| Make
marketing an ongoing process that starts with targeting
your patient By
Linda Segall
Marketing.
When you went to college, marketing probably wasn’t
included in your course of study. Marketing was something
that businesses did – not chiropractors. So,
you didn’t have to worry about it. But times
– and health care – have changed. Your practice
is a business, and if you want it to grow, it’s
important for you to understand about marketing –
what it is (and isn’t) and how to do it to achieve
your dreams and goals. First: What marketing is not.
Marketing is not a dirty word. It isn’t selling.
It isn’t advertising. It isn’t promotion.
It isn’t any single activity. It isn’t making
people do something they don’t want to do.
What, then, is marketing? It is actually a lot of
things – many that you already do.
Marketing is an ongoing process, according to Carter
McNamara of Authenticity Consulting of Minneapolis,
a firm that specializes in small-business marketing.
Promotion and advertising may be part of your marketing
strategy, but marketing actually includes a wide range
of activities aimed at making sure that you meet the
needs of your patients.
Marketing begins with understanding the needs of your
customers – your patients – and designing
your practice around meeting those needs.
According to McNamara, small-business owners need
to take six steps to perform good marketing:
1. Conduct market research to determine the needs
of the customer;
2. Develop their competitive advantages;
3. Target a specific market;
4. Decide how to satisfy those needs;
5. Analyze how well the customers have been served;
6. Repeat the cycle.
Does marketing work in chiropractic?
The basic marketing model was designed for traditional
business, so the question begs: Does it work in chiropractic?
Yes –if you modify and reframe the steps to a
chiropractic mindset. Here’s how to adapt the
model to build your business:
1. Define your ideal patient. This is actually step
three – targeting a specific market – in
a traditional marketing approach. But good marketing
begins with the patient, says Bill Esteb, president
of Patient Media, Inc. So it stands to reason that
defining your ideal patient should be your first step.
“Who are you shooting to attract to your practice?”
Esteb asks. “Develop a vision for the type of
patient you want. Perhaps it’s golfers. Or sports
enthusiasts. Or children. Or older people. One vision
isn’t better than any other.” Esteb contends
that many chiropractors are concerned that by specializing
their practice they will scare other patients away.
That’s true, he admits. But at the same time,
“once you identify the type of patient you want,
you become a magnet . . . the practice attracts others
who are in the type.” And when that happens,
the practice grows. Defining the patient is the key
pin to effective marketing, says Esteb.
Every
other step of the model hinges on the definition of
your ideal patient.
How
to target your ideal patient
Defining your ideal patient is key to growing
your practice and conducting any type of marketing,
says Bill Esteb, president of Patient Media, Inc.
Here’s one approach to coming up with that
definition:
1. Find out your staff’s favorite patients.
Gather your staff in a meeting and ask them to
make a list of their favorite patients. Then ask
them to list the reasons why they chose each person.
2. Compare the lists. If your staff agrees on
the same patients – or at least the same
characteristics for the selection – then
you all have a good idea of the ideal patient.
3. Share your vision. “If everyone has a
different idea about what is an ideal patient,
it creates dissonance in the practice,” says
Esteb. “Share your vision with the staff
so that they can recognize this type of patient
when he or she shows up.” |
2. Develop your unique advantages. Your unique advantages
don’t have to be “competitive” as defined
in a traditional business model. Rather, think about
the unique services you offer or the special environment
in which you deliver services, says Esteb. These are
your “competitive” advantages. Developing
your uniqueness should not be difficult, provided
you have defined the type of patient you want to target,
says Esteb. For example, if you want to attract golfers,
you could decorate your office in a golf motif. The
golf paraphernalia advertises your uniqueness and
specialty. Or if you have a pediatric practice, create
a play land for kids. Make it comfortable and fun
for them.
3. Conduct research. “If you know what people
are thinking, you can promote to them,” says
Lynda Hubbard-Reis, president of Trendsetters™.
She urges the chiropractors she works with to conduct
formal research. “Survey your current patients
and people who are not your patients to find out what
they need and what they want,” she says. With
that information you can begin to develop a real marketing
plan because you can target their specific wants and
needs – not just guess at them. How do you take
a survey? The simplest way is to talk to your patients
– ask them what they like and dislike about your
office, for example. Another way is to hire a firm
to interview current patients, inactive patients and
nonpatients. The goal of your surveys (however they
are taken) is to discover patient needs and misconceptions.
4. Decide how to satisfy your patient’s needs.
Esteb contends that once you understand the type of
patient you want to attract, you can step into their
shoes quite easily. “What are golfers needs?
What kinds of problems do they have?” he asks.
He also recommends “hanging out” where the
targeted patients are – not just to hand out
business cards, but to find opportunities to let these
potential patients know what you do. “Look for
opportunities to give talks at the country club,”
he suggests, “or create strategic alliance with
organizations.” Formal research can uncover misconceptions,
says Hubbard-Reis. “If you know that people perceive
chiropractors as ‘bone crunchers’ –
as we did in one survey we took – then you can
decide how to dispel that misconception.” Research
can also tell you what types of words or phrases are
most effective to use, or how people like to receive
information, such as through a personal letter from
the chiropractor instead of an e-mail newsletter,
she says.
5. Analyze if your marketing is working. Simply put
– measure results. Keep track of the number of
new patients that come into your office following
a marketing endeavor, says Hubbard-Reis.
6. Repeat the process. Esteb and Hubbard-Reis both
agree: Marketing is not a one-time event. It is an
ongoing process.
_
Linda Segall is the editor of Chiropractic Economics.
Sources for this article include Carter McNamara,
Authenticity Marketing, www.authenticitymarketing.com;
Bill Esteb, Patient Media, Inc., www.patientmedia.com,
800-486-2337; Lynda Hubbard-Reis, Trendsetters, lyndareis@attei.com
or 818-897-5901.
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