By Patricia Hospy, DC

Successful practice promotion requires a balanced combination of internal and external marketing methods to keep a steady stream of new patients coming through your doors. For many doctors, spinal screenings and booth events are popular field activities that don’t always yield the desired results. But just like many other marketing endeavors, the success of the event depends more on your skills at maximizing the opportunity than anything else.

Before you write screenings off your event list, you might want to analyze your methods and take a moment to consider what people are looking for today.

The New and Improved Health-Care Consumer
If you’re not gearing your booth presentation to your target audience, you’re overlooking some important planning. The people who visit your booth want to feel you are in tune with them and their specific needs.

In addition to identifying your intended customer, and evaluating your local demographics of age distribution, economic level, and cultural influences, you should consider the information your potential patients now have. Health information and access to choices in care are more readily available than ever before. New trends in wellness education, a growing number of health-related publications, and the Internet deliver nearly an unbelievable amount of information to the public. And if the Internet is their medium of choice, they get that information at lightening-fast speed.
Your potential patients are more health-aware and discerning than in the past. If you want to get their attention, you must have every detail in place before you take your practice out on the road.

What You See Is What You Get
Tired booth displays and yesterday’s technology are not going to impress people today. If you want to maximize your advantage in a competitive health-care environment, you need to convey a sharp image, both personally and professionally. Invest in a commercial trade-show style booth and don’t skimp on quality. The same applies to your personal appearance. Everything at your booth should communicate modern, high-tech, clean, credible, and competent.

Determine what features best represent your office image and practice identity and build those concepts into your booth presentation. A sports-emphasis practice would use different visual displays, literature, and booth activities than a pediatric practice. While polo shirts and slacks might be an acceptable wardrobe for the staff of a sports or family practice, this won’t work for every office. If you are driving the business/professional image, suits and conservative styles will keep your marketing message intact. And consider the event venue when making these decisions, also. You probably wouldn’t make the same choices in your presentation for a chamber of commerce event as you would for a summer street festival.

Plan It, Book It, Work It
Booth events and spinal screenings are available all year long and can provide a continuing, low-cost marketing vehicle for your practice if you do a little planning. Always look for major events in your community, but don’t discount the value of regular appearances at lesser-known locations. Frequent exposure to the same groups of people will often have a higher pay-off than a single appearance at one event, so look for repeat performances. Every return visit to the same group of prospects allows you to resolve more objections and build stronger relationships. This is why you seem to get instantaneous appointments or referrals the third time you appear where the same people congregate. Network consistently with a broad variety of businesses, agencies, clubs, organizations, and chambers of commerce for leads to local events.

If you discover you’ve missed a popular event’s registration deadline, call and ask to be placed on their mailing list so you won’t miss it next time. Start planning your events a year in advance to make sure they happen. After booking an event, determine your lead-time for preparations and get these activities onto your calendar. Be sure to schedule sufficient staff at your booth to keep things running smoothly.

To maximize visitor attendance at your events, consider doing some pre-marketing. Give invitations to your patients and ask them to pass extras along to friends. Distribute announcements to your targeted audience through various methods, such as flyers, mailings, newsletters, ads, press releases, e-mail, and website postings.
Only use incentives and special offers that are legal in your state, and be sure your promotions project a professional image. Higher-quality promotional gift products that fit your practice identity can be offered as incentives to visit your booth, but avoid trinkets and items that don’t reinforce your message or image.

Be sure to collect visitor information that can be added to your database for future mailings and invitations. All guests should receive a call or note of thanks for attending your event within 72 hours, or as soon as possible. Record visitor information carefully so you can make the most of your follow-up contact, which may include other offers or announcements. When it comes to working your leads, be prompt. The longer you wait, the “colder” your prospects become.

The Visible Difference
Your booth planning isn’t complete without some strategies for visibility and visitor access. Remember that strolling crowds will obscure many parts of your booth that are below shoulder level. Commercial booth displays are usually tall enough to overcome this challenge. If you are using tabletop displays and signage, be sure to have banners placed high. If you use a tent, have your business name imprinted on the overhang.

Place computer monitors out of the sun or away from the glare of other light sources. Consider using a commercial audio-visual cabinet or cart for elevating monitors above other visual obstructions. Arrange your booth to invite people in and don’t create subliminal or physical barriers with tables and chairs.

Although you may want to keep a chair handy for less hardy visitors or for your particular activities, avoid creating a seating area at your booth. Seated guests get lost behind the crowd and reduce the appearance of traffic and activity at your booth. Also, chairs invite visitors to linger and chat longer than is practical if you want to budget your time and meet a large number of people. Make your guests feel welcome, but don’t encourage people to “camp out” at your booth.

Making a Good Impression
All of your hard work can easily fall apart if you fail to plan your approach with visitors. If your interpersonal or dialogue skills need a tune-up, get some guidance. The old adage about first impressions being lasting is true.

Focus on a warm and caring attitude and ask enough questions to know what your guests want to hear. To avoid accidentally providing the entire list of potential objections, work on getting some clues from your prospects before delivering information. Part of what you are selling is your individuality. Learn how to express it effectively.
During initial approaches and new encounters, always ask open-ended questions that prevent an easy “no.” Asking, “Would you like some information about chiropractic?” is far more likely to yield a polite “No thanks, not now,” than an open-ended inquiry. Reframing the approach to, “What kind of wellness program are you using?” or, “When was the last time you saw your chiropractor” requires a more thoughtful response. The options are numerous, as long as you aim for informative answers that can open a dialogue or give you information to work with.

Never a Dull Moment
It’s normal for booth activity to peak and wane, but what you do during slower periods can influence how soon your traffic picks up. Avoid lining up in front of your booth looking like you’re ready to seize the next person who passes by.

Be creative and have your staff team up to simulate what regular booth activity should look like. Screen each other, do assessments or gait evaluations, or anything else you can think of to appear active and busy. Be ready to respond to visitors, but keep things moving during quieter times.

If you aren’t using technology in your booth presentation, you may want to consider it. The combined forces of a more educated consumer, and an increasingly technological society, are changing the public’s perceptions about what is routine or expected today.

Many people think of computer technology as standard fare, and they are growing more accustomed to finding and viewing information in this format. Whatever screening equipment you buy, consider features carefully and be sure the equipment will function efficiently both inside your office and out in the field. With a little planning and strategy, off-site events can be an effective way to increase your visibility and attract new patients into your practice. Remember, like many successful ventures in life, it’s all about the details.

Dr. Hospy is president of The Parian Company, a communication and marketing consulting firm. She has trained more than 1,200 new chiropractors on the essentials of affordable and effective marketing methods. The Parian Company also provides consulting services to a broad range of businesses, including MyoVision. Dr. Hospy can be reached at 650-557-0071 or visit her company’s website at www.pariancompany.com.