Can an Attitude Adjustment Make Marketing Fun?
Marketing can be easy…and maybe even fun
with a simple attitude adjustment.
If you ask most chiropractors their most dreaded task, marketing usually makes the top 5. Most chiropractors will attest that marketing ranks second only to public speaking as their most dreaded activity.
Since ignoring the marketing of your practice is perhaps the WORST thing you can do, and you will naturally avoid doing something that you absolutely despise and/or fear… then let’s engage in an attitude adjustment about marketing your practice.
As a chiropractic professional, you have invested a considerable amount of time/energy/ money into your education. You probably did so because you recognized that you have a real talent for healing. If healing is not your passion, then perhaps that is because it is your obsession. (I’ve known several chiropractors whose passion for chiropractic MAY BE the reason they don’t get invited to more social events!)
Just as accountants and bookkeepers solve accounting, tax and financial problems, you are charged with solving a myriad of different health “problems” or issues. However, unlike the accounting professional, your potential clients may not KNOW that you offer the solution to their health issue. Your potential client may have seen dozens of other health care professionals, only to be told there IS no relief for their pain.
While the IRS may provide a wake up call for the accountant’s potential client, who is going to provide YOUR potential clients with the answers they need.
Instead of viewing your marketing as a way to bring new clients into your practice, perhaps you should view your marketing as a way to EDUCATE your potential clients.
With this perspective, marketing and advertising are merely the PROCESS of educating people in your area to the benefits of chiropractic medicine.
Suddenly, your direct mail campaign will take on a different twist. Instead of “selling” you’re “solving”. Instead of pushing someone to call for an appointment, you’re offering solutions to their problems. Instead of trying to “sell” potential patients via your web site, now you’re educating them on what chiropractic can do for them.
When you view your marketing as merely the act of educating people about the solutions you, the chiropractic professional, offers to everyday health problems, suddenly the world is your oyster.
Those grains of sand irritating your potential patients
are your golden opportunity to shine.
Armed with your new rose colored marketing glasses, you may be able see the different avenues available to you to “get the word out”. For some chiropractors, just removing the stigma of “selling” from the equation is enough. For others, recognizing that their marketing efforts are merely educational in nature is all it takes to open the floodgate of ideas.
This simple attitude adjustment helped one chiropractic client of mine revisit the tried and true “educational activities” he had done in the early days of his practice with renewed vigor. He began holding “new patient orientation sessions” again and began promoting himself as a speaker at the local civic clubs. Suddenly, marketing wasn’t about “selling”… it was about educating. He quit reading the “how to sell” books and got back to his passion…. healing through chiropractic.
Remember, marketing is merely the act of spreading the word about the solutions you offer to potential patients with health problems. Keep that in mind as you plan your next “marketing” campaign.
Is Your Chiropractic Website Being Found by Patients?
We’ve talked here about the importance of defining who you want exposed to your marketing message. Defining your target audience is essential to your marketing success.
Most chiropractors still rely on Yellow Page advertising to reach new patients. It’s easy and most importantly, using the yellow pages doesn’t require that you define your target audience. Yet, there are other ways potential patients will find your chiropractic practice.
If your practice is like most, your ideal potential patients are well educated and are usually internet users. One often overlooked but incredibly effective and efficient way to get your message in front of your potential patients is having a great chiropractic website.
Your definition of a “great” chiropractic website may differ from mine. Some people think a great chiropractor website is one that is “pretty”. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the beauty of a great looking website. However, a pretty website that doesn’t bring in new patients to your practice… well, that’s not a great chiropractor website in my book.
Here’s my definition of a great chiropractic web site: When a potential patient searches the internet, they find your site!
Yesterday, 786 people searched for a chiropractor in Pittsburgh. Are you a chiropractor in Pittsburgh? How many of those searches ended up at your website?
However, if you’re a chiropractor in Philadelphia, those searchers won’t do anything to build your practice. Those searchers are not your potential patients.
That means a chiropractic website that ranks well for the generic keyword “back pain” won’t do your practice near as much good as a website that ranks well for the keyword “back pain [insert your city/county/area]”
Our Easy Chiropractic Websites make is EASY for you to target the keywords your potential patients are using to try to find your practice. Because the prettiest website is the one that gets listed as a referral source on your new patient intake forms!
