Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bad Chiropractic Marketing can be the Death of 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.

We are in seriously tough times in this country. The economy is in recession, and older forms of chiropractic marketing and advertising do very little good now. If you spend a fortune on marketing right now, you can be sure that your business is going to tank under all the pressure and expense. That means that chiropractors are marketing less to compensate, but continue to only suffer more. You need to market to get new patients through your door, but you can't afford to do it the same old way. What's the answer for today's chiropractors?

You're probably telling yourself that you don't have the money to market your chiropractic practice anymore, and you're wondering how else you can spread the word about your business. The answer is much more exciting than you've imagined, and it's absolutely free to you. So what kind of marketing is this? Well, it's definitely not TV, newspaper ads, magazines, telemarketing, or postcard drops. These are black holes that will cost you a fortune and yield mediocre results.

So what's the answer? If you have all your money tied-up in expensive ads and old marketing techniques with no results, you can still see loads of new patients walk through your doors using the exposure of Web 2.0 and social media; and it's absolutely free! Chiropractic marketing is being completely revolutionized by sites like YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook. These sites aren't just for teenagers as some would like you to believe. At least 50% of the traffic on these sites is 30 years or older.

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?

You're now beginning to see the massive potential these social media networks have in store for you. You can literally attract hundreds of people to your website and practice for free. You're going to begin to see your chiropractic practice soar to unbelievable heights, even in these difficult financial times. With social media sites and Web 2.0, your practice can effortlessly become a vital component of your community and a very profitable business as well. - 15478

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