The New Year is fast approaching and if you’re running a chiropractic practice, it’s a great time to think about your New Year marketing plan. As well as the traditional methods of advertising such as print, there are other methods you could take advantage of such as social media, if you haven’t already! Because we know it can sometimes be hard coming up with great marketing ideas by yourself, we’ve listed a few of our favorites to get you started – use these to inspire and motivate you!
Newsletters
Chiropractic newsletters are a great tool which you can use to promote your practice. Whether you decide to use a traditional print newsletter which is posted to your patients or available to pick up at reception, or opt for an email newsletter, or even both, this is one of the best ways to connect with your patients. You can include news and information about the practice, but also interesting features and news about chiropractic treatment, back or neck pain.
Social media
Social media is one of the most effective and affordable marketing tools available to use today and its popularity as a sales and customer service tool is only set to grow over the next few years. If you haven’t yet gotten to grips with Facebook or Twitter for your business, now is the time to do so. Setting up a practice Facebook page and a Twitter account allows you to answer queries and connect with current and potential patients in real time, which means you’re spreading the word about your business whilst building relationships with patients. This is a great way to advertise promotional offers or discounts you may be considering putting in place for the New Year and used alongside more traditional methods of marketing, it’s a great way to reach patients of all ages.
Flyers
You might not think flyers are an effective marketing tool in this day and age, but you’d be wrong. Research shows that flyers are still a great way to promote your business and they’re also relatively inexpensive. Whether you distribute flyers door to door yourself, hire a member of staff to do it or perhaps deal with a professional flyering company, this is a fantastic way to get your chiropractic practice noticed. You can either target existing customers with special offers, or aim to introduce your business to new customers and this could be done either by door to door flyering or perhaps distributing flyers in a busy area, such as at a train station.
Website
Your website is one of your most effective marketing tools – but how do you drive traffic to it? Blogging and social media are the two best ways to ensure people land on your website and find out about the services you offer. Of course, it’s important that your website is well designed and filled with relevant, up to date content to attract patients, but how do you get them to your site in the first place? Using flyering or email newsletters is a great way to draw people to your website, but starting a company blog can also increase traffic. Linking your blog to posts on your site will ensure that anyone reading about a specific topic reaches the relevant page on your website – for example if someone is searching Google for ‘neck pain’ and lands on a blog post you have written, they could then click through to your site and find out about the chiropractic treatments your practice offers.
Of course, there are many other marketing tools at your disposal – this is just designed to give you food for thought. There are also classified adverts, business networking events, advertising in industry publications and a whole range of other tools you could use; it depends on your available budget and the audience you are trying to reach. For new businesses just starting out or anyone looking to expand their customer base without spending a fortune on marketing, tools such as flyering, email newsletters and social media are a great way to attract new patients without putting too much of a dent in your budget. Be creative, use your connections and don’t be afraid to try new things in order to promote your business in 2014 – a little bit of time and money spent on your marketing plan could see your profits skyrocket, making this year your most successful yet!
Calvin Ford has more than 15 years’ experience working as a chiropractor, but also writes for a range of chiropractic publications both online and in print in his free time. Having run his own practice successfully for the last 5 years, he knows what is needed to succeed.
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