ATTRACTING NEW PATIENTS IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3
Tell ‘why’ and ‘how’ in your next ad
By Ron Jobson

Chiropractors spend thousands of dollars advertising in the yellow pages and local newspapers.

But what if, without spending any additional money, you could increase the response rate of your ads simply by changing what you say and how you say it?

The No. 1 problem in marketing today is everyone says roughly the same thing. Flip to the chiropractic section in your local yellow pages and you will find almost every DC focuses on listing the services, products, or health problems treated.

Unfortunately, chiropractic advertising fails to communicate why one practice is any better or any different from another.

To attract new patients, your marketing must build a case of evidence for your specific practice, and it must educate prospects about how and why chiropractic is the right solution for their specific health needs.

Before you place your next ad, consider the following three simple steps for creating advertisements and other marketing materials that will dramatically increase your response rate and give you a significantly higher return-on-investment (ROI) on your marketing dollar:

1. Use an interrupting headline. The headline is the ad for your ad. It’s your best opportunity to grab the attention of your prospective patients and give them a reason to keep reading.

One of the most common problems with chiropractic ads is they use poor headlines or, worse yet, no headlines at all. How many times have you seen an ad that leads with a doctor’s logo or name? As well-designed as your logo might be, it has absolutely no interrupt value.

To grab the attention of your prospective patients effectively, create headlines that speak to their hot buttons — the issues they care about and matter to them.

Identify your patients’ hot buttons by asking yourself two questions:

• What is important to prospective patients who are considering if chiropractic is the right solution for their health needs?; and

• What matters to patients when they are choosing a chiropractor?

Simply by identifying your prospective patients’ hot buttons and focusing on what really matters to them, you can create interrupting headlines that grab your prospects’ attention and make them want to keep reading.

2. Include relevant education. Once you’ve interrupted your readers, avoid just listing your services or the type of health problems you treat. Stay away from generalized and overused language such as “quality care,” “personalized service,” or “be healthy and feel great.”

Instead, identify important issues patients need to be aware of, and then demonstrate how you stack up against those. Provide educational information that will be of interest to prospective patients.

For instance: Tell them about spinal adjustments — what and how safe they are, and whether or not
they hurt.

Or, give your prospects specific tips for pain-relief techniques they can do at home.

If you are advertising to niche markets (such as mothers, golfers, or adults age 55 and older), speak to their specific hot buttons and discuss the role chiropractic can play in their lives.

Why educate? Statistics show less than 5 percent of your target market is ready to choose a chiropractor or seek chiropractic care right now. By consistently using your ads and marketing materials to educate prospective patients, you’ll guarantee that when the other 95 percent of your prospects are ready to choose a chiropractor, your practice will be the obvious choice.

Education-based marketing elevates your practice and services in the minds of prospective patients, and it ensures your ads are perceived as valuable, rather than just more annoying advertising.

3. Make a risk-free offer. When prospective patients see your ad, the easiest thing for them to do is nothing! Listing your toll-free number in large bold font doesn’t give prospects a reason to call you.

But asking them to take immediate action by simply using a risk-free offer does — and you’ll increase the rate of response from two to 100 times. And best of all, you can begin to build a database of qualified prospects who respond to your offer. Then, you can create a system to proactively educate and nurture them, so when they are ready for chiropractic care, they will choose your practice.

Consider including one of these offers in your next ad, or use multiple offers:

• Free spine checkup and health screening;
• $40 off your first visit;
• Free guide, such as “10 Things You Need To Know Before Choosing A Chiropractor”; and
• Free DVD, such as “7 Back-Strengthening Exercises You Can Do At Home.”

When you implement these three simple techniques, your marketing efforts are guaranteed to bring in more leads, more patients, and more profit.

Why? Human nature demands that your prospective patients want to make the best decision possible. So by educating them, you are helping your prospects feel in control of the decision and are giving them a real reason to choose your practice as the best solution for their specific needs.

Try implementing these three simple steps in your next ad or marketing.

Ron Jobson is the owner of ForSight Marketing, a full-service marketing and advertising agency which provides one-of-a-kind strategic plans and systems to assist healthcare practices and other businesses to gain market share. He can be reached by phone at 626-449-8990, by e-mail at ron@forsightmarketing.com, or at www.forsightmarketing.com.