Chiropractic Marketing | Chiropractic Advertising | Chiropractic Ads

One of the main reasons we open a business of our own is to make a good living helping others. Another is to employ people so they can make money to support their family.

Coaching seminars and popular books teach that if I just think about money the right way — focus really hard on it — then it will just show up in my lap tomorrow! (Try this and tell me if it worked for you.)

In chiropractic school, I was often told to “do the right thing and the money will come.” The idea here was that if you pursue money, you could be doing the wrong thing (instead of the right thing.)

I did the right thing (helping sick people get well) for a couple of years when I started out, yet that didn’t seem to be enough pay the bills. Was there something more? (Yes, see full story here.)

Some people say that “money is the root of all evil, after all the Bible says so.” Actually the Bible says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10).

You see it’s loving money more than anything else that makes money an idol. People who love money will treat others badly. They will become immoral and unethical because the ends (more money) justify the means.

But money is just paper and coins. It doesn’t have a mind of it’s own. Even the value it holds is what a government or a person gives it.

True, money is necessary in our world. And can be used for good. Financial guru Dave Ramsey, in Total Money Makeover, says:

It is the duty of the good people to get wealth to keep it from the bad people, because the good people will do good with it. If we all abandon money because some misguided souls view it as evil, then the only ones with the money will be the pornographer, the drug dealer, or the pimp. Simply enough?

So money is just a tool. A tool that can be used for good or evil. Accumulation of it can be seen as the end goal of a person’s life, where he or she is essentially worshiping it as a god. Or it can be a tool to bless others, feed and clothe your family, help your neighbor, educate your children, etc.

Maybe that is what J. Paul Getty meant when he said, “Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells.” If we just pile it up like Scrooge, are we actually using it for it’s intended purpose?

This leaves us with the big question about money. The question most coaches, consultants, and secret books don’t want to talk about.

Where does the money really come from? Your patients? The tooth fairy? God? Your bank? The universe? The government? A money tree?

Tell me what you think below in the comments?

In my last post on spinal decompression, I gave you my two favorite recommendations for spinal decompression tables. I was responding to part of an email I had gotten, which can be summarized as:

What is the most cost effective way (cost effective table) that you recommend to implement this into the practice? Also, could you tell me about your decompression marketing? Thanks

Today I want to continue this discussion of the decompression niche by looking at the second part of the question, namely how should you market your table.

As I said before, the issue of which table to buy and how you’re going to market it are not separable. They should go together, or you’ll just end up with an expensive piece of equipment collecting dust in your office.

One of the biggest problems I see with doctors who have a decompression table in their office a complete lack of marketing. There should be someone on it getting treated every 15-20 minutes from the time you open until you close the doors at night.

Now let’s look at how to do that.

1. Print Ads

I know, I know, everyone predicted that print ads went the way of the dinosaur 5 years ago. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., etc. are the only that that matters now.

But back in the real world, newspaper ads are kickin’ butt at bringing in new patients for decomp doctors. One of my Decompression Marketing Elite clients this past fall got so many new patients over a 2-3 month period he had to buy a second table, and paid for it with cash!

How can this be if print advertising is dead?

Do we have to know the exact reason? It’s working now, that’s what counts. Maybe its that less people are running ads, so your ads will stand out easier. Maybe its because the mostly likely candidate for treatment on your table is between the ages of 40-65 and those are the people reading the newspaper.

Another quality marketing strategy of decompression marketing that’s often missed is ‘sub-niching’ the market. You see, the spinal decompression market is a niche within chiropractic.

But there are different kinds of problems people present within your practice. Some have back pain, others sciatica, others have numbness or muscle atrophy, some neck pain, other headaches. All of these are sub-niches in that they break up the overall niche.

Why is this important?

Because once you realize each of these patient groups are speaking a different language, it allows for you to focus your marketing on each group. To get an idea of how I’ve done that and see some example ads click here to watch a webinar where I explained it in greater detail.

2. Internet marketing

Once you’ve got print ads running, get your internet marketing streamline and working at full speed. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that internet marketing is all you need, as if it will replace all other kinds of marketing. This is a huge mistake I see. Chiropractors fall for all the hype on the internet, put all their eggs in one basket with online marketing, and wake up a few months later wondering where the new patients are.

