We get quite a few questions about my Ultimate Chiropractic Ads, both from those interested in buying and from doctors who are using them. Today, I wanted to let you in on the 5 biggest questions (and the answers) we get from doctors using the system.

What’s the best ad to start with?

We recently conducted a survey of all the doctors using the chiropractic ads. One question in the survey asked “Which ad has brought you the most new patients?”

The winner by a long shot was my neuropathy ad. This is not surprising since neuropathy is such a hot niche right now with one else really marketing to these patients. While not everyone will get these kinds of numbers, some chiropractors have reported 20-30 and up to 50 new patients from one single run of this neuropathy ad.

A three-way tie for second occurred between my fibromyalgia, sciatica, and numbness/tingling ads. If you haven’t tried these ads yet, I would recommend you do so soon. Also, the winning decompression ad was my “Decompression Sciatica” ad, which has been a proven winner for over 2 years now.

What about making an offer when I’m in an insurance contract, my patient have deductibles and copays, etc?

We get this question a lot from doctors who’ve never run special offers before. And as much as I wished I could answer this one directly, it’s just impossible. Every insurance company is different. Every contract with an insurance company is different. What I can say here is that if you’re in the U.S.,  Medicare and Federal BCBS do not allow offers to be made to their insureds.

Many doctors want us to give free billing, coding and legal advice in addition to the great marketing tools we provide in our kit. While I did put together some great chiropractic appeal letters a few years back, billing and coding is just not my expertise. Marketing is, and those who use my ads are happy that it is.

But I’ve seen doctors so scared of 1 insurance company that they won’t even run an ad with an offer period! Even though there are thousands of new patients out there with other insurance plans or no insurance at all. Do what is right and legal, but don’t let insurance companies cripple you’re marketing. If you’re going to let that happen, you’d be better off going all cash.

I don’t have an x-ray machine, what do I do?

This is probably the most common question we get. Since none of my chiropractic ads are built around “x-rays” or even spend much time talking about them, the answer is fairly simple: take that bullet point out.

Now its best if you can offer some type of objective test that gives your offer some value, like surface EMG, thermal scan, computerized ROM, etc. But it’s not necessary, and the ads will be ok without any mention of x-rays. This is especially the case if you are marketing to a specific niche, like neuropathy or decompression. These people just want help and they see any qualified doctor’s exam as a step in the right direction. But the more perceived value you can put in the offer, the better.

What size ad should I run?

The answer to this question will depend on the size of your marketing budget and the newspaper you run in. The Ultimate Chiropractic Ads includes large and small ads, but doctors using the large ads are getting the best results by far. The “large ads” are ready to go as an insert and can easily be printed as such once you change your name and contact information. Half page or full page is also recommended. In a large paper, sometimes a quarter page will work. Any smaller than a quarter page and you’re results are going to be slim.

What I strongly discourage is cutting out sections of my ads to make them fit into a tiny ad that saves you a few bucks. Better to spend a few extra dollars and run the full ad to bring in 15 or 20 new patients, than to chop the ad up and get nothing for your money.

I can not tell you how frustrating it is to see an ad I spent weeks writing — and proven to work by doctors for years — to have someone say “it doesn’t work” when they have completely butchered it. I’ve seen newspapers change up the ad, replace my photos, and even had doctors put their contact info in huge letters that are bigger than the ad headline itself. For example, someone just sent me a copy of my ad where they paid thousands of dollars for a full page numbness ad, then put something like this at the bottom:

Dr. Messup DisAd DC CCSMP, PSST, BS, BA
201 Anywhere St., Anytown, PA, 12345
815-999-1234
MOST INSURANCE ACCEPTED

Actually this is about to 50% scale, but you get the point. Now he still got some new patients, since the rest of my ad was still intact above this monstrosity. But he was not pleased with his response. Hmm, can anyone determine why his response was low?

Hmm, I wonder where the reader is going to look first? The headline, the copy, nope…the reader is going to look right down at the bottom of the ad, say “this looks like another stinking advertisement”, and turn the page. Nowhere in my kit, nor on my blog, nor anywhere have I ever recommended, implied or suggested doctors do this. It’s like the doctor thought to himself “well, I know Dr. Beck is the copywriter and his ads brought in over $20 million for chiros last year, but what does he know, I want to get my name out there so everyone doesn’t miss it.” Come on! My ads aren’t designed to get your name out there, these ads are designed to bring in new patients! If you want to get your name out there, take a full page ad with just your name, address and phone number.

