Marketing for 2017 and beyond.

[cs_content][cs_section parallax="false" style="margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;"][cs_row inner_container="true" marginless_columns="false" style="margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;"][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/1" style="padding: 0px;"][cs_text class="cs-ta-justify"]When I first started in practice, marketing was simple. You paid for a yellow pages advert, ran a few ‘advotorial pieces in the local newspaper’ telling the local community your story, and you got out there & hustled. You did regular screenings at the gym, the local church fete, the supermarket; anywhere that would have you really.

As your practice grew, you might even have had the luxury of a screening team so you didn't have to go and stand in the cold yourself. I don't know of many practitioners that actually like doing this sort of marketing, with cold contacts such as, ’Hello Sir, When was the last time you had your spine checked sir’… greeted by a blank face; ignored by most.

I would enjoy talking to people about their spine, nervous system and Chiropractic: so I recruited someone to be the ‘front man’ well front woman actually; and she dragged people over kicking and screaming & then it was up to me to work my magic.

But that was close to two decades ago… Facebook didn't exist, the Snapchat founders were in junior school and google ad-words were not words I had heard in combination. Today’s world is very different, and the marketing efforts in your clinic should reflect that.

Our agency specialises in growing practices predictably with digital marketing.. it’s an area where 95% of clinics are under-performing. WHY? Because no-one really knows the keys to online success and so we are stumbling in the dark, do you feel that way sometimes? Many practitioners posts a sporadic blog or Facebook update when they remember; and then forget about it for a while.

Some more internet savvy clinics have a structured campaign, posting to social media regularly, linking back to their blog. Alas most still do not have a good return on investment. That investment is not just financial, if you run your own marketing programme, most of the investment will be TIME.

So why do so few clinics get a decent return on investment with their online marketing efforts.The answer comes from those old-fashioned marketing efforts. Everyone online is in transmit mode, there is information overload. People are definitely looking for you & what you have to say, but they have to filter it past millions of pictures of cats & Kim Kardashian. If you send out yet another dry blog stating the 7 Reasons Why Chiropractic Can Help Back Pain, it’s going to get very little engagement.

That being said, we do still create this kind of content for our clients, but we do it knowing that the google robots are probably the only ‘people’ that are going to read them, at least at first. If you do it for SEO purposes and to rank for keywords in your area, great. But don't expect a significant number of your local community to read it. Would you read an article by your car mechanic on the 6 reasons why your alternator may fail, or do you just want to find a mechanic you can trust to look after your vehicle.

So why is the answer found in 1990’s marketing techniques? It’s because at a screening, Mrs Jones got to meet you, she got to suss you out, test your metal, see if you connect. When someone reads your story in the newspaper, again the ‘advotorial’ has a personal feel to it.. or at least I hope it does/did.

Story telling is the way forwards to promote your practice, and video is the medium for it. A Youtube channel is a MUST, as is posting regular videos to your channel, Uploading them DIRECTLY to Facebook rather than linking to a youtube video means you will be favoured by the Facebook wizardry.

Tell your story, tell your patients stories, even better: Get them to tell it.

A suggestion is that at every progress review, ask the patient to complete a form stating how happy they are with the care they receive in your practice. Also ask them to tick whether they are happy to give a short testimonial. If everything looks good, that is the perfect time to ask if they wouldn't mind saying their testimonial to camera. If they are shy, thats fine too, ask for a written review, or ideally ask them to post a review to Facebook, Google or where-ever else is your front desks focus that month.

If they say yes, its important that you get the proper consent. Email us & we can send you a consent request that you can add to the bottom of your progress form, so its all done in one efficient process.
If you take posture picture or x-rays at this point, it’s the ideal time to take the patient somewhere usually more quite than reception & ask them to say a few words to camera. It doesn't have to be a monologue. The key is regular testimonials, rather than 15 minutes of praise; most people will only watch the first 30 seconds anyway.

Post them to Youtube with specific keywords. Pick out the theme of the review. Does Mrs Jones say how her back pain is gone… great use (Back Pain) Banished at Kingston Chiropractic. If Beatrice’s headaches are better, try ‘Beatrice’s story. No Headaches for four months, since visiting Dr Tom at Willow Chiropractic, Clifton - Bristol.’

Do the same on your Blog, Facebook, Twitter etc, but change the titles each time you use the content. If one video gets more engagement than the others, then Boost that post on Facebook and target a specific audience in your local community (more on that on other videos)

If you are clever you will re-purpose the content.

The video you are watching has been transcribed and the text used as a blog, and also posted below the video on youtube (it helps with rankings) We have also broken it down into ‘taster chunks’ short taster videos that lead to this longer video. Chances are you watched a short taster video and now you are here!

Take quotes from the content & tweet them, with a link to the full article or video.

Make your WORK, work for you!!

I’m going to cut this short, as most people wouldn't have made it this far and there is SO much more that I can say. If you are going to take away ONE thing…

That MUST be:

You are talking to real people… BE REAL, show real stories, follow a patient’s journey.

Let someone who was once in the viewers shoes tell them that YOU are the solution they are looking for. Then let them google you & find all your lovely articles, videos & raving reviews.

Get it right and you can predictably create at least 15-20 additional new patients per month with a modest campaign.

If this all sounds like too much effort, then set aside the funds for a couple of treatment visits a week and let us take care of EVERYTHING for you.

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