chatbots that you can like Pre-program answers into.
And you can kind of teach it what to say. Or you have them that can just scrub your website and find the answers that way. So that’s been really cool to see. And I think in 2026 we’ll definitely get more of that. I think even like telehealth and AI medicine is going to be a much larger piece of the picture in 2026.
Kate Virzi: 02:19
Absolutely.
Kim Carson: 02:20
So, Kate, I think it’s a well known fact that you’re a big fan of email marketing. Was there anything in the email marketing space that you saw get more developed in 2025, or anything you’re looking forward to coming up?
Kate Virzi: 02:32
I think the biggest thing with email marketing is just to, in general, not be afraid to reach out to patients. So what I have been noticing over the last few years is a hesitation to actually reach out and engage with current patients. There’s this fear of I don’t want to bother my current patients, but the truth is, is that most practices are sitting on a gold mine of all of these patients that want to hear from them. You know, what I really recognized in 2025 is that we want to hear from our medical professionals and that at this point, we’re really used to email marketing businesses, whether it’s clothing companies, all different industries are reaching out to us in so many different ways. And so why not be that one who has that touch point with your patients?
Because the truth is, is that email is a really great tool to keep your practice top of mind. A patient might not be ready to move forward today, but they will be ready to move forward in the future. And that’s why it’s so important to make sure that you are having that constant communication with them. Where I’ve seen email marketing evolve to is the ability to really integrate tracking into it. So having book appointment buttons right in the email, having learn more about your special medical specializations, whether it’s dry myopia control, because then you can see how people are actually engaging with your emails, and then you can make informed decisions about the content.
But you can also follow up with people that are clicking to learn more about dry eye or myopia control.
Kim Carson: 03:46
Yeah, I love that and correct me if I’m wrong, but segmentation within the audience has been a bigger thing that’s been evolving, especially in kind of like, you know, the MailChimp, the the Intuit marketing, whatever the, the kind of easier platforms to navigate, the more user friendly platforms for email marketing. And I think when we hear from practices and their doctors are worried about bothering their patients with too many emails, I think that segmenting your audience is going to be a much more well known thing you can do. So instead of sending an email to your entire email database, you can send an email to people who have gotten a treatment from you, a specific treatment from you, or bought a specific thing from you. It doesn’t have to be the same message to your whole audience. You can start kind of tailoring those messages so that when you send an email to somebody, it’s valuable to them because it’s something that actually relates to them.
For sure. And like, you know, we still want to send those emails to have those touch points. But I think that a little more targeted, a bit more strategy in it is going to be a lot more user friendly. A lot more accessible. And I think just kind of get better as we go into 2026.
Kate Virzi: 04:56
Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is most, you know, routine eye exams, it is a broad audience that we’re targeting. But what I love about audience segmentation is that we know that dry eye patients are typically more likely to be female. A little bit older. And so you can get really specific about who that audience is.
And even outside of email marketing, you can build a full marketing strategy about how you actually want to connect with that audience.
Kim Carson: 05:19
Yeah. Something else that I think has been growing, and I’d love to talk about it with you, is the world of SEO. And I think that we saw it maybe get a bit of a curveball thrown into it with the AI summaries that we see on Google Now. But SEO, specifically local SEO, I think is still extremely important. And going into 2026, I would argue more important than ever.
When you think about yourself as a consumer, you know, if I’m searching for something specific, I go that thing near me or in my area, or I’m looking at my city on Google Maps and I’m typing in what I want. So I think that local SEO is still and going to be more extremely important. Do you have any thoughts on SEO or any ways that we could help people get a little more lift into 2026?
Kate Virzi: 06:09
For sure? One thing to actually consider is that as of July 10th, 2025, Instagram and social media is actually ranking and helping with SEO. So if you are a potential patient that’s doing a search for dry eye treatment near you, Instagram posts that have been that are relevant to that kind of content have the potential to show up. So that’s why it’s more important than ever to consider your social media use as well. How are you utilizing social media?
Because that is going to impact your SEO. But I think the SEO with AI, with the changes to search habits, the most important thing will still be your content strategy. So what information are you putting out there? What kind of blog content are you putting out there? What are you doing on social media, as I mentioned?
