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Pr/marketing For Chiropractors
Posted By: Chirochick* on 11/1/2004 9:09 PM (CST)	250 Points
Looking for suggestions for marketing Chiropractic. It is a tough thing to educate people on Chiropractic. We are in the midst of a "wellness movement" but we are certainly not there yet. My job is to educate the public about Chiropractic. A lot of people in our society believe that Chiropractic is simply for elderly people with headaches and backpain however, it is so much more than that. My job is to let people know that a chiropractor actually takes care of the nervous system and since the nervous system is what runs the body if you have interference in the N.S. it can actually create several other health related problems ie.. bowel trouble, allergies, headaches, and many more. The first opportunity that a person has to become subluxated is birth. (I have two very healthy children that get checked by a chiro on a regular basis) The thing that I find tough is that our society has been conditioned in its beliefs and it is very difficult to re-educate people. I have been hired by several different Chiropractors to market their services. They offer community talks on Stress, wellness, etc.. We have been very successful at getting into these places, but I was wondering if there were any suggestions as to other avenues I could take (aside from standing in a mall for 14 hours a day) to let the public know that there is a healthy alternative to health aside from taking drugs to solve issues. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! THANKS! JJ

Posted by: W.M.M.A.	Accepted Answer
11/1/2004 9:18 PM (CST)
I had a chiropractic clinic client. I will respond to you, but it is too late this evening. I will come back to the post tomorrow if I get time. Otherwise, contact me on eMail. Don't close your post. There is a lot of expertise in this forum that can provide you with great answers. Randall WMMA

Posted by: tchan	Accepted Answer
11/1/2004 9:46 PM (CST)
Hi chirochic, I have a few ideas that have been used with 2 chiropractors here localy. It involves using Pro Athletes. Click on my profile you should see my email address. email me so we can talk.

Posted by: amandavega	Accepted Answer
11/1/2004 9:59 PM (CST)
Hi there, I have some chiropractic clients and am very well versed in the arena of this because of them, and because I'm married to an MD who is also a chiropractor...imagine the issues with HIS marketing! =) Contact me off here and we can discuss in more depth.

Posted by: mgoodman	Accepted Answer
11/2/2004 9:39 PM (CST)
There's a chiropracter in Bay Shore, NY named Bernie Furshpan. Bernie is also a very astute marketer, and he has developed a lot of material that has proven successful in marketing chiropractic. In fact, he started an advertising agency as a direct result of chiropracters wanting to use the stuff he developed to market their own practices. You might want to contact him to see what he's up to now and to look at the materials and programs he has already developed, tested, and implemented in certain markets. No sense reinventing the wheel. If you like, you can tell Bernie I referred you to him. (Click on my id to get profile and info.)

Posted by: W.M.M.A.	Member Response
11/2/2004 10:15 PM (CST)
One of my Chiro clients went to restaurants and put up signs to sign up for free dinner at a steak house or a vegetarian grill. We did this for several years, successfully. Each evening after his 30 minute presentation, several appointments were made. 50% no shows, of course...they didn't want to be rude after eating the doctor's foof. But 50% showed, and of those 50%, he turned 40 percent of those into clients. He moved from various parts of the city. Worked south side, East, West and North. Moved to different restaurants in those areas. Demorgaphic remained the same. 50% were going to get a free meal from this schmuck doctor. And the others would make appointments. He tried getting tirelessly on the rubber circuit but did poorly. He did health fairs w/minimum success. Then ond day I said, who not do the half way point at the ms 150...The WJAT? The MS150, the bicycle ride from Houston to Austin Texas...about 183 miles..15,000 contestants. Set up your neds at the big rest points and give a massage or a rub. Charge them $20...believe me, many of them will pay $100, they are hurting so badly. So, he did this for a couple of years and began getting appointments from this mission of serving long-distance bikers. He did runners too. A higher majority of that demographic shoiwed up in the office than did the others. Practice is doing well. Randall WMMA

Posted by: Colleen Sharen*	Accepted Answer
11/3/2004 8:02 AM (CST)
Here's an idea I'm executing with a client who is a chiro. We're working on a referral program. Identifying his high loyal patients, and offering them a free treatment if they refer someone. The referree gets 50% off their first treatment. Seems to be working, although it's still early in the program, so we won't have results for a little while. The high loyals are so committed to his practice, that they do the selling for him. The math works out because the average new patient has 4 appointments, so it should pay out. C

Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst*	Accepted Answer
11/3/2004 11:37 PM (CST)
Hi: On the topic of "need state" marketing - I would like to suggest you partner your client up with martial arts, dance, equestrian, and racquet facilities. Each of these areas is well-known for injuries and chronic conditions - and the word-of-mouth travels fast within the school/club. A simple free consultation offer would do - and the owners of the referring institution can get referral fees or free services (almost all will need it). I hope this helps.

