Sunday, December 28, 2008

Is Your Chiropractic Marketing Killing Your Practice?

By Matthew Loop DC

We all know that we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket, but it's amazing how many chiropractors are conducting their chiropractic marketing tactics in this same "dead end" way. When chiropractors spend tons of money on media slots and newspaper ads, they're wasting all their money on forms of media that won't get them what they're looking for. Advertising in this way is so expensive and yields so little results, that you're literally driving money away from your practice instead of towards it. It's almost like these DC's are betting their practices at the local horse race. The odds are truly against you.

In the current economic recession, the old forms of marketing and advertising are not working nearly as well as they used to. Similarly, if you do not have a steady marketing plan in place, you will not be in business that long. One of the major problems I see at the moment is that chiropractors are marketing less now because times are tough when it should be the other way around. Sales and chiropractic marketing are what feed your practice and get you those highly sought after new patients you desire.

You may think, "I don't have the money, so I cannot advertise and implement chiropractic marketing right now." This is a common, flawed perception many chiropractors have. But the truth is, the best form of marketing and advertising is free nowadays. It's not TV, newspaper ads, magazines, telemarketing, or postcard drops either. Chiropractors have been scammed and led to believe that you have to pay for new patients and the best type of marketing costs money.

There is good news. Even though you may have placed all of your finances in ineffective paid advertisements, you can still get some high-impact massive exposure and tons of new patients for free. This comes in the form of doing your chiropractic marketing on social media outlets like YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, and many others. By the way, at least half of members on these networks are above 30 years of age, contrary to popular belief.

When you specifically target your marketing strategy online to people in the right demographic and right location, you are significantly increasing your chances of success and driving many new patients through your doors each month. But you need to begin in the right way! When you're starting to meet people online, and your community is introduced to your chiropractic practice, you need to brand yourself in the right way to get great results. Don't make the same mistakes that others do. You need someone by your side that has experienced success already, and knows how to guide you there as well.

Let me give you a specific strategy that you can begin to implement today, as far as marketing on these networks are concerned. Invite people within a 5 mile radius of your zip-code to become your friend and begin to communicate with them. Every person that you invite as a friend will eventually learn about you and what you do for a living. This is not just virtual "hog-wash." Getting traffic and visitors to your website is the same, exact way. You can literally explode your website visits in a matter of hours with proper social media chiropractic marketing.

You can also begin to be of value to these people by providing them useful information online. When you make daily video blogs or weekly postings about relevant topics, people will begin to see that you can help them, and they'll take note. For instance, I posted a simple video about headache relief and 3,000 people viewed it within one week! Viral marketing was the cause of all this exposure. When one person saw it and found it helpful, they passed it on to a friend, and so forth. Do you see the power?

Social media marketing is the answer to your marketing problems during these difficult times. When you have the right coach by your side, you can instantly tap the power of Web 2.0 without wasting time trying to figure it all out alone. Watch your practice soar to unbelievable heights as hundreds of new patients walk through your doors each month. And not only that, but this success can be yours absolutely for free! - 15246

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