Category: Marketing

:dropcap_open:W:dropcap_close:e all recognize the importance of good patient adjusting skills, but if there was one skill that could fill your practice with high quality new patients it would be public speaking.  I believe anyone can double their practice and earn a minimum of $2000 more per week by doing lectures in their office and in their community.

Most people do not realize how many groups, clubs, churches, small businesses and large businesses in their communities are available to lecture at.

The keys to a successful lecture are:

1. Introducing yourself as an authority on a topic.  For example, you could say “I consider myself an authority on (stress, arthritis, fibromyalgia, low back pain, or whatever the topic is) because of the number of people I have helped with this problem and amount of study I have done.”  The main idea is to introduce yourself as an authority.

2. The second thing you must do at a lecture is survey the audience to find out their symptoms and problems so they recognize they do have problems and need your help.

3. Then you deliver your talk on the topic, explaining how you can help their problems with your methods.

4. Finally, you need to end the talk by inviting them to come to your clinic to see if you can help them.

There is a lot of controversy about what is legal regarding signing up new patients for a free service.  When I lecture, I invite the audience free of charge to come and meet with me so I can get to know them and they can get to know me and the methods I use.  I suggest not offering free examinations but rather a chance to get to know each other.  If they feel you could help them, they will want speak with you at your office.

An entire book could be written on how to schedule and conduct lectures.  This article is an introduction to a subject that has helped more chiropractors get more new patients than any other method.

 

Dr. Singer, chosen 3 times as Chiropractor of the Year by our profession, has appeared twice on the Inc 500 and has trained 1000 chiropractors per year for 30 of his 40 years in practice.  For further information call 1-800-326-1797.

 

:dropcap_open:T:dropcap_close:hese days it seems like every business wants to be #1 on Google! Being at the top of Google, along with other search engines like Bing or Yahoo is definitely an important part of competing with other businesses and directing people to your website and ultimately your practice; however, there are more and more creative ways of doing this outside of just focusing on your ranking for “chiropractor in your city” or a basic phrase like that.

SEO (search engine optimization) used to be the “golden ticket” for getting more traffic to your website. Placing high in search engines was the most popular way to drive more business online.  This is still an important part of web marketing, but smart business owners are starting to expand into other aspects of the web and are finding that they can generate higher numbers of patients when they spread their marketing among several types of sites, not just focusing on that Google ranking! There are additional ways to build an online audience that should not be overlooked. You will gain even more new patients by being seen on a variety of websites. 

Go Social!

People are spending a large majority of their time online on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You may be surprised how many people are looking to these sources for health information. They trust people they know, and therefore look to their friends or colleagues to make recommendations when seeking a practitioner. Any time a patient comments about you through social networking, it’s like a silent recommendation for your services to everyone your patient is connected to. This is the best way to get referrals without putting pressure on your patients!

Find More New Patients (and Help Them Find You!) on Facebook

Facebook has quickly become one of the fastest growing online marketing tools for businesses. There are over 750 million active users on facebook. On average, each user connects to 130 friends.   Facebook is a great resource for keeping up your small business brand. It’s important to stay in character and to stay in business mode while spreading information about your practice.

Even on facebook, it is important to make sure to continue to brand your business. Send a clear message with every status update, photo upload, and conversation piece about your practice. For example, a client of ChiroMatrix happens to be in the field of treating auto injury patients, and a lot of patients are living with chronic pain resulting from auto injuries. This doctor should seek to join conversations around these topics, spreading their overall brand message by suggesting information from their website and blog to join conversations on chiropractic care for pain management.

Spend time seeking out relevant conversations that are already happening. Look for conversations relating to chiropractic care and symptoms you treat by doing searches with keywords. For example, for our auto injury doctor mentioned above we searched keywords ‘auto injury,’ ‘pain management,’ (and more) to listen to and join conversations that people are already having about these conditions.

Be consistent! Facebook, as with any other social media platform, is all about consistency. So you only have an hour a week to spend on Facebook? Spread that hour out throughout the entire week. Just 10 minutes every day will help more than one hour in one day. You have to be available to your Facebook fans and you have to be able to monitor your brand. If someone leaves a comment or asks a question, you need to be able to answer those or respond. Even 10 minutes, at the end of your day, every day, will make a small but crucial difference over time.

