That's right!  This Blog Is Not Just About
Marketing On A Budget... It's About Doing It For FREE!

In my last blog ( click here to read ) I talked about the most power marketing concept that will massively and rapidly build up your clinic with new patients.  If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend that you click on the above link first, then read the rest of this blog.

Okay, so now you've read the last blog post, we're now going to talk about how to market your clinic for FREE on a smaller scale, BUT STILL BEING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.

Now, because these marketing ideas are going to be free for you in terms of $$$, it will not be free in regards to your time.  That is to say, you're going to have to put a bit of time in it to make it work.

The first one, which everyone knows about is Spinal Screenings... BUT WITH A SLIGHT TWIST(S)!

So many chiropractors set up stalls in a mall where they often have to pay the mall some sort of Exhibition Fee (a fee to be allowed to set up and run your screening), but because we want to do everything for free, I suggest hooking up with a nutrition store or some health related store (TWIST 1) within the mall and set up a small stand at the edge of the stores entrance way.  The store won't charge you do to this as they will love the extra attention that their store gets!

I used to do it at the GNC (General Nutrition Center) at the local high end mall next to my clinic.  It was amazing for a few reasons... 1. the people that came into the store or to our stand were those that were into their health (so it was easy to get them as patients) 2.When we just had a few people gathering around our stand, it was like a magnet that drew in even more people! As such, every weekend we always had a crowd around our stand. 3. by hooking up with a well known store, it gave our clinic instant credibility to those in the mall that didn't know about us. 4.GNC LOVED us because it drew a lot of eyeballs and customers to their store and they allowed us to come ANY time we wanted to do a Spinal Screening!

2. Mailers/Newletters... mailers if done right can pull decently for you.  Studies have indicated that there is about a 1-4% response when you do bulk mailers.  Not the best, however if the mailers don't cost you a penny, the return on investment is very good! Right?!  Also, remember, that the average Sales Cycle is about 7-9 contacts with a potential patient.  That means, a person has a higher chance of becoming a patient after seeing some kind of ad 7-9 times (btw, it doesn't have to be the same ad each time). So just because your ad doesn't pull on your first attempt, doesn't mean it didn't work.  It just means that your audience hasn't seen it enough to motivate them to come into your office.

So how do you do your bulk mailing for free? First you have to call your post office and find out their rates on bulk mailers and how many houses you want to mail to in each zip code or postal code in your local area (the post office break up the post mans walks by zip or postal codes - you'll learn all about that when you talk to the post office rep).  

Then you have to figure out what kind of mailer you want to create (I suggest something simple, like a 11"x17"  light colored stock paper that is folded in half , then tri-folded.  What you put in the newsletter/ mailer is up to you - obviously make the focus about you and chiropractic. By the way, you DON'T have to make your newsletter have a professional look.  I always used to use Microsoft WORD to make my newsletters)

Now here's how you do it for free.  Go to your local business (I would suggest you go to those in the health care field, but it really doesn't matter) and sell them ad space on your mailer. Your selling points are the number of homes (i.e. in the business's local area) your newsletter is going to, that you will do all the work (all the printing, delivery etc) and how cheap it is to place ads with you.  All that they have to do it send you their logo and what their ad copy is going to read.

My suggestion is NOT to try to make a profit off of your customers (i.e. local businesses), instead, just have the ad costs such that it covers your costs (this way, you can offer the lowest ad fees to your customers). 

To cut your costs even further, hire a flyer distribution company that hand delivers your newsletters.  The difference between the two is that flyer distributors are cheaper, but cannot distribute in condos or those block mail boxes (only the postman/woman can)..

3.  Here is a SOMEWHAT of a Free idea.  I say that it is 'somewhat" of a free marketing idea because it entails printing business cards or post card, but they are so cheap to produce these days that the cost per card is almost free.

Other free marketing ideas are of course... "Lunch & Learns", "Library Workshops", "Community Ctr Talks" etc... which are always free.

