Greetings!

Here is your weekly Chiropractic Marketing Newsletter

-revealing all of the “SECRETS” free of charge

To get the most out of this newsletter, I suggest that you print it out and read it-don’t skim it-Refer back to it when implementing your marketing plan

What is Lead Generation Advertising?

Does it work? What is the best way to run an ad? What chiropractic marketing experts teach it?

What if you had prospective patients calling you up, asking for more information about chiropractic, people who were already interested in your service actively looking to get more information from you as to how you could help them? How would that feel? Dare I say it, but you’d probably be skipping with joy, bouncing off the walls, and your CA might wonder what you’re on!

Sadly, this rarely happens, and if it does, it’s usually to someone else, isn’t it? But it could happen for you. If you know how. If you know the “SECRET”. And that’s the subject of this article.

The guru of the form of advertising we are discussing today is Dan Kennedy, however within the chiropractic market it has become Ben Altadonna. However Dr. Altadonna has learned (and very well) most of what he does from Dan Kennedy. I say this because a web search reveals the following:

Here is a listing of current and repeat Dan Kennedy customers: Pirhana Marketing - information/seminars, carpet cleaning industry*Restaurant Marketing Systems - information/seminars, restaurant industry*Altadonna Communications - information/seminars, chiropractic profession*Sun Securities - financial*Weight Watchers International*Catholic Life Insurance *C. Proctor - coaching programs for Realtors*J. Kaller, “Mr. Pre-Foreclosure” - information/seminars for real estate investors

(Like I said earlier, this form of advertising is not revolutionary and has been around for over 100 years) And once you understand the concept you too can be an expert. FOR FREE

By now you have all seen Dr. Altodonna’s ad in the various chiropractic publications. He is very good at what he does and his program works, but is it worth the dollars he charges? Maybe, I have my own opinion as to what chiropractors should charge their colleagues. Other marketing consultants are also now teaching this form of marketing, using very similar ads, a sure sign that the system works. A sure sign that an ad is working is when you see the same ad run over and over again like in our chiropractic periodicals or even your Sunday paper, week after week.

One of the major problems in chiropractic marketing is that we have been taught in school that we must be “professional.” Most marketing programs/courses offered in the colleges are to say the least very lame. They are usually taught by practitioners whose practice is mediocre at best and in many cases by chiropractors who don’t even practice. It is very easy to stand in front of a classroom and sing a virtuous song, but in the real world it is different. There is rent and staff to pay, there may be a family to support and let’s not forget those student loan payments (The default rate among chiropractors is highest among all health professions, another sure sign that the schools are failing in their job in preparing the student for real life practice)

So you get the point. If you have been practicing 25 years or more you know how hard you had to work to get your practice to where it is today. You know that placing display advertising in the newspaper doesn’t really work. The kind that your instructors in school told you about placing, a nice professional ad in the local newspaper and watch them flock to the office. You know how humiliated you were doing those spinal screenings at the mall. How about the mass mailing to all those new people who moved into your neighborhood or the Money Mailer^®? If you are an “old timer” you realize how much time and money you wasted, if you’re a new practitioner DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THESE ADS They don’t work. I will show you what does work!

The problem with most advertising is that it is geared toward branding. The salesman from the Money Mailer^® will tell you “it will get your name out there” NO IT WON’T!It is almost impossible for a local chiropractor to “Brand” himself. It can be done, for about $100,000 or more and that is if you are in a small town and there is only one local newspaper. However if you are in a metropolitan area where there are 20-30 chiropractors within a 10 mile radius and there are multiple advertising sources and every other chiropractor is using the same sources then it will never work unless you are willing to spend upwards of $500,000 or more. Think of what people like Coke^® and other company’s spend on a Superbowl ad. Branding done the old fashioned way is not feasible for the local chiropractor.While brand and image can be important for large companies who want to be household names, it is a total waste of money for small businesses that have very specific target markets they want to penetrate.

So, how do you get those patients in the door? How is lead generation advertising different? What is it that Altadonna, Ben Cummings and others like them teach? The answer is a multi part advertising system, the key word being system.

This system starts off with an advertising concept called an “aditorial.” If your wondering what an “aditorial” is just pick up any Dynamic Chiropractic newspaper and you will see the ads with the headlines, “How I went from a poor chiropractor to a rich chiropractor in 10 days” “How I went from hanging in a closet to 200 patients a day”, you know the ones I’m talking about, they grab your interest, and they tell you a great story, but there’s more to the story, so if after reading the story you are still interested then call our 800 number and we will send you additional information, (and they will), and then they will send you additional information 1-2 weeks later, then a CD will follow and a “last chance” offer. The result? Even if only a very small percentage of DC’s sign up to become clients of the program, (A program that will teach you how to attract new patients using the same methods that they just used to attract you) on a profit to cost ratio the advertising program was a success. The same holds true for you. Don’t evaluate the program as you would other advertising methods. If it costs you $1000 a month to advertise and you only get 2 new PI patients what is that worth. What is the cost to profit ratio. This is not a volume or numbers game. It is a system that attracts people who are interested in what you have to offer and are raising their hands and saying “I want what you have”

1. First run your aditorial, I will show you how to write one and give you some samples

2. Next you need a package of information to send to the prospect, not envelope full glossy brochures, or a brochure about your practice, but an information booklet about the topic that was in your aditorial. Was the aditorial about auto accidents, carpal tunnel, low back pain, chiropractic wellness care? The package you are sending must contain 3 essential elements and I will discuss these in detail.

