Chiropractic Marketing | Chiropractic Advertising | Chiropractic Ads

Are you using email marketing to its fullest potential in your practice? Watch this short training video to learn about the different email systems I recommend. (This video is a portion of Bonus Lesson 1 in the ChiroMarketing Academy.)

Everyone has an opinion on what works in marketing a chiropractic office. Some will tell you just to “get your name out there” or “hang your shingle”. Others will tell you that if you aren’t speaking at an event every week or holding a spinal screening daily, you aren’t growing your practice.

But the question remains, what truly works to grow your practice?

I have found 7 chiropractic marketing tools that work consistently over time to grow a practice. Before I list all 7, it’s important to mention two important factors that limit your marketing: time and money.

Therefore, you must choose where to spend your time or money wisely. For example, spinal screenings take a lot of time. Since time equals money, most doctors find that their time spent at screenings doesn’t bring in enough money to justify the time spent.

The same goes with your money. If your marketing budget is $2000 per month, you may not be able to do as much marketing as you want right now. So you should spend that $2000 where it will have the best return on investment.

With that said, let’s jump into the 7 Marketing Strategies…

#1. Newspaper Ads.
Don’t think for a minute newspaper ads are dead (see my previous article “Are Chiropractic Ads in the Newspaper Dead?“). It’s by far one of the fastest ways to get new patients in the door. And I’ve heard from many doctors that are getting high returns on their investment, that even during a down economy. For example, a doctor in Northern Ireland wrote me last week to say he’d ran one of my small ads and gotten a 23 to 1 return on investment. Do newspaper ads work every time? Certainly not! Many times the paper is just terrible and has completely lost its readership over the years by ignoring their readers interests. Even my Ultimate Chiropractic Ads don’t work 100% of the time  in papers that are failing. But even in a bad paper you can try different conditions and hit on one that works well — like Dr. Carter in Oklahoma did last week with his first neuropathy ad.

#2. An Effective Web Presence.
Everyone knows you have to be marketing on the internet. But the question is what exactly should you be doing there?

The key to marketing your practice online is to think of it like a library. When I take my kids to the library, I want it to be nice and clean, but of utmost importance is the information they have there, i.e. the quality and number of books. And I want that information easily accessible, not buried away in a box somewhere that’s hard to find. The same goes with your internet marketing. People want information and education, not flashy pictures, graphics or 250 links to click on!

Also, notice I mentioned the word “effective” in the subtitle above. This means your only reason to be on the internet is to get new patients. To do this, you need to use tools like email marketing, landing pages, pay-per-clicks ads, facebook, twitter, and more.

#3. A Strategy for Getting Referrals.
We’ve all heard about the mythical chiropractor who gets 50 new patient referrals each month without lifting a finger. But for those of us in the real world, we need to have a strategy laid out to accomplish this. Sure, a few patients will refer people in even if you never did anything. But why not ad a few subtle strategies that make it easier for people to refer. (Realize I’m not talking about forceful procedures either.)  Chiropractic referral strategies should include new patient stick letters with referral coupons, monthly print newsletters, email newsletters, blogs, patient appreciation days, and much more.

Even the uniqueness of your office can get you more referrals. For example, my J-Tech ROM system and it’s report I sent home would impress patients so much, they would insist their spouse come in to get tested on it. One lady said “I just had to come in and do this since no other chiropractor I’ve been to has this program.” I could’ve just put the printed reports in their file after going over it, but by sending it home with them it generated more family referrals.

To be continued…

Today, I wanted to give you a free training video on getting free traffic and links to your websites. This video is one of over 20 lessons contained in ChiroMarketing Academy, with new videos, audios, and articles being added every month.

Google can send you very qualified prospects if you pay them a small fee to do it. They call it Google Adwords, but I call it the greatest marketing idea of the decade. Where else do you only pay if someone clicks on your ad and goes to your website? That’s right. You only pay google if someone actually goes to your website.

