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Here it is your weekly
Chiropractic Marketing Newsletter (week 3)
-Revealing all of the “SECRETS” free of charge
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PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS SERVICE, WE ARE DEPENDING ON BUZZ MARKETING
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GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!
My new website WWW.FreeDCHelp.COM is up and running. This site’s purpose is to provide a repository of materials that will be helpful to those in the profession. On this site will be posted archived articles as well as sample reports, letters and marketing materials — FREE. I also hope that as much assistance that this site may be able to provide to you, that you will see the need to pass along this “Secret” to others.Please do not hesitate to contact me, drvernonchiro@aol.com, if you feel that you may have information, resources or web content that could provide addtional assistance to those of us in the profession.
Remember: 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
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You must create a specific marketing plan based on “YOUR” practice goals
Because it’s not possible for me to know what each and every one of you desire from your practice and what your goals are the information that I will be supplying you with is somewhat generic. You must take the information and tailor it for your own use. However, the information can be made to fit any type of practice.
A lead generation marketing campaign like the one we have explained so far is geared toward a practice that desires to attract auto accident patients, but the same method can be used for attracting carpal tunnel patients, headache patients or just patients who are interested in using chiropractic for overall healthcare. I will be posting the reports as well as other lead generation ads that you can use for all of these different patient categories in about a week on the website. WWW.FreeDCHelp.COM
Before we go any further in the program there are a few things you MUST learn and remember when doing any type of marketing. Here they are:
1. People will not read ads that look like ads. They instantly know this is a sales pitch. This is why I’m against putting a web site address in the advertisement, especially if it reads something like www.drjohndoespinecenter the reader will instantly know this is a sales pitch. If it looks like advertising people won’t read it. YOUR ADVERTISING MUST NOT LOOK LIKE ADVERTISING.
2. News article type advertising will get you a 300%-500% greater response then display advertising
3. Don’t worry about ads “looking good” Don’t let the sales person from Money Mailer® or other advertising firm or publication convince you otherwise. Most of all don’t worry about what your peers will think they don’t pay your bills. (As always, check with your state law regarding advertising and the disclosure requirements)
4. Your headline must have an emotional spin. Almost like a tabloid newspaper. Use words like, secret, shocking, tragic, Brand New Breakthrough (great for cold laser users) in addition to these key words, the following list of words are considered “power words” in marketing. Discover, Discovery, Easy, Free, Guaranteed, Hidden, Incredible, Love, Master, New, Powerful, Profits, Proven, Results, Revealed, Scientific, Ultimate, Uncovered, You and Your.
At this point you should have the following in place:
1. an 800#
2. the ad or ads you are going to run
3. the free report that you are going to offer with an offer and deadline printed, on Goldenrodcolored paper
4. follow-up letters 1&2 (available here)
5. an Excel spreadsheet to record and track your leads
You are going to place the ad in your local newspaper. The issue of rates and negotiating rates asking for remnant space is something that the gurus spend 5-8 pages discussing. It’s not worth the effort or time to go into detail about it, the only thing you should be aware of is that you should almost NEVER pay the published rate. Every newspaper will discount your rate; this discount gets greater as you commit to a longer advertising period. The point here is use your best efforts to negotiate the best price, but a difference $10-$15 in an ad even if you run it every week will not add up to much in the end.
There is some question as to which is better, paid circulation or free papers. My opinion is that you get what you pay for. However there are communities where the free weekly community newspaper is delivered to the mailbox and is widely read, this is different from the free papers given out at the 7-11. This is something that you have test. (TESTING IS A VERY IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THIS PROGRAM) This is a whole separate topic, however the short version is that you get more then one toll free number and track which one receives the most calls, this can be done not only for testing different newspapers but for testing different ads as well.
REMEMBER, THIS IS REALLY A SCIENCE AND AS SUCH IT DOES REQUIRE SOME EXPERIMENTING, BUT ONCE YOU GET THE CORRECT FORMULA YOU CAN CONTINUE TO USE IT FOREVER.
Just an aside; I know that many of you are in markets where newspaper advertising is extremely expensive. There are a number of methods to overcome this obstacle and I will be discussing them later in this issue, however a simple method is to run a smaller ad. People will read it if the headline is compelling enough. An example of a small ad that worked for me is here.
As people call and request the report be sure to ENTER THEM IN A DATA BASE. Simple columns such as name, address, phone number, date report sent, date follow-up #1 sent, date follow-up #2 sent.