Tweet Your Way to More New Patients

As a business, you can use Twitter to quickly share information, gather market intelligence and insights, and build relationships with existing and potential patients who care about your industry and practice. When using Twitter to promote your practice, it’s important to use twitter strategically so that you’re not wasting your time.

If you’re following a lot of people, it can be hard to keep track of who’s who and to make sure you see updates from the people that count. Organizing people into lists (both public and private) can help you keep tabs on what’s important to you. Examples of strategically useful lists could be: clients, prospects, people you’ve met in real life at networking events, bloggers you want to connect with, etc.  This will make it easier for you to manage and develop your relationships with these people.

On Twitter, anyone can read, write and share brief messages limited to 140 characters. These messages, or “tweets,” are public and available to anyone interested in them. Twitter users subscribe to your messages by following your account. Followers receive every one of your messages in their timeline, a feed of all the accounts they have subscribed to.

When you combine messages that are quick to write, easy to read, public, opt-in, and accessible anywhere, you have a powerful, real-time way of communicating with potential and existing clients.  Twitter will help you build relationships, promote your office events and services, and educate your patients. Often, there is already a conversation about your industry happening on Twitter.

Promote Your Practice with YouTube Videos

Using YouTube to promote your practice is a great way to make a personal connection with potential new patients. YouTube isn’t just a video sharing site; it’s a social networking site as well. You can create a “channel” on YouTube to broadcast a profile of your practice, show patients delivering testimonials or promote a special rate or service you offer. Whether you run a large or small practice, you can use YouTube to promote your service. Any business can upload videos on YouTube for others to view. The trick is determining the right kind of video to upload, and then finding a way to profit from YouTube viewership.

A lot of doctors make the mistake of just uploading their videos without proper optimization. To ensure that your video is found through search engines, or searches on YouTube, you will want to create keyword rich titles and descriptions of your video that can link directly to your website.

Office introduction videos are also becoming very popular to give your site a more welcoming and personal feel. If you do not want to create a video on your own, many web marketing companies offer an on-site video service that can work with you from concept to completion. Once the video is created they will set up processes to promote the video by uploading it to your website, YouTube, review sites and directory sites. The websites that show and house your video will have a direct link to your website where interested viewers can learn more about you and your practice.

Generate More Positive Reviews

Consumer reviews are accessible to a huge number of readers online, and thus this electronic word of mouth can have a profound effect on your practice. The key to managing your reputation through review sites is to proactively take control of what is being written about you. Ask your patients to review your practice and leave positive comments. By creating an online environment that makes it simple for your patients to review your service, you can increase the number of positive reviews. When one of your patients has expressed to you their appreciation for your service, you can direct them to a page on your website that makes it easy for them to link to popular review sites and write a positive review.

A website that combines cutting edge technology with chiropractic and wellness resources is a very smart investment. If you follow the tips in this article, you will find that people will be able to find you from many different pathways on the web. Now is the time to take advantage of all the avenues available online to market your practice today and well into the future.

 

Chris Plueger is Director of Sales for ChiroMatrix.

ChiroMatrix is a full-service Web Marketing company specializing in online strategies for Chiropractors.  Service includes:  Website design,  Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Networking, Optimized Press Releases, Directory Listings and morel. For more information visit www.ChiroMatrix.com or call 1-800-462-8749.

We all have dreams… some grand… some small. Please take a moment to dream a bit… to imagine the life of your dreams.

One day I will go…

One day I want to…

One day I will stop…

One day I will have…

One day I will learn…

One day I want to earn…

One day I will play more…

One day I will visit

One day my office will…

Marketing is as much a state of mind as it is an ad, a program, a commercial or a concept.  Marketing starts with a strong belief in chiropractic and one self.  It is a commitment to change the world one spine at a time. Dr.James Parker had his WOC formula.  It meant Whip, Out, Card.  At his seminars he would challenge you to give out ten cards per day.  Are you willing to educate the public, to face possible rejection? 

What do you want in practice?  What price are you willing to pay? I have told my son Jason now at Parker College,  “The road to success is always under construction”. No where is it written that life is easy, that being a chiropractor is easy.  Who said that just because you got a degree that life should be easy.  It is good to dream, important to set goals, but action takes commitment.   Make a commitment to make today a great day, a day to act, dreaming is for nighttime, setting records, reaching your goals is for today.  The best time in life is now.  There is one thing I will promise you about life, you will not get out of it alive.  So lets make today special.