Marketing your practice online is not the be all end all, magic pill of marketing. While Dr. A spends 5 hours a week on Facebook trying to get a new patient, Dr. B down the street runs an ad and get 17 new ones at a case fee of $2500.

So now that we’ve dealt with the hype, let’s look at what’s working online.

The best thing you can do is take a few well written ads and make them landing pages on your website. Also, well-scripted videos of you explaining the benefits of decompression treatments are a big hit. Plus you can never have enough patient testimonials, including testimonial videos.

You should have the regulars too, like a regularly updated blog, contact info and maps, and Facebook, Twitter, Google + Pinterest and other links. This is all done very easily using WordPress and all the plugins. For example, at the top of this post you’ll see all 4 buttons you should click to like this article.

Just remember, print ads are the big rushes of new patients each month and internet marketing is the slow, steady stream. You want both. Marketing is not an “either/or” fallacy but instead a “both/and” truth.

3. Referrals

This one should be obvious. If you just got a table, it’s likely you’ve got a constant flow of chiropractic patients who could easily be converted to decompression patients as well. You should also send out regular emails and newsletters to your patient base reminding them of this helpful equipment you have acquired. Visit BNI groups, chambers of commerce, and other places where you can speak on the effectiveness of this service.

Most of you can get a lot more referrals than you realize. Other patients can refer decompression patients in like crazy, but you might have to remind them to do so.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to market your decomp services, check out my Decompression Marketing Elite program. I just added a new component which makes it the best deal we’ve ever put together.

A Personal Ad Placement Expert Working For You to Handle Everything

The day you join Decompression Marketing Elite, you’ll get your own personal ad agency working for you to place the ads and negotiate rock bottom advertising prices with the newspaper.

You’ll get a tested marketing expert who’s helped chiropractors save thousands in ad prices and brought in more qualified new patients just by handling your ad placement. In 2010 alone she helped bring in over 300 new patients for just one chiropractic office using only newspaper ads.

Here’s what you’ll get each month with this component…

• Contact the local newspaper to speak to the ad rep.
•  Negotiate a huge savings for your ads (some doctors have saved hundreds of dollars per ad!)
• Strategically Choose the Best Ads to Run (based on real past results)
• Add Local Condition-Specific Testimonials from your practice
• Proof Your Ad for Accuracy and Submit it for publication

As you can see, it’s like having a person marketing assistant working closely with you.

Carol Ann Smith, the marketing expert providing this service, normally gets $150 per month for placing an ad, but you’ll get it completely FREE as a client.

Find out more here:

www.DecompressionMarketingElite.com

Google has been working on a pair of glasses that would allow anyone to use their products, services, and the internet from anywhere while sitting, walking (or driving!)

As I was watching the video below, I wondered how useful this will be for health care offices to quickly pull up patient files. Is this something you could see running your office software, or does it seem too far fetched to be of any practical use?

This is a guest post by Dr. Jonathan Walker

For most chiropractors, receiving referrals from medical physicians is looked upon with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you’ve been in practice for a long time you likely remember a day when MDs would just as soon refer their patient to a witch doctor as a chiropractor. If you’re newer to the profession you might feel intimidated by the prospect of trying to explain the neurophysiology of spinal manipulation to a seasoned medical veteran.

There is no single “magic phrase” to open the referral floodgate, but there are 3 crippling fears keep MDs from referring patients for chiropractic care. These are not pie in the sky theories, but rather secrets I’ve learned from marketing to over 300 medical providers in my area as well as working with doctors all over the country.

1. Fear #1: You’ll steal their patient
Regardless of what variety of conditions you treat in your practice, when working with MDs your emphasis must be that you’re a specialist in conservative musculoskeletal care and will not try and usurp their role as the patient’s primary care provider (PCP).

I always make sure to tell other doctors that we do not function as PCPs, but that we find patients are best served when their chiropractor and medical physicians are all communicating together. This gives them the comfort that you won’t try and undermine their treatment of the patient. We expect professional respect and courtesy from MD and this goes both ways, even when you may disagree with a particular element of their management plan.

As a matter of fact it’s a good business (and social) practice to go out of your way to tell the patient what a great doctor they have and what good hands they’re in. Odds are this compliment will make it back to the referring physician, and that’s always a good thing!

2. Fear #2: They don’t really understand what chiropractors do
Most MDs seem to view chiropractic in the same light as many chiropractors do acupuncture. They believe that there is validity to the treatment, but they don’t know a lot about how it actually works.