Chiropractic Marketing on Google: How to Get Started

To setup a campaign, go to www.adwords.google.com. When asked between a starter and standard edition, choose standard. After choosing your language, you will be asked to choose how you will target customers by location. This is very important. Be sure to choose the “customized” selection. This allows you to select a radius around your practice that your ads will show up on. This ensures someone from 500 miles away isn’t clicking your ad and running up your bill with Google. You can decide how far to go from your practice, but I recommend 15-30 mile radius depending on if you practice in the city or a small town.

You’ll then be asked to setup your first ad. You only get 25-35 characters for four lines of text, two of which are your headline and website address. Here’s the proven formula for your ads:

• First line should contain your keyword in a headline type phrase

• Second line should be a benefit you offer, for example “Get Rid Of Migraines”

• Line three should describe a feature offer, like “Without Drugs Or Surgery”

• Line four is your URL, with each word capitalized and using a keyword in your landing page address if possible

The next step is choosing your keywords. These are the words that your ad will show for when people type them into the search engine. For now just choose the keyword “chiropractor yourtown” (replace yourtown with your actually town you practice in, like “chiropractor Dallas, TX). We’ll cover more on keywords later.

Choose your daily budget. Be sure to set a daily budget that you are comfortable with, like $10-20 per day for now. Once your daily budget is reached, your ad stops running. If set to low, your ad might stop running in the most important part of the day.

In the last step, you will be asked to set your maximum cost-per-click. This is the most you will bid on your keywords. This will apply to all the keywords you chose earlier. I can’t tell you exactly what to bid on your keywords, as it will be different depending on where you practice and the keywords you choose. But I will show you how to determine what you should bid and how to get lower bids

Now your campaign is ready to go.

What keywords should you use?

Start with the keywords “chiropractic” and “chiropractor” for now. Keyword selection is so important, we’ll be going into detail about it in next week’s lesson.

Keyword Matching

One thing about keywords that may interest you is the different types of matching you can use with Adwords. The three types of keyword matching are broad, phrase and exact. You should also use negative matching to exclude those search terms that don’t apply to your Adwords campaign. Here is how Google describes their keyword matching…
• Broader matching options tend to give you more impressions but accrue higher costs. Therefore, include other matching options (like phrase- or exact-match) along with broad-matched keywords in an ad group.
• Broad-matched keywords should be at least two-word phrases (gourmet coffee or organic coffee beans).
• Narrower matching options tend to give you fewer clicks and lower your costs. It’s still important to use descriptive words for these matching options.
• Negative keywords work well in most cases when you know a term doesn’t apply to your business. (”free”, “medications”,etc.)
To use broad matching, you simply enter in the term by itself. Let’s use the word chiropractic for example. Here’s how the broad, phrase and exact match would work for the search term chiropractic

Broad match = chiropractic (any search typing which includes chiropractic will show your ad, including searches like chiropractic marketing, chiropractic tables, etc)

Phrase Match = “chiropractic Dallas, TX” (Enter this with quotes around it into your Adwords account. Any search that includes this phrase exactly will show your ad, including for example “chiropractic Dallas, TX clinics”, “advanced chiropractic Dallas, TX”, etc

Exact Match = [chiropractic Dallas, TX] (This match is entered into your Adwords account with brackets around it. This means for your ad to show up, someone will have to type this phrase in exactly like you input it, so your ad will only show for the search chiropractic Dallas, TX.)

Which of the above match types should you use? All of them have their place. If you have a lot of competition for Adwords bid prices in your area, then the phrase and exact matches will allow you to beat out your competition and you will pay less for bids on keywords.

Negative keywords = a word with a negative sign in the front of it, like “–tables”, without the quotes. When combined with the above broad and phrase match this will prevent your ad showing when someone types in “chiropractic tables”.

Here’s a list of important negative keywords to use in your account for the keywords chiropractic.

-tables
-table
-marketing
-college
-websites
-seminars
-colleges
-schools
-seminar
-fraud

Do you see what those above have in common? They would be search terms that chiropractors themselves would be searching for, not patients. If you did not have these negative keywords in your account, your ad would pop up when a chiropractor searched for “chiropractic tables” in your area, and he might click your ad to see what you are up to. This wastes your money (since you are charged per click) and reveals your marketing to the guy down the street. Be sure to watch this week’s video to get more clarity on negative keywords.

