chiropractic marketing tools

So You’re Living the Dream…Now What?

You made through school. Set up your practice. You might even have a few patients. But now what? After the excitement getting four walls and a roof set up to function as a chiropractic business, the celebration, the victory dance, maybe you even had a ribbon cutting ceremony, now it get’s real. The dust settles a tiny ray of reality begins to appear and after you’ve seen all the appointments you have on the schedule, in the span of a few hours, you now have this huge chasm of time to fill.

Well, maybe you do have some patients films to look over and prepare the report of findings. But that only takes what… a few hours at most?

Hey, you could check out some forums and see what your other chiropractic colleagues have to say about patient issues, like no shows and the woes of insurance red tape. Or maybe you could go ahead and set up that Facebook page for your practice and then invite all your friends and family to like the page, even coax them into sharing it with their friends. You know your mom will because after all she’s you biggest fan, probably your best patient too. I mean she did refer you to her friends and a few of them are now your patients. But then after you’ve spent a good afternoon on that, now what? It’s just another page among millions just like it. You’ll post some thought provoking questions, I hope. And then possibly share some great health information about the benefits of chiropractic care. I mean there are pages and pages of online articles about conditions that regular chiropractic visits can help. We can’t say cure, that would be a big no-no, but we can tip toe around that word and gently get the point across, because we all now how good people are about reading between the lines.

This might be one of the toughest areas of being a chiropractor, knowing….no…nope, that’s wrong. Not knowing, it’s more like a passionate belief that chiropractic care can cure some health issues. And by chiropractic care you know I mean more that adjusting. You and I both know there is so much more to it than correcting a subluxation. But that is the first step. Then we work on other issues such as nutrition and healthier life style choices. I mean good grief, I met a guy that considered coming in to get adjusted was his exercise. Wow! Can you believe that? You probably think he was joking, no he was for real. But now he knows and with baby steps, he’s now walking in his neighborhood for thirty minutes at least three times a week.

Yes, I know we can’t say cure, but we can say; “chiropractic care creates an environment within the body that allows the body to do what it was created to do.” It’s not magic, chiropractic adjustments don’t fix everything wrong with a persons health, but just like that guy I met, it’s the first step to a healthier life, for some it’s the first step for a functional life.

Yeah so, now you’ve got that Facebook thing done and you’re a back to that nagging question; now what?

Maybe you’ll look into some affordable forms of marketing.

Is there such a thing? Affordable chiropractic marketing?

And didn’t you just hear about how you can do some kind of advertising on Facebook? Yep, now you remember there was an email you got a few months age about a webinar. Something about Facebook Marketing for Chiropractic. That might get some more new patients in the door without breaking the bank.

You should check that out after lunch right? After that you might think about working on that marketing plan and start filling up these appointment slots. If nothing else, look into joining a networking group in your area.

This post was of poking fun, but in all seriousness, chiropractic advertising goes beyond the boundaries of print ads, direct mail and online marketing. Bottom line, if you’re practice is struggling, whether it’s new or even if it’s been up and running for years, trying out some new forms of marketing might just be your solution to a fresh flow of new patients. Truth be told, social media and mobile devices are here to stay, so you can either keep avoiding or you can embrace this new way of marketing.

Attracting The Perfect Chiropractic Patient

By drbeck Leave a Comment Mar 7

Finding good patients is not too hard, but the perfect patient is sometimes elusive. Before you can find the perfect chiropractic patient, you first have to know what qualities he or she should possess then you can go about designing a chiropractic advertising campaign in a way to attract patients with those qualities and in return increase your practice revenue with higher patient visit average (PVA).

Perfect patients regard their health and their family’s health as high priority. They will go to extreme measures to find relief and healing. They will drive as far as needed, find the time to be at their scheduled appointments and they are committed to following the recommended care plan.. They aren’t necessarily wealthy and not always insured, but they understand and trust the recommended care plan based on their exam and your report of findings, they understand their care is important and make it a priority in their life. They listen and communicate their concerns to the doctor and the staff. They follow recommended home care and exercises. Additionally, the perfect chiropractic patient shares their experience with their family and friends, and encourage them to check out their chiropractor.

Also, I think what is considered an ideal patient for one practice might not be perfect for another. While all chiropractors are passionate about helping their patients achieve and maintain good health, not all chiropractors practice the same. Adjusting techniques and philosophies vary. It may take a person several tries to find a chiropractor that fits their needs also and in doing so, maybe that eventually makes them a perfect patient for the chiropractor they choose for their care.

