Chiropractic Marketing: 5 Strategies To Get New Patients

Chiropractic Marketing

While maintaining a strong base of existing patients is important, if you want to grow your chiropractic practice, it's also important to work on attracting new patients as well. While it is not always easy to find new patients, there are a variety of excellent strategies that can help to bring new patients to your door.

The following are five great strategies that can help you get the new patients you’ve been looking for. You've probably heard or considered these strategies before, but sometimes just thinking about them gives you the inspiration to try them for the first time or re-visit them again:

Strategy #1 – Advertise in Local Newspapers and School Newsletters –

Local newspapers can be an affordable option to get new leads.  But if your budget is low, school newsletters are an ultra affordable advertising strategy. Primary schools have monthly newsletters for parents and students; most of these allow you to advertise your practice in them for as low as $20. And if you offer to donate some money to them they may give you an extra endorsement.  With both newspapers and newsletters, try to get in the front third of the publication and make sure to include a benefit oriented headline and an offer “they can’t refuse”.

Strategy #2 – Have Free Spinal Screenings – 

Spinal screenings are looked at with contempt by some members of our profession, but they’re a great way to attract new patients. They’re also a way to help promote the profession in general and raise funds for local charities. You can run these in your practice (just have a banner or an A-frame outside to let passing traffic know) or at other locations like shopping malls, school fetes, paid exhibits, gyms, health food shops…almost anywhere! What’s worked for our practice is offering free mini-assessments up front and then offering paid examinations for people who genuinely need and want a follow up. Statistically, anywhere from 1 in every 5-10 people take up your offer!

Strategy #3 – Letter Box Drops –

Letter box drops are regularly used by all types of businesses, from small take away places to the big retail chains. As a result, your ad can sometimes get lost in the pile. Statistically, less than 3% of people respond to the ads, but benefit oriented ads with a strong headline can sometimes perform better. If you use this method, you’ll do best if you repeat the ads a number of times, testing your headlines and offers to see which gets the best response.

Strategy #4 – Use Attractive Street Signage – 

The signage that you use on the street is very important. It serves as both a symbol of your professionalism and as a marketing vehicle. You want to be sure that your signage is clearly visible from the road (especially your phone number) and is professional looking. Importantly, make sure you some benefits of your care rather than just the services you offer.

Strategy #5 –Hold Workshops – 

Workshops are another excellent way to bring in new patients. Whether you hold in house workshops at your practice or you hold external workshops somewhere else, make sure to give useful content, rather than just a sales-pitch for your practice. Get your audience involved and engaged and end with a great offer (if it’s an appropriate venue) and you’ve got a good chance of converting a number of your attendees to patients.

You should always be marketing for new patients, and you should use a range of strategies, not just one. This will help offset your drop-outs and keep you busy and effective.

In later articles we’ll discuss other effective strategies for getting new patients, as well as for improving your retention.