Google’s Quality Score

When you mouse over the spyglass icon next to your keywords in your Adwords account, you will notice a quality score. Google has three levels of quality score — Ok, Poor and Great. The better your quality score is, the less you will pay per click. The worse your quality score, the more you will pay for keyword bid prices. Have a low quality score for too long, combined with a low CTR and you will be “slapped” by Google with ridiculously high bid prices (like 10X your current bid prices).

Google won’t tell you exactly how to improve your score, but they do reveal a few keys to help you. The score is based on your keyword relevance, your landing page relevance, and your landing page load time. Therefore, here is a checklist you can use to raise your quality score, thereby lowering your bid prices.

- Make sure your keyword is in your ad headline
- Use ad groups in your account (explained below)
- Use your keyword in your headline on your landing page
-Make sure your landing page or main website loads fast
- Use items on your landing page that makes the visitor stay longer (video, audio, etc)
- Make sure your landing page has a privacy policy link on it
- Put a link on your landing page that links to another website with a lot of content (your blog!)

How To Use Ad Groups

Ad groups are different groupings of keywords in your account. Ad groups are primarily setup for two reasons. First they allow you to use different ads to target different keywords. Also, they allow you to get a better quality score for your keywords.

Using the above “Top 10” keywords, you should group the “back pain” keywords together in an ad group. Then put the terms “chiropractic” and “chiropractor” in a separate ad group.

This concept is much easier to explain on the video, where I’ll show you how easy it is to create and manage ad groups in your campaign.

Other PPC Search Engines

Once you have mastered using Google Adwords for your practice marketing, you should branch out into Yahoo and MSN. To setup your accounts there, you should visit the following websites…

https://adcenter.microsoft.com/

These PPC search engines are not as advanced Google, therefore it’s important to note a few differences in the campaign setup. For Yahoo and MSN, I do not recommend using ad groups or keyword matching. Because traffic is so much smaller it’s not worth wasting your time with these settings. Just start with 1-2 ads, and throw all your keywords into one ad group. Since quality score isn’t as important here, and bid prices are lower, this won’t hurt you at all.

(The above article is part of a ChiroMarketing Academy lesson. To see the 25 minute training video, where you can look over my shoulder see exactly how I set it up, and sign up at www.chiromarketingacademy.com.)

Are you making full use of the internet to bring in new patients?

Years ago, Bill Gates said “Any business not on the internet will not be around in four years.” While Mr. Gate’s quote still stands true today, I would have to add to it by saying “simply being on the internet is not enough”.

Here’s why…

Many chiropractors today have a website. And it’s well known that millions of people surf the web every day for chiropractic and other related terms. But even with all these searches, most chiropractors only see 3-5 new patients from their website each month.

I often tell my coaching clients  they need much more than just a “brochure”, static type website. What I recommend is that they set up a complete internet marketing system. This includes a website, blog, landing pages, videos, email auto-responders, blog broadcasts, and more. Here are just a few reasons you should consider implementing this type of system for your practice…

1. Once you have your system in place, it brings in patients for you on autopilot! Spend just a few minutes a week to maintain it.

2. Your marketing plan rides the waves of the internet boom.  More and more people are using search engines like Google and Yahoo to find information on their health problems. They want to know about their options before spending money or committing to any one doctor.

3. This technology can be used to keep current patients active with you for life. Retention of new patients is a key factor in the growth of your practice. Many of the same strategies you use online to get new patients — like email communication and blog articles — can also be used to keep current patients active. This creates affinity marketing and means patients are less likely to respond to other offers to go somewhere else.

4. Compared to other forms of marketing media (newspapers, TV, Radio), it’s relatively inexpensive to set up and maintain. Would you rather spend $5000 per year on yellow pages or spend a fraction of that to be on the front page of Google?

Are you seeing the potential that using the internet can have for your practice?

