Whether you are new in practice or you have been an upper cervical doctor for 30 years, internal marketing is the lifeblood of any upper cervical practice. Internal marketing programs should be a consistent and important part of your practice's daily, weekly and monthly activities. If you need a way to track your marketing programs download our free resource the Chiropractic Marketing Plan Calendar.
Here are 3 essentials of internal chiropractic marketing strategies that you should be doing in your practice on an ongoing basis.
One of the most effective internal marketing approaches is to do a consistent healthcare class for your new patients. Healthcare classes also called new patient classes, special consultation etc. are an excellent way to...
You have 3 main options when it comes to healthcare classes...
When you do a healthcare class yourself on a weekly basis it...
When you have an associate do your healthcare class on a weekly basis it...
When you get a New Patient DVD created for your upper cervical practice it...
If you emphasize that watching the DVD or attending the class will help them to get faster results you will have a higher compliance rate. If you would like to learn more about our New Patient DVD Program.
Along with healthcare classes, internal events are another of the most consistent new patient producers of all internal marketing approaches. Here's a list of some of the most effective internal events that upper cervical practices utilize throughout the year...
Patient appreciation days is an excellent way to promote patient loyalty while increasing referrals. A good time to do this event is on your practice's anniversary. A typical way to do it is to provide complimentary office visits for your regular practice members on one day of the week and complimentary new patient visits on another day of the week. Frequently this type of event is combined with a food drive, toy drive, backpack drive etc.
Thanksgiving and Easter are good times of year for these events. Collect nonperishable food items in exchange for an office visit for an existing patient or a new patient service such as an exam.
Your office can become a toys for tots drop-off at Christmas. Once again you can provide office visits and new patient services in exchange for toys. These types of events promote goodwill in the community, patient loyalty and promote referrals.
A backpack drive is another way to do this type of internal promotion event. You can have existing and new patients bring in a new backpack full of school supplies and donate them to a school in your area in exchange for office visits and new patient exams.
One of the most effective internal marketing events that I have ever done is a community awareness event to promote upper cervical in your community. The way it is done is to get an upper cervical speaker who has written an upper cervical related book such as...
Then purchase a large number of the books and give them out to your patients to promote the event. You can find more details about upper cervical community awareness events here.
Some doctors have found good results by having Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day etc. specials to promote referrals. None of these events mean you need to give everything away. Some doctors do choose to give away office visits, new patient exams and x-rays but it is up to the individual doctor to make that decision.
Another chiropractic marketing strategy that can be effective is to give patients a referral certificate to give to a friend or family member. Here's how it would go:
Dr: Mrs. Jones it is fantastic that you are getting such great results with your migraines Mrs. Jones: yes it is just absolutely incredible! Dr: I bet you have been bragging to your friends and family about how much better you have been doing since you came to our office. Mrs. Jones: well I have been talking to my neighbor, Mrs. Smith across the street who also gets migraines. Dr: wow has Mrs. Smith been getting migraines as long as you have? Mrs. Jones: no she actually has been getting them even longer that I have! Dr: well that's no good! Mrs. Jones if I give you something for Mrs. Smith to come in and see if we can help her the way that we have been able to help you do you promise to give it to her? Mrs. Jones: absolutely Dr: I'm going to give you a special certificate that we only give to our patients for their friends and family it will allow Mrs. Smith to be able to come in and find out if we can help her with her migraines like we've helped you. Does that sound good? Mrs. Jones: yes Dr: okay let's go up to the front desk and have Linda put together a special certificate for Mrs. Smith.
So when you get up to the front desk talk to your front desk person about the promise that Mrs. Jones has made to give the referral certificate to her neighbor. I recommend creating these certificates on nice paper that the patient will handle more gently.
Do you have an internal marketing program in place for 2015? If not utilize this article to begin to put together your chiropractic marketing plan calendar for your practice.