Posted by: jackson	Accepted Answer
11/5/2004 7:17 AM (CST)
I am married to a chiropractor and from "first hand" experience I am a convert. Of course you can do the local lecture thing and that will generate some results. But I would focus on the publicity angle if I were you. Get awareness for you and your practice by writing a weekly/monthly column on health & wellness for your newspapers, get on local TV and radio, just look for their health segment that they will have every year. Just even a one off article will help. Then go to all of the major corporations in your area and offer free columns for their in house newspapers They will jump at it once you explain the benefits to their employees who use Chiropractic will take less time off work for sickness. Follow that up with educational talks at those company's, and naturally conclude with suggesting that the company encourage, yea even help pay for their employees chiropractic care. They will save a great deal of money by reducing down time from sickness and generally help get the employees energy level higher. Hope this helps, Jack

Posted by: bborthayre	Accepted Answer
11/11/2004 5:01 PM (CST)
Please consider expanding your marketing efforts to the Hispanic community. Foreign born Hispanics currently make up half of the adults in the 39.9 million population. New immigrants often work in the landscaping and construction and have a higher rate of on the job injuries. In addition, due to unfamiliarity with driving in the U.S, a higher rate of car accidents. Our community is also much more open to "alternative medicine" than many Americans. To market successfully you would need to ensure that you are staffed full time with bilingual/bicultural employee(s). Your materials should also be accurately translated into Spanish. Have your bilingual employees assist you in reaching the Hispanics in your surrounding area through newspaper and radio. Join your nearest Hispanic chamber of commerce and partner with Hispanic advocacy agencies to provide free seminars on chiropractic care. As a person with chronic back pain, I know chiropractic works and our Hispanic community can definitely benefit. Blaire Borthayre www.trainingresourceclinic.com

Posted by: Allan	Accepted Answer
11/11/2004 10:40 PM (CST)
This is an exciting question wtih lots of great responses! Working in Atlanta, GA -- which has one of the two largest Chiropractic Colleges in the US -- we have discussed marketing with many chiropractors. Here's an idea: there are people who can be identified by their psychographics/lifestyle as being interested in health & wellness. Chiropractic caters to those people nicely. These people can be readily identified from a variety of target marketing databases, allowing you to directly promote the benefits of chiropractic -- and make them an offer -- via direct mail. One D.C. we worked with wanted to market to suspects within a 5-mile radius of his practice. The databases can select prospects based on Zip code, radius from an address, etc. A direct mailer with the appropriate sales message can go a long way to building awareness for a DC practice...and generating phone calls and appointments. Many of these databases can give you a wealth of information about prospects beyond their interest in health & wellness. Where this kind of information is available a personalized direct mail can be sent, which often raises response rates by a factor of ten over ordinary direct mail. It's a "one-to-one" marketing approach via direct mail.

Posted by: Frauke*	Accepted Answer
11/12/2004 10:37 AM (CST)
Since your main problem seems to be that people don't understand how they can benefit from visiting a Chiropractor. So how about creating a little booklet about, say, back problems and how to avoid them. Take that to various venues where your target market hangs out (gyms, doctors, sport equipment shops, health food shops etc.) Make sure the leaflet is not a blatant sales pitch for you. It's got to have value for your prospects. Give some advice on how to avoid getting back trouble, and only at the end put something like "If you should get back pain anyway, give us a call for a free initial consultation". Or similar. Display the booklet in your clinic as well, with a headline saying something along the lines of "Take one for your friends". Word of mouth advertising can't be beat in your field of work. Hope that helps, Frauke

Posted by: leskennedy	Accepted Answer
11/12/2004 11:56 AM (CST)
I had the pleasure of working with a Chiropractic Clinic a couple of years ago, expanding their offer and their market. The clinic is located in a high growth suburban area, and the Chiro wanted to create a practice that targeted families- with women confirmed as the primary decision maker. The clinic was designed to allow for "day care" while the mother was treated, and had services designed for children. The clinic offered multiple wellness services that were targeted to mothers, and children, including specially designed kid's back packs for school, nutrition counselling, massage, etc. Several marketing efforts were implemented including speaking at the schools and mother's groups, supporting school extra-curricular sports programs, wellness brochures - with attention to common childhood problems (childhood obesity, and ADHD as examples) Hope that this approach provides you with some new ideas to mull over. All the best, Les

Posted by: Val (Moderator)*	Moderator Response
11/19/2004 12:40 AM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question, since its more than 10 days old. We do this to make sure members' contributions are rewarded in a timely manner and to improve the visibility of newer questions. Thanks, so much, for participating! Val (Moderator)

Posted by: carbonel	Member Response
10/7/2008 2:47 PM (CST)
I noticed that a few responses to chiropractic advertising included free or discounted adjustments. Business is one of the weakest areas of our education. Please remember that if you accept insurance at your office and you offer discounts to cash paying customers, then you have just committed fraud against the insurance co.!!! Becareful to market yourself ethically. The simplest way to add to your business is to remind your current patients to make referrals. Create a "thank you for your referral" board in your waiting room or newsletter. Just be sure to get the ok from your patients to use their name 1st. If you have a massage therapist in your office, you can offer a massage for each referral. You might be suprised how motivating a massage can be! Good luck to you all.

Posted by: toddmbrowninc	Member Response
10/10/2008 3:38 PM (CST)
Leveraging the Net with front-end, target-market-specific videos is a great way to generate new patient leads. And, when used in conjunction with an email autoresponder for automatic follow-up, it really takes response up a notch. Enjoy, Todd Brown :-) http://MoreChiroPatients.com/blog

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