I’m in a funk over some things I’ve stumbled upon lately. There have been some pretty unkind comments suggesting that Facebook is not working for businesses. I’ve also read quotes like; “Facebook is boring” “it’s doesn’t perform correctly” “I never get any recognizable gain from Facebook”. I’ve even read that Facebook was on its way out the door, joining MySpace in the social media graveyard. Some say that in light of the newest star, Google+ will outperform Facebook. This may be true some years down the road, but right now from where I’m sitting, Google+ will suffer the same onslaught of insults from the same people who find Facebook an area of irritation in their feeble marketing attempts. Not because there will be something bigger and better, but because the same people who whine about the ineptness of Facebook will be the same ones who complain that G+ doesn’t work for them either.
Why?
It’s simple…those who are complaining the most about Facebook are the same ones who do nothing to create a place and build a reputation for themselves on Facebook. They’ve not carved out a comfortable place to curl up and engage themselves in stimulating banter with their friends. They have not used the simple marketing tools Facebook offers to everyone. These tools by the way are free, they cost nothing to use. Not only are these tools not used but for those who have attempted to go the extra mile and create a fan page; very few do anything with it once it is launched.
“I don’t have time to mess with it” is the most popular excuse. I beg to argue with you. Here’s how I can say that and not eat my words. If you had time to implement some of the free tools on Facebook already then you should have time finish what you started. But the problem is that many of these people have totally missed the some crucial steps. Steps that only take a few minutes to correct.
Since I work in the field of marketing for chiropractors, I decided to prove that more chiropractors could utilize Facebook as a chiropractic marketing tool with just a few minor adjustments (no pun intended) and a little bit of good old fashion advertising.
I did some research just to prove my point. I did a random search on Facebook of ten cities and added the word chiropractor after the name of the city. When I found the name of a chiropractor, I looked at their profile page. Not all of my searches came up with a profile page; some went straight to a fan page, two out of ten to be honest. That’s great; however from their fan page could I find their website? And if I could, would I find a Facebook link back to their fan page? The numbers were low; still only two out of ten; but I better mention that of those two, neither had any recent postings; which was not good, because both of these chiropractor’s websites had a blog or articles that could have easily been linked back to their fan pages for some great status updates.
If I did happen to find a chiropractor’s profile page by simply typing in a city and adding the word “chiropractor” to the end of it, what I found proved my point. Even if I wasn’t a friend I could still see their name at the top of the page and below the name was their occupation. Many had filled this out and it linked to a page, but only what I call the dummy page. It didn’t link to a fan page. This dummy page is a page that takes a prospective patient to a dead end; leaving them no better off in their quest to find a chiropractor located near them in their community.
It occurred to me that if employers are looking up applicant’s Facebook profiles to find out what type of person they are and if they might be a good fit for their company, then why on earth would a business person not have their pages in order? It’s beyond my understanding. It’s a fact; more and more people are using Facebook to find people and businesses. Are you missing the boat because you’re not on Facebook? If so, does your profile page link to your fan page? If not, at least can a prospective patient find your website via your profile page?
You see Facebook does work for chiropractic marketing but a chiropractor must first be on Facebook and second they need to have their information linked properly and they need to make sure the patient can find out where they are located and a phone number, even if it’s just a profile page, but especially if it’s a fan page. And for goodness sakes if you have a fan page for your practice, have it properly linked from you profile page so it can be found.
Maybe I’m just being negative. There are a ton of chiropractors who can be found on Facebook with nice up to date statuses, linkage out the wahzoo, but their numbers are low. First of all, numbers as far as fan page fans aren’t the end all. But here’s a tip on how to build up a healthy fan base from in and around your community, I mean that’s really who you’re targeting right, prospective patients from the community where your practice is located?
I mentioned good old fashion advertising earlier and that’s where it’s at. On a sheet of printer paper, print out your practices logo, if you don’t have a logo, just place your practice name on the paper in nice big font, find, copy and paste any one of the hundred free Facebook logos on the page under your logo, then simply type in your call to action; “Find & Like Us on Facebook”. You can provide the link but if your company name is reflected on the fan page it should be easy to find. Place the paper in a frame and sit it in the waiting area or display it from your front desk area. Do you know how many people use their smart phones during their short wait to see their chiropractor? It won’t take long for the numbers to climb especially if you use that page to educate and communicate with your patients.
Chiropractic Marketing with Google Maps
Wednesday
To be found by prospective patients who search the internet to find a chiropractor in their area; you need to have a listing in Google Maps.
Can you be found?
Watch this short video to learn how you can be.
There is a very common mistake chiropractors make every month in their practice.
This mistake can hurt your practice in two ways; it allows you continue wasting money on bad advertising and could keep you from running good advertising.
It’s the mistake of not measuring your ROI.
Here’s an example. Maybe you’ve heard a general rule like, “Never, ever spend more than $100 per new patient when advertising”. On first hearing this, it may sound like sage advice. But what’s it based on?