Ok, I’ll get down off my soap box now.

There’s one question left, and it’s a big one. But since I spent so many words on the last question, this post has already exceeded it’s intended length. We’ll continue next time with the #5 question that’s most commonly asked.

If you haven’t grabbed the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads yet, click here to do so.

In a recent decompression marketing webinar, I answered one of the most common questions I get about my ads: “Do newspaper ads still work?” This question doesn’t just apply to those with decompression tables, but to everyone in chiropractic.

Here’s a clip from the webinar where I cover the actual numbers released in a study from the Newspaper Association of America.
(If you have a decompression table and would like to watch the full decompression marketing webinar, visit http://www.decompressionmarketingelite.com)

If you haven’t picked up the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads, click here and start using newspaper advertising to bring in more new patients.

This week, I read Jim Collins’ new book How The Mighty Fall: And How Some Companies Never Give In. I knew this book would have application to chiropractic offices as soon as I read the back cover in Barnes and Noble.

“Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.” – Jim Collins

How true this statement is. Not in a mystical, ‘think and it will happen’ kind of way. Not in a flippant statement some consultants throw at their clients for a ‘pump-me-up’.

But simply a statement of truth.

The success of your practice depends on you! Not the economy. Not the size of your town. Not where you practice. Not the government’s attempts at screwing up healthcare. Not Obama’s spending that you’ll never see a dime of.

Sure, these things make practice a bit more difficult. No one would say they don’t have an affect. But they are not the determining factor in your success.

You would be amazed at the doctors who’ve simply given up marketing their practice the last couple of years. And paid dearly for it. Some haven’t done any outside marketing in 10 or 20 years, but now find themselves forced to due to a declining practice.

Granted, most marketing out there sucks at bringing in new patients. Yet there are proven methods and strategies that work.

And the simple fact is that if you’re not marketing your services to the public, it’s just a matter of time before you’re practice will decline.

Back to the book. Collins has taken various failed companies and studied them to determine what caused their decline. Based on this he has uncovered 5 stages of decline.

Below I list the 5 stages and show how they apply to a chiropractic office. I’ve chosen to give our imaginary chiropractor a name, Dr. Decline, so as not to insinuate that all chiropractors are declining. But it’s very likely many of my readers will be in one of these 5 stages, whether they know it or not.

Hey, I admit I went through stages 1-4 in my early days of practice. Most of us do at some point. But hopefully reading this will help you to recognize it better next time.

Are you in one of this 5 stages?

1. Hubris Born of Success

Hubris is a word from ancient Greece that means overbearing pride or presumption. It’s the thing in Greek mythology that always brought down the hero. It’s what Proverbs 16:18 says well “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. ”

This is what Dr. Decline says at some point, “Things are going great right now. I’ve done well. Money is coming in. Why should I even pay for that ad in the newspaper anymore? I can cut back and just rely on referrals. After all, my patients refer because I’m the best doctor in town, not because of some words they read in my newspaper ad or website.”

2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More

Collins thought his data would show declining companies had become complacent and lazy, watching the world go by. But his data showed quite the opposite. He found “overreaching much better explains how the once-invincible self-destruct”

Here our doctor says to himself, “Maybe I’ll buy that new decompression table or new rehab equipment. What’s a big fat lease payment when I’m doing this well. We better hire some new staff too, to get ready for big growth. Things have been busy lately, after all. And I’ll have money because I’ve cut back on my marketing expenses too.”

3. Denial of Risk or Peril

This is when the effects of stage 1 and 2 are starting to set in. Money is still coming in, but signs of danger are starting to appear. There aren’t a lot of new patients on the books next month. The bills are starting to pile up. But the leaders deny the risk.

But our good doctor says, “Ah, it’s probably just the economy or the summer slump or insurance companies. Things will be fine. After all, I’ve been in practice over 10 years, and I’m still here, right?”

4. Grasping for Salvation

The risks of stage 3 have now become a reality, throwing the company into a sharp decline. Collins says this is a pivotal time and brings up the critical question of “how does its leadership respond?”

Does Dr. Decline grasp for a savior in the form of a charismatic chiropractic coach, a “bold but untested strategy” or any other number of magic pill solutions? What he does here is pivotal because once in stage 5 below, there is no coming back.

5. Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

“The longer a company remains in stage 4, repeatedly grasping for silver bullets, the more likely it will spiral downward”, says Collins. The leaders abandon all hope and either sell out or liquidate assets.

This is a sad state for chiropractors when this happens. Let’s hope Dr. Decline never gets here. But the truth is some chiros do.

So how do you prevent the 5 stages of decline listed above?

It’s hard to say for your particular case. But a couple of general guidelines are “don’t ever stop using marketing that works” and cut, cut, cut your expenses.

Oh, and kill that awful sin we all struggle with: pride!

Are you making this mistake?

I speak with quite a few chiropractors running my ads in their local newspapers. Recently a doctor sent an ad to me that he had ran. He wanted me to give him my opinion on my it didn’t work.

At first, I had difficulty identifying if it was even my ad. The photo certainly wasn’t mine. The headline didn’t look right or even make sense to me. And the spacing was terrible.

It could only be called “my ad” in the same sense a Filipino barber cracking someone’s neck could be called a “chiropractic adjustment”!

Then I realized where he’d gone wrong…

He had committed the biggest mistake when it comes to newspaper advertising.

Here’s the mistake.

Don’t let the newspaper rep or the art department direct you into wasteful spending. Their job is to sell you the ad space, not sell you the ad design.

Don’t be a victim to this one. If you’re new to advertising or it’s the first time you are running in a particular newspaper, an experienced ad rep may try and put the pressure on you.

For example, the first time they look at one of my ads, they might tell you that this is not the typical ad that they see. It doesn’t look like the tanning salon’s ad or the MedSpa’s weight loss ad. It does not have color, it does not have graphics, it was not designed by their design department.

Come one!

These people are clueless when it comes to writing an effective ad. How many courses, coaching programs, or classes have they had on copywriting, marketing, or even chiropractic?

Zero. Nada. Zilch.

A newspaper rep is trained in selling ad space. A graphic designer is trained in…you guessed it…graphic design work!

Any ad that they would design is based on what the designer or the ad rep thinks is a good ad. They have not been trained to develop proven, effective ads, nor do they know your business, the type of patient, and the type of emotional words and copy that would draw the best response.

Many of ad reps will not even know what a “copywriter” is, and yet they work in the advertising industry!

I don’t recommend ever letting the ad rep or the design department do anything to your ads, other than format them, to fit in their paper.
You do not want them to move paragraphs around. You do not want them to move the picture to the other said of the ad or to the top or to the bottom. You do not want to change the size of the headline.

Now they may need to change it from a 4 column to a five column ad, for example, but make sure when you see the proof, that everything is still there. And the photos are specifically place, so if they resize the ads, try to get the photo to stay where it should!

I’ve seen newspapers (and some doctors) horribly butcher the ads I wrote. Ads with a specific purpose, layout, picture, etc. Then the newspaper art department will come in and convince the doctor that they can “improve the ad”.

Which usually means completely rewriting the headline and replacing my ‘empathy building’ photo with one of their pictures of a guy holding his back.

What Should A Good Rep Do?

A good newspaper rep should simply assist you in placing the ad. They’ll give you the different numbers you need to make a decision. You know, make sense of the overly complicated price layouts they have. Compare the price between a half page ad and 10,000 inserts.

Then you make the decision and place the ad you already have.

If you get a belligerent ad rep who insists they can develop a better ad for you, one with less copy and more graphics, say this,

“Sure, you can design and run whatever kind of ad you want for me, as long as you do it for free!”

Then I’ll pay to run mine (your Ultimate Chiropractic Ad) and we’ll compare the results. We’ll compare the ROI.

What’s that Mr. Newspaper rep? Oh, you don’t know what ROI is? Well that stands for Return On Investment, something I track on every ad.

Come into my office, let me give you a lesson on marketing…

This and other problems dealing with newspaper ad reps can be found in section 3, Manual 1 or on CD-Rom #2  of my ad kit.

Other topics discussed in section 3 of the manual are…

• How to negotiate the best ad position for the lowest price.
• What section of the newspaper you should never, ever run an ad in.
• Use this special phrase with your ad rep and get 50-80% off your ads month after month.
• Negotiating tricks that ad reps use against chiropractors.
• How to choose between a big, metro newspaper and a small community paper. (This one may surprise you.)
• Why you should never agree to run multiple ads in a newspaper until you’ve done this!
• The 5 pitfalls chiropractors must watch out for when running newspaper ads.
• How to determine which ads to “roll out” in a big way in other marketing media.
• When to run your ad as an insert and when to your run it as a regular space ad.

