August 2007

What to do when all marketing efforts fail

by Dr. Eric M. Osansky

Over the years, many chiropractors have told me marketing doesn't work in their town. They've tried placing ads in the newspapers and other print media, and have tried other types of advertising to bring in new patients with little or no success. In fact, many of these doctors have had such poor results that they're afraid of trying any other marketing campaigns because they're convinced the media in their town is ineffective.

So, what can you do to bring in new patients if you happen to practice in a town where advertising "doesn't work?" Here are a few possibilities:

1. Make sure you have tested multiple media. Besides trying to place both newspaper ads and inserts, have you tried direct mail, television and radio advertising, marriage mail, yellow pages advertising, etc.?

From my experience a lot of chiropractors rely on newspaper advertising and marriage mail, the latter which usually doesn't produce great results (but is still worth testing). But don't forget that two of the most powerful ways of targeting your prospects are through direct mail and television advertising. If you've tested all of these and other media in your town, move on to the next possible solution.

2. Look at all other factors that may be affecting your results. Often it isn't the media that's poor, but other factors aren't in the doctor's favor. For example, if placing a newspaper ad, do you have good positioning? Do the subscribers get the newspaper early in the week?

As for direct mail, did you send out more than one sequence? Did you try personalizing the mailing? Is the envelope handwritten? Have you tested different formats (different types of envelopes, postcards, mailing tubes, etc.)?

Besides mistakes you could make with the actual media, perhaps there are other problems you're overlooking. For example, if you drive your prospects to a website, is the website set up to convert an interested prospect into a new patient?

How about your staff? Are they well trained to get someone who calls for the first time to schedule an appointment? You could have the best ad in the world in a great media, but end up with lousy results if you don't focus on converting these prospects.

3. Focus on your current patients. You want to do everything you can to a) keep your current patients, and b) get them to refer. So rather than putting most of your efforts into trying to get patients through external marketing, focus some of this energy towards building and maintaining relationships with your current patients, have frequent internal marketing campaigns, send out endorsed mailings, and have patient appreciation events to stimulate referrals.

4. Spend the next year trying to establish yourself as the expert in your town. Spend the next six‑to‑twelve months trying to obtain free publicity through the media, do public speaking, and even consider writing a book. Taking this approach probably won't provide immediate gratification, but if you're persistent enough this could be an excellent source of new patients.

5. Spend your time. I'm personally not a big fan of doing screenings, networking, etc., but it's one option for bringing in new patients. Yet, before you resort to this, try delegating these time‑consuming tasks to your staff. In fact, sometimes they'll do a better job at recruiting new patients then you!

6. As a last resort, consider relocating. Most chiropractors don't like this suggestion, but if you're struggling in practice and you honestly feel you practice in a "bad" area, then why not at least consider relocating to a different town? I know starting over isn't an easy thing to do. But if it means doing well in practice, it might not be a bad idea.

Quite frankly, it usually isn't the location that's responsible for one's struggles, and for proof of this you could probably find at least one or two other chiropractors nearby who are doing extremely well in practice.

So, if marketing doesn't seem to be effective in your town, before concluding that it's your area that's responsible, you need to rule out all other factors that could be having a negative impact on any advertising you do. In the unlikely event that it IS the area you practice in that's responsible for the poor results, you either need to focus on other things to grow your practice, or as an extreme measure consider relocating.

(Dr. Eric M. Osansky, a Life University graduate, is president of Instrument Adjusting Marketing Solutions, which has helped hundreds of chiropractors use their adjusting instrument to take their practice to the next level and beyond. Visit his website InstrumentAdjustingSuccess.com and subscribe to his FREE six‑part e‑mail mini‑course on how to promote your adjusting instrument, and to receive information about his new book, "Instrument Adjusting Riches." For more information, e‑mail Dr. Osansky at instrumentdc@aol.com.)