The world of online marketing is constantly evolving, and new techniques and platforms emerge to help marketers gain an edge over their competition. One such innovation is online chiropractic marketing. What is it and how can you use it to your advantage?
What Is Online Chiropractic Marketing?
As the name suggests, online chiropractic marketing (or just “online marketing” for short) can be done from the comfort of your home. Whereas traditional marketing involved advertising in print media, such as magazines or newspapers, and on billboards throughout the city, online marketing allows you to target the right audience with tailored campaigns and offers.
With the increasing use of mobile devices and the internet on the rise, more and more people are getting their news and information from their smartphones. Therefore, any type of marketing material, including advertisements, can easily be accessed and consumed on the go.
Why Use Online Marketing To Promote Your Chiropractic Practice?
There are several advantages to using online marketing to promote your chiropractic practice. To begin with, online marketing provides you with a versatile and cost-efficient means of reaching potential patients.
When you run a business, especially one that is growing at an even pace with the economy, every dollar counts. But even if you’re not running a huge corporation, every little bit helps, especially when it comes to attracting new patients. Now is the perfect time to explore the wonders of online marketing and how you can use it to grow your chiropractic practice.
Digital Marketing Vs. Traditional Marketing
You may be wondering whether or not to use digital marketing to promote your chiropractic practice. After all, isn’t digital marketing all the rage right now?
While it’s true that digital marketing has soared in popularity over the past few years, this doesn’t mean that all forms of marketing done online are created equal. In fact, some experts believe that using digital marketing to promote a product can actually hurt your chances of getting customers in the long run.
If you’re considering using digital marketing to promote your business, take a look at the type of customer you hope to attract. More specifically, ask yourself these questions:
• Do I want to attract new patients?
• What are my goals? (Do I want to increase web traffic?)
• Am I willing to pay to have my ad displayed? (Paid marketing)
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to put your digital marketing plan into action.
On the other hand, if you answered “no,” it may be a good idea to stick with what you know best: cold calling, sending out thousands of leaflets, and getting on social media to spread the word about your practice.
Marketing a chiropractic practice is different from marketing most other types of businesses. To begin with, most people who come to mind when you think of a chiropractor are pretty happy with what they have. In other words, they aren’t exactly looking for solutions to their health problems.
Instead of focusing on health issues, the goal of a chiropractic marketing campaign should be to introduce your practice to people who might benefit from its treatments. Because chiropractors focus on the spine and its function, it isn’t hard to understand why most potential patients have a background of back pain. This makes them more receptive to advertisements and promotions that deal with health problems associated with the back.
Keep in mind that not all back pain is created equal. For instance, if you’re suffering from low back pain as a result of a herniated disk, the chances are your health problems will quickly disappear once you have been treated by a Chiropractor.
Targeting The Right Audience With Tailored Offers
While the above suggestions may help you find the right customers for your practice, none of them are ideal. Why? Because your practice serves a specific audience, and you may not be reaching the people you want to reach. Take a look at the example below:
Say you discover that most of your patients are women between the ages of 25 and 54. After analyzing a number of these patients’ profiles, you find that they generally spend about three hours per day on their phones, and mostly use social media to keep in touch with friends. Further analysis reveals that they are more likely to become active again if they have a child who is still at home. Based on this information, you tailor an offer to a woman in her 20’s with a young child who is still at home. While this may be something that you could offer to someone else, it would be extremely unwise to assume that everyone you encounter fits perfectly into your target audience.
The benefit of this exercise is that you are reaching the right patients with the right offer. Based on their demographic and psychographic profiles, you can predict what they might want or need. Tailored marketing allows you to take into consideration the individual preferences of each of your customers. So instead of broadcasting an advertisement to the general public, which may end up being ineffective, you are able to target your audiences and engage them into action.
Raising Brand Awareness
In the above example, we saw how targeting the right audience allowed you to tailor your offer to meet their needs. But how can you increase brand awareness for your chiropractic practice?
The answer is quite simple. Just by being on the internet, you are already making your brand known to all potential patients. But if you want to take this a step further, you can explore the many possibilities of SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (social media optimization). With SEO, you can ensure that your website appears near the top of a search engine results page for specific terms and phrases related to your practice. With SEM, you can spread the word about your business via social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
Both SEO and SEM can help to raise brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. But beyond these techniques, you can also consider using video marketing to explain the fundamentals of your practice, the different treatments you offer, and how those treatments can benefit your customers. In other words, video marketing is a great way to educate your audience about who you are and what you do.
The Rise Of Online Chiropractic Marketing
As we mentioned above, the world of online marketing is constantly evolving. If you are wondering how to properly market your chiropractic practice, now may be the perfect opportunity to find out.
Even if you have decided that digital marketing is right for your business, it’s imperative to understand the differences between traditional and online marketing. As the industry evolves and new platforms emerge, it’s essential to keep up with the times. Otherwise, you may find yourself struggling to gain traction in an already crowded marketplace.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of mobile phones and the internet, more and more people are getting their news and information from their smartphones. In other words, any type of marketing material, including advertisements, can easily be accessed and consumed on the go.
If you’re curious about how to properly market your chiropractic practice, then consider exploring the many possibilities of digital marketing.