Here’s how you can get a Two Part Internet Marketing Lesson for Chiropractors for FREE

I’ve put together a simple six question survey on internet marketing that will only take you a couple of minutes to complete. As a regular reader, you care about the information that’s published here. This is your opportunity to let me know how I can best serve your needs.

As a thank you for filling out the survey, I’m giving away two lessons from ChiroMarketing Academy. These two lessons focus on “How to Set Up Your Internet Marketing Plan” and “Email Marketing that Converts Website Visitors to New Patients”. (Each of these lessons has a written report plus a training “how to” video.)

Click here to take the survey…

P.S. This free gift is limited to the first 100 participants.

Coaching clients and blog subscribers are always asking me where they can find certain marketing tools and services. Here’s a list of 5 products/services I recommend you check out and use to grow your practice.

The Chiropractic Dashboard
The Dashboard does quite a bit for chiropractors. It’s a proprietary system that educates patients on why they should come in to see you and does so over time. For example, when a person searches for “fibromyalgia” on the web and finds your dashboard website, they will be shown a video about how you can help with fibromyalgia. They also be asked to leave their name and email for followup. Then the dashboard will send out pre-written emails from the doctor educating the prospect and giving them a special offer to come in for an exam.

Social Marketing
By now, everyone has heard of social marketing sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter. Millions of people use these sites every day to connect to others on the internet. But did you know you could use them to bring in more new patients to your practice? In this course, Matthew Loop reveals how he mastered social marketing to add a consistent flow of new patients every month. I’ve known Dr. Loop for almost a year now, and I have to say he stays on the cutting edge of internet marketing.

Dinner Workshop DVDs
If you’re not familiar with a dinner workshop, it’s basically a short talk or “lay lecture” held outside your office for your patients and their guest. When I first heard about dinner workshops, my first thought was that #1.) it was going to be too much work and #2.) you would have to drag your patients to come. But after getting Chris Burfield’s “The Dinner Workshop” DVD course, both of these concerns were put to rest because he included the steps and tools to make it easy. I’ve known Chris for many years, and he knows how to build a successful practice. He’s definitely created an easy step-by-step instruction on how to do do dinner workshops with all the flyers, forms, scripts, and a DVD showing you how to promote it in your office.

Instrument Adjusting Profits
Did you know using an adjusting instrument in your practice is a huge marketing opportunity? The Instrument Adjusting Profits course will show you how to make use this opportunity. Dr. Orsansky and Dr. Dan have created specific marketing pieces and strategies to focus on the instrument adjusting niche. (They’re currently giving away some free bonuses for anyone who grabs their course.) Even if you don’t use an instrument full time, it’s a good idea to get this course and add those new patients to your practice who are looking for an “instrument chiropractor”.

Are you using pay per click (PPC) internet marketing to bring in more new patients?

Most search engines have PPC as part of their services. Google has it’s Adwords program, Yahoo has Search Marketing, and MSN has AdCenter. Adwords is the biggest PPC marketing platform because Google controls so much of the online traffic right now.

Some chiropractors are starting to realize that they can get new patients at a low cost using PPC marketing. But the key is knowing what your doing so you don’t end up overspending (or worse — getting a bad “track record” attached to your Google account, increasing your PPC cost forever.) In the video below from ChiroMarketing Academy, you’ll see the first section of the “Google Adwords Training Video”.

I recently did a teleseminar for a friend of mine’s subscriber list entitled “Discover The 7 Secrets To Chiropractic Internet Marketing”.

I want to give it to you as way of saying thanks for being a subscriber to my blog.

Here’s just a few of the strategies we covered in this interview…

-How to use email in your marketing plan to get new patients and build rapport with current patients. (If you’re collecting patient’s emails and not using them, you must here this!)

-The real strategy to get Google, Yahoo, And MSN to rank your website. (Most web designers have no clue about this one.)

-How to use new techonologies and use the advantage of patient’s high speed internet connection to make them feel like they are talking directly with doctor.

-The key strategies to use (and the big mistake Doctors make) when using Google Adwords and other pay-per-click ads.

