Attaching
an additional product or service helps promote your practice and drive your
bottom line—it can even help protect your community
By Richard Behlen, D.C.
While marketing chiropractic in my first few years of practice, I became increasingly
frustrated with my lack of options for promoting my office in both an image
enhancing and cost-effective way. Television, radio, phone book and print advertising
was expensive and mostly ineffective. Spinal screenings were inconsistent and
required me to work weekends at locations outside of my office, in sometimes
embarrassingly poor conditions.
It also appeared that my fellow practitioners were marketing themselves in much
the same way that I was. I felt that this collective effort was resulting in
a less than favorable image of chiropractic in my area.
Because of my mounting frustration, I set out to develop a promotional program
that would allow me to serve my community, but also promote my practice. I wanted
a promotional program that I could be proud to use, something that would make
my office stand out in a positive and unique way. I needed a promotion that
could be consistently used throughout the year, and mediated through my office
where I could comfortably and successfully educate my community about the life-changing
benefits of chiropractic health care.
Program co-sponsorship is the ultimate networking tool. Virtually every business,
shopping center, financial institution, media entity, etc., is constantly on
the lookout for ways to enhance their image, especially to the coveted family
demographic. These partnerships can provide the chiropractic office with avenues
of promotion and positive exposure that have been unavailable until now. The
one I chose was particularly effective.
Because of my practice philosophy, I wanted the program to reach the entire
family. I began thinking along the lines of a resource that would help to better
protect children. Using a Polaroid camera, I developed a crude child ID system
and began using it my office. I had no idea of the impact that it would have.
I began by approaching a radio station that sponsored a very large public event
every year. The promotional cost for a booth space at this event was $2,500.
When I presented the child ID program and offered to place the radio station’s
name as the sponsor at the event, I was given two booths for free. They also
made my booth area the lost and found location for children, announcing it over
the PA system several times over the course of the event. We produced almost
500 child ID cards at a cost of just over $1,000. The event resulted in approximately
250 screening exams that were performed in my office, resulting in 86 new patients.
I quickly found that by offering to provide the program at stores, malls and
other events, I could gain access to virtually any location. Because the ID
cards were printed and distributed after the event, the families would come
pick-up the cards at a later date. Of course, this pick-up location was my office,
and I easily developed a marketing program that utilized this traffic.
Of course, these sorts of community programs are varied. Chiropractic offices
can become a center for fundraising activities for sporting groups, teams/leagues,
T-ball, Little League, gymnastics, dance, club sports, pre and middle schools,
PTAs, park and recreation departments, churches, community events, charities
and other family organizations. Another extension of the program is with service
organizations such as the Rotary, Optimists, Lions, Big Brother and Kiwanis,
who are eager to become involved with any program that helps to protect kids.
Consider that every promotion and event will revolve around the professional
office. These on-going, traffic-building events provide the chiropractor and
staff with numerous and on-going opportunities to educate the community about
the care the office provides. The office setting is by far the best place to
educate the community about chiropractic.
I found that by leading with the child ID program, I could cost-effectively
drive tremendous numbers of high quality people into my office. Child ID events
became my main source of new patients. The office could have several events
running at different locations every weekend, without me having to be present
at any of them.
Finally, because of the success of the program, and with the development of
the Internet and digital technology, we began to develop the program so any
professional office or business could use it as a promotional program.
Dr. Richard D. Behlen has been in private practice in San Diego since 1988.
He graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1986. He founded the KidSafe
ID marketing company in 1999. He can be reached at (800) 680-4888, by email
at rick@kidsafeid.com, and online at kidsafeid.com.
© Copyright 2002 Today's Chiropractic