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Concussions remain a popular topic of discussion in both healthcare and the sports world.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 300,000 children and teens are taken to the emergency room annually in the U.S. for “sports and recreation-related injuries that included a diagnosis of concussion or TBI [traumatic brain injury].”
More alarmingly, this number has increased twofold (and then some) since 2001, suggesting that these types of injuries could continue to trend upward in the years to come.
On a positive note, research has found that chiropractic can be helpful in these types of cases. For instance, one study published in Topics in Integrative Health Care involved a 16-year-old boy who, after five weeks, was still experiencing neck pain and headaches after playing football and suffering from a concussion. Two weeks and five chiropractic visits later, the young male was back on the field, returning to full play within three months with no remaining symptoms at all.
Positioning yourself as a concussion recovery expert then would enable you to provide patients with concussions or TBIs some much-needed relief, growing your practice in the process. One way to do this is embrace a mindset that David Newman, CSP, founder of Do It! Marketing, calls 3PR.
3PR explained
3PR stands for Personalized Professional Public Relations and involves tending to each of these four words individually. For instance, personalized references you, the doctor, and your staff, says Newman. “Each member of your team has specific strengths, capabilities, preferences, and personalities,” ‘he adds, “that can be leveraged in marketing, positioning, and amplifying the messages you want to impress on your prospective patients, your patients, and your communities of your specific target market.”
Professional refers to 3PR’s top goal, which is to provide “professional exposure for your chiropractic, health and wellness expertise, programs, services, and value proposition,” says Newman. “Many top doctors shy away from the spotlight of 3PR saying, ‘It’s not about me.’ While this is true, it certainly IS about YOU providing value, treatment, and guidance to help your patients regain their full health.”
The public in 3PR is a reminder that, while you may be an expert in the area of concussion recovery, “if you don’t make your expertise public, you will suffer what many health and wellness professionals describe in frustration as the ‘Best Kept Secret Syndrome,’” says Newman. “3PR puts your expertise in front of prospective patients — exactly where it belongs if you want to generate new inquiries more easily and more often.”
The last piece of 3PR is relations. “Stop thinking in terms of ‘closing the patient,’” suggests Newman, “and focus rather on building relationships with your community, followers, and fans. The content that you share in a typical 3PR campaign is useful, valuable, actionable, specific, and insightful. Do this consistently and you’ll build trust, likeability, and a reputation for excellence so when a need arises, you will be on ‘speed dial’ and your prospective patients will consider it a serious mistake to see anyone else.”
Making 3PR work for you
According to Newman, there are three pillars of a typical 3PR campaign, each of which is important in making this mindset work for you. The first is speaking and involves “targeting profit-rich speaking engagements in front of audiences composed of high-probability prospects, then developing a ‘marketing magnet’ presentation that will engage, attract and convert prospective patients to take the next step in your new patient acquisition process.”
In the case of sports injuries like concussions, for instance, you may consider talking to groups of parents with children who play sports. And if you need help with creating a presentation that is magnetic, you can always hire a marketing expert to take care of this for you. Toastmasters is another option to consider if you want to polish your speaking skills as it will get you in front of people who can provide constructive criticism and suggestions on how to make your talks more appealing.
The second pillar is writing and involves publishing “articles, white papers, special reports, blogs, tip sheets – anything that your prospective patients will find valuable and relevant,” says Newman. “You need to become known for creating and sharing a consistent stream of high-quality information that solves your prospect’s health problems, concerns, and fears. Yes, even before they visit your office!”
Some experts strive to do this via traditional methods which involves “placing articles in hardcopy and digital venues that your patients read and respect,” says Newman. While this can help, he further suggests that you consider these types of writings “icing on the cake since the web has made ALL of us into publishers.”
The final pillar is social media, which means utilizing platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn which “now generate up to 40% of website traffic,” shares Newman. “If you and your office are not taking advantage of these social media platforms to offer value and invite engagement with your community of prospective patients, you are missing a significant opportunity to generate new leads and stimulate meaningful new patient conversations.”
It’s all about “expertizing”
“The overall impact of a 3PR campaign can be boiled down to one word: expertizing,” says Newman. “Expertizing is the cumulative effect of your speaking, writing, and social media efforts,” he explains. “It includes positioning you as THE health and wellness expert via your website, videos, media kits, social media presence, articles in trade publications, regular blogging, live streams, and seminars.”
“Taken to the extreme, it might even result in you writing a health and wellness book to position you as a chiropractic thought-leader,” adds Newman. “So the question is: How successful are you at these 3PR strategies to drive your credibility, visibility and revenue?” Figure that out and your patients will likely see you as the concussion recovery expert that you are.