-How to get tons of quality visitors to your website using totally FREE traffic methods. (This Dr. revealed many free traffic methods I haven’t even heard of before!)

We cover so much information on the teleseminar, I knew you wouldn’t pick it all up from one quick review. I had it transcribed and edited to give you a document you can refer back to again and again.

This recording is not a sales pitch at all, but rather a guide to focus you on the 7 most important strategies to use online to get more new patients.

You can get the 52 minute audio recording plus full transcript of “The 7 Secrets Of Chiropractic Internet Marketing” for FREE. On Wednesday January the 27 5:oo PM CST I will be emailing the download link for the recording and the transcript out to my email list.

If you’re not yet subscribed, do so before the 5pm deadline tomorrow… you don’t want to miss this one! All you need to do is fill in your first name and email at the right top corner of this page.

Have you heard of blogging?

Blogging is about the most cost effective marketing you can do online. Running a blog is virtually free, it’s the fastest way to get you on the front page of Google and you can keep in contact with your patients on a regular basis.

Blogging is a way to post articles chronologically on a webpage. What you are reading right now is a blog. It’s simply a free software installed on this hosting account. I log in, click on “write” and start typing. If you can write an email and send it, you can run a blog.

What’s it cost? To get a domain name, it cost me $7. $17 a month for hosting. I paid a graphics person $45 to make the header graphic up top. That’s all I spent, a whopping $59.

A blog gets you great ranking on search engines. Google loves blogs because they are new, fresh content. Google prides themselves on keeping current for their search users, so they will give more credit to a blog over a traditional website that never changes. For example, I’ve only been running this blog for less than 6 months and have the #1 and #2 spots on Google for the term “chiropractic newspaper ads”.

Other sites below me have been around for a lot longer than mine…some for almost 10 years.This is for an internationally competitive keyword term. You could do much better for a local search term like “yourtown chiropractor”.

Another great thing about having a blog is that it’s very easy to regularly contact your list of patients (or even prospective patients.) As soon as I hit publish on this article, it will go into an email system that sends out an email notice to everyone on my list. I didn’t have to manually go in and email everyone. All I had to do was publish a blog article and everything was done for me. Essentially, this could be your e-newsletter to your patients.

Don’t worry if you can’t write (at one point you couldn’t adjust either). You can hire someone called a ghostwriter to do it for you. With a little practice you could write 200-400 words once a week. Or have your spouse, staff member or even your teenage do it for you.

We cover blogging, how to set it up, what to write about and how to get it ranked on the top of Google. Find out more by going to my chiropractic internet marketing course.

So why aren’t you blogging? How long before the office down the street starts blogging and jumps to the #1 spot on Google?

Do you use Google Adwords in your marketing plan? You should be.

Adwords are the small ads that run on the right side of a Google search page. Google charges you a price each time someone clicks on the ad. This is known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. When someone clicks your ad, they will then go through to your website.

While Adwords can look and sound quite simple, it is actually very complex. Here’s a list the concepts you must master to be effective at Adwords…

Ad groups
Quality score
Bid prices
ad position
ad split testing
keyword selection and negative keyword selection
landing page quality
click through rate (CTR)
impressions
Local search
Broad match vs exact match
daily budget
conversion rate and cost per conversion

As you can see, there is a quite a learning curve to using Adwords for your chiropractic practice. Google also gives you very little space with only 70 character limit for your ad text and 25 for the headline.

So does all this mean you shouldn’t be using Adwords? No, not at all. You can get a lot of traffic to your site with Adwords, and if done right quite a few new patients. But the key is making sure you know what you are doing (or the person you hired knows what they are doing!)

If done wrong, it can cost you. Google can raise your bid prices, “slap” you with ridiculously high bids because your site isn’t relevant to the ad, or stop running your ads completely if you fail to get clicks.

Many chiropractors are hiring this service out. The problem with this is that most PPC companies don’t even know (or if they know, they don’t care) about the concepts listed above.

Do you use Adwords or pay someone to do it for you? What’s been your experience? Leave your comments below.