June 2009

Using e-mails as advertising

by Dr. Stephane Laverdiere

We all receive monthly or weekly e-mail advertisements from popular retailers announcing product specials ranging from computers to furniture and even airline flights. These companies spend millions of dollars in print media and TV advertising and have now become e-mail advertising experts. If we simply observe what they're doing and why they're doing it, we can create a "chiropractic recipe for success" in e-mail marketing and lead generation.

Simply stated, e-mail is the most affordable form of advertising today. Companies are shifting advertising campaign money and expending energy growing their prospecting e-mail lists. Have you noticed that some retailers ask for your postal code and e-mail address every time you buy something? Especially when you place an online order, an e-mail address is mandatory.

Companies are able to generate a large e-mail database from what we call "warm" leads -- clients already using their products or services or who've inquired about their products. Some companies buy e-mail lists but they'd be classified as "cold" leads. Why would you want to buy a list and advertise health products or services to someone who isn't and may never be health conscious? There are rules and regulations related to buying e-mailing lists. Do your homework before you spend your hard-earned cash on cold leads.

As a doctor of chiropractic, you have many avenues for collecting warm leads to create an e-mail wave in your community. Only a handful of chiropractors are doing it, so be the first in your community to master the internet via e-mail.

Let me tell you about some of these gems that so few DCs are tapping into.

A good number of chiropractors do outside talks or outreach events in order to build a chiropractic community awareness and promote their practice. You should be collecting valuable e-mail addresses at all of these events.

For example, if you do a screening, potential new patients are interested enough in your service to stop and take part in the screening. Many times we're disappointed that someone didn't accept our offer for a discounted examination. What you do with that name will make all the difference in the world.

Most chiropractors will (at best) send a letter or newsletter. Yet, if the individual wasn't interested then, why should he or she respond to a letter in the following two weeks? In order to keep leads viable, you need to stay in constant contact with them every month until they do one of two things: sign up or ask you to stop sending them information.

The key is sending these prospective patients pertinent information -- communicated with cutting-edge technology -- direct to their homes. We live in a world where people spend most of their leisure time watching television, movies and surfing the internet. If you don't have a huge advertising budget, you need to communicate with them via e-mail. A great video e-mail campaign will not only keep you in front of your warm leads, it will help you convert them into new patients.

If you're interested in a product but not ready to buy, it could take months before you decide to make a purchase. The same applies when it comes to health care, especially if people are in tune with crisis care. People might not yet understand the whole concept of wellness, so until they have a crisis they might not be ready to use your chiropractic services.

What happens if you've lost contact with that warm lead and he or she has a health problem and decides to try chiropractic eight months or a year down the road? The individual might come to see you, but your chances increase exponentially if you've been in contact over the preceding months.

Collecting e-mail addresses at screenings, corporate talks and outside events is a wonderful way to build your database of warm leads. But what if your practice style is driven mostly by internal marketing? Explain that you're starting a new e-mail patient education initiative and that they're going to be receiving high-quality, cutting-edge videos on the chiropractic lifestyle in their inbox. If you communicate the importance of helping you forward these e-mails to friends and family, you're creating a viral component to your e-mail, which is another topic in itself.

Another great way to generate hundreds of e-mail addresses is to simply ask your patients for them. Create a huge buzz over a drawing you're going to have. The more e-mail names they provide, the more times their name will be entered into the drawing to win a great prize. Imagine how many e-mail addresses you'll collect by simply having an office drawing! Take it a step further and have your patients e-mail their friends information introducing your new video e-mail initiative.

What a way to reach out into your community to spread the word about the chiropractic lifestyle. And what an even better way to convert those leads to new patients.

(Dr. Stephane Laverdiere is a 1995 graduate of National College. For more information about Atlas Chiropractic System, call 877-602-8527 or e-mail acs@atlaschirosys.com, or visit the website at www.atlaschirosys.com. Dr. Peter Hryciuk has run a successful, high-volume, wellness-based chiropractic practice for the last 17 years. He co-created ChiroVMail with Dr. Laverdiere as a way to automatically educate patients and leads within and outside the practice on the benefits of family Chiropractic care.)