As a chiropractor, you’re in the business of helping people feel and live better. Even though you might have a stellar track record, it’s still important to market your practice to make sure you’re at the top of people’s minds when they need a chiropractor.
That’s why marketing for chiropractors is an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of running a successful practice, and event marketing is one of the most effective ways practitioners can get out in the community, meet people face to face, and develop an expanded network of potential clients. A “Chiropractic Event” could be as simple as a community talk about something like spinal stress, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be.
Your goal at any event should be generating as many smiles as possible, while also developing as many referrals and new patient leads as possible. You also want to remember the importance of defining your desired number of patient leads, and actual leads, you want to come out of each event.
Below are some tips on how you can take your chiropractic event marketing to the next level, and evolve how you engage your current and future client base.
Event Ideas to Consider
When taking stock of your current event strategy, and formulating ideas for future ones, it’s important to think outside of the box and come up with ideas that the local community can get excited about attending. Here are a few ideas to consider:
- Free massages at sporting events. This could be at a baseball game, tennis tournament, or at a half marathon. It’s best to pick a sport where it’s not too expensive to set up a massage station, and where people will be wandering to and from on a regular basis or in need of a massage post-athletic event.
- Large office charity massages. One of the best ways to build credibility within the local community is doing charity work of some kind. They key is, you want to engage with people that are likely to need (and can afford) your services. Try partnering with a good-sized company in your market, and offer massages at their office with the proceeds going to a local charity. People will appreciate the stress relief from their job and appreciate the fact that you care about making a positive impact.
- Charity drives. No matter what time of year it is, there’s usually some kind of holiday around the corner. You can use events like Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, or Veteran’s Day to conduct charity drives to promote your practice. First, decide which local organization you’ll want to contribute to and on what day. You’ll also want to print discount or special offer tickets for people who donate, like 50% off their first visit to your office, for example. Finally, promote your charity drive by contacting local media, as well as canvassing the local area in person with flyers and bulletins and promoting through radio and digital marketing.
Making Your Events a Smash
Coming up with an idea that you think will be a success is only one-half of the equation. You need to take the right steps to ensure your event hits all the right notes for the potential clients you’ll meet. Here are some basic things you can do to ensure that it does:
- Set goals. Think about what you’re trying to get out of your event. Are you looking to just gain more exposure to the public? Maybe you want to establish yourself as a thought leader, or generate new client leads. No matter what your goals are, you need to have a means of tracking your progress. For example, if you’re offering free massages at a race to increase leads, you might want to measure the number of emails you collect at the event.
- Partner up. Develop relationships with other companies or organizations that can help increase effectiveness of the event. If you’re doing a charity drive, for instance, try partnering not just with charities but with other companies that support the same causes.
- Promote. Have a plan leading up to the event to get the word out. You should take an integrated, multi-channel approach by utilizing radio ads, public relations, social media, digital search ads, and content marketing.
- Personalize. During your event, do your best to personalize the experience of each customer and/or prospect. This could be a something like a giveaway item with their name on it, a free personal evaluation of their spinal health, etc. The key is to provide a way for potential customers to feel like they’ve been given a personal touch, and for them to be able to put a face to your business’s name. In the long run, this will ensure that you stand out from the crowd of other chiropractors.
- Follow Up & Stay in Touch. After you’ve collected leads and contacts, have a plan in place to follow up with them in regards to your services. This could be an email reminding them about their coupon, or even a follow-up personal phone call. Not everyone will be ready to become a paying customer, which is why you also need a plan for keeping in touch. This could be using emails for a weekly newsletter, or connecting with prospects on social media for future event, content, or thought leadership marketing.
- Tracking. What makes setting goals so important is that, after the event has concluded, you’ll need to measure and track your success. Did you collect as many email leads as you initially anticipated? Maybe not as many people took up your free massage offer as you projected? Either way, tracking results will give you an idea on what worked (and what might not have) so you can run future events that much more effectively.
The great thing about chiropractic event marketing is that you’ll get to meet your future clients face to face, in a fun and interesting environment. By coming up with unique ideas, and having a solid plan in place to ensure they go on without a hitch, you’ll be able to take your marketing (and your practice) to the next level.