Send out the report with a deadline of 6 weeks from the date mailed. Follow up with #1 two weeks later, then #2 about 10 days after that. About 1 week after #2 is sent you can send a FINAL NOTICE letter or card reminding the prospective patient of the deadline. (They still stay in the data base even though they haven’t responded)
Here is where things will often fall apart. Has your staff been informed of what you are doing? Are they familiar with the report? Are they familiar with the offer you are promoting, free scan etc. There is nothing that will kill the entire process more then a prospective patient calling to schedule a free scan and your front desk is scrambling to find out what is going on. You have just lost them, every effort that you put in to obtain that patient, with a potential lifetime value of thousands of dollars, GONE. You MUST explain the program to staff members!
Once a patient has scheduled an appointment there is a very careful and structured, notice I didn’t say scripted I said structured consult exam and report of findings that should be done. One of the major problems that occurs at this point is the doctor is very over zealous to get the patient to an attorney if they are not represented, tacky, tacky tacky! Think about it, these people have not been sent to you by their lawyer.
Unlike some PI patients, the patients who are seeking you out have a different goal, and it is NOT a monetary one. Remember, your goal here has not been to sell your care, your goal has been to attract patients who WANT your care. They are of a different mindset then those people who have been sent to you by a lawyer. By in large, these are people who hurt, they have already been to between 3-5 specialists and this may even include another chiropractor. Never assume that the way you think is the way other people think. Don’t worry about protecting their legal rights. Instead, worry about getting them well. Anything short of this goal will be easily perceived by the patient and they will be turned off, in most cases turned off enough to not return. Be cool doc.
(Doctor: If you have any questions regarding anything we has gone over so far PLEASE e-mail and ASK. Now is the time, not after you run the ad.)
Please remember, this program will get them in the door. You need to explain chiropractic. As you begin to treat these people you will need to begin a process of conversion. This starts on day one! You must have them understand and accept “The Big Idea” without this you will never have the practice you desire. You will always be filling the leaky bucket looking for the next new patient or the next chiropractic guru who for 10 grand will show you how to be a success.
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Measuring your return on your advertising investment
The thing that most chiropractors don’t understand about advertising is that it is a quantifiable science. You can calculate your direct cost of obtaining a lead, and what it cost to convert that lead into a patient. However, it goes beyond that. A percentage of these patients will if you have educated them properly, refer other patients. If you are a stickler for statistics and your keep a record of how many patients over a year have been referred by each patient that came to you via your advertising you can bring the actual cost of obtaining a patient down to $20 or $30 range, in the early stages this number may be as high as $200-$250 per patient.
I can promise you, that if you continue week after week to fill your pipeline with people who are interested in your care and FOLLOW-UP, you will see a dramatic increase in your practice in 6 months. (This is where I could offer the money back guarantee, except it’s FREE)
A word here about follow-up; Follow-up is not limited to the follow-up letters I have given you to send. It means that all prospects that have been put into a data base should receive your monthly newsletter. This is crucial. YOU MUST BE COMMUNICATING WITH ALL OF YOUR PATIENTS ON A MONTHLY BASES. The website will soon be offering a monthly newsletter that can be printed at Kinko’s. (FREE OF COURSE)
THE MATH: (EWWWW always hated math)
1. Cost of ad design $0
2. Cost of running the ad $500
3. Gross cost $500
1. 5 requests for information- cost per lead $100.00
2. Cost of printing report per unit $ 2.00
3. Postage for mailing report $ 1.15
4. Follow up letters and postage $ 4.00
5. Mailing of monthly newsletter $ 12.00
Your cost per lead is just under $120.00 if 1 one lead becomes a patient your cost for obtaining that patient was $580. Now this may sound high (and it is) but even at this number it still works. How? Watch. Ten patients will cost you $5,800, what is the value of 1 PI case? It is probably in the $1200-$3000 range, so you have anywhere from a 100% to 400% return on your investment. Here’s where it gets better. If only one of theses 10 patients become life time patients, that will reduce your cost by almost 50%, if this same patient refers only one new patient over her lifetime of care, your cost is ZERO. You have about a 300% profit .
Now I understand that there are a lot of variables in this equation, however it is rather conservative, some docs are getting 10-15 calls per ad and converting 30% of them or better, imagine what this does to a practice! And admittedly some docs are get 1-2 calls per ad and some get no calls. This is a system of testing, testing and more testing. You have to play with headlines. You have to try various publications, you must TEST, TEST, TEST!!!!!