When I had my practice, I offered spinal decompression and some physical therapy, therefore I did my share of marketing for patients who would be the best candidates for a care plan that included scheduled time on the decompression table. For me those were people who suffered with numbness and tingling in arms, hands, legs and feet, neck pain, low back pain, sciatica and herniated discs. That was my targeted audience and it worked well.

It is also important to note that the prospective patients that came from that type of marketing were not always from a specific area or radius close to my practice. I had some patients driving over an hour three times a week for their care.

So as I said, in order to find the perfect patients, you need to attract them. This of course means some form of chiropractic marketing. It could be anything from chiropractic ads in the newspaper to online marketing. Facebook ads, Google ads, TV or radio spots. But regardless of where your chiropractic advertising dollars are spent, the best way to attract the perfect patient is to use the perfect marketing tools and that in my opinion is with condition specific chiropractic ads.

What kind of patient do you attract with your current form of chiropractic marketing? I agree that all patients deserve your time and care, but what type of patients are you getting with your current marketing?

Maybe you prefer to work with more Neuropathy patients and you spent a lot of time and money on building your practice around those types of patients. But are you targeting those patients with chiropractic advertising that focuses on the symptoms and effects of Neuropathy?

Many of my colleagues are working with and seeing spectacular results using laser therapy. I can tell you that they are most likely targeting their marketing efforts towards those who suffer with knee and shoulder pain. Other practices are built around children or sports injuries, that doesn’t mean that doc doesn’t see other patients, but he or she might prefer to work in a specific niche and that’s okay.

Bottom line…the perfect patient is the person who wants to be your patient.

5 Signs of a Habitual Marketer

By drbeck Leave a Comment Apr 17

The word habitual defined is: done or doing constantly or as a habit; regular; usual; practicing, or acting in some manner by force of habit; of the nature of habit; by or resulting habit.

We all have habits; some good, some bad. I have habit of checking to make sure the front door is locked every night. You could say I am habitual in doing that because I don’t think about it, I just do it as part of my nightly routine.

Are you a habitual marketer? Let me ask it another way; do you have a habit of marketing?

Before you say yes, let me clarify; one or two chiropractic ads placed in a community newspaper over a span of 3 or 4 months will not qualify you as a habitual marketer.

If we are to take the definition of habitual literally, this would mean doing something more than a few times over a span of days, weeks or months. While it’s true that habits are formed by doing a specific task over and over again until you can do that task in your sleep, nothing you do on a regular basis is considered a habit, they are just things we all do.

For instance, you go to work, drive, eat, sleep and hopefully bathe on a regular basis. Okay, so you place your chiropractic ads in the paper a couple of times a month for a few months, so what? This isn’t a habit, it’s just something you do, and not even because you have or want to. I mean you have to eat, sleep, work and bathe or you deal with hunger, exhaustion, being broke and stinky.

No, to become a habitual marketer you have to have a plan and then you must consistently and purposely work that plan until it becomes a habit. And I don’t mean in a compulsive way, although your family and friends might consider your marketing habits a bit crazy, but when your numbers begin to climb…well then you can have the last laugh.

To those of you I have offended, you know who I’m talking about; those of you who I described as placing a few chiropractic ads every so often over a span of time, I apologize. But on a positive note, you are one step closer. Meaning, if you’ve started marketing, regardless of the consistency, you are on the right track. It’s just now you have to make it a habit.

You might be wondering what this looks like, so I’ve put together a list of 5 signs of a habitual marketer. After reading through the list, do a self assessment and see where you sit. It’s possible you might be closer to habitual than you know but then again there is always room for improvement.

Habitual marketers have;

#1 -marketing calenders that are filled out for the year and they are typically planning and setting dates for marketing campaigns and events up to 12 months ahead of present day.

#2 – multiple campaigns going simultaneously. This would include all print advertising, newspaper, newsletters, direct mail marketing, email marketing, AdWords, Facebook Ads, radio ads, television ads, blogging, etc.

#3 – a responsive and interactive chiropractic website/blog with an email capture. One that all marketing campaigns are linked and funneled to. And it needs to be mobile friendly or you’re loosing out on a huge number of people who do everything via their phone.

#4 – a very extensive online presence in social networking. Including but not limited to; a Facebook business page, Google+ and Google local listings, Twitter, Instagram and yes…even Pinterest and Tumbler.

#5 – outsource systems in place to delegate most of these tasks, because no one person can do it all.

If you are currently spinning all these marketing plates and running a chiropractic practice, then there is most likely an area of your life that is suffering. Whether it be personal, as in your home life, family, faith, health, or your business, as in your practice, your staff and your patients.

