Back in November, we wrote a Marketing Tip for you about how Postcards were having a HUGE comeback…and we were right, postcards are HUGELY successful right now. But postcards alone are not the ideal formula if you want to create a steady stream of new patients coming into the office. The ideal formula is a mixture of mediums, utilizing the same branding, all working toward the same goal; it is a campaign formula that we have been employing for a number of years, but never before have we seen the success that we are seeing right now. 

This formula consists of several different “ingredients,” that together create the perfect method of bringing people into your practice. These ingredients are A Quality Targeted List, Postcard Mailing, Facebook Advertising, and Appointment Setting Phone Calls. Obviously, all of these things are designed to bring new patients into your practice, but we are often presented with two different questions immediately after presenting this formula to doctors.

“Why do I need a Targeted List?”

The targeted list is actually the most important part of this entire formula. You might think that you stand the best chance of bringing as many people into the office as possible by marketing to everyone, but by marketing to everyone you are assuming that ALL of the people you are marketing to KNOW that they need a Chiropractor. Effective marketing is about finding a need and filling that need – without a specific purpose for your advertisement and an audience to fulfill that purpose, you are just throwing mud at the wall, and hoping that something will stick. But hoping and marketing does NOT belong in the same sentence together unless you want to spend a LOT of money with very little return. 

Ultimately, what not targeting a specific audience does is spreads your message too thin. In order for your marketing to be successful, you need to be able to reach the same people multiple times. This used to be called “The Rule of 3,” meaning that in order to make any sale, you had to contact the same person at least 3 times… now, it’s really more like The Rule of 6-10.”  This brings us to our next point…

“Why can’t I achieve the same results by using just ONE of these mediums?”

This is a fair question, and the answer is that you can…but not in the same amount of time. With all of these mediums running at the same time, that means that we can effectively contact the same patient 3-6 times within a single month, but without the patient feeling like they are being bombarded by 6 pieces of mail or constant Facebook Ads, or never-ending phone calls from strangers. We have become conditioned, as people, to ignore advertisements that we see in the same medium over and over and over again. This way, you are not exhausting any one medium, but are still getting in enough contact with the patient to get them to make a move. 

What this formula does is keeps in front of the person often enough, and in enough different mediums, that it makes it impossible for the patient to ignore. And then, at the point where the patient is thinking to themselves “I really should give those guys a call about that offer,” the appointment setting phone call happens, which effectively closes the patient at exactly the right time. 

Right now, this formula is our #1 advice for any practice looking to increase their Wellness Patient numbers. If something exactly like this is not possible, just remember that you should have a specific list of who you are marketing to, and you should be attempting to reach out to that list multiple times, utilizing as many different mediums as is possible.