3. You need an 800 number, nothing else will do. I will show you how to get an 800 number as well as the “key” or “secret” words to use in your aditorial to get the prospect to call.

4. You need to establish a database, no need to go buy expensive software; I have found that EXCEL works great. BUT this is a MUST

5. You will need a follow-up letter.

In short an aditorial is an advertisement that looks more like a news story then an advertisement. Here is an example: Aditorials get a 500% additional readership then display ads.

Analyzing an Aditorial

Let’s look at this ad and analyze it piece by piece, and don’t think we are being too detailed, every aspect of your ad is important. (By all means feel free to copy it exactly as it is, you have my permission.)

LET’S START WITH THE BORDER. Now there is some controversy among advertising experts as to whether or not you have a border around your ad, the consensus is that you should not. Unfortunately this is an option that is not always possible. Most major newspapers have a company policy that requires that aditorials have a border. If this is the case ask the sales rep for the thinnest border possible. Weekly community newspapers may be a little more lax with this policy. Now lets look at the type, again in the best of worlds being able to use the same font style as the newspaper would be fantastic, however I have never encountered a newspaper that allows this, however let me ad that my experience is with only 8-10 newspapers and your newspaper may not have a prohibition against using the same font, so by all means ask. Remember, the more the advertisement doesn’t look like an advertisement the better.

NOW LETS MOVE ON TO ONE OF THE OTHER MAJOR PROBLEMS. Again this is dictated by the newspapers policy. If you look at the top of advertisement above you will see the word “Advertisement”. This was not my choice, but again the policy of the newspaper, I personally don’t like it and of course I would prefer not having it, however I had no choice. This being at the top of the story certainly will have some negative impact on the credibility of the story; however it should not hurt the ads pulling power dramatically. If it must be placed then ask for the smallest font size available. One option that is used by some advertisers is to make the word appear almost as a solid line using the word advertisement. Like this: If done right it looks like a solid line.

advertisementadvertisementadvertisementadvertisementadvertisementadvertisementadvertisement

Some experts believe this is better since no one really knows what it says. In my opinion I don’t really think its any better, however that’s up to you.

Don’t minimize these important aspects of your ad.

NOW WE HAVE A HEADLINE. THE HEADLINE MUST BE COMPELLING: The job of the headline is to act as a teaser in order to get the reader to read the entire story. If you want to see great examples of this go to the magazine section of a Barnes and Nobel and look at the women’s magazine section. Now pick up any of the magazine from Cooking to Cosmopolitan and you will see what I mean. Cover headlines such as:

“What he really wants in the bedroom”

“How sex can lead to stroke”

“Is your medicine chest killing you?”

“Fountain of Youth Discovered”

“Amazing Fat-Burning Secrets from Nature!”

What do these all have in common? They get the attention of the reader. How many times have you seen a magazine cover in a grocery line and pick it up to find the story while waiting in line? YOUR HEADLINE IS CRITICAL. THE HEADLINE NEEDS TO BOTH ATTRACT THE READER, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY IT MUST ATTRACT THE SPECIFIC READER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

Your headline is 70% responsible for the success of your ad.

Write a few different strong headlines, and try them out. An improved newspaper advertising headline could triple the response rate to your ad, or more. Same ad - different headline - three times the response. How do you do it? You test different headlines, and measure the response.

In the advertisement above you will note a number of things in the headline. By now you are all familiar with the drawing power of the word “SECRET“. As a matter of fact it is advertising’s most magnetic word and is an irresistible bonbon that few of us can passover. That Others in the top five, in no particular order, are: “free,” “new,” “you,” and “sale,” and “sex”. I feel safe in saying that if you use the word “secret” in the headline of your ad or promotion, your ad is almost guaranteed to get noticed, which is half the battle. You want your newspaper advertising to awaken strong emotions in your customers. Emotions are triggered by clear and powerful benefits. Give benefits, not features. Touch on human desires and needs, and offer the solution to the problem.

We are enticed by secret recipes, secret remedies, secret formulas, secret ingredients, secret sources, secret anything and everything. The reason is simple: We are innately and insatiably curious about anything hidden or unexplained.

Of course, you need to eventually reveal the secret, and it has to be a satisfying payoff. But that shouldn’t be difficult. Any useful information that is not widely known to the general public could arguably be designated a secret. And the titillation created by promising to divulge such valuable yet little-known data is simply too enticing to pass up.

Secrets Sell. Just look at the number 1 Best Seller on the New York Times Book List “THE SECRET”. But remember Using the “secret” theme in advertising requires that it truly refer to some specific information “most” people are unaware of. That’s the only way to retain credibility for your service. In the ad above the secret is that you can suffer an injury and not have pain and yet there is a good possibility that you will develop arthritis later in life. We also added credibility by citing an article from a medical journal. We then go on to tell the reader that there is a test that can predict if you will develop a problem later in life from the accident. Isn’t this something YOU would want to know? If you were in an accident could you resist finding out? However instead of saying, come to my office for this test, we instead ask the reader if they would like more information. This will separate the wheat from the shaff. Remember, even if you run the ad on a Sunday in a very large newspaper, you may only get 3-5 responses, (I have received as many as 20) of those 1-2 may become patients. (What is your case fee for an automobile accident victim? Certainly more then the $100-$400 you spent on the ad) There will be weeks when you get only 1-2 requests and no new patients from the ad, keep running it, week after week. Then after 6-8 weeks average you new patients and multiply that times your average case fee, subtract this from your advertising costs and this is your gross profit. Not exactly calculus. Only those people who are seriously interested in their injury will call the 800 number for the “additional information. That brings us to our next topic.