So how did you fare? On a scale of 1 – 10; 1 being “no marketing” to 10 being “habitual”, where do you sit?

Do You Suffer From This Marketing Malady?

By drbeck Leave a Comment Apr 18

If you are lacking in motivation to do any type of marketing at all, then maybe you are suffering from Wait and See-itis.

Wait and See-itis is a chronic marketing condition that affects a large number of chiropractic professionals, however this malady is not limited to just chiropractors.

If you have never heard of it, then let me explain. It’s when a business professional, let’s just say a chiropractor, needs to invest time and money into some type of marketing, to move his or her business foward, bring in new patients, increase revenue, but can’t seem to get motivated.

There are several reasons for this, limited funds, limited time, and believe it or not pride can be a stumbling block. There is also the chance that you’ve tried to build your practice before and either your chiropractic marketing attemtps didn’t work out well or worse….you got burned.

You already know that to increase your income you have to do something to get more patients in the front door. You tell yourself that you know you have to get something going, whether it be print advertising or updating your chiropractic website, but you just keep putting it off.

You may have even found what seemed like some great chiropractic marketing ads, but for some reason you just don’t think this is a good time to spend that much money, maybe you’ll just sit back and wait. Wait and see what happens next month. This might seem like you are just being careful, taking it slow, thinking it through, that’s always a smart business decision, right?

Or maybe you have a touch of Wait and See-itis!

It’s more common than you think, but if left untreated it can lead to other conditions and may cause severe symptoms.

Maybe you’ve had this condition at one time or another, or you know someone who has it now.

Here is what I know, Wait and See-itis presents as a subtle attitude at first. You might hear yourself saying things like; “I’ll do it tomorrow”, “that can wait” or worst of all you tell yourself, “I don’t need to do any marketing”.

Caution and doubt are the most troublsome symptoms and can leave a person feeling extremly skeptical. Have you ever thought something sounded to good to be true, or you’ve thought maybe that marketing works for some people but not for you?

Other side effects from this condition are fear, bitterness and envy, extreme cases have ended in not having enough income to pay the lease. Okay, those are very extreme cases, but if you put off doing anything for too long, things tend to get extreme.

This is a very sneaky condtion too, no one sees it coming. Don’t feel too bad if you think you have this condition, it happends to everyone at one time or another. Sometimes the condition resolves itself, for others though, it can be a pretty bumpy road.

There is a treatment for Wait and See-itis. It’s is risky though, it involves momentum and a dose of faith, oh and that one huge thing, you have to actually try some type of marketing.

Of course I recommend you do your research, it’s part of the *therapy. There are numerous marketing products and services that sound good, but do your homework and for goodness sake don’t just try something because everyone else is doing it. You have to do what is best for your practice and most of all what works with your budget.

*Disclaimer: Therapy sessons involve, stepping out of your comfort zone, coloring outside the lines, thinking outside the box and trusting those who have been where you are and know what they are doing. Results will vary.

Optimizing Facebook and Twitter Posts In Your Chiropractic Marketing

By drbeck Leave a Comment Sep 27

I’d be shocked if a doc told me that he didn’t have a Facebook page or a Twitter page or both. Here’s what I wouldn’t be shocked about; if a doc has all his or her social media basis covered but doesn’t utilize them. In fact, my support team follows quite a few chiropractors and their pages, they can confirm that many docs have their pages established, but they are under used and if they are active they are not being used to their greatest potential.

As you know already, chiropractic marketing now goes way beyond print ads and chiropractic websites. Social media may have it’s ups and downs, but it’s here to stay. What platform you chose to chat it up and network with your friends and followers, is up to you, but if you haven’t set up page somewhere I would strongly encourage you to do so.

Although I don’t claim to know a lot about social media myself, I can tell you that your efforts on social media will be wasted if you are not armed with some facts regarding how individuals utilize Facebook and Twitter. Prior to posting anything else on either platform, read these statistics below — then use these ideas for getting the most out of your time spent on social media.

Facebook

Ideal days to post: The best days differ by industry, yet the weekends — particularly Sundays — are the best. Engagement with posts is 14.5% greater on the weekend. Wednesday includes the worst day, with engagement 7.4% under average.

Ideal times to post: Do not post when individuals are working. Posting in between 8 p.m. – 7 a.m. will generate 14% greater engagement than posting within normal business hours.