This fear is easily conquered by ongoing education to provide familiarity with chiropractic, our level of expertise in treating musculoskeletal conditions, and the latest peer-reviewed research. For all of my PI Marketing Elite doctors we recommend one print, one electronic (e-mail) and one live contact a month. We provide cutting-edge MD newsletters and e-newsletters 100% “done for you” to make this process automatic.

3. Fear #3: Their patient will get a 6 month long treatment plan on their first visit to your office
I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of recommending long courses of care with cash pre-payment, but I do want to point out that if you want to receive medical referrals MDs cringe at the idea of a 6 month long treatment plan given on the first visit.

I explain that in my office we do a trial course of care, typically lasting anywhere from 2-4 weeks, depending on the patient’s condition. At the end of the trial we reassess the patient and if they’re making progress we start spacing out the time between visits and giving them home exercises to do.

This type of approach fits the paradigm they’re used to working within when they refer to a physical therapist, so in their minds you then become a viable option for referrals.

By preemptively dealing with these three common fears you’ll unlock an untapped goldmine of referrals, and help countless patients find relief with chiropractic care. I’ve seen it work first-hand in my own practice, and you can replicate this success in your office!

Dr. Jonathan Walker is president of PI Marketing Elite, and a full-time practicing chiropractor. MD marketing is a key area addressed in the marketing modules of PI Marketing Elite, and we provide you with turnkey tools, scripts, and strategies to use in your practice. Log onto www.newpimarketing.com or call Dr. Walker directly at 904-616-1284.

Does everyone who calls in for an appoint show up? Do you ever wonder how many new patient appointments are being lost on the first phone call?

I frequently get this type of email message…

“Hi Doc. I just ran one of your ads. We got 20 calls and 11 came in for the exam. How can we get better results from the ads?

Unfortunately, this is a huge problem in chiropractic offices (or any health practitioner for that matter!)

The problem here isn’t the ad. After all, it intitiated 20 new patients calls! But to have only 55% of those calling in show up for the first visit is ridiculous.

But you want to know the scary part? This is happening in almost every office around the world.

Your office may not be as bad as the example quoted above, but as you know even one lost new patient is worth thousands of dollars to your clinic.

How many new patients are you missing out on just from bad calls.

Here are a few current numbers on this issue reported in our industry:

• 98% of all new patients call on the phone first to schedule.
• 50% of all lost patients are caused by poor patient handling at the front desk.
• 79% of all advertising is wasted on leads that don’t convert to new patients

Click here to watch this free webinar.

Here is your chance to see an updated version of my friend Paul Wright’s free webinar entitled “The Practice Acceleration Program – 12 Steps to a Great Health Business in ONLY 42 Days”.

There are 3 different days you can register, go here to find out more:

http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/?Clk=4287445

This presentation outlines the 12 Essential Steps that you DID NOT learn in your university or technical education, but MUST know to be a successful health professional in these trying financial times.

Here’s just a sample of what Paul will cover…

• The 12 essential steps to a great health business – are you using them?

• Why failing to use these steps will leave you chained to your business forever.

• How these steps allowed Paul to run his clinics remotely – in fact he has only visited his six clinics four times in one 10 week period.

• How your admin team can kill your profits and what to do about it.

• Actions steps you can implement NOW to make you thousands in lost profits.

• The importance of cancellation reduction and how to make every treatment session “too important to miss”.

• How to get your hands on Paul’s exact procedures, scripts, steps and protocols that have taken him 20 years to develop and refine.

Click on the link below to check webinar times and register for this FREE event.

http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/?Clk=4287445

As I was doing my daily searching on Google.com today, I noticed a strange graphic:

The Google image is blacked out. By clicking on the image you’ll end up on their Take Action page which deals with the new SOPA/PIPA legislation before Congress.

Then later today I was reading over at Ryan Healy’s blog and noticed quite a few websites are protesting. Here’s what you’ll see at Wikipedia:

What is SOPA/PIPA and what does it have to do with your website?

Do you market your practice on Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube?

Watch this short video to understand why you should fight against this legislation.

What can you do to stop this censorship, which if passed, will eventually effect your business?

Sign Google’s petition here. And contact your representative. If you’re not sure who your rep is, go to Wikipedia today and they have a neat popup that will look up your representative by zipcode.

Have you set up your 2012 chiropractic marketing calendar yet?

