Issue 1 - January 2004

No more hit-or-miss marketing
8 steps to send a consistent message
By Timothy Gay, DC

Hit or miss. It may work in some situations, but it definitely doesn’t work in marketing. Yet, chiropractors tend to market their services and their practices in this manner.

The trouble with hit-or-miss is that it is not consistent and does not provide momentum. After unsuccessfully trying hit-or-miss marketing in my practice, I finally realized that it would be smarter to create a plan for sustained growth and momentum.

Here are eight steps to develop a consistent and effective marketing plan:

1. Identify and define your target audience. Who do you want to reach? Who do you want to be your patients?

With your audience identified, ask yourself what it wants when it chooses a chiropractor. Identifying and understanding your target demographic is an important role in an effective strategy.

2. List your unique capabilities. What do you offer that addresses your potential patients’ needs? What do your competitors offer? How are you uniquely different from them?

3. Create an advertising and marketing budget. Development of your strategy comes with knowing how many marketing hours it will take or how much money you are willing to spend on a project.

It takes both time and money to do a project but the ratio may be different depending on your marketing budget.

4. Identify internal and external marketing opportunities. Internally, identify ways to market yourself and your practice including business cards, brochures, logo, smell and decoration of your office, educational pictures, referral signs and wellness workshops.

Then look at external opportunities. External marketing helps educate the public and bring in new patients. Plan these efforts around public speaking engagements, public relations and community involvement, open houses, newsletters, direct mail pieces, postcards, signage and external referral programs such as medical and attorney referrals.

5. Write your marketing plan. Two to three months prior to the kick-off date, write your specific plan — the action items. Keep in mind that you should plan different types of strategies — direct mail promotions, print advertising, out-of-office activities and special events and seasonal promotions.

Schedule activities for both internal and external marketing, including some activities that create awareness, provide information and build your image.

6. Fill in your laminated one-year calendar. Transfer the dates of implementation of your promotions to your calendar so that you and your staff can see them at a glance.

7. Update your materials. Use marketing pieces that have worked in the past but remember that health trends change. Your advertising and marketing pieces should always be first-class and current with the needs of the community.

8. Kick off your marketing. Select someone in your office to help with the kick off or develop a co-op of chiropractors to work on various projects. The benefits of co-operative advertising and marketing include sharing resources and time.

Dr. Timothy Gay was voted Washington State’s “Chiropractor of the Year” twice during his 23-year career as a practicing chiropractor. He is now a national speaker and consultant with Ultimate Practice Systems. He can be reached at 866-797-8366 or via the web at www.ultimatepracticesystems.com