Chiropractor Advertising: ISO Effective Word of Mouth Advertising
You know that finding new patients is the KEY to establishing a successful chiropractic practice. You’ve been to seminars, you’ve talked to other chiropractors and you’ll hear over and over again that you never have to “market” your practice. The underlying message is that if you’re good, if you’re worthy… your practice will magically grow via word of mouth.
There’s a reason that word of mouth advertising is the “holy grail” for chiropractors. It takes the “burden” of marketing your practice squarely off of your shoulders and places it squarely in the hands of your patients.
However, there are many reasons why a gifted and talented chiropractor’s business won’t benefit from word of mouth advertising. The most important reason is your patients are NOT qualified to evaluate your expertise.
What they do know is whether your receptionist knows them by name. What they do know is whether their visit was pleasant. They can recognize a clean office… they probably can’t recognize why your services are better than the massage therapist at their spa. (ouch!)
Because we all tend to be “blind” to what’s familiar to us… let me give an example of why relying upon your patients to deliver your marketing message is a really bad foundation for your practice marketing strategy.
Let’s say your receptionist mentions that her car is making a funny noise in front of a patient. The patient who has overheard the comment is a woman in her 60’s who is as dear as she is sweet. As a matter of fact, she’s one of your FAVORITE patients.
This patient overhears the receptionist’s comment and offers her suggestion of a mechanic. She’s very enthusiastic in her recommendation, but it’s not based on the mechanic’s skills or even his trustworthiness. Instead, your dear sweet patient goes on and on about how much she adores the mechanic’s “shop cat”. She tells you the cat’s name and describes his physical appearance. She tells you how old the cat is and how much he weighs. She also tells you how she brings it treats every time she takes her car in for an oil change.
Are you or your receptionist likely to be inspired to take her up on her recommendation?
Probably not.
However, if you were to ask your next patient about this mechanic, a patient who works in a body shop and who knows a bit about cars…. if he were to confirm the mechanic recommendation… then you’d probably trust his recommendation.
Keep in mind that when you’re relying on your patients to refer other patients, they probably can’t evaluate the quality of the service you provide. Which is why, when your dear sweet elderly patient talks about how sweet your receptionist is… it may not be enough to get her son to schedule an appointment.
That’s why Word of Mouth Advertising makes a LOUSY foundation for building your practice. It’s a great “gravy” for practice building…. but focus on providing ways of establishing your expertise to potential patients. New patients want to know if you can solve their problems. Give them proof that you can.
Niche Marketing and Your Chiropractic Practice
Finding new patients for your chiropractic practice is hard. It’s a mixture of art and science. One of the most essential keys to finding new patients for your chiropractic practice is two fold:
1. You must know WHO your potential patients are.
2. You must get your message in front of those potential patients.
Honestly, #2 gets a LOT easier when you take a moment to define who your patients are.
So who are your potential patients?
If you answered “everyone”… you’re wrong… dead wrong.
If you narrowed your answer down to “everyone within 10 miles of my chiropractic office location”… you’re getting warmer.
If you said, “My ideal potential patient is a man who is 30-55 years old. He’s educated, he’s a professional and he lives within 15 miles of my office. He suffers from chronic back pain and wants to avoid surgery at all costs,” then you’re right on the money.
Once you have him in mind, now try to think about how he might go about trying to find your solutions to his problem.
Effective marketing of your practice begins with defining your best potential patient. You’ll find step by step advice on how to do this in the book: Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results
Will a Yellow Page Ad Get New Patients for Your Chiropractic Practice
The “go-to” form of advertising for chiropractors is the yellow pages. However, if you think he is simply going to call the biggest ad on the page… think again.
To help illustrate this point, I ask clients to think about how THEY use the yellow pages to find a roofer. Unless you’ve recently been hammered by a natural disaster, you probably haven’t thought about hiring a roofer lately. (Trust me, your best potential patient isn’t thinking about needing your services until they start to hurt!)
So think about WHEN you’ll pick up the Yellow Pages to find a roofer. Chances are your roof is already leaking or is missing. As you scan the Yellow Pages, try to pay attention to the listings that are drawing your eye. Chances are, your thought processes are moving in this direction:
“Hmm… Ralph’s Roofing… big ad… oh, there’s his picture… he looks like a good guy. Let’s see what else is here. HEY! Ron’s Roofing… the listing is definitely smaller but I remember when my Aunt Harriet replaced her roof… she used Ron’s Roofing and he did a GREAT job for her!”
