It’s no secret that Chiropractic care is one of the most effective solutions for treating conditions of the musculoskeletal system. What may be news to you is that more and more people are finally starting to catch on to this fact.
With that extra notoriety, however, Chiropractors are facing more competition than ever. Not only are Practising Doctors facing new Chiropractors coming into the market, they are also coming up against medical practitioners who are inching into the industry.
With that extra competition, it’s more important than ever that your practice is employing some core Online Marketing Activities.
The Single Reason why knowing how to Correctly Market Your Practice Online is so important
Today’s market is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to pre-screening Chiropractors before they actually choose their healthcare provider. Long gone are the days when people opened up the yellow pages and picked the office with the nicest looking ad.
Statistics show that before a patient ever picks up the phone to call your office, they have already done their due diligence using the internet.
With that in mind, it’s important to understand the 2 key places that a potential patient uses to pre-qualify your practice. Around 60-70% of all potential patients are looking at your website and your Facebook page before they decide to call your office and book their first appointment.
So what do you need to do to make sure that your practice wins the patient over when they visit those two places? Let’s dive in and talk about the keys to doing both correctly.
Chiropractic Online Marketing Essential #1: A High-Quality Website.
Gone are the days when you could have your nephew build your website or purchase a website from a “do it all website company” like WIX, Weebly or 1and1.
It’s not enough to just have a website these days. Your website has to look great and it has to communicate some key pieces of information.
#1 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: It has to look great (everywhere)
Chiropractic clinics these days are largely beautiful and professional operations when you walk through the front door. The thing is, if you spend that much time making the inside of your practice look great, but don’t focus on your website as well, you’ll really miss the boat.
Your website is the first impression that 90% of your potential patients see. If it doesn’t look extremely professional both on a computer and on a mobile phone, you’re going to be losing out on a lot of business.
You’ll need a professional to build your site the right way – one who focuses their effort on building websites specifically for the Chiropractic industry. Stay away from “catch all” website builders and doing it yourself (even with templates that seem like they might be great) – you usually end up frustrated with no one to turn to to fix it.
#2 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: Focus on Conditions you Treat
The #1 mistake that the average Chiropractor makes is not “putting a flag in the sand”. You don’t want the general public to think you are a catch all Doctor. You want people to know what you’re an expert at.
If you’re really great at getting rid of headaches, make sure that is featured on your website. In a world full of doctors who are afraid of claiming a speciality (because they think they’ll miss out on other conditions), it’s the speciality docs that run the most successful practices and earn the the highest incomes.
#3 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: Walk them Through their First Visit
Every Chiropractic website should walk a potential patient through what their first visit will look like. This includes walking them through the steps that they’ll take when they come in, including having a place that they can download their intake forms and fill them out before they come in.
This may seem like a small thing, but it is a key factor in making potential new patients feel comfortable before they ever walk through the front door.
#4 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: Location and Hours
This one is a no-brainer, but people need to know where you’re located, when you’re open, parking – and really important, how to get there.
#5 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: A Trackable Phone Number.
Having your main phone number on your site isn’t enough. You need a phone number that will allow you to measure how much business is actually being delivered from your website.
The best websites are the websites that measure their own effectiveness. Installing a phone number on your site that can be tracked will prove to you the value of your site (or ratify if it’s even working at all).
#6 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: Pictures of the Doctor and Staff.
People want to see their doctor and the other staff before they walk through the door. A Few simple pictures and staff biographies go a really long way to set a potential patient’s mind at ease.
#7 Chiropractic Website Must-Have: Great Content from the Doctor.
The average Chiropractor is more educated than the average medical doctor in terms of school hours. A website that has an educational blog goes a long way in showcasing that.
Don’t have time to blog?
There are ghostwriters and content writers out there that can help you fill your site up with great educational content.
Chiropractic Online Marketing Essential #2: A Facebook Page that is Living and Breathing Daily.
What a lot of small business owners don’t understand is how the general public judges a business based on what they see on their Facebook Page.
Put simply…
If a business’s Facebook page looks unprofessional (poor graphics and grammatical errors), the public believes it also reflects what’s going on inside the business.
If a business’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated in a while (if your last post was more than a few days ago), the public believes that the business’s staff might also let other things slip – it’s just not a good sign.
The keys to making your Facebook Page a Patient Magnet:
- A Professional Profile Picture
This is the very first thing most people see when they do a search for your Facebook page and head over to check your practice out. It needs to look professional and showcase what your practice is about. - A Professional Timeline Cover
This is the second thing that people see when they are doing research of your practice on Facebook. It also needs to look professional, plus it needs to tell your practice’s story in a single image. - Interesting Facebook Posts branded with your logo
It isn’t enough to just post a motivational quote or a funny video. Your practice’s Facebook page needs to have interesting content that people learn from. If your page has interesting and current content, people will convert into full patients. And you need to brand it so if it gets shared (which happens) people can find you. - Post 1-2x Every Single Day
Like it or not, people judge your practice by how current your marketing is. When your last Facebook posts is several weeks old, it tells people that you “let things slip” when you get busy. This is an impression you can’t afford. It isn’t fair that this is how your practice is perceived (if you’re content is not up to date), but it’s the way things are in the rapidly evolving social media world. Make sure you always keep content flowing on your page and post 1-2x every single day (you can get help easily with this).