Chiropractic Marketing in Difficult Times

Whether you're a chiropractor, dentist or some other type of health care professional, you face the same challenge that all small businesses face: getting new customers. This can be especially difficult when the economy is tugging patients in directions other then attending to their health. Because there wasn't a chiropractic marketing course in chiropractic college, you may find yourself distracted from your primary goal of helping people. Even more frustrating is not being able to properly evaluate the overtures of practice marketing specialists, advertising gurus and any other salesperson who can dial your practice phone number.

Worse, it's the tendency of many small business people to make a classic mistake during a downturn. Cut back. However, this is the very time to deploy your reserves to increase your profile. It feels counterintuitive, but by increasing your visibility and being in action (at the precise time your competitors are likely cutting back), means your dip won't be as deep, and you'll be the market leader when things turn around. Which they always do.

Here are seven, level-headed, no-brainer chiropractic marketing ideas that can pay big dividends during these challenging times:

1. Establish or improve your practice website.

Effective marketing starts here. If you've ignored the Internet as a source of new patients, thinking it's merely a fad, or projecting your use of the Internet onto prospective new patients, you're missing the boat. Over a million people each year use the Internet to search for a chiropractor. Can those potential new patients find you? Can they learn about you and tour your practice without leaving home? Can they download your admitting paperwork? Can they watch a video explaining your philosophy and practice vision? Start here.

2. Encounter as many strangers as possible.

This is the least expensive, most effective form of chiropractic practice marketing. Being "aggressively friendly" as the Disney organization refers to it, is a powerful marketing tool. Introduce yourself while waiting in line at the grocery store or movie theater. Frequent more than one dry cleaner. Handout your business card. Be friendly, curious and show up as a helpful resource rather than a desperate pickup artist at a singles bar. Your goal is to become familiar. Most people have acquired a fear of strangers. This protected you nicely as an 8-year old walking home from school, but today it stands in the way of growing your practice.

3. Give more talks, seminars and lectures.

The fear of public speaking is so rampant and constrains so many chiropractors, that your willingness to face the fear and share your vision of health and healing is a huge marketing advantage. Whether inside your practice, or giving talks at service clubs, civic organizations, support groups or other gatherings, tell the chiropractic story. Where else are they going to hear it? Public speaking is a learned skill that anyone can acquire. Join a Toastmasters group and practice. As a marketing strategy, public speaking, lay lectures and spinal care classes can be done for next to nothing, positions you as the expert while making you more familiar.

4. Contact your inactives.

An old marketing adage suggests that "the people most likely to come to your practice, are those who have already been." A steady stream of inactives is the mark of a successful practice. As patients have their inevitable relapse, most will want to return to the familiarity of your practice. Yet, many, because they originally dismissed themselves from care with a formal goodbye, feel a bit awkward returning. They are merely waiting for a postcard, newsletter or some other indication that it's safe to return and they won't be subjected to an "I-told-you-so" scolding.

5. Track the source of every new patient.

It doesn't seem like much more than a clerical function, but many chiropractors are especially lax about this important patient feedback. Many, just thankful that someone has shown up to become a patient, fail to dig deep about the motivation behind the patient's visit. "How did you find out about our practice?" "Do you know any of our other practice members?" "Have you visited our website?" Find out what marketing efforts are returning new patients and which ones aren't. Do more of what works.

6. Deliver a more valuable adjustment.

A review of effective marketing wouldn't be complete without an admonition to deliver the best office visit possible. Is your office carpet or furnishing showing their age? Is there clutter that steals the serene and peaceful experience you're trying to create for patients? Are you 100% present with the patient in the adjusting room? Delivering a more valuable adjustment does not mean that you have to move every bone! Focus with clear intention. Visualize the ripple effects of helping each patient. Be ready to listen, yet reluctant to force feed patients your chiropractic dogma. Show up interested, and you'll be perceived as interesting-a powerful practice marketing technique.

7. Be grateful.

When your numbers are down and you're being seduced into scarcity thinking, it's difficult to be grateful. When your practice volume is eroding and you have a tendency to worry, it's difficult to be grateful. But be grateful anyway. Focus less on the no shows and the early dropouts. Instead, lavish your attention and gratitude on those who want what you have. "Birds of a feather flock together." In other words, people who value their health enough to seek care in your practice these days, have friends with similar values. Remember, whatever you apply your energy to, grows-whether it's no shows or health-conscious families who "get" and want chiropractic.

Turns out that marketing your chiropractic practice in difficult times is the same way you market your chiropractic practice in good times. The key is to recognize that marketing is part of running a successful chiropractic practice. These are chiropractic marketing ideas that work, regardless of the economy, the weather or the time of year.