In essence… size doesn’t determine the success of a yellow pages ad. The success of your yellow pages ad is based on how FAMILIAR you are to your potential patients.
There’s an element of “Hey, I’ve HEARD of this place! They must be good.” Whether it’s Aunt Harriet… or the nice man on the radio…. familiarity breeds business!!!
Now, if you’re in a market where every chiropractor spends ALL his/her advertising dollars in the yellow pages… then you have a GREAT opportunity to find new patients by putting your message in front of your best potential customers.
Yellow Page ads are an essential part of your marketing mix. However, they should not make up the foundation of your advertising.
Learn more in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.
Why Chiropractors Must Actively Market their practices
One of the cardinal laws of marketing your chiropractic practice is that it takes 8 “touches” before a potential patient will pick up the phone and schedule an appointment. An email newsletter is a tried and true way of delivering those essential “touches”.
Aweber is an email newsletter service provider that has a post on their blog about 4 reasons why physicians must actively market their practices more.
While this post is targeted towards MD’s, it makes for an interesting read, especially for the chiropractor who may be feeling like chiropractors are the only ones who need to engage in patient education. Indeed, chiropractors are LIGHT YEARS ahead of their MD counterparts in the area of practice marketing and patient education.
In the post, reason #4 should stand out as a red flag check point for the chiropractic professionals.
Written from a consumer’s view point, the post says,
#4. We haven’t got the time
Finally, something that might actually have as much to do with doctors and your offices as it does with us.
Most physicians operate during “normal” business hours - that is, during the same hours that many of us work.
Whether it’s a fair generalization or not, doctors’ offices have a reputation for frequently running behind schedule. Which means we expect to:
* Sit in the waiting room for a while
* Move to the examining room and wait some moreWith the doctor eventually showing up (often preceded by a nurse and some more waiting), taking up more of our time and then sending us back to the waiting room or reception area, possibly to be called back later.
There’s no way we can get through all of that on our lunch break. And we don’t want to burn a vacation or personal day on a trip to the doctor’s. So we just don’t bother.
Are your patients left in the waiting room for hours on end? Are they greeted professionally by your reception staff?
In his book “How to Become a Marketing Superstar” author Jeffrey Fox spends the first half of the book focusing on factors INSIDE THE BUSINESS to achieve marketing superstar status. Jeffrey Fox doesn’t mention a single advertising medium… a single marketing tactic…. he doesn’t even encourage you to map out a marketing strategy…. instead, he pounds home the point that any business that doesn’t enjoy repeat customers has no business investing A SINGLE PENNY in marketing or advertising.
An email newsletter is a GREAT tool to remind patients of who you are and what you offer. Providing a resource which provides answers for your community is a GREAT marketing tool, the best! However, if patients are greeted with a surly receptionist and a long wait in your waiting room….. you might find it a better investment of your time and money to correct those problems within your office before extending an invitation through marketing to new patients.
All that matters is what’s important to the patient
Nobody knows more about building a successful chiropractic practice than Dr. Jean Murray, of DCPractice Success. According to Dr. Murray marketing success for chiropractors is rooted in the following:
“It’s not about you and what you think you’re doing (Activator, for example). It’s what prospective patients think they are getting (freedom from pain, for example.)”
If you were to go back to school to get your MBA, you would learn that an important part of marketing is to focus upon a product or service’s benefits instead of features.
One of my favorite examples as a way to illustrate this point is talking about the reasons any given person may have for purchasing candles. One person is purchasing candles as a way to decorate the home, while another is purchasing the candle to provide lighting in an emergency. Yet a third is purchasing a candle as a way to cover up odors in the home. Three different people, all are buying candles but all have a different reason for buying those candles.
If you’re selling candles, then you’d better know ALL the reasons why your patients are buying candles so you can focus your communications with potential customers to focus on those REASONS to buy.
If you’re selling chiropractic services, the same is also true.
Like it or not, creating practice success is all about communicating the BENEFITS of what you do effectively with the people who live and work in your community. In the case of the chiropractic professional, those benefits are largely focused upon the relief of pain and the restoration of health and well being.
