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Find your ‘voice’ and fulfill your promises Much has been made of famous last words. But it is your first words with prospective patients that determine the success of your clinic’s marketing efforts. When you have only an instant to convince a prospective patient to treat with you, what do you say? Are you at a loss for the right words? You are not alone. Fortunes are made — and lost — in marketing campaigns. Indeed, large companies spend millions of dollars in market research, searching for the right message to be delivered to the target customer, in the right way, before the marketing campaign even begins. As a small-business owner, you obviously don’t have the resources and time to conduct a similar level of market research, but you do have a treasure trove of marketing information available from your current patients. All you have to do is tap into it and interpret it — correctly. PROMISES It is helpful to remember that marketing, in its simplest, form is making promises that your service will fulfill the needs of prospective patients better than your competitors can. However, not all marketing promises are created equally. Some promises trigger a buy, while others don’t. Effective marketing involves making a promise that:
Interestingly, as the quality and quantity of treatment choices available to prospective patients increase, the most effective marketing message has less to do with the essential reason for the patient’s purchase — getting well. Marketing chiropractic is no different from selling any other product or service. Consider the beverage industry. If you were to conduct a survey to discover why people choose the beverage they drink, their top two answers would be:
Despite these reasons, you won’t find many of the beverage manufacturers marketing these top two attributes. The reason is that quenching thirst and tasting good are implied promises of nearly every beverage. If a beverage did not fulfill these implied promises, very few consumers would buy it more than one time. Most products and services are like this. For example: If a car did not fulfill the implied promises of giving you transportation and being visually appealing, very few would buy it. Or, if a sandwich did not fulfill the implied promises of satisfying hunger and tasting good, very few would buy it. Likewise, your clinic also makes two important implied promises:
Prospective patients expect that all clinics will improve their health and be friendly, so marketing these implied promises will not produce results. Moreover, promising a cure is illegal. What, then, should you market? PRIMARY ATTRACTANTS Successfully marketing your clinic is all about finding what your patients consider the third most important reason why they treat with you. This third reason is usually not an implied promise. It is often a manifestation of something your clinic does well — your primary attractant. Effective marketing occurs when you discover the primary attractant and begin to expressly promise it to prospective patients. The best way to discover the primary attractant is by hiring an independent group to conduct a confidential written survey of your current and past patients. Independence and confidentiality assure truthful answers. The survey should ask three simple questions:
You need a minimum of 28 surveys to draw statistical conclusions. Often 50 or more are required to discover the primary attractant. COMMON ATTRACTANTS The primary attractant could be one of thousands of possibilities for your clinic. The more common primary attractants are:
What should you do if the surveys do not reveal a primary attractant? Newer clinics or clinics that have not identified and pursued specific patient groups may experience this. In essence, these clinics have not formed their identity. The solution: Pursue at least one, and no more than four, target patient group(s) at the same time. If your clinic pursues more than one target patient group, be sure that the groups are similar enough that you can operationally deliver quality services to all. After your clinic has focused its efforts on these targets, redo the surveys and you will then discover the primary attractant. MARKET YOUR ATTRACTANT Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know the primary attractant for your clinic without surveying your patients. A clinic that assumes it knows what attracts patients is playing the lottery. The effectiveness of your marketing depends on communicating the right primary attractant succinctly and convincingly. Showcase the primary attractant in all your marketing. Prospective patients only give you a moment of their time. Often they need to hear the same message several times before deciding to treat with you. Don’t waste resources by marketing something that won’t trigger a purchase. The primary attractant also provides operational guidance for your clinic. Focus your team on improving it. Your clinic should continually be working on improving it. You should never do anything to harm what attracts and keeps patients coming to your clinic. For example: If your clinic’s primary attractant is convenience, you should work on expanding office hours, eliminating wait times, and encouraging walk-ins. By discovering, enhancing, and communicating your primary attractant, you will be on the path to super-sizing your practice.
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Todd Crabtree, DC, JD, MBA, is the CEO of Clinic Doctor, Inc. a provider of three business services to chiropractors: online billing service, marketing, and business consulting. He can be reached at 866-999-5859, Advertising | Classifieds | Cardpack | Datebook | Past Issues | Chiro History
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