Before I begin, I would like to thank all the docs that have purchased posters from Promodocs.com last year!  Promodocs' sales were so high, that we are proud to announce that we were able to hire 2 more full time workers!

Also, I would also like to thank all the chiropractors that emailed me with great comments and questions about our blogs and how it has helped increase their clinic activity.  This is exactly why I write these blogs.  In fact, I do not get paid by Promodocs, instead I volunteer my chiropractic and marketing knowledge so that I can help you all build wildly successful practices.

Anyways, back to showing how you can blow up your clinic with new patients!

If you follow what I say to the letter (and the steps are outrageously easy), you will not only have a rush of new patients to your office, but you are going to be your town/city's chiropractic celebrity!

In this blog, I am going to show you how you can easily get interviewed on any Radio station,TV station, newspaper and magazine you want.

So here are the steps...

First of all you have to "Package and Name" a treatment protocol.  That is to say, do you have a specific protocol that you use for a specific condition?  When a patient comes into your office with a lower back complaint, do you apply heat on the area, use laser therapy, use an adjusting tool?  Do you use spinal decompression?  Or do you just manually adjust the spine regardless of the patients condition and seek and remove subluxation?

If you are a "Straight" chiropractor and you do not believe in using other modalities and you  strictly remove subluxations via manual adjusting, then this marketing technique may be a bit more difficult to engage in.  Now, I'm not saying that it's definitely not going to work, but what I am saying is that the general population is much more receptive to a "Unique" treatment and since there are so many chiropractors that strictly manually adjust spines, the media will find nothing unique about it.  If the media is not pumped about it, they're not going to use you. 

So, editors and producers may give you the typical line of "Thank you for sharing that with us.  It's sounds very interesting and we'll keep you in mind if we need you."  In other words, your story does not have mass appeal and therefore, we are not going to use  you.   Remember, the news loves new things AND things that their audience will tune in for!

If you don't have a specific protocol that you use, design one.  From your clinical experience, you probably know what modalities or particular treatment has worked well for your patient.  Once you figure that out, slap a name on it.  Make it a catchy name. 

These were the Top 3 conditions that worked for me (in order).

1. LBP
2. CTS
3. FIBROMYALGIA

The reason why these work the best is because there is large percentage of the general population out there that is afflicted with these ailments.  LBP is #1 (hence the reason why it works the best).

So once you have packaged and named your treatment, it's time to call the networks!

Hint:  Do a bit of research.  See if there is a specific section in the news or a particular show on the network that deals with health issues (this applies to ALL forms of media).  If there is, call the producer of that show or you can even all up the host of that show.  The host has a lot of input as to what goes into the show.

Once you have gathered the specific contacts name and phone number, call them up.  Don't email them and don't leave a message with their assistant about your proposed story.  The goal is to talk to the editor, producer and or host directly. 

When talking to your particular contact, make sure to use proper media terms as it will make you look more experience in dealing with the media.  For instance, the audience for newspapers = "readership", TV = "Viewship" and radio = "Listenership".  Number of people watching tv or reading the newspaper are "eyeballs".

So this is exactly what you have to say once you'veve reached your contact...
"Hello Mr/Ms. X.  I think that I have a story that you and your viewer/listeners/readers may be very interested in hearing"

Typically, the contact will be intrigued and will invite you to tell them more.  At this point you want to throw out some statistics and how it applies to their viewers.

For example, "Back Pain".  "Well, as you may or may not know, LBP is the number one cause of disability in North America.  More people are injured due to LBP than any other problem; as such, you will have a huge proportion of your viewers that are suffering with LBP.  {pause - let that sink into your contacts head, you have to relate your story to THEIR audience}.  Well, we have a very unique and highly successful NON-SURGICAL treatment that is ONLY offered at our clinic.  In fact, our treatments are so successful that... (give example). AND, even M.D.s are amazed {if this is actually true}.  And if this story is of interest to you, I would love to do an interview on your show"

At this point your contact will ask you for more information or ask  you to come in for an interview.