Interview with Dave Smriga, Founder and President of AuDNet, Inc.

Topic: AuDNet, the Internet and Promoting Audiology Care

Dave Smriga

SMAKA: Today I'm speaking with Dave Smriga, the founder and President of AuDNet, Inc. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today, Dave.

SMRIGA: Thank you, Carolyn.

SMAKA: Dave, can you tell me about your background, and how you came to found AuDNet?

SMRIGA: I earned my degree in audiology in 1976. For the first eight years of my career I worked with adult hearing impaired patients in a hospital setting, but then became interested in the manufacturing side of the industry. For the next 18 years I worked for several hearing aid manufacturers, first as a staff audiologist and later in management roles that included sales and marketing management, product management, public relations and professional education. In 2001 I went on my own and started, AuDNet as a commercial tool to build national demand for audiology care - something that seemed critically important in light of the Au.D. movement. AuDNet has experienced significant growth in its almost nine year existence;necessitating a restructuring in 2005. This restructuring included bringing on several audiologist partners including Dr. Kathy Foltner, Dr. John Zeigler, and Dr. Greg Frazier.

The AuDNet mission is to substantially grow public recognition and demand for audiology care. To reach this goal we leverage the commercial aspects of what audiologists already do to underwrite a national campaign educating Americans about the skills and the expertise of audiologists as health care providers. As a result of these efforts, when people reach the point where they want to seek hearing healthcare, they will decide, "I need to see an audiologist," rather than, "I need a hearing aid." Our focus is on health care and provider credentials rather than on product. In recent years, as you can imagine, the Internet has played an important role in reaching Americans and in helping us to achieve our goals.



SMAKA: When did the Internet become important to audiology?

SMRIGA: The importance of the Internet in health care overall has grown exponentially over the past several years. When you look at the world today, there's little doubt that the Internet is one of the consumer's most influential research tools. Seventy-four percent of American adults go online for a variety of reasons, and 61 percent of those adults look online for health information. Internet research has become so prevalent in health care that a new term has been created to describe these folks, e-patients. Research has also shown that approximately 52 percent of all online health inquiries are made on behalf of someone else;this indicates that there are a lot adults looking for health information for their children or senior parents. Many of these people claim that online information has affected their health care decisions and believe that they, or their loved ones, have been helped by this information. So, there's little doubt that the Internet is influencing healthcare decisions. The important question then becomes, "How do people go about finding information on the Internet?" The majority use search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN as a starting point. Unfortunately, an individual practice website rarely gets the attention of search engine crawlers looking for information to post in response to simple search engine inquiries. It can be very difficult to get an individual practice website stand out to these search engines, which is why many people hesitate to invest the time and money in websites and Internet marketing. The amount of information search engines must sort through is massive, and their criteria for placement is extremely complex.

SMAKA: Absolutely - so how can an audiologist be an expert in search engine optimization (SEO) in addition to trying to run all other aspects of a private practice?

SMRIGA: A perfect question. We're helping audiologists to understand that there are more economical and less time consuming ways to maximize their individual practice's search engine appeal. The key is to link the practice's website content and contact information to what I call a "tower website". A tower website is an intensely capitalized website focused on optimizing search engine appeal through techniques, strategies and knowledge of search engine crawler criteria that increases the likelihood that the website will appear on the first page of search engine results listings. For example, when a search engine user is searching hearing related topics, AuDNet's tower site www.NowIHear.com. contains not only general information regarding the topic being searched, but it also contains videos and blogs and daily content refreshement on hundreds of website pages in addition to links to the member audiology practices so that, once an e-patient decides (based on the www.NowIHear.com information) to see an audiologist, this tower website directs the e-patient to a member audiologist in their area. The tower website makes the individual practice's website much more visible to internet searchers.

One of the keys to the success of our strategy is the robust video content we use to attract search engines to our site. Video is an up-and-coming trigger that search engine to pay attention to so we have developed high quality, professional, video presentations on numerous audiology related topics. In addition, individual practices also upload video content about their practice to our YouTube portal, which links to our website. Video also serves to attract patients who may not want to read pages of text, but who may be interested in watching a short video.

The other strategies involved in securing and maintaining good SEO - such as fresh content, blogs, new videos, information downloads and more - are taken care of automatically through www.NowIHear.com. Through links and audiology locator listings, individual audiology practices can benefit from all of this investment and ongoing effort.

SMAKA: The advantages of the tower website are pretty clear. What other benefits does AuDNet have to offer?

SMRIGA: AuDNet focuses on the credentials of the audiologist as a hearing health care provider. As a business enterprise, this makes AuDNet unique. Since manufacturers provide products to hearing aid dispensers, whether the dispenser is an audiologist or not;it is not in the manufacturers' best interest to put the audiologist forward as the most qualified professional to help a patient with a hearing healthcare decision. The same can be said for large retail chains who hire dispensers and audiologists, or other national networks who have audiologists and non-audiologists as members. It doesn't make sense for them to promote one set of providers over another.