What is how are you ensuring that patients can easily find you? So do you have a Google My business profile set up? All of those points are going to still really matter when it comes to SEO, and it is evolving and changing with the integration of AI. But as long as the practice is focusing on a really strategic content strategy, both the services they offer and ensuring that they show up and potential patients are searching for them, I think they’ll do quite well with the SEO world.
Kim Carson: 07:13
Another thing that I think is still very important, and it made me think of it when I was saying what my zoom out on Google and I’ll search that way, is the reviews. That has been something that we’ve seen in 2025 that people are, you know, even myself as a consumer, if I’m looking for a restaurant in a different city or if I’m looking for a service in a city, if I can find a bunch of options, I’m looking at the top ranked option first. So is do you have any advice for for any people listening or watching on how to up their stars? I would say it’s two things.
Kate Virzi: 07:52
One, ask for reviews, right? One of the most important things is you want to fill those reviews. So actually asking your patients when they’re in the practice while the receptionist is talking to them, we’ve had some practices that do things like make a really beautiful, cute QR code that links right to the reviews. It’s on the desk. It makes it really easy for them to leave those reviews, and the more they accumulate, obviously the higher their rating will be, especially if people are having good experiences.
They want to. You want them to talk about that. The other thing I’d mention is sometimes we get those bad reviews. Sometimes it happens. The biggest thing is respond to them.
So as consumers, we understand that not every single business is going to have perfect five stars. In fact, sometimes for myself, I actually look for the ones where maybe, you know, someone had a poor experience. But what I’m actually looking for is how did the practice respond? So acknowledge them, offer to take a conversation offline or some sort of resolution, but don’t just leave it. And for the love of God, don’t fight with them.
Don’t try to dispute it right there. Have them take the conversation offline with you, but it just shows consumers that you’ve acknowledged it and that you’re trying to do something to right their situation.
Kim Carson: 08:58
I think the big question that we all want to know is, what are some things that practices could do with their marketing in 2026.
Kate Virzi: 09:06
Yeah, there’s definitely a few things that are really important. I think the number one thing is really understanding who you’re trying to market to, and really what happens is you want to understand who your ideal patient is. So who’s that person that walks into the practice? You’re so excited to see them. You are so happy that they’re there.
And then you want to build a strategy around them. And so a lot of people in Icare offer general exams, but they try to blanket and reach everyone. But I think it’s really important to hone in on that specific ideal patient and then have them actually show up in your marketing. So if I’m your potential patient, maybe you offer dry eye treatment. I’m definitely a candidate for dry eye treatment.
I would want to see myself reflected in your website. So you’ve got photos of, you know, women in my age demographic that maybe have families or maybe have kids and then also have that reflected in your social media as well. And the other thing I say about marketing in 2026 is lead with value. And a really great way to do that is educate. So use social media as such a great tool for storytelling.
Use it as a platform to tell your story, but also educate your audience on why health is so important, why not market it, or why medical specializations are so important like dry eye myopia control. Treatment options. Preventative options. Lead with value. Dietary things.
Any sort of approach where you can convince your audience of why they why you are the expert is going to just help create that personal connection. And really, especially in a in the eye care industry, it’s about trust, right? We want to trust our medical service providers. And so when you lead with value and educate your audience, you’re building that trust.
Kim Carson: 10:37
Yeah, I think that that is extremely important. And it speaks to, you know, the omnichannel approach that we have already discussed with having some of your Instagram posts show up on Google ranking, like for local SEO and just, yeah, making you a credible, reliable source to your patients. Yep.
Kate Virzi: 10:54
It’s all about trust. And the last thing I’d say too is consistency. So when it comes to marketing, consistency is key. I think the foundation of marketing is your brand. So that is, you know, why did you get into optometry?
What is your story? What is your vision? What is your mission? What are your goals? What does your practice colors look like?
What does your logo look like? And then everything else you do is from there. But it is all consistent with that foundation of what the brand actually is. So when I go to your practice website, there should be a seamless transition of when I go to your social media page, I should be able to easily identify that they’re connected. And if you really plan for that consistency, it’s going to help have higher ad recalls so that when the patients of tomorrow need your services today, they’ll choose you because they recognize your brand and you’ve built that trust and credibility with them.