Turn Your Dreams Into Goals

The more clearly and precisely you describe your dreams — turning them into clear targets — the easier it is to focus on the means for their attainment.

These specific milestones then become your most vivid, powerful and inspiring goals, because they’re in direct alignment with what you value most. Larry Markson taught me over twenty years ago to write down my goals.  Mark Victor Hansen said in regard to goals, “Goal setters are goal getters” set it and you won’t forget it. Marketing starts with a belief that chiropractic chose you, as you chose chiropractic.  If your goal is to help, to heal, then start dreaming of how you can change the world “one spine at a time”

stay committed to it.  Make a goal to get 10 new patients next week, imagine yourself talking about chiropractic to every person you meet, then “WOC” them.

I once read,

“If dreams are born from imagination, then goals are born from a promise. Knowing this, set your goals with great care because when you set them, you are promising yourself exactly what you expect to get out of your life.”

Now it may not be easy, it may be frustrating, but this form of marketing is free.  I studied all the programs , implemented the majority of them.   At Concierge Coaches we have over 30 new patient programs and they all work.  The “secret” is not in the program, but the mindset of the doctor implementing it. Today lets keep it simple, lets keep it easy , lets “WOC”  ourselves to success.  No it won’t be easy, adversity and conflict is a part of life, who knows that better then me.  When you come to a roadblock, just take the detour.

You CAN live your dreams IF you remain focused on the TREASURE… not the TROUBLE

The key to personal marketing is setting goals.  Make a plan, then set a goal to complete it.  Giving out ten cards per day is a plan, now set the goal, then complete it.

Remember, the difference between a dream and a goal is a date. Goals are “Absolute Will-Be’s” and “By When’s”, when you become 100% personally responsible for making them come true.

There’s nothing more critical to your long-term marketing, regardless of the plan or program  than setting specific goals and then holding yourself accountable for each and every one of them.

If dreams are born from your  imagination, then goals are born from  promise and preparation. Knowing this, set your goals with  care because when you set them, you are promising yourself exactly what you expect to get out of your life. Prepare for Today and One day you will have what you want.

You have the POWER to build your practice by making your dreams real, by taking 5 simple steps:

Step 1: Imagine your One day dreams.

Step 2: Turn your dreams into goals.

Step 3: Turn your goals into plans.

Step 4: Prepare for the future

Step 5: Commit to improvement TODAY.

Part of having SMART goals is making them TANGIBLE. Be realistic.  If you are averaging 100 patient visits per week, don’t make your immediate goal 500 per week.  Set a goal for 150 patient visits per week.  If you are still a student start now.  Set a goal for 1 new patient per week while in clinic.  This is an achievable goal.  The great thing about Chiropractic is everyone needs it.  Not someday, not One Day but TODAY.  Once you reach your goal celebrate your victory and then set another goal.  I teach all my clients to set goals.  As a consultant I push my clients not only to set goals, but to achieve them.  If you read this article and enjoyed it then take a moment now to enter a few of your most cherished dreams and goals.

This is the first step towards making them real…

 

Dr. Eric S. Kaplan, a former President COO of  a NASAQ traded public company, which included Nutrisystem, Currently he is CEO of Concierge Coaches, Inc., www.conciergecoaches.com,  a comprehensive coaching firm with a successful, documented history of assisting doctors create profitable practices nationwide, providing over 30 New Patient marketing Programs. Teaching doctors nationally how to develop a successful business in the health care industry of today. . Dr. Kaplan is the best selling author of Dying to be Young, and Lifestyle of the Fit and Famous and Co-developer and President of Discforce and Palm Beach Massage Centers, www.pbmassage.info, the next Generation Chiropractic Practices, massage and Spinal decompression   For more information on coaching or spinal decompression, call 1-561-626-3004.

Chiropractors are constantly looking for good marketing. Most of them are willing to pay large amounts of money for marketing that promises to get patients in the door (keeping them is another article for another issue.) It may surprise you to know that the best type of marketing with the greatest result costs the least!

Social Media incorporates the four most common types of marketing that chiropractors are currently using. Those four major types of marketing are direct response market saturation, education, and personal interactive.

You must have an understanding of those four types of marketing if you are going to incorporate them into Social Media marketing. Direct response marketing consists of promotions that request consumers to directly respond to the advertiser, by mail, telephone, e-mail, or some other means of communication. Some practitioners also call this direct marketing.

