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Thrive During a Recession
By Dr. Paul Varnas | August 15, 2008
It seems like one of the hot topics for seminars and magazine articles these days is the recession and how to make your practice “recession-proof”. A lot of the articles center around cutting costs, but what is really needed is a strategy that will grow your practice. Chiropractors have an advantage over other professions during tough times because the care they offer is inexpensive and effective.
People do not stop getting sick just because the economy is bad. Budgets are tight, but let’s face it, chiropractic (when practiced properly) is a tremendous health care value. If your practice is down and funds are tight, you need to find a way to cheaply and effectively market. There are people out there who need care, they just need to be able to find you.
Aggressively market to get new patients
One mistake many pratices make when times are hard is to cut back on marketing. Marketing is an investment in the future growth of your practice. You can, however, improve the effectiveness of your marketing and reduce the costs by being creative. Here are some ideas:
• Partner with other related businesses to share marketing expenses and to help each other grow. For example, get the local health club to display your newsletter; in return, you place their literature in your office. Or you can share a mailing with other non-competing businesses—a dentist, a health food store, a beauty shop, etc.
• Join a business referral organization, make a plan on how to market your practice within the group and make a sincere effort to attend the meetings.
• Create powerful, direct marketing messages on post cards, classified ads and utilize local bulletin boards. Always use direct marketing, stop using identity marketing. When you try to put every possible bit of information about you and your practice into an ad, that is identity marketing. It is expensive and not very effective. Direct marketing grabs the reader’s attention and lets them know what is in it for them. For great direct marketing templates and examples, visit: http://www.wholehealthamerica.com; you can also download a free e-book on marketing at http://www.thebetterhealthnews.com.
• Make sure you have a good website that has a lot of information for visitors.
• Publish your own newsletter which highlights the benefits of your services. People throw away advertising, but keep newsletters. You can leave a copy of your newsletter in your waiting area and at local businesses.
• Hold group classes, like a stress-reduction workshop, or an injury-prevention workshop.
Marketing does not have to be expensive, just effective. Many of the best ways to market are cheap or even free. It is important for you to let potential patients know what benefits they can expect from your services. Also, it is hard for people to take that first step to see a new doctor. Good marketing creates interest and awareness. That’s it. Your marketing really only needs to incite action. For example, get them to go to your website (which should have a lot of interesting and relevant information) for a free report or a CD. Make sure you capture their contact information right on the site. This way you can build a list of potential new patients and keep in contact with them regularly.
Want more help and advice?
There are some FREE resources available to help you with these strategies. You can download a free guide entitled, Recession-Proof Your Practice at www.wholehealthamerica.com. Ben Clark, president of Big Ben Media and I have put together an intensive weekend workshop to show chiropractors exactly how to make their offices more profitable. You can go to www.practiceseminars.com for more information and to register for the event.
Topics: General |
August 19th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Thank for the informative of your blog.Were happy for ti.