Post frequency: Post one time or two times a day and you’ll see a 19% greater engagement rate. But, do not post more than 7 times a week. Post two times a day on weekends, and one time on Thursday, Tuesday and Monday in order to take advantage of the best posting days.

Length: A post that has eighty characters or less receives 23% greater engagement than a longer post. Keep updates to the point and brief. Also, post photos. People are more apt to share a photo, shares create traffic back to your page.

Emoticons: These may serve to humanize your chiropractic business brand. Posts using emoticons have up to a fifty-seven percent greater ‘like’ rate.

Commenting: Asking questions generate an average of ninety-two percent more interaction than merely making statements. Create a ‘caption this’ on a photo and fill-in-the-blank postings to interact with more patients.

Call to action: Include calls to action within your posts to increase interaction. As you ask your fans to comment on, like or share a post, their response rate may be more than 3 times greater than if you do not.

Promoting Services & Events: If you offer special services such as Massage Therapy, Acupuncture or Weight Loss programs, posting this on Facebook is a great way to get the word out to those who follow your page. Don’t forget those other promotions like refer a friend, canned food drives or patient appreciation days. Add a nice picture and encourage people to share with their friends.

Twitter

Ideal posting days: Stick with the weekends, in general, yet Twitter differs more by industry than posting to Facebook does. For instance, chiropractors ought to focus their efforts on Thursdays and Saturdays whereas entertainment-based companies ought to concentrate on Mondays and Sundays.

Ideal posting times: While you ought to post in the evening on Facebook, hang out with Twitter in the daytime. Tweets sent in between 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. receive thirty percent greater interaction than the ones sent from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Post frequency: The more tweets you tweet, the lower the interaction. After 4 tweets a day, interaction rates significantly drop, and people who tweet just one time per day possess a 120% greater interaction rate than other ones.

Length: Twitter will already limit you to 140 characters, yet that is too many. Tweets that have under100 characters will command a 17% greater interaction rate than a longer missive.

Links: As you include your link within a tweet, it will stand an 86% greater opportunity of becoming retweeted.

Hashtags: A tweet that has a hashtag receives 2 times more interaction than the ones without them. But, limit hashtag use to 1 or 2 per tweet.

Requests for retweets: As you request retweets, the odds of them really occurring are twelve times greater than if you do not. Furthermore, spell out ‘retweet’, as ‘RT’ does not work as well.

Now that you know, will you use these social media site more for your chiropractic marketing?

Find and Follow DC Practice Tools on Facebook and Twitter!

Great Chiropractic Marketing Begins with a Good Story

By drbeck Leave a Comment Aug 3

Five years ago this month chiropractic marketing officially became my primary source of income. Just four years prior I was a breath away from losing my practice, and now I was selling my practice at a profit and launching a new business.

There is not enough time or space on this blog post to share everything that’s happened in these five short years, but I can tell you that when I started this chiropractic marketing business and this blog we had three children, we now have six and we’ve moved three times. So as you can imagine, it’s been a busy and blessed five years.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or listened in on webinars you’ve probably heard my story many times, you might even think you’ve heard it enough.

But understand that I don’t tell it over and over again for my benefit or those who’ve heard it; it is told for those who haven’t heard it.

My background isn’t shared to help promote my business; it’s shared to lay a foundation of understanding and knowledge, and build trust.

Marketing is like that too, there are always those who have not heard about chiropractic and how it can change lives. That is one reason why you should never stop promoting and marketing, not solely for the benefit of bringing in new patients into your practice. I understand, I’ve been there and growing your practice is probably the main reason you should invest money into chiropractic advertising and maintain a continuous stream of marketing campaigns throughout the year. But practice building is only part of why you should be advertising; the other reason is for those who need to know about chiropractic.

You would be surprised to know how many people don’t know about the chiropractic profession and all that it has to offer.

Or maybe they have heard of chiropractic, but what they’ve heard are the opinions of people who have never been to a chiropractor or stories of those who knew someone who went to a chiropractor ages ago and had a bad experience, which may or may not have been true. Which seems so strange when you consider all of the horror stories you hear about the medical profession and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, and yet people still see doctors and take prescription drugs without so much as a thought to what the long term effects might be, but I digress.

Chiropractic marketing is more than promoting you and your practice. It’s also education for people who need alternative solutions in their health care.

My story also does more than encourage chiropractors; it provides an understanding and a connection. It creates a trust.

That is the same thing you are doing when you invest your time and money into marketing your practice. When you can make that connection with people they feel comfortable with you and seek to know how you can help them.

Chiropractic marketing also helps build a legacy.