Market saturation is literally flooding our market with our product (or service) for the purpose of name recognition. The goal is to increase the market share of your product (or your practice) in the community. This type of marketing cannot be expected to give any type of direct return on the money spent; however, over time, it can be effective in taking a particular market.

The purpose of education marketing is to educate our patients and communities on the power of what our services offer. Do not make the mistake of thinking that this only covers the education given inside the walls of your practice. There is an art to educating your city and making you the expert (which is best achieved through incorporating social media into your marketing).

Personal interactive marketing is found in numerous styles of marketing and is the hub of social media marketing. It can be defined as marketing that engages the user to “interact” with the marketing in a personal, emotional, or tactile experience. This type of marketing is mostly digital. Some popular examples are iPhone, iPod, or iPad apps. The goal with this strategy is to engage the user, which produces higher rates of retention among the consumer.

The main thing to understand under this new inbound marketing model is that whatever information you distribute needs to be incessantly bent toward meeting the wants, needs, and desires of your prospective patient. In other words, it’s not about you and how great you are as a chiropractor but, rather, more about them in terms of how your services can benefit their lifestyle, occupation, hobbies, general health, et cetera.

And the nice thing about it is that it takes minimal investment dollars. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are free to join. But, once they’re linked to your chiropractic website, more specifically a blog, then you’ve got significantly more leverage toward distributing your content. Remember, according to Alexa.com, Facebook is the #2 visited site in the world. By leveraging their size and traffic, you can get your message in front of more eyeballs than have ever been available for the small business owner.

It is important to understand that there must be a certain return of investment for every dollar spent in business. Your business strategy must include the amount of money you are willing to spend in attracting each prospective patient. This one factor is crucial in the successful longevity of one’s marketing plan.

You need to have a working knowledge of the different types of marketing to understand how to use them effectively.  The days of trial and error are gone forever. The cost of doing business is too expensive for applied ignorance.

Social media is here to stay and we think it is one of the most powerful types of media of all time. The fact that all areas of marketing can be utilized through social media alone is powerful enough. However, if one adds the fact that social media has an almost nonexistent cost factor for potential business, then anyone should be able to recognize that social media is necessary in today’s chiropractic practice. The other four arenas are still crucial factors that must not be ignored, but social media certainly deserves its place.

Marketing in This Economy

by Ed Sharp

 

Everyone knows that things have gotten tighter financially in today’s economy.  

What I have seen a lot of doctors doing right now is to cut back on expenses and the easiest area to cut back on is the marketing budget.  This is not advised!
What happens when one sits back and waits for the economy to change and just “holds” on is that, after the storm has passed, they will find they have a smaller practice.  Nothing stays the same and, if you are not expanding, then you are contracting.  Expansion in these times is the only option.
Marketing is the key to expansion.  But what is marketing?  It is creating a desire, an interest, a want for what you do.  It is getting the word out to others about what you do.  There are many avenues to do this.
There are two areas to market.  One is internal, and the other is external.
What I have found from many years of working with clinics is that, if they have a more active internal marketing program, the external marketing programs work better.  This is just a hard fact.  
Internal marketing is asking for referrals, referral games, newsletters, open houses, patient appreciation events, etc.  These are activities that can be generated internally by the doctor and the staff.  They usually don’t cost much and are the least expensive ways to get new patients.
There must also be external marketing. These are limitless in number but I have found the best ways have been the old AT&T method of “reach out and touch someone.”  This means personal contact such as health talks, safety lectures, screenings, etc.  They may take a bit more research and time to put together.  Newspaper, radio and cable are much more expensive and, in some cases, warrant the cost, but not always.

 

What I instruct my clients to do first is a marketing analysis.  
Go back over the past six months and see how your new patients came to you.  List them out, and how they found out about you.  Was it from a referral, a talk you did, a newsletter you sent out, a direct mailing?  See if there is a better and more cost effective way to get them in.  You will probably find your best, and least expensive avenue was from referrals.

