Marketing 101: Market your services to everyone and you market to no one. This is a hard lesson learned in the real world of business - and remember that ultimately, you are running a business. Like any business, in order to survive you must attract customers. That is the essence of marketing.
How can you do that in our industry? You must master the art of niche marketing. Niche marketing is the process of finding a specific group of consumers (patients) and targeting services toward them. One of the big payoffs of niche marketing is that when done correctly, it can result in a loyal patient who comes back often and refers friends. Imagine that. Here are some effective strategies for identifying, locating and targeting your ideal patient.
Identify Core Services
A good strategy for targeting your ideal patient starts with assessing the services you provide and determining the ones in which you really excel. Examine why you are good at providing those services and what the keys to your success are. Always be thinking, how can you separate yourself from the competition? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
The key here is to highlight these services in your marketing campaign. Make them a signature of your program, allowing word-of-mouth referrals to spread. It may be that other doctors in your area offer similar services, but are they taking advantage of using it as a form of differentiation? Probably not, and that is good for you. It will be unique to the potential customer, which is all that matters.
Identify Your Ideal Patient
Another effective strategy, and my personal favorite, is choosing an ideal patient based on condition or injury type. This is where considering your overall practice philosophy is important. Do you prefer seeing acute or emergency-care cases, or longer-term wellness patients who come to see you on a regular basis? My personal practice was built on taking care of shoulder injuries. I am known in my niche as the "shoulder guru."
Now, you might think this would restrict my patient base. Not so. Why? When I help the person suffering with a shoulder injury, who in their life may have other conditions that can benefit from chiropractic? This opens the door of referrals for many injuries I never originally targeted. Here are some potential conditions to focus on in your efforts to attract patients. (Notice I do not mention back pain.) What condition will you be known for?
OK, so now you have an injury niche. The next step is to target where this patient can be found. Think about your ideal patient; where might this person work? Where do they meet socially? What hobbies might they pursue? Are there particular locations or venues where they might gather? Brainstorm all the possible places your ideal patients may be and write them down so you can create a plan for increasing your visibility.
Let's try one on for size, shall we? Take plantar fasciitis (great niche, by the way). Who has this injury? Runners, joggers and marathoners are high on the list. Where can you find them? At gyms, health clubs, specialty shoe stores, marathon events, and networking clubs. Find one of the local running clubs online and volunteer to give a presentation on preventing plantar fasciitis. Help one runner do what they love doing better and I guarantee you will get 15 more before you know it. Word spreads fast in a niche. Get the idea?
Increase Your Visibility
The Power of Niche Marketing
Niche marketing can be extremely cost-effective. Your marketing budget will go a lot further, allowing you to advertise with greater frequency or use a more comprehensive media mix. In these economic times, that's a big bonus. Keep in mind these three primary rules before implementing any marketing strategies: 1) Make sure the benefits you promise have special appeal to your market. 2) Understand the market's "hot buttons" for taking action. What motivates them? 3) Assess your competitors in the market and test your program before a complete rollout. Before you know it, you will be getting a flood of new patients because you took the time to learn what people want and value.
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