If you haven’t picked up the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads yet, find out more here…

http://ultimatechiropracticads.com/ultimate-chiropractic-marketing-ads

I was recently thumbing through Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Direct Marketing book, looking for a quote I had seen about chiropractic newsletters. While I did find the quote, I was reminded of something even more important when it comes to marketing.

In the first section of the book, Dan lists 10 rules to follow on marketing in your business. What he said in rule #9 can be directly applied to your chiropractic marketing. Here’s what he said…

Rule #9: Results Rule, Period.

Results are what matters when it comes to measuring the success of your marketing.

While there are certain caveats to this rule (which I discuss below), let’s look at what this really means for your practice.

“Results rule, period” means it doesn’t matter what your friends, colleagues, family, front desk CA, or even your spouse thinks about your advertising. When it comes down to it your own feelings about a certain marketing piece aren’t the determining factor of it’s success.

It doesn’t matter what your newspaper representative thinks about your chiropractic ads either. You would be surprised at how many times an ad rep wants to make changes to my ads.  They’ll tell my customer “I can make that ad look much better. Let me have our art department put a better picture in there. And I think you should cut this out and we’ll put you a pretty coupon right there.”

Then I get an email from the doctor asking me if he should let them do this. I tell him “Sure, if THEY GIVE YOU THE AD PLACEMENT FOR FREE! Otherwise, tell them it’s your money and you’ll spend it on the type of marketing you want.”

I once had a front desk CA proof read an ad I was about to run in the small community newspaper. She told me “the ad wasn’t going to do well, because she wouldn’t respond to it herself.” Then I asked if she had a herniated disc like the patients the ad was geared towards. Of course her answer was no. But she still insisted the ad likely wouldn’t do well. I then told her that we could run her rewrite of the ad, if she wanted to pay for it out of her next paycheck. That ended the discussion. (This ad brought in 13 new decompression patients for an ROI of 2062%.)

So who’s vote does count?

The only vote that counts is your patient’s vote, since they are the ones giving you the money. You then total the income from their case fees, and see if it’s more than you paid to run the ad. This is your ROI and it is the determining factor if the ad was successful or not.

So what’s more important when measuring ad results, the number of new patients you get from an ad or the actual ROI?

Well, if you ask most chiropractors, they would tell you it’s the number of new patients. But the ROI is much more telling. The biggest reason is because the ROI figures in the quality of the patient, how long they stay, and how much they spend.

For example, you could get 81 new patients in for a free exam and have only 4 of them actually ever give you money. Or you could have 15 sciatica patients pay $47 for an exam, 13 of which accept a care plan, spend $2000 each and get an ROI of 2500%. Which one would you rather have?

Figuring the ROI will also factor in the “caveat” I mentioned above to Dan’s rule. Here’s what I mean…

If you are measuring purely the number of new patients you got in, you could change the above rule to “Number of New Patients Rule, Period.” But this is not true, as it doesn’t account for the unethical, hyped up, immoral, and in some cases illegal advertising that goes on.

After all, if all that matters is getting the most new patients you can get from an ad, why not “promise a cure” and tell them the first visit is free? Hey, if you’re just measuring new patients, you did great, you got 101 new people in the door! Do whatever it takes, right?

But let’s look at your ROI. After 99 of them waste your time and never pay you a dime, 1 files a lawsuit against you for unethical advertising, and the state board fines you and yanks your license to practice, I’d say your ROI is about a negative 1 million percent.

With that said, I think we should modify Dan’s rule to make it a bit more speficic. “Return on investment rules, period.”

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comments below.

Some people say print newspapers are dead. And maybe a couple in the U.S. are dead or have been bought out by another company.

This means newspaper ads will no longer work for you, right?

Not from what I’ve been hearing. Chiropractic newspaper ads are still working well. In fact, certain conditions like neuropathy, herniated discs, sciatica, and numbness seem to be pulling better than they ever have before.

Could this be due to the population aging? More toxins being in our food and environment? I’m not sure what the cause is, but I can tell you that focusing your marketing on very specific health problems is working better than ever.