I know it’s already 2 weeks into the year, but if your holiday season is anything like mine, it takes the first week or two in 2012 to actually relax and catch up from the end of the previous year.

One of the things you must do is write down all your plans and goals on a yearly calendar.You can not just wait until you need new patients, and then figure out what to do. This is reactive marketing and you want to be proactive this year.

For years, I used a monthly calendar on the wall that my staff and I could write marketing events down and see what was coming up.

But the furthest you can see on these types of calendars is only 30 days at a time. What we need is a “year at a glance” type of calendar.

Well thankfully this year I found the NeuYear Calendar, which is a complete year at a glance. This will hang great on the wall or back of my door.

I recommend you grab one too, and start planning your monthly marketing events, promotions, ads, etc.

Here’s some benefits listed on their site, which led me to buy one immediately:

• It’s big, coming in at 27″ x 39″ this means you can see the whole year at once. “You no longer have to page through a traditional calendar (or on your small computer screen), to see the whole year. You can layout your goals for the year, set future deadlines, and clearly see the passing of time. Also, it has bigger squares so you can write more.”
• No space between months. “The week is the currency we think in, so this calendar focuses on presenting 52 weeks, rather than 12 months.”
• Brilliant aesthetics. In Making Ideas Happen, author Scott Belsky says “the design of your productivity tools will affect how eager you are to use them; attraction often breeds commitment.”
• 2 calendars in 1! It has a horizontal orientation that fits perfectly above your desk, or you can flip it over for a vertical orientation that fits perfectly on your door.

Now that I shown you which calendar I think is best, what do you do with it?

Call a staff meeting one day during lunch. Start by explaining your mission for your practice and the goals you have for this year.

Then begin brainstorming with your staff about the different types of marketing ideas they have. Make sure to give them room and freedom to talk. Even if they have a bunch of bad ideas, just write them down. You never know when they’ll say something you’ve never thought of.

My staff would often come up with many successful in-office marketing procedures from the past that I had totally forgotten about.

Once you have written down, everything you can think of, start prioritizing your list. Put a “1″ by the most effective, “2″ be second most effective, and so on.

Side note: Do not base effectiveness on what feels like it did the best last year. Feelings do not turn into dollars. Measure effectiveness based on your return on investment numbers you recorded for all marketing last year. And if you didn’t keep good records, go back and see if you can figure it up now. Remember, ROI equals the amount you brought in from a given marketing campaign divided by the money spent on it.

You might want to throw in something new for 2012 that you haven’t tried before. A few suggestions would be:

• Neuropathy or decompression newspaper ads
• Google Adwords
• spinal screenings (but with a caveat, see here)

Then begin writing on your calendar all the 1′s, 2′s, etc. spread out somewhat evenly throughout the year. So you don’t want all your ads to come out in March and have the rest of the year empty.

If you wanted to do it according to budget, you should write the amount to spend beside each campaign to. For example, on February 20th you might write “Run Neuropathy Ad for $1000 or less”. (To see how to save money on running your monthly newspaper ads, watch this free webinar.)

If a month get’s too busy, slide things forward into the next month. You should be marketing every month of the year, no exceptions.

Now you have a marketing calendar set up. Try to stick to it as much as possible. You may need to edit and change things throughout the year. That’s fine, but make sure you take a look at the big picture before making rash decisions.

Do you have any other good ideas on planning your marketing calendar? Let us know in the comments below.

How was your 2011? Did you hit all your goals?

Did you learn any lessons along the way?

Because my year started off kind of crazy (see #1 below), I put off setting any specific goals. By the end of the year, I could see that 2011 hadn’t been much of an improvement over my 2010 goals.

That’s the whole point of setting goals, so that you have something to aim at. So by January 2nd of this year, I already had all my goals listed out on paper. No messing around this year.

While on the business side of things my year was about like the one before, 2011 was still a great year! It was very busy, especially on the family side of things. Looking back over the year, I realize that many of these events taught me (or reminded me if I’d already learned them) that running a business is really about something bigger than just the business.
Lesson #1. Children are a blessing.
On January 3, 2011, very early in the morning (3 AM) we were blessed with a new son, Camden Elijah Beck. It’s hard to imagine he was just a tiny little tike, because now he walks around my office hitting things with a toy hammer and trying to unplug all the wires on my computer.

