You may not like hearing it but it’s true. Not just for you but for any business or profession. How you market and promote yourself can be the main determining factor in how successful you are.
But you went to school to learn how to be a skilled chiropractor, not a marketing guru.
How many marketing courses did you take? None. How many marketing books, marketing seminars or workshops have you read or taken in the last year? I’ll bet the answer is close to zero.
Yet without strong marketing skills, the phone will never ring. Yes, some people will find you and, if you treat them well, they may send a few others. But you will never come close to reaching your true potential until you are as good a marketer as you are a chiropractor.
Look at the most successful chiropractors you know. In your community, in your state or, maybe, someone you know on a national level.
Is the difference between their practice and yours in their “superior” chiropractic skills or in their marketing skills?
99 of 100 times the difference will be in their superior marketing skills.
You are as good of a practicing chiropractor as they are. The difference is they have mastered the skills needed to market themselves.
And marketing should not be confused with advertising. Advertising is the ad you place in the Yellow Pages or a local newspaper.
Marketing covers a whole lot more. It starts with the physical appearance of your office, how your staff interacts with your patients and potential patients, how you interact with your patients, how you promote your practice, how you stay in touch with existing and lapsed patients, how you are seen in the community, and so much more. Almost everything you do or don’t do comes under the marketing umbrella.
How to become a marketing expert?
You have two choices. You can learn the craft or you can hire experts to do it for you.
Even if you decide to hire an expert to help, you should learn the basics first. You need to read a few good books and the choices are in the hundreds. The three you could start with are:
- " The Guerilla Marketing Handbook by Jay Levinson." It will get you started. Buy it. Read it. Take lots of notes. Read it again. Is every idea in the book right for you? Of course not. But pick a few and get started.
- The second book is "Tales of Knock Your Socks Off Service" by Kristen Andersen and Ron Zemke. It’s an excellent book on customer/client service. It’s an area you need to master. Stop taking your patients and employees for granted. Start “hugging” them more and your practice will grow magically.
- The third book is 15 years old (1989). I’ve read it 10 times if I’ve read it once. It’s "Mind Your Own Business" by Murray Raphel. It’s a retail-oriented, easy-to-read marketing book but you’ll get the idea. Murray Raphel has walked the walk. Stay away from books written by consultants and writers and gravitate to those written by the actual doers.
At this point, get started or hire an expert to do it for you.
But be careful. Not all marketing ‘experts’ are really experts. Find one who has a successful track record promoting and building businesses. Any business.
If you can successfully market one business, you can market successfully any other business … including yours.
If you have any questions or want to bounce an idea or two call me at 1-800-696-7788 , ext. 112 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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Patient Relationship Manager