In fact, neuropathy is so big I’ll be holding a webinar in a few weeks to show you how to market to these patients. And I’ll have a guest doctor joining us to teach how he’s getting neuropathy patients well.

So back to newspaper ads, do they work?

Well here’s two doctors that recently sent me their success stories with the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads…

“Wow!  My practice is recovering and so is our cashflow. “

I have been blessed with a large and successful practice… but after 14 years something started to happen… Maybe it was the economy or maybe it was my focus.  Life does get busy.

Bottom line: My practice had dropped by 20 to 30% from September of 2008 to July of 2009.  It was pretty ugly.  In August of 2009 I discovered Dr. Beck’s Chiropractic Ad’s and I took a chance.

Wow!  My first Neuropathy Ad brought in 12 new patients… about $5,000 and only cost $700 to run.  My practice is recovering and so is our cashflow.  Not only are the Ads great, I have started using his family and friends gift certificates and his home health recommendations booklet.  It’s great stuff.

-Julian Chipley, DC

“If I had his program 10 years ago, you wouldn’t be reading this,
I`d be fishing off my tropical island someplace!“

Years ago I had a practice which treated 150 patients daily for close to ten years. I eventually went to the DC/MD model when my body wore out and my marketing efforts declined since I was unique in our community regarding  interdisciplinary practice. Spiraling overhead eventually led me to return to solo practice, but the marketing that was successful in the past no longer produced consistent results, and ROI was low.

I liked everything I heard and read pertaining to Dr Beck`s program. I related to hid experiences, and the straight froward approach resonated with me.Unfortunately a lot of the marketing and consulting services available in our profession today use antiquated approaches that simply don`t work like they once did. Long winded scripting, 2-3 day reports, and high cost either out of pocket or with hefty percentages of practice increase are the norm. We all know that  getting qualified new patients in our doors remains THE most important aspect of a successful practice. The initial ad I ran was neuropathy. I`d written ads myself on the condition in the past and experienced modest success from them.

With Dr Beck`s ad I had 21 NPs and many of them have since referred other patients to us. The ROI thus far exceeds 20-1, and the tab is still running. The difference in my opinion is his copywriting skill. I`m actually a pretty good writer, but there`s a science to ad copy that I admittedly know nothing about. If I had his program 10 years ago, you wouldn’t be reading this, I`d be fishing off my tropical island someplace!

- Dr Ren Halverson

Don’t wait until everything slows down during the holidays. Pick up your ads now and get started next week with more new patients.

http://ultimatechiropracticads.com/ultimate-chiropractic-marketing-ads

This is part 2 of a two part series. You can read the first part by clicking here.

In my last post, we covered the first 2 mistakes chiropractors make when running their newspaper ads. Today, let’s look at the final 3 mistakes…

Mistake #3. Changing the Picture.

When it comes to a successful chiropractic ad, the picture really is ‘worth a thousand words.’ By using a well placed photo and a caption, much can be said in a very small space. When I write an ad, each photo is selected carefully to portray a certain meaning to the reader. Usually this is a photo that depicts the lifestyle or activity the patient wants to accomplish when they are well.

Also where the picture is placed can make a big difference. A picture placed awkwardly can make the ad seem out of place to the reader, causing him to quickly identify it as an advertisement and skip over reading it. This is why the large Ultimate Chiropractic Ads each have a photo and caption specifically placed in the ad. In some cases that is to the right of the headline. In other ads it’s embedded in the body copy text.

The point here is this: by making changes to the picture in the ad, you could be making a big mistake and hurt your results.

Mistake #4. Taking Out Sections to Make the Ad Smaller

To save some money I’ve seen doctors squish an ad down into a tiny space in the newspaper. Part of what makes an ad work is that it gets noticed. Yet, by taking an ad that was meant to be smaller than a 1/4 page ad and making into a 1/8 (or even 1/16) page ad, you’ve ruined it. It would have been better if you’d saved your money for a bit and ran it as a larger ad size.

Another mistake is thinking that by removing the picture from the ads, you can save a bit on ad space. The biggest reason this is a bad idea is because the caption on a photo is the second read thing in the ad, after the headline. Each of my ads has a photo and caption for this purpose. I want the reader to feel an irresistible urge to read the ad after seeing the headline and photo.