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How to save money and make a new friend who could make you lots of money
One of the best ways to cut your actual costs to near zero from the get go is by co-marketing. There are actually 2 methods to do this. You can do either or both at the same time.
- Co marketing with lawyers: Many of you have relationships with lawyers, in most cases there is one particular lawyer who you are very friendly with, this is a way to not only increase your referrals of PI patients, but the lawyers as well. If he is not sending his work to you exclusively now, he will be after this.
- First the legal bullshit-Make sure that you and your attorney check with all appropriate licensing authorities, (you know the people who haven’t a clue how it is in the real world), about any restrictions or disclaimers that must be on any advertisements. Most states will not require an attorney to have any disclaimer in a newspaper ad, other then the word advertisement at the top. However some states will require the attorney to put the words “Attorney Solicitation” or some form of this at the top of the newsletter and follow up letters that are sent out. Many states have a rule against solicitation of accident victims in the first 30 days following an accident; this does not apply in this scenario, because you are NOT soliciting the patient. They are calling you, in this case the lawyer. In any case, I’m obligated to say: CHECK WITH THE BIG WIGS AT THE STATE.
- Call your lawyer friend and explain that you have come up with a marketing plan that will get him/her new clients. I can guarantee you that he is probably wasting his money right now on yellow page advertising. The system is the same as the one you have already learned, except the advertisement is different, it is geared toward the individual who has been in an accident and is now being jerked around by their insurance company. The person who, you know them, just wanted what was due them and no more. Well Mr. Allstate and Mr. State Farm have begun to due their magic and piss off the injured person, now they are thinking about calling a lawyer. Well who are they going to call, (no, not Ghostbusters) they have no idea who to call, until they see this ad. Then, they will pick up the phone and get this report. The report is sent from the lawyers’ office, and he follows the same protocol as you would with follow up letters. (These will be available on the web-site in a few days) Here is the deal, you offer to split the cost of the program with him, and in return he agrees to refer any new client he obtains from the program to you. The odds are he will start to send you all of his other clients as well. After all in a sense you are now partners.
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How to save money and actually work with a colleague
- Co marketing with other chiropractors: Many of you feel that other chiropractors in your area are your competition, well this is true, others may tell you differently, but the facts of life is that they are by in large competing with you for the same population. (In a later newsletter I will be discussing how to make yourself different, but not today) The truth is that there are probably about 10-20 chiropractors within a 5 zip code range. Find one of these colleagues and work out this arrangement. Each of you picks 2 zip codes that are close to you, or towns that are within a 5-6 mile radius of each office. When you run the ad, if you are using ringcentral you can both have access to the callers, if the prospect is Dr. A’s area he mails out report, likewise if it’s Dr. B’s area he does so.
a. Let me tell you why this works so great. First of all very few people are going to drive 10 miles or more past 15 other chiropractors to come to you. Secondly, if you practice in a heavily urbanized region your newspaper reach will sometime encompass an entire county. You will get calls from prospects who are 10-15 miles away and they will never come to your office. With the method I just described your cost of advertising is 50% less, this is very important in areas where newspapers are charging $500-$600 for and ad because their circulation is so large and your actual required reach is only 5 miles from your office. Better yet because you are sharing the expense you can run the ad more frequently or test more headlines. In addition, you get to actually help each other, WHAT A CONCEPT!
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A short note: I received the following information from Dr. Gay in Maine.
Thanks, Dr. Lenny! I really enjoy and appreciate your newsletter. I look forward to it every week. I researched it a bit, and I found another service for the toll-free number:
http://www.simplevoicebox.com/
I emailed them and asked about their service. If you sign up for their pay service, they give you a toll free #, you just pay 6 cents/min for call time. I haven’t tried it yet, but thought you might want to know. I have used one of their other companies, www.freeconferencecall.com successfully before.
Thanks again for sharing your info. I look forward to the other reports (headaches, general wellness, etc.)
Yours in Chiropractic,
Pete Gay, DC
Kennebunk, Maine
Okay, next week we discuss Direct mail marketing
If for any reason you did not receive the week 2 newsletter it is available here.http://freedchelp.com/weekly-newsletter-archive/weekly-newsletter-2
Yours in health,Leonard Vernon, DC
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 2:38 am and is filed under Weekly Newsletter Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.
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