5 tips to become an expert in your community
By Nancy Heimstra, DC

If you have five chiropractors within a two-mile radius of your practice, what would compel a person to come into your clinic instead of a competitor's office?

Here are five surefire ways to get visibility in your area.

1. Get to know your community. What do you know about your local area? For example: How many retirement communities are in your area? Golf courses? How many sailing clubs? Gyms? High schools? Community colleges?

Make a list of things about your local area. From the list you generate, identify things you can relate to. Each of these selections can be a niche that you can comfortably target.

2. Write an article. What is your target audience interested in? Some examples: The retirement community might like to hear about arthritis research or new research regarding longevity and anti-aging.

The high school PTO might want to hear about steroid use among teenagers and what they can do to stop it.

Or the athletic club might want to know about minimizing muscular strain during an exercise program.

Don’t get too technical, but do not assume your audience is ignorant about the subject. They have access to the Internet, just as you do.

Whatever you write, make it interesting and targeted to the audience.

3. Contact the appropriate organization. If your audience is the surfing community, find all the clubs and associations related to surfing.

Find out if they have a newsletter and submit your article. Inquire about writing a column. You do not have to make your article or report lengthy. Appeal to the mindset and really think about what problems they might have and offer a solution.

Establish yourself as the “go to” person when they have a problem.

4. Turn your article into a presentation. Opportunities to do public speaking are everywhere. Does the organization you submitted your article to have meetings that have guest speakers?

Do not limit yourself to doing the standard “Chiropractic 101” speech. You do not have to educate them about chiropractic. You are there to establish yourself as the expert in your niche. Concentrate on sharing that expertise, not selling yourself as a chiropractor.

5. Send out a press release. Let the newspaper know where you are doing your presentations. This is another way to raise your level of expertise in your community.

Remember that these are all designed to establish yourself as a credible expert in your field. Your intention is to attract patients by planting seeds. Your audience members may not have a specific problem at that moment, but if they should, they will have your card and remember you as the one with the expertise.

Nancy Heimstra, DC, is a practitioner with 25 years of experience and a life coach. She can be contacted through her Web site at www.spirit-alchemy.com or by e-mail at coachnancy@spirit-alchemy.com.