If what reaches the eyes and ears of consumers interested in information about hearing healthcare is driven by the amount of money that's behind that message, then audiology is at a significant disadvantage because audiology as a profession is not a business enterprise. Yet, the truth is, close to half of all of the hearing instruments that are provided to patients in the U.S. are provided by audiologists. When each of these individual audiology providers market separately, they can get lost in the sea of the much bigger and better funded corporate marketing messages from manufacturers and larger retailers. That's where a tower website like AuDNet's and the national economic unity that AuDNet offers becomes critical.

AuDNet funds the business of marketing audiology nationally through the existing enterprise of member practices. Our member practices have the option to purchase hearing instruments, clinical products, and other resources through suppliers associated with AuDNet. These member practices receive a discount on the products purchased through these suppliers. This is mutually beneficial as our member practices receive supplies they need at a lower cost, our suppliers receive the benefit of the increased volume in their sales, and AuDNet secures capital to underwrite its audiology marketing programs.

AuDNet is a business and marketing tool that individual practices can choose to use, and that has as its only purpose to promote audiology care directly to all Americans. It's a way for the profession of audiology to take the business activity that they're already engaged in, and unify it in a fashion that funds the promotion of audiology care nationally. This enables audiology as a profession to market its expertise in hearing health care in a manner that is on par with the larger, better funded business interests who are marketing something other than audiology to the same population. It comes down to what we as a profession need to do to promote ourselves and ensure that consumers think of seeing an audiologist for their hearing health care needs. Through AuDNet, the business of audiology becomes the means by which the profession of audiology competes as a business. This benefits all audiologists, not just those who dispense hearing instruments. However, dispensing hearing instruments remains a vital economic component capable of underwriting the profession's future, and a key resource the profession needs to use to promote the value of audiology care nationally.

Through AuDNet, the business of audiology becomes the means by which the profession of audiology competes as a business.

A strong professional image and economic strength are also important in drawing new students into audiology graduate programs. With a four-year graduate degree requirement, students want to see a good return on a rather costly investment in their education. Unless the profession has a well-crafted economic foundation that results in graduates doing proportionately well when they get out of school, it's going to become a challenge for audiology to attract young minds. We have to keep audiology as an attractive option to students when they're comparing the time and money they need to invest in becoming an Au.D. with other professions with similar entry requirements. Dispensing is a powerful economic component that audiology can leverage in marketing the profession, securing competitive incomes and assuring audiology's future.

SMAKA: Sold! How does an audiologist become a member of AuDNet?

SMRIGA: Well, this may surprise you, but it's pretty easy. If you are a licensed audiologist, just fill out an application. There's no fee to join AuDNet. We do ask that audiologists put a link to www.NowIHear.com on their practice website, as these links are important in our SEO strategy. For a very modest annual fee, members can secure their listing on our Audiology Locator. Send us a YouTube style video, and members can secure a priority listing on the Locator. Once a practice is listed on our Audiology Locator, if an e-patient is looking for an audiology provider, the first ones they will find are the AuDNet members in their area who have video content linked to our site. We link them to the video content directly so as soon as they click on the practice listing they can go directly to the video. This can really enhance the appeal of an individual practice. Increasing the strength of the tower site through links brings more attention to the individual practice, and making a video to promote the individual practice makes it more attractive to the consumer searching the tower site.

SMAKA: So it sounds like AuDNet is much more than just a way to get good hearing aid prices.

SMRIGA: Absolutely. An audiology practice can be a member of AuDNet, take full advantage of linking to www.NowIHear.com and reap the benefits of having a video on our tower website;all without ever buying a hearing aid through us. If a practice doesn't buy through us, the importance of that practice's link and the benefits of the exposure AuDNet offers is not diminished. The benefit of buying products and clinical supplies through us is only one aspect of what AuDNet has to offer, and it is by no means our mission. Our mission is to have audiology compete on a national level by marketing audiologists as the primary hearing care professional, and the only way we can do that is with strong economic resources. A key way we secure these resources is when audiologists buy from our supplier-partners as an AuDNet member.

SMAKA: Does AuDNet work with all the major manufacturers?

SMRIGA: We do have several major hearing aid manufacturers who participate with us, as well as providers of other supplies and services, such as earmolds, batteries, and all make repairs. All manufacturers have been approached to work with us, and those that do offer a level of discount for AuDNet members because of the buying power of this larger group.

If an audiologist's main supplier is a manufacturer that's not an AuDNet supplier-partner, but one of their secondary suppliers participates with us, the odds are very high that our pricing's going to be better for that secondary supplier than what the audiologist would get on their own. Even buying one or two hearing aids a month through AuDNet saves the audiologist a little bit of money, and helps support AuDNet in the process.

SMAKA: I would think all audiologists would want to become a member of AuDNet if they're not already. If any of our readers want more information on any of the services that AuDNet offers, where should we direct them?

SMRIGA: I'd refer them to www.NowIHear.com and www.AuDNet.com for a start. Or, they can call the company at 800-308-7290.

SMAKA: Thanks for your time today, Dave. Good talking to you.

SMRIGA: You too, Carolyn. We're excited about our Internet strategy and the benefits we offer audiologists, and we appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about them.

For more information about AuDNet, visit www.NowIHear.com and www.AuDNet.com Or, call AuDNet at 800-308-7290.