Let me give you a scenario…
Scenario #1. Spend $99 for each new patient and get a total of 10 new patients.
Scenario #2. Spend $120 for each new patient and get a total of 10 new patients
Which scenario is better?
According to the above rule, we better go with scenario #1 because each new patient is less than $100.
The truth is, we have no idea which one is better. This “$100 rule” assumes everything else is equal. Sure, if everything else is completely equal, same ad, same offer, same newspaper, same page, same day of the week, etc, then maybe we can use this rule.
But since everything else is never equal, we need a formula that takes into account everything. Not only can we then compare one ad to another or one newspaper to another, but we can compare one marketing method to another.
How do you really measure return on investment (ROI)?
To accurately measure ROI, you need 2 numbers… #1. The amount of money you spent to run the ad. #2.T he lifetime value from the new patients who came in from the ad. A lifetime value simply means on average, what the amount of money a new patient is going to spend in your practice over their lifetime? To get a rough estimate, you simply take your collections over the period of time you’ve been in practice and divide that by the number of new patients that you had for the same period.
Keep an Excel spreadsheet on your computer and track your ROI as long as you practice. Every time you run a new chiropractic marketing campaign, measure the return.
Say I get 12 new patients in the door from a newspaper ad which cost me $1000. And let’s assume I’m new in practice, and my conversions are low, so I only convert 4 of those patients to a care plan. If my care plans are worth $1500 (which is a very conservative case value) what was my ROI?
The answer is 6:1, or a 600% ROI. So for every dollar invested, I made $6 back. Do you run the ad again or not? How low is the ROI going to be before you say this ad doesn’t work?
You bet I’m going to run that chiropractic ad again! For me it’s got to bring in at least 2:1 ROI over time. Meaning, after all the money comes in from the patients care plans, the minimum ROI it can bring is 2:1. Occasionally a newspaper ad will be a 1:1 or negative ROI, and I’ll tweak something or run it in a better paper and it immediately becomes a huge winner!
But, some chiropractors think an ad is a failure if it doesn’t bring in a 20:1 ROI or higher. In other words, they are upset if their ROI is only 5:1. What other business owner would be upset that the $1 they spent brought back $5? No one!
Unfortunately, it happens daily in chiropractic. Look, the days of spending $0 on marketing and bringing in $30…$40…$50k a month are over. The days of running a killer ad and getting 676 new patients is over. It’s not 1991 anymore.
It’s time to face the fact you’ve got to pay for some marketing. And you’ve got to be happy with a positive return on investment, especially considering large companies would love to get a 5-to-1 ROI any day
Two Words That Will Dramatically Improve the Effectiveness & Success of Your Chiropractic Marketing
Monday
Unless you consider the time get up until the time you go to bed and even then, if done consistently, your marketing will continue while you sleep.
Marketing should not be considered work. Marketing is energy, foresight and time. Think of it as just part of your daily routine. Whenever you go anywhere you should be marketing. Please don’t confuse this with chiropractic advertising. Marketing is not just about placing ads in the newspaper. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as such;
“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
Successful marketing doesn’t ebb and tide, but is a continuous stream, with a current. At times a gentle movement forward and if putting a lot of time and energy into your chiropractic marketing the momentum will pick up and become a more forceful movement.
As important as words are in your marketing, so are your actions, those little things that go above and beyond what is expected. Two words specifically combined with an action have catapulted many chiropractors to new levels of success. In fact these two words are so important to your chiropractic marketing that they could mean the difference between a ho-hum practice and a killer practice.
When a patient refers a friend or family member to your office that is chiropractic marketing that costs you nothing, it’s like a gift to you. Isn’t that a lovely compliment to you and your staff to know someone has so much confidence in you that they would recommend you? What an honor and one that should be acknowledged.
What is your office procedure when a new patient comes in?
A patient begins care with you?
An existing patient refers someone to your office?
Or a patient has done all three, how do you show your gratitude?
I hope you say, Thank You!
Do you use those words in your chiropractic marketing? If not, then why? Why wouldn’t spend your time and energy acknowledging someone’s time and energy? Sending thank you notes or letters was once considered standard practice after receipt of a gift. However with all of the technology today, sending a thank you note in the mail has become a forgotten gesture of appreciation. Consider this the next time you visit with a new patient, they have “chosen” you and your office to help to them achieve optimum health.
A question often asked on new patient paperwork, “Who can we thank for referring you? “ Do you really thank the person who referred your office to a friend or family? A simple card, with your sincere thanks in your handwriting, is BIG!
Why wouldn’t you send a thank you to the one who refers others to you? What would it cost you, your time, your energy and a stamp? And consider what you will get in return, more referrals, enthusiastic patients. Could you use more of those?
Looking back on what was stated earlier, a thank you card, note or letter from you, is an active process of creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging a value. Gratitude is very valuable to those who receive it and it will prove to be a very valuable tool in your chiropractic marketing.
Chiropractic Marketing Tools 