February is the month of LOVE.
…Plus harsh winds, snow squalls, and wet socks… at least where I live!
Those are excellent reasons to put an emphasis on showing your clients you care by warming their hearts……. and their socks. 🙂
We are going to explore 14 different ways you can put some creativity into your outreach and leverage Valentine’s Day for your chiropractic marketing.
Keep in mind marketing is more than just dollars out for dollars in. Marketing is about positioning yourself as a leader in the community, creating brand awareness, and creating the feeling your patients get when they walk into your office, and yes… ultimately a direct return on investment is our goal.
Here’s 14 ways you can show your patients you care this month:
1. Send a Hallmark e-card to your patient list to let them know you genuinely like them!
2. Bring on the Pillsbury’s. Bake up a large quantity of the infamous themed sugar cookies to offer up in the reception area. For bonus points, you can warm them up in a microwave (should you have one in your office) so the place smells DELICIOUS.
Bonus: read about Scent Marketing
3. Offer up some goodie bags with chocolate kisses to give out to patients that day. Adults stopped getting treat bags once they hit the age of 12 and it stopped being “cool”to give out at birthday parties. Sad.
Plus they can give them to the kids, which makes their children a bigger fan of yours! As we know, children are GREAT influencers on family decisions.
4. Put craft supplies and cut outs in the waiting room for kids (space permitting) to make“hearts and crafts” for their parents.
5. Buy a few Valentine’s cards at a Dollarama to put in the bathroom with a pen. Moxies does this in the Men’s bathroom in case ‘he’ forgets or ran out of time before dinner.
6. Get some red dry erase markers or lipstick to write a lovely message on your bathroom mirror.
A heart around their face while they wash their hands
A friendly reminder to leave you a Google Review
“Always make it easy for people to talk about you”
7. Recruit one of your CA’s (that draws the short stick) to dress up like Cupid and hand out coupons/flyers at the mall. Come up with a cheeky tagline like,
“I can’t align you with a special someone, but I can align your spine so your body runs more efficiently again”
“Don’t forget to love yourself”, here’s a coupon for a free nerve scan
Or your cupid could hand out a rose to the lovely ladies with a coupon for a free nerve scan (or two) attached. This can also be done for those who come into the office and the nerve scan can be for a loved one. Red roses can add up, don’t be afraid to get some fake ones from Dollarama!
8. Who doesn’t LOVE a contest?!
Offer up a couples massage (or a mall gift card for the singles) starting the week before Valentine’s, so you can interact with a large percentage of your patients before the contest closes.
- Referral = 10 entries
- Google/Yelp/RateMDs Review = 2
- Donation to your favourite charity = 1
9. Update the branding on your social media accounts to showcase your valentines wishes or contest! Facebook is designed to be updated constantly (the more engaged your audience is, the more fans they will expose your posts to). Make sure to keep that cover photo updated often!
10. While you’re on facebook, head over to your personal account and post a nice visual graphic of your well wishes for this lovely day. The trick here is to use an image in your post so you can tag all the people you love, including all the patients and staff members you have as facebook friends.
* It’s best to create this post earlier in the week and schedule it for the big day so you don’t forget.
11. Ask your patients to post their “cutest couples” pics on facebook and tag your Facebook page for a chance to win a free adjustment next time!
Do a similar campaign for the most clever Singles Awareness Day and how those holding out for someone special had celebrated.
12. It’s all about engagement in the week leading up share romantic or funny Valentine’s Day posts, the internet is full of them:
13. Go to a classy restaurant and see if you can set up a fish bowl for a free dinner at that restaurant for everyone who puts their information in. Includes free dinner presentation related to self-love through ways to take care of your body. You can also check out our 102 Marketing Ideas
14. Send some “virtual hugs” through social media, text or messaging!
There you have it, 14 ways to embrace the spirit of the season. Marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. It just has to get the right message out to the right people at the right time, and you never know when the right time is for your next patient (although Google Trends shows some interesting data).
Therefore you need to find creative ways to keep the community engaged with your brand throughout the year.
Let us know how you intend to warm the hearts and socks of your patients this year!