Next, look to see how you can increase that area.  
Just asking for more referrals will help.  Get the word out on what you can do.  How about creating a referral contest?  Back up any areas you find that are working with more of the same type of activity, whether it was from internal or external areas.  
How about putting out a better image?
Clean the place up.  Put flowers out in the reception area.  Have the staff dress more professionally.  Give fast effective service.  These are internal promotional actions.
Sometimes it does not matter what is put out there to get a better inflow.  I have seen doctors advertise in newspapers and then say they did not get anything from it.  However, the new patients magically increased.  None of these new patients came directly from the ad, yet they came for no other reason found.
There is a basic concept in marketing that must be realized.  It is yin and yang of the universe.  It’s how it works.  Have you ever heard of the saying, “reap what you sow”?  This is what this concept is all about.  You get back what you put out, whether this is good or bad.  But you must have an outflow before you have an inflow.  If you want more money you have to put out more production and help more people.  You have to send out more billings for the money to come in from insurance companies.  If you want more new patients to come in you must put something out there to get them to flow in to you—things like communication (asking for a referral), giving a patient a brochure to hand out to someone else, doing a talk to a group outside the office.  You are getting something out there, putting a motion outward.

Watch your new patient statistics on a weekly basis.  
Note what activities were done that week to get new patients.  Track these two areas closely.  Write it down.  It is easy to forget and guess what you did.  Sometimes it may take weeks before you see the results of the activity you did.  Statistical management is far superior to guessing.  Know what is working and do more of that.  New ways that are untried can be costly and ineffective. Always keep doing what is working and do more of that before you add some other activity.  When you do add other activities, make sure you track whether there is an increase in new patients.  I advise not to get contracted for a long period of time for any marketing activity before you see what the results are.  I had a client that I advised not to do long term cable ads before he tested it.  He did not listen.  He contracted for a year.  He got less than one new patient per month from the ads.  It cost him $1500 per month.  What a waste of money!  That money could have been spent on areas that did work.
So do what does work, do more of it and, if you do other activities, test them out before you commit long term (even if it is cheaper).  
I hope this helps in looking at your marketing, but remember—do not stop marketing because your economy is tight.  Keep expanding and you will pull through this economy with flying colors and you will be able to help more people.

 

Ed Sharp has been a business consultant for over twenty years, helping and giving advice to chiropractors from around the world.  He is the president of Sharp Management & Consulting which manages clinics or delivers consulting.  He can be contacted at [email protected] or via the company website, www.thesharpmanagement.com.

Net Your Patients

by Michael Failla, D.C.

 

Nowadays it’s much easier to reach out to people than in previous times. We no longer have to rely on snail mail or advertisements in newspapers to alert potential customers of our services. The internet has opened up the door to millions of marketing opportunities that can help us better represent what our offices can provide to our patients. And with the abundance of websites that provide reviews, suggestions, and offers, an online presence is becoming vital to the survival of any business.
Social media sites and blogs have opened up a new approach to marketing. We can move our efforts  from a one-sided sales pitch to a conversation with our current and potential patients. This helps  ease hesitations, gets questions answered, and stands as an evolving and expanding history of our patient communication.

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Marketing Inside Out

by Dennis Perman D.C.

 

Most chiropractors think that good marketing works and bad marketing does not, and this oversimplification interferes with your ability to interpret the results of your marketing efforts. There is more to it—those who maximize their marketing know that success comes from you, not to you, that it’s who you are that determines how well what you do works. That means that if two doctors apply the same marketing strategy, the one who brings a greater sense of inner purpose, self esteem and persistence will get a better result, and this is the missing link for many frustrated marketers —you must learn to market inside out.

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Caring for 95% of the Population

Combining chiropractic, science and business as the vehicle to get us there

By Mark Studin D.C., F.A.S.B.E (C), DAAPM, DAAMLP

 

Over the last few months, I have been shouting from the mountaintops that we can get 95% of the population under chiropractic care in our lifetime and it has raised many eyebrows nationally. The truth is it can be a reality if we position ourselves properly. It can only be accomplished in conjunction with the scientific community. Once the public and industry understand the true benefits of chiropractic care, we will have created the paradigm shift in getting the public to run after us.

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Marketing:  No Substitute for Real Value

by Jim Gemmell

 

The next time you’re stuck at a traffic light, here’s an interesting (if not disturbing) way to pass a few minutes: Count how many times the names “Toyota” and “Honda” go cruisin’ by compared to the iconic brands that once proudly adorned the tailgates of our father’s family wagons. It’s a staggering exercise, really. Then watch how many Hyundais, Nissans, Mazdas, and Subarus, along with a host of German imports, you can count between the occasional Ford and Chevy. A trans-pacific boatload.

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