My position has given me an opportunity to meet many chiropractors and hear their stories. It’s amazing to know that many chose the chiropractic profession because of the chiropractic experience they had as a child or teenager. You just never know, the child that comes in to see you today because of your ad the parent saw in the paper, might be a chiropractor someday, and you might be the reason why.

When emails come in telling me that one of my chiropractic ads has helped bring in a multitude of new patients, I am happy for those doctors, and I’m honored that they listened to what I had to say, trusted me and my marketing tools, but I am even more overjoyed for their patients who will be receiving chiropractic care and hopefully sharing their chiropractic experience with their friends and families.

In hindsight, I can say it was a blessing to go through those very hard times in my practice. If I hadn’t struggled, I wouldn’t be where I am today, helping chiropractors achieve success in a profession that I am passionate about. If you don’t know my story, you can read about it here.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.~Dale Carnegie

The Size of Your Practice Does Not Reflect Its Success

By drbeck Leave a Comment Jul 19

In the business world you never know who will thrive and who will barely survive. Businesses with large bank rolls often find themselves closing their doors in areas that should have been ripe with consumers, but all too often the “perfect area” isn’t so perfect for that particular business. Sometimes circumstances and little good fortune gives one business abundant resources while another is left to move forward but at a much slower pace.

Does that mean one is more successful than the other? I suppose it’s all in how you measure success.

The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 is an epic event in American history. What is interesting about this event is that there were 2 million acres of land up for grabs and there were about 50,000 people ready to rush in and claim a piece of land to call home. That’s a lot of land and the odds of securing a parcel of land looked pretty good. In one day towns that never existed where suddenly a reality.

Another fascinating fact about this event was how quickly the towns were established, and while Rome might not have been built in a day, the towns of Oklahoma City and Guthrie were established in half a day and by the end of that day, Guthrie had streets formed, town lots had been measured off and the formation of a municipal government was underway.

Sounds like a success story in the making doesn’t it?

However, Oklahoma City supported five banks and six newspapers within the first month! They seemed to be on their way to building a thriving city too.

Much can be said about man and his ability to get things done with the right motivation. And after all what is more motivating than the opportunity to build a new life on your own piece of property in a community you helped establish?

Same is true for business owners today, take the new chiropractic graduate. I know everyone remembers securing the property that was to be their first practice. Wouldn’t you agree that no one is more motivated than a new chiropractor with student loans to be paid, a new lease with rent coming due and equipment to buy?

How does one know if their new practice will thrive or barely get by? You don’t and you certainly can’t forecast your practice success based on how another chiropractor’s practice is doing, because like I said earlier, circumstances change and what once seemed like a sure thing can change. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your practice is doomed to fail, it just means your practice might thrive at a different pace.

Everyone knows what Oklahoma City is today, it’s the capital of Oklahoma and that it’s a pretty large city; in fact the population is well over 500,000 and when you include the outlying areas that number goes to over 1 million people.

What ever became of Guthrie, Oklahoma?

It’s still there, it’s the county seat for Logan County, and nowhere near the size of OKC, as far as population goes it’s still at about 10,000 citizens more or less. That’s the same about amount of people that settled there on that day in 1889.

Did you know that Guthrie was the first capital of Oklahoma?

While OKC has many businesses, industry, and attractions; Guthrie didn’t do too badly. It’s now a national historic landmark. Once known as the “Queen of the Prairie”, Guthrie has managed to keep its historic architecture well preserved, thus creating a thriving tourist industry.

Did Guthrie fail? Not at all.

So why did Oklahoma City grow to its size and eventually become the state capital? Did it have better marketing? Maybe, but they also had a lot of good fortune. The railroad, a little road called Route 66, big industries landed there and then…oil. It’s no wonder OKC did so well.

I guess some could say that one town thrived and the other one just barely survived, but I like to think that they’re both successful.

Your practice size is not what matters; it’s what you’ve made of what you have. Marketing to grow your practice is crucial in any size practice.

Are you marketing consistently?

Don’t get sidetracked by those whose chiropractic marketing brings in scores of new patients while your marketing efforts bring in fewer new patients. You have to remember that consistent marketing produces a continuous flow of new patients and steady growth over time can be just as, if not more profitable.

Do You Have These 3 Fears of MD Referrals?

By drbeck Leave a Comment Mar 20

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.

Do you follow these 12 steps in business?

By drbeck Leave a Comment Mar 6

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

A Chiropractic Marketing Calendar for 2012

By drbeck Leave a Comment Jan 12

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
A Chiropractic Website
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.