#2. Set a goal for your family and work hard for it.
Autumn and I have been married for 13 years, and we’ve moved 12 times! After moving to the Texas hill country in the beginning of 2009, we had been renting a smaller house in town until we became familiar with the area.

But as our family grew, we knew it was time to look at buying a home, hopefully with some room for the kids to roam. In May we moved into what my wife calls her “dream home”: something large enough for living, homeschooling and me to have a nice home office!

Here’s a view from the front (before the worst drought in Texas history completely wiped out everything green):

#3. Take time to make memories with your family.
A few years ago, I realized my family and I were not taking enough vacations. So we started an annual beach trip to the gulf coast. This year was much nicer without the threat of oil washing up on the beach, as it had been in 2010 with the Gulf oil spill fiasco.

We also decided to try out the Houston Space Center. While the Center was the kid’s favorite, my favorite part was taking a tour of the NASA research facilities. It’s amazing to see the humanoid robots and spider bots that are being built and testing right in front of us.

Here we are on the dunes of Surfside Beach.

These are the lessons and events that marked by 2011 year. (Let me know yours in the comments below).

Also, here’s a neat video showing some major events searched for on Google in 2011. (Notice how fast Google is becoming a major news source? Expect more from me on this blog showing you how to get the most out of Google in 2012!)

1. Monthly print newsletters will be more valuable.

I know, you’re probably thinking print newsletters have gone the way of the dinosaur, and that email, Facebook, etc. are “da bomb!” But the fact is people are starting to demand a more personal relationship with their businesses. All you have to do is look at the Occupy Wall Street movement to sense how people now see a big gap between the products they buy and the companies who provide them. (Also, for more on this, watch the second video here on Dr. Loop’s blog.)

What about email newsletters you ask? You should be sending those too, at least 2 per month. But does it mean more to you to receive a birthday card by snail mail or an e-card? Sending a print newsletter with a real postage stamp is still a very effective way to communicate with current patients and get more referrals.

2. Videos will be more effective on your website.

Video has been around for a number of years on the internet, but it really hasn’t become the norm yet. However I think in 2012 that will start to shift. A few reasons for this are: almost everyone has some type of broadband internet access now, Youtube is more popular than ever, and sites like Facebook are using more video. At the least you should test a video of yourself on the landing page of our website to see if it increases conversions. Using tools like Google website Optimizer will let you easily figure out if videos are more or less effective for your site.

3. Neuropathy, Decompression and other niche specific newspaper ads will continue to get high returns.

Like the print newsletters mentioned above, you may have bought into the lie that newspapers are now extinct. However, in most markets, this is not the case. Many of my clients got their best returns ever on newspaper ads in 2011, especially when using neuropathy and decompression ads. I know there are plenty of other people out there telling you how a jillion internet things will bring in hundreds of patients. And some of it will bring in patients. But don’t neglect the trusted source of patients like the newspaper. The key is using very good copywriting to reach specific niches that are really responsive.

4. Facebook, Google + and other Social Marketing sites will become more important in your chiropractic marketing plan.

Many chiropractors have heard of Facebook. Less have heard of Google+. Unfortunately, doctors treat these sites like everyone else, a place to post all your personal happenings. The problem is most patients aren’t interested in the fact you just “checked in” at the local burger barn. Sure, some personal interaction is necessary to maintain a following. But, you also need good copywriting and intentional posts to cause new patients to act and pick up the phone to call. Another important and often overlooked aspect of these sites is that they help with your search engine rankings. Having Facebook likes and Google+’s on your website will help it come up higher in Google Search, which will translate into more new patients. Just remember, Facebook and Google+ are effective tools, but they are not the only game in town. So, don’t spend 100% of your time and money fiddling with them.

5. Developing a mobile site will become a necessity.

As my friend Terry Dean recently pointed to, more and more people are using iphones to access websites like Facebook. Look at the stats from the link below, which state that “more than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices “:

https://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Also, realize that one of the most common uses for a smart phone is to check email. That means every time you send an email with a link back to your website that person is going to your website on their phone. Even though I prefer to use the internet on my PC, I have an iPhone and iPad that I use often and realize it is just more convenient to click a link now rather than wait until later when I can access the website on my home desktop.

I’ll be working hard to implement these changes in 2012. I recommend you do the same. Also, I’ll keep you updated on any new tools and strategies I’m working on next year. Happy New Year’s.