1/15/02 Shared by George Youssef Chiropractic Marketing Success http://www.chirosuccess.com To place your order or for more information, go to http://www.chirosuccess.com/special/marketingprogram.html or call me at 1-800-250-2655 "Develop a Marketing Plan for the New Year" Well, another year is here . . . time to make resolutions. And if your resolution is to grow your practice, acquire more patients, or systematize your marketing efforts, then you will definitely want to read this newsletter. In fact, today I'm going to show you how to set up a marketing plan for your practice that will almost guarantee the growth of your practice, and provide you with a prosperous year. The first thing that you need to realize when creating this marketing plan is that in creating and utilizing it, you are giving up the old ways of doing hit-and-miss marketing for a systematic, predictable plan. What this means is that you will no longer be focused on fixing the growth of your practice when things slow down, but rather be taking a proactive approach to ensure the growth of your practice. Okay, enough of my ramblings . . . Let's begin. First thing to do is to go to your local office store and pickup one of those large wall calendars with room to write on for each day of the year. You can usually get one of these calendars or a comparable one for less than ten bucks. On this calendar you will write down each marketing endeavor that you will be doing for the entire year. You will make note on the calendar of each advertisement you plan on running, each speaking engagement you will be participating in, each patient appreciation day you will be hosting, etc. Of course it will be impossible to know exactly when you'll be giving a lay lecture six months in advance, or when you'll be running a particular advertisement nine months from now. And that's okay. The key here is to have a general idea of what you're going to do and when you're going to do it, and put that on paper. But whatever you do, don't take the wimpy way out and say to yourself that you will keep the marketing plan in your head. Come on, let's be honest with each other . . . If you are like me and most people out there, this is a sure fire way of failing before you even begin. So make sure you use the calendar and create the marketing plan as detailed as possible. And if you end up having to make modifications later on down the year - well, that's fine. This marketing plan is not designed to be set in stone, but rather as a detailed guide to ensure you achieve your goal. Well, let's get on track. At this point, the first question on your mind should be "what am I going to put on my marketing plan." Well, there are literally hundreds of different strategies and promotions available at your disposal. Right now, I'm going to suggest a few to you. If you're looking for more strategies, along with the letters, advertisements, or other promotional pieces that go along with it (so you don't have to create it yourself), you might want to purchase the Complete Chiropractic Marketing Program. For more information, just go to http://www.chirosuccess.com/special/marketingprogram.html or call me at 1-800-250-2655. Anyway, here is a brief list of suggestions for including in your marketing plan. For each suggestion, I have also recommended the frequency in their use. Once you've decided on a strategy, then get your calendar and mark the day(s) you plan on utilizing that promotion or strategy. Let's begin . . . 1) Reactivation - I've said it a thousand times in the past, and I'll say it a thousand times again . . . the easiest patient to acquire is an inactive patient. So market to all your inactive patients, even those who have not come to see you in years, and make them an offer to get them back (such as a complimentary exam or adjustment). You might want to send them a letter or give them a phone call. Or for maximum response, send a letter and follow up with a phone call. Recommended frequency: two times per year (ideally January and late May or early June). 2) Patient Appreciation Day - A patient appreciation day is an excellent way of not only getting more patients, but of also building excitement in your practice. Basically, send a letter or call up your active and inactive patients and invite them to come over. You might want to offer a free adjustment to your patients, and a free exam for all the friends and family members they bring. You will want to have food, refreshments, and basically turn the event into a party atmosphere. Some chiropractors also have balloons and give away gifts at this event with great success. Using this strategy you will build excitement in your practice, make your current patients happier, reactivate inactive patients, and acquire new patients. Recommended frequency: two times per year (ideally opposite of the Reactivation strategy above, so that you can alternate between the two strategies each three months). 3) Newspaper Advertisements - Chiropractors have been advertising in newspaper for years. And while most advertisements are useless, if you do use an effective advertisement you will see for yourself the power of newspaper advertising. Recommended frequency: once you've found an advertisement that works, you will want to run the ad once a month. Or if you have several effective advertisements, you can run an advertisement once each two weeks and alternate between the ads. 4) Direct Mail to New Movers - New people are moving into your community all the time. While most of them may not be looking for a chiropractor, a certain percentage is however. So you want to mail at least one letter to them and invite them to your practice. To find a list of new movers, look in your yellow pages under List Broker, and just about any list broker in the directory will be able to get you a list. Recommended frequency: acquire a list of new movers once a month, and mail to these new movers. Now, the list of strategies I shared with you is only a small percentage of what is available to you. I'm sure that with a little brainstorming, you can come up with a lot more ideas. Or you can order the Complete Chiropractic Program by going to http://www.chirosuccess.com/special/marketingprogram.html and get all the ideas and letters, advertisements, etc. already created for you. The most important thing to remember though is that 1) You have to actually create the marketing plan and put it on paper AND 2) Follow the plan!!! I'm not kidding about step number two. So many people make plans for this and plans for that without following through. A plan by itself is useless, but a plan backed with follow through and action is absolute magic.