Kim Carson: 11:41
Amazing.
Kate Virzi: 11:41
So, Kate. Yeah.
Kim Carson: 11:42
What would you recommend to be the best way to get more patients in 2026?
Kate Virzi: 11:47
That’s a great question. It’s interesting because a lot of the practices we meet with, they want to do 1 or 2 things. They want more patients or they want better patients. So I’ll speak to both of them. Really what happens is only about 5% of the market is actually ready to book an appointment today.
And it’s interesting because a lot of practices forget about the other There are 95% of people. And if you forget about those people, when they’re ready to move forward with booking appointment, they might not have the practice top of mind. So if you are wanting to capture that 5% today, a really great strategy is Google Ads. So Google Ads is, if I’m a potential patient that’s searching eye doctor near me on Google, your practice if you’re running Google ad campaign will show up in the top results on Google. So there’s the sponsored results which are paid Google ad results.
And then there’s the organic results. Really, you want a marketing strategy that makes sure you show up with both. So on the top one is Google Ads. On the bottom one, it’s a dedicated SEO strategy. And what that’s going to do, it’s going to ensure that your practice shows up when people are actively searching for your services, that 5%.
But I think it’s really important to also talk about that 95% that are patients of tomorrow. So they might not be ready to move forward today, but you want to make sure that you are doing implementing tactics. And this is where branding comes into play. Social media, digital awareness, ads, even community involvement, so many different aspects of how you’re putting your brand in front of people. So again, when they’re ready to move forward.
Your practice is top of mind.
Kim Carson: 13:08
And is there any tactics or something that maybe people haven’t really explored yet that in 2026 you think will be taking off?
Kate Virzi: 13:18
Absolutely. It’s a great question because what’s really cool is we’re seeing so marketing is really there’s something called the purple cow theory, and it’s the idea that you’re driving down a highway and you’re seeing brown and white cows on either side, and they just kind of blend because you just keep seeing them. But then all of a sudden you see this big, bright purple cow. And that’s how marketing works. It’s a disruption, right?
It’s in something different. And so we’re always talking to practices about how are you standing out from your competitors. And I think one of the ways is actually direct mail. So direct mail was way popular back in the day. You get the piece of paper, the mail.
But what happened with digital marketing is that everything’s moved to the digital space. What we’re seeing now is that the digital space is so crowded. So many people are fighting for impressions and for reach and for eyeballs and attention. And so we’re seeing a lot of practices go back to direct mail, which is really cool because it is like a purple cow. It’s a disruption.
People aren’t as used to getting them anymore, especially if you can make your ad creative, fun and kind of tongue in cheek. But there also can be a digital component to it as well, where there’s a QR code, or it ties back to the website so that you can track and make informed decisions about how the campaigns are performing. But I would say going into 2026, what are those tactics and strategies that are a little bit different, that are those purple cows that are standing out from the competitors? And I think those will really help practices be successful next year.
Kim Carson: 14:37
So if anyone would like to work with you or for Marketing4ECPs, how could they get in touch with you? Yeah.
Kate Virzi: 14:42
So reach out to us via our website. We’re also on social media on Instagram. marketing4ecps_ also can reach out to me personally. My information will be included. But if it’s not just a marketing issue that’s happening within the business, like a lot of practices are facing operational challenges or even HR and staffing issues.
We also acquired a 35 year old business called Cleinman Performance Partners, and so they offer peer to peer consulting. And we also offer HR services. So reach out to us. You can book a demo with our team. And we can really assess and understand what your needs are as a business, and then build a strategic roadmap to help support them.
Kim Carson: 15:19
Amazing. Well, thank you for your time today, Kate. I really appreciate it. And her website again, marketing4ecps.com. And if you would like to work with Cleinman in the future, we are Cleinman.com and you can see all of our great services on that page.
And thank you so much for taking the time to watch or listen to this webinar today. And we wish you so much success in 2026.
Outro: 15:46
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