25 Feb 10 Rules for Direct-Response Marketing – Part 1
Success for Chiropractors
Chiropractors can draw in more patients by focusing on the standards of direct marketing and implementing them in their practices.
Let’s dispel a common misperception: You are not in the chiropractic practice business, you are in the marketing-of-your-chiropractic-practice business. With that in mind, you’ll likely be more successful if you focus on marketing your practice to your perfect target patient using direct response marketing.
A simple definition of “marketing” is: presenting the right message to the right market with the right media. When thinking about marketing, however, most people don’t usually think about direct-response marketing.
Lately, most mortgage chiropractors think of “e-marketing,” “Internet leads,” “pay-per-call” and all the other trendy marketing methods in use today. But as an old standard, direct-response marketing can be even more effective when done right and will help you control your destiny.
The secret to successful direct-response marketing is in following 10 basic rules.
1. Always make an offer
With direct marketing, your task is to make a direct offer that compels consumers to respond. The more interesting and appealing the offer, the better. From now on, you should never end a “conversation” in any media without making a direct offer.
Check your current ads… odds are, there’s no offer.
Many businesses even run Facebook and newspaper ads with no offers; rather, they have “implied” offers. These types of ads essentially say, “Here we are; here’s what we do”, which is not enough to inspire action. Making a solid offer, however, will inspire action and leads to the next rule.
2. Give them a reason to respond now***
Your offer must compel your potential patients or referral sources to contact you. Your goal is an immediate response, so a plain-vanilla offer won’t do it. For example, if you can legally do so in your state, offer a certain dollar amount off adjustments with an expiring deadline, or offer loans with attractive rates and terms for a certain time period.
Your goal is to get consumers to respond when they see your ad, not to merely “think about it” indefinitely.
3. Give clear instructions
Any marketing piece — whether it’s an ad, flier, sales letter, Web site or phone script — should lead prospective patients or referral sources to take action. That is, you must tell them exactly what you want them to do, how and when you want them to do it, and what will happen when they do.
Bottom line, don’t send anything that doesn’t have clear instructions for your prospective patient to follow.
These tips will help you get more patients and should be strictly adhered to if you are going to embark on a direct marketing campaign for your practice.
If you have questions about how to implement a successful direct marketing campaign, or need someone to show you how it’s done, please Schedule a FREE Strategy Session and we’ll get you on track!
If you can’t wait for an appointment and need to get started right away, check out our 10 Rules for Direct-Response Marketing – Part 2, which will provide you with additional insight on the RIGHT way to use direct response marketing in your practice.
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