12-month Marketing Guide

Hey,

It's almost Monday so I thought I'd sneak this one in on you.

Your Never Before Seen 12-month Marketing Guide.

Pay close attention to what I'm going to share with you.

Follow these 12 steps to help your practice reach ultimate marketing success.

The more new patients you see, the more your practice grows.

Agreed?

And those who have mastered the new-patient machine will tell you that it’s good
to start by thinking with the end in mind.

1. Begin by purchasing a 12-month marketing calendar. These are somewhat expensive as the ones I sell are loaded with examples, so basically all you're doing is cutting and pasting, and you'll be a winner.

This is not your typically calendar that you can tape to a wall. This is a stand alone marketing piece that is something you've never been exposed to and loaded from beginning to end with ways to celebrate and influence your prospects and patients.

2. Next, once you have the calendar in your hands, determine how many new patients you feel you can realistically attract on a monthly basis. Write it down, and write it at least ten times a day, everyday you're awake. You figure out that statement.

3. Once you have a number in mind, write it in the bottom right corner of every month on your calendar. This represents a target that you should hit every month, and it allows you to measure and monitor your goal for success. It's not rocket science and it works. Just make sure you're doing this on a regular basis.

4. Follow this by strategizing with your team or staff and your public relations assistant for the top 10 or 12 marketing tools that work in your city, town, etc. It's going to take some time to figure this out, but if you're consistent, it'll work like gangbusters.

5. Consider story boarding all of these tools on a cork board in your office so you can better identify those marketing tools that work best in practice. When you write something on paper and put it in plain sight, things start to happen quickly.

With your storyboard list in mind, start applying one marketing tool at a time across the entire 12-month period. One idea at a time more or less ensures your success. You can try a lot all at once, but I'd recommend one thing at a time.

For example: Place at least two to four screenings on weekends, on each month, or two to four outside “workshops” at different companies or corporations if you do screenings. If you don't, think workshops for weight loss, diabetes, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc..

6. Direct mail is also something that can work very well, and sending mailings every four weeks minimum is a decent frequency. Not often enough, but a good start. It’s also recommended that you ensure that your website is user friendly. If you're not being coached by me yet, you'd better think long and hard about getting on my roster and letting me handle all the marketing.

7. Another external marketing tool that is having profound impact on new patient attraction is monthly postcards. I have a ton of them and if you want the best, most personalized postcards in our profession, you can just call me personally and order your first one.

8. One of the best internal marketing tools is simply asking to give health information. This is different from asking for referrals because it is a mission-based tool that allows you to get chiropractic information and health passes
in the hands of friends and family. For example: Every patient who walks into your practice gets a weekly handout that is controversial, philosophical, or inspirational. These get your patients to focus on chiropractic and create
conversation points.

9. You can also consider putting a dry-erase board in your hot seat area and write a question on it like, “Ask the doctor about nausea.” I put on mine, "Get rid of allergies for good in 60 days... GUARANTEED." I found out about this amazing feat in my last trip to Texas. It's a little costly to the patient, as there is NO insurance that covers this, but really, it's only a cool !K, so it's not going to break anyone's bank. Patients are curious to know about the subject. There's other things you can also do. You can ask them, “Is vomiting a sign of a healthy or sick patient?” If they have gotten the big idea, they should be able to give you the right answer. If not you're not doing your job as a doctor.

10. One of the most effective health passes used today is called the “family gift certificate.” This is a health pass that every new patient receives during their checkout, and can be used for the entire family to receive a complimentary
check up. Design one that is catchy, and gets results. If you include an expiration date on the certificate, make sure to follow up with them on their next visit to ensure that they take advantage of it.

11. Card day is also an effective internal tool that consists of giving patients your business card with some type of health pass on the back. Design these to be completely different and then rotate them. I'd say design at least 24 different cards. You'll have some nice ones and you'll be able to TEST what really works. That is worth the price of my coaching alone, so make sure you're staying on top of all of this. If you can do that one thing, you're going to grow.

12. The last, and possibly most effective marketing tool you’ll need is yourself. When you are serving and saving lives, you will find that people will be knocking down your doors to be part of your chiropractic family. People buy YOU, just like they BUY people in other professions, like antiques and real estate. Among the biggies.

Always watch the energy levels in your practice — including associates and team members — to ensure that everyone is sharing the same vision and executing 110 percent on your procedures. What I do is I sit the staff down, and have them write down what they think my goals are. How many people I want to see per day, per week, and how much they think I want to collect per week and per month. Have them do this and I think you'll be surprised with the results.

Thanks again for reading my blog.

Dr. Carney