Category: Marketing

When Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning steps up to the line of scrimmage to call a play, a complex series of events is taking place. Manning is surveying the formation of the opposing team, watching for patterns in their stance, formation, or even where their eyes are focused, searching for any clues that might tip their hand. In his mind’s eye he is comparing what he sees on the field to the hundreds of hours of game film he’s watched in dark meeting rooms.

If he doesn’t think the play that has been called will be successful he steps back from the line and starts yelling out phrases like “Trips Right 255 X Block Slant H Disco Alert 12 Trap”. In football lingo this is known as “calling an audible”. To the untrained ear these words might sound like utter nonsense, but to Manning and his teammates they signify that a new play has been called, hopefully one that will be successful. The process of calling an audible is not unique to the football field in business we must be constantly surveying the landscape for potential pitfalls or opportunities.  
Whether we like it or not, change is upon us in the healthcare community. Sweeping national reforms that have been rumbling through Washington will affect chiropractic for years to come in ways we probably cannot imagine. While I have faith in our state and national associations to represent our profession to the best of their abilities, it would be a huge mistake to not consider what effect these changes will have on chiropractic. Regardless of your political affiliation, I think we can all agree it’s a safe bet that it will be difficult to practice chiropractic the same way you did ten years ago and earn an equivalent income. The effects of national health care reform will be minimal on PI cases. Isn’t it comforting to know that you have a percentage of your income that you can rely on no matter who controls Washington?
Another frustration many chiropractors face when dealing with Medicare, HMOs, and the like is the restrictions that insurance plans place on the practice. I had a colleague remark to me once that one of the nicest things about treating auto accident victims is that he felt like he got to “just be a doctor”. What he meant was that the treatment of patients on many insurance plans makes you feel like you’re playing “Let’s Make a Deal” with their policy rather than giving the highest standard of care. Which will it be today Mrs. Jones electric muscle stimulation or your rehab exercises, because your insurance won’t pay for both!
We’ve all had patients who could have really benefitted from things like massage therapy, acupuncture, modalities, or rehab and just didn’t have any coverage for it in their policy. Most auto insurance carriers will cover any treatment that is medically necessary without creating the name onerous restrictions as many health insurance policies. It really is refreshing to be able to give an injured patient the care they need without concern for the number of visits allowed or whether or not a particular therapy is a covered benefit.
For these reasons (and many more) I think that all chiropractors should consider increasing the role of personal injury cases in their practice. I believe that in any situation we have complete control over how we react. The Chinese certainly believe this.  As President John F. Kennedy noted in a famous speech, th e Chinese character for the word “crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity”. We may not like the situation at hand, but the decision to take action or sit back and complain rests squarely on our shoulders.

Dr. Jonathan Walker is a practicing chiropractor and president of the PI Marketing Institute. Dr. Walker has developed a complete PI marketing system called PI Marketing Elite that is dedicated to teaching chiropractors how  to ethically and honestly build PI practices. You can contact him directly at [email protected] or online at www.pimarketingelite.com.

With your own website your practice is open for business all day, every day!   No matter where you are or what you’re doing – even while you’re sleeping or gone on vacation- your online website can entice new patients and work as a virtual office to communicate with and retain existing patients.

 
Why do I need a website?

 

The Internet has become a vast resource for business owners who have discovered the advantages of getting online: it’s easy to get started, provides greater audience reach, and it is the most cost-effective means of advertising. The Internet is revolutionizing entire markets, allowing all businesses, large or small the same opportunities to market their services and information on the Internet in an effective and appealing manner.

Most Cost-effective Means of Advertising
Compared with attracting new patients through advertising or conventional marketing, websites are amazingly low cost and the possibilities are endless. The search engines and the vast linking mechanics of the worldwide web create volumes of “foot traffic” unimaginable in a “brick and mortar” storefront setting. Running an effective online business through your website establishes a dynamic presence for your practice limited only by your imagination.  One of the advantages of a website is its dynamic nature, allowing it to evolve as your practice evolves since changes or updates can be easily implemented.

Website Design
Website design is the most crucial of all the marketing media at your disposal. All other forms of advertising (business cards, brochures, etc.) can be branded after your website design. To attract prospective patients who are surfing the Internet, your site must draw them in and hold their attention until your desired result is achieved. Like a good writer telling a story, you need to grab and hold your reader’s attention.
Other options are only a mouse click away, so a poorly designed website can quickly become a faint memory as the prospect speeds away to another destination. A professionally designed website, appealing in content and appearance, will draw the prospect back for regular visits and will create word of mouth traffic as well.
Designing web pages is easy. Designing a good website is difficult. A professional web designer has a background in graphic design, knowledge of HTML and other design programming languages. More importantly, a professional designer understands how to design a website that will most effectively present you, your chiropractic business and the techniques that you specialize in.  Seek a design company whose core competency is the chiropractic industry.
Clearly, a professionally designed website is well worth what you pay for it if you are serious about attracting business through your website.  You may decide to take all this on yourself think carefully before making this decision.  To design and maintain a good website you would need knowledge in the following areas:

• HTML –  in order to be able to make the page appear the way you want it. 
• Graphic design – to design and manipulate your images. You would have to learn about different image formats, palettes, and how to reduce file sizes for quicker downloads. 
• Dynamic Website Development – successful websites utilize the powerful features found only in dynamic websites. 
• Search Engines Optimization – You would need to learn about search engines, web directories, and how to promote your site. 
• Meta Tags – You would need to understand meta tags and work out the tips and tricks for maximizing your site’s visibility.

If you do not want to take all this on yourself, you can find professional web designers specific to the chiropractic industry who have done all the design and integration for you.  A good chiropractic web design firm will include tools that allow you to interact with your patients by providing online forms, video formatted exercises, topical newsletters, industry specific content and more.

Note: a Final Word
It is important to understand that you cannot simply put up a website and just wait around for patients. In fact, you should use your website to enhance other marketing methods start branding your website through social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.  A good web design firm will advise and coach you through branding your practice online.
A website should always be regarded as part of an overall online marketing strategy. It requires the same kind of advertising and promotion as any other business before it can generate income. The patients you gain through other methods can become excellent web customers as well. Once you have traffic coming to your site, your practice is now open for business 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, 365-days-a year!

 

Chris Plueger is Director of Sales for ChiroMatrix.
ChiroMatrix designs affordable websites and online marketing solutions for Chiropractors. For more information visit www.ChiroMatrix.com or call 1-800-462-8749.