Mistake #5. Writing in Your Own Copy

Unless you have special training in advertising and copywriting, it’s a bad idea to write your own copy into the ad. Even if it’s a small paragraph, this can ruin the flow of the ad and cause it to fail. You’d be better off changing any number of variables — including running a different ad, changing the size of the ad, trying a different paper, running inserts instead of space ads, and more — before trying to write in your own parts.

This was a common mistake made with older ads that have been around in chiropractic. We were told to “write in our own chiropractic story” in to the ad. The problem was that “our own story” made up the first 40%-50% of the ad. And this was the first part the prospect began reading! This meant that if you weren’t trained in copywriting, the success of the ad was almost completely dependent on how well you wrote. Not on the skill of the consultant who wrote the rest of the ad.

It’s better to use ads that require only minimal changes in your contact information (name, number, and address)

Have you ever had less than stellar results with a chiropractic ad that’s worked for everyone else?

I’ve spoken to many doctors who now use the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads to bring in new patients. But occasionally a chiropractor will tell me their results were less than expected. After breaking it down the fault usually lies in 5 categories of changes made to the ad.

Let’s take a look at the first 2 ways you can ruin a good chiropractic ad.

#1. Changing Font Size Proportions.

This one happens more often than you might think. You simply change your contact information on the ad and send it to the newspaper. They tell you the ad needs to go up in size to fill your half or full page order. Then you see the proof. If you’re not watching closely, the newspaper editing department may have completely diluted the effectiveness of your ad.

How? By enlarging the body text of the ad, but not changing the headline in proportion. This makes the ad look weird and any regular newspaper reader is going to notice this point. If you’re using my ads, you know they aren’t designed to look like an ad. But when the font size is disproporti0nate, it’s much easier for readers to say “Oh, that’s just an ad, I’ll skip over that.”

To fix this, simply make sure the original font size ratio stays the same when the ad is enlarged. If the headline is 3 times bigger than the body text before the newspaper gets it, the headline should still be 3 times larger than the body text after they make their changes.

#2. Charging Too Much for the Special Offer.

The question of “how much to charge” for a new patients first visit always seems to get sparks flying with chiropractors. I understand both points of view. Some doctors don’t want to ‘water down’ chiropractic by giving away free exams and x-rays. Other chiropractors are struggling so bad they can’t give away exams even if they wanted too.

Here’s the point…

Marketing is about ethically persuading people to come in to your office and see if you can help them get well. And make no mistake, we must market our practices to be successful (even referrals are a type of marketing.) I’m not saying you must give away anything for free. But if you make a special offer, many people will get over their procrastination and skepticism to come in and see you.

In my ad kits, I recommend between $25 and $50. (Of course this excludes all federally insured patients, Medicare, etc.) This appears to best at weeding out the people who only want a free exam while still maximizing your ad response. In some cases more than $50 is justified if you’re doing a specialized practice. But realize that the higher you go with your price, the lower the number of new patients.

What about the loss of revenue from giving too much away? It is true you loose a small bit of revenue from this first visit. But if you’re set up your fees properly, and know how to do a report, then you’ll bring in plenty on the patients care. There is no need to be so greedy about the first visit you miss out on the huge blessings in store for your practice later on.

Also, see my previous article on this subject entitled “Is Your Marketing Classy and Effective“.

Which months are the best to advertise in? Is December or January really a waste of money?

Everyone has an opinion about when to market and when to be a scrooge with your marketing dollars. But there are certain months I have discovered are great to advertise in.

Let’s look at a few conditions…

For auto accident ads, you want to advertise during the times of the year when the weather has an effect. It’s been shown that during icy periods, rain, or fog, more people will get into accidents. This doesn’t mean you can’t run a PI ad during good weather, but after bad weather is best.

If you live in warmer climates, then you would want to run ads that affect people who are more active like golf, etc. Contrary to popular belief, patients do see chiropractors in the summer and you should be marketing then.

It’s much smarter to run ads and keep your marketing up during the summer, than it is to listen to consultants telling you to take the summer off from advertising.

Does the consultant to take off all summer from his marketing to chiropractors?

There is a period of time where you should curtail your marketing, but it’s a short period of time at the end of the year. That’s means the last two weeks of December you should not have a new ad coming out.

Not because people are spending more money at this time, the money is low, and all that fluff.

It’s simply because people are less likely to be considering their health during this time, based on their travel schedule and the things that they have going on. Readership in most newspapers drop during this time too.

