Chiropractic marketing is one of the hottest topics we find at Full Circle. It seems that every chiropractor we talk to has an under-utilized plan, or does NOT know how to create systems around finding new qualified leads.
There are SO many articles at your disposal teaching you what can/does work so we wanted to create the 5 things NOT to do.
Here we go:
Trusting Your C.A. To Handle It
Chiropractic Assistants are awesome team mates. They are the Robin to your Batman and are there to assist you in fulfilling your mission. They run your systems and keep the logistics clean while you are busy practicing your art. However, most of them are trained on helping to run a chiropractic practice and not growing a chiropractic practice. Marketing is a unique blend of creativity, logistics, resources and time; many C.A.’s are just not trained on what that looks like for your business.
If you have a marketing plan, then a C.A. can be the best implementer, but you can’t leave marketing to chance, it is something that has to be done with regularity and effectiveness.
We recommend having a brainstorming session every quarter with your entire team on how to engage with current patients and how to attract new quality ones. Find the top 3-5 strategies to focus on that quarter, create a storyboard for how to implement, and then assign specific tasks to your C.A.
Thinking That Word of Mouth Is Enough
Word of mouth has been the holy bible of new patient referrals in the chiropractic realm and I highly agree that it is effective in finding quality new leads. Is it enough of a marketing plan to rely on though?
For some cosmic reason, people are just not referring loved ones the way that they were before. These days, everything is transparent, and it is easier than ever to find information on any problem someone may have (wellness issues resolved by chiropractic as an example).
Having a marketing plan encompasses everything from patient reactivation to website optimization and getting out in the field. The more visibility you have the better your odds are in such a transparent world where your next patient could be just a Google search away.
Not Having a Marketing Plan
Many small business owners have a plan, and that plan is to come in to the office, use their healing hands for chiropractic good and to go home to their family. Many chiropractors go through the motions of the day to keep their head above the client base, keep up with the internal systems and make sure they are offering a rockstar service; thus leaving marketing to the back burner.
You realistically have a policy for new patients forms, for setting up at beginning and end of day, and other important aspects of running the practice. However, when I ask if docs have a marketing system/ plan it usually falls flat.
We created a marketing planner coupled with an ROI tracker and an e-book for 102 marketing ideas for docs that we recommend, just click here.
Using Your Website for Only Education and Information
Websites can be a mystical thing for healthcare professionals, yet it can be such an asset if done correctly. Many docs think it is a great tool to showcase their“open for business” sign and to educate the clients. This can be valuable, but it is not the primary focus for your site.
You need your site to be a tool that gets new patients. There are many differences between a site that is built to educate and a site that is built to convert leads into practice members.
Here are a few things that you will want:
- A modern theme
- A backend that you can adjust without expensive website companies
- Good, fast hosting (loads your content quickly)
- Lots of high quality pictures of you, your staff, your building and your members
- A way to capture new leads with a hot offer
- Some education on who you are and how you help
- A call to action that moves them into the next step of working with you
Website optimization, conversion and visibility tactics is something for another article, but when done correctly, you can capitalize on the 50-100 people searching for “Chiropractor in _____(your city)” on Google everyday and therefore potentially pull in new patients every week with little efforts.
See how effective your website is at pulling in new leads. For a chance to win a free website + social media audit from my marketing team, click here. (contest runs October 31-November 14)
Not tracking your ROI
ROI seems like a daunting acronym but is actually easier to track if you have a good template.
At Full Circle we track every hour of every marketing activity along with the cost associated. This is collated in an online spreadsheet that every teammate can access at will, and update at end of day.
At the end of the month, we can easily see who the new leads are, where they came from and how much time and money went into acquiring that lead. We can then see what the winners were (over 100% ROI) and who the losers were (wasted too much time and money or perhaps generated under-qualified leads).
This makes it easier to move forward each quarter and eventually aim to create replicable, reproducible systems.
If you would like access to this ROI tracker, along with our e-book of 102 marketing ideas, click the pretty picture below.