No matter what any consultant or colleague says, that’s the only two weeks you should not consider having a live ad in the paper. (That right, all other Holiday weeks are great.)

I would definitely recommend having an ad the first week of December though!

January is typically a decent month only because a lot of people will be considering their health and their new year?s resolutions then. I don?t find January to be the best month, in my experience, but it certainly is a good month for marketing.

Funny story on January.

One consultant I had said that I should market hard in January, because that’s when everyone is “thinking about their health”.  Another consultant I had later said “no, absolutely don’t spend any money on advertising in January, because that’s when everyone’s deductibles start over!”

Who’s right?

Who cares! What month do you not want new patients to come in?

Really, every month is a good month for marketing, even December.

Don’t get the idea because I said don’t advertise in the last two weeks of December you should take the whole month off.

A lot of chiropractors make the mistake of saying…

“I’m going to take December off from marketing. And nope, can’t market in June and July because kids are out of school. November? Well shucks, there’s Thanksgiving, so I better not spend money there. April has Easter weekend, May memorial day weekend, and September has labor day weekend so I can’t market in those months either…..”

You get the picture. Don’t be like this fool who always has an excuse why they aren’t marketing their practice. That mentality is going to hurt your practice.

I’ve known doctors who’ve done these stupid things and have struggled just to keep the doors open. All because they put their marketing on halt for awhile. They thought their referrals would keep them going through these “non-advertising months”.

But where do most referrals come from? They mostly come from new patients or newer patient who’ve started care in the last month.

With all that said, there are some months that have proven to work better for me and my coaching clients.

The best months I’ve found to market were in the middle of the spring and fall (March and April, October and November). I can’t say for certain why that is. I have certain theories, but it doesn’t really matter. The fact is that’s when I’ve found my ads have the best response.

This does not mean that you should only run your chiropractic ads during these months!

It only means you should have more ads running than the normal during these times. November has always been a very good month for me, even with the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

But this is not a hard and fast rule. I only mention it to you so you can test it. One year July was my biggest ever months when it comes to collections and new patients.

Occasionally I’ll get an email asking if my newspaper ads really do work like I claim on the website.

And while I can’t say that they will work 100% of the time in every town, since there are factors outside my control like crummy newspapers, they bring in quite a few new patients.

I often wonder “why are chiropractors so skeptical of good marketing ideas?”

But, then I remember all the hyped up, over-exaggerated claims out there in our profession.

You know the ones that make huge claims with very little to no proof. Websites with almost unbelievable crap. Smooth sounding salesmen on the phone with a rough, scratchy ‘I’m-your-buddy’ voice. Or ads in chiropractic journals with headlines like… 

“208 New Patients with One Ad!”

or

“I have the BIGGEST practice in the whole world and make $145,270.16 per month!!!!”

(I particularly like this last example. I’m thankful he put the exact number down to the penny, because until I saw that 16 cents I was really doubting it. Alas, now my doubts are resolved.)

Maybe these claims are true. It’s certainly possible to get hundreds of patients and have the biggest practice in the world. Yet not very probable.

But it sure would help if they gave some real PROOF to back up these enormous claims!

For example, if there is a testimonial, how about giving the person’s full name and town they live in. And I’m not talking about “Dr. T — California” or “P.M.–Montana” either. I’ve heard of marketers (especially internet marketers) out there who flat out lie and make up testimonials to put on their site. So, just having someone’s initials isn’t enough proof to back up a claim. Especially a big, unbelievable claim.

If a doctor got 202 new patients from one ad, I want to see his name, age, town…maybe even a video of him showing how excited he is.  200 new patients is more than some chiropractors see all year.

What really sets a customer’s mind at ease when buying a marketing product is having a 100% money back guarantee.

If these products and marketers had a guarantee then you could feel better about taking the risk when buying their material. If their claims are hyped up, you’ll know when you buy their product and you can simply send it back.

When I wrote my Ultimate Chiropractic Ads, I knew there would be some skepticism. This is why I put in a 90 day guarantee. If someone isn’t happy — for any reason — they can send it back for a full refund. All I ask is that they run at least 1 ad. That’s fair isn’t it?

So be careful out there. Examine every claim with common sense and reason.

But don’t assume everything that has to do with chiropractic marketing is hype. There are marketing strategies and tools that work to bring in an extra 10, 20 or 30 new patients a month. For most doctors, these are welcome numbers to be adding to their other new patient endeavors.