How To Market Your Chiropractic Business

You offer top-notch chiropractic services, but you’re still not getting the patient traffic that your business needs or deserves.

Your chiropractic business is a business like any other. That means strong, effective marketing is at the core of growing revenue. If you’re not marketing appropriately, you can’t attract patients to walk in your practice. If you aren’t bringing patients in the door, you can’t make any money.

Here are the top four basic ways (and one thing NOT to do) to market your chiropractic business so you can attract new customers and convert them to long-term patients.

1. Have an online presence.

Every business needs a strong online presence. 80% of consumers research local businesses online before making a purchasing decision. If your business isn’t listed online, you could be missing out on a huge chunk of your clientele.  

It’s easier than ever to create a stunning website that will attract patients. Make sure the website includes your business address and contact info, a listing of services, and information about your chiropractors and staff. You want to show the personality of your office, which will make you more relatable to prospects.

You also want to show the professionalism and success of your business.  This means including testimonies, rewards, and distinctions for the practice or specific doctors. For example, if you were featured on a top chiropractor podcast, include the link on your website. Customers want to see your merits, which prove you as a legitimate business.  

For local chiropractic businesses, you want to supplement your website with other online business platforms, like Yelp, Google Business, and Facebook.

Yelp and Google Business are especially useful for demonstrating social proof about your business. These allow your clients to leave reviews and pictures, which helps convince new customers of your credibility. Make sure you include professional photos of your business and as much as information as possible, including your brand mission and vision.  

You’ll also want to consider using social media to supplement these online platforms. Facebook works especially well for businesses. This is an easy way to include business information, collect reviews, and keep customers (and prospects) updated on your practice.

2. Leverage your existing customers.

Prospective customers are searching around for the best possible chiropractor in their area. Some will even travel long distances to get to the best chiropractor. That’s because patients know the value of taking care of their back, neck, and hips—but they also know what can happen if the services go wrong.

Customers do extensive research before even the first visit to a new chiropractor. This is especially true if it’s their first time going to a chiropractor.  Most of this research is done online now on customer review platforms. They trust the testimonies and reviews from others who have already been to the practice and can vouch for the chiropractor’s success.

That means it’s absolutely vital to have strong online reviews. This increases your social proof, which is critical in the chiropractic industry. The more positive reviews and testimonials you have, the more likely you’ll convince new customers to try out your practice.   

How do you get online reviews?

Ask your existing customers! Here are a few ideas to encourage your current clients to leave you glowing reviews:

• After an office visit, hand a client a small card with your online business information on it (Yelp, Facebook, Google Business). The card should include a call to action like, “Let us know what you think!” or, “Share your pain-free life with others!” The receptionist should bring their attention to the card and request that they leave a review.
• Offer an incentive. For example, “If you leave a review, you’ll get 5% off your next visit.” Get this percentage in writing or hand out discount cards.
• Send a follow-up email campaign. Thank them for their visit and provide a direct link where they can leave a review on one of your business pages.  

Note: Remind customers that leaving a review is in their best interest. For example, you could say, “We’re a small business, and every review helps us grow our practice even more. We want to grow so we can continue to provide you with the top-notch services you’re used to with [insert your practice name]!”

Along with reviews, ask your current customers for referrals. You can hand them a sheet that requests three names of friends that might be interested. You might want to incentivize them with free or discounted services for themselves and their referred friend. This tells your patients, “We care about you, and we want more patients like you.” This engenders deeper customer loyalty with the referrer, while also encouraging them to bring their friends along.

3. Connect with local businesses.

Collaborations are a huge part of the medical and healthcare field. Connecting with other businesses allows you to “offer” new services to your current clients while also collecting new clientele from these other businesses.

For example, you might link up with a local yoga studio. You could offer discounts to one another’s clientele as a way to gain customers. But you could also hold joint info sessions about the importance of muscular strength for bone health. Or you could have a chiropractor from your practice go to their yoga retreat to give more information about back health (and subtly sell your practice).

Examples of strong tandem businesses to partner with (if you don’t offer these services yourself):

• Pain relief products
• Day spas and massage centers
• General practitioners
• Acupuncturists/acupressurists
• Local charities and nonprofits
• Health food stores
• Healthy restaurants
• Fitness and yoga studios
• Retreat centers
• Schools
• Offices
• Medical professions and organizations

The deeper your relationship with local and national businesses, the more you’ll gain a foothold in your community. These collaborations spread awareness about your practice and attract new customers, while also boosting your credibility and social proof.

4. Use email marketing.

Your chiropractic practice is in a unique position compared to other businesses because you already collect your customer’s email addresses when they come in for their first visit. That means that you already have a list of clients you can reach out to through email marketing.

If you aren’t using email to interact with your customers after they’ve gone home, you’re doing your business a disservice. Email is a strong way to remind customers of appointments and send them bills or invoices, which adds another layer of customer service.

But you can also use email to market to your customers. This is a great way to send news and announcements about your practice. Blogs also allow you to interact with your email audience while encouraging more traffic to your website.

Keep your email marketing targeted, specific, and action-based. Give your customers legitimate value, followed up by next steps with your practice.

Note: Be careful not to email too frequently. You don’t want to be a nuisance. You want to be a pleasant surprise in their inbox so they’ll want to engage more.

What NOT to do

There is one marketing tactic that’s rampant in the chiropractic world that we recommend avoiding as much as possible. Don’t offer discounted or free services to get new customers in the door.

“But doesn’t this encourage new customers to try us out?”

In most cases, you’re actually attracting the wrong kind of chiropractic customer with this sort of “discount deal.” If you offer a reduced cost massage or another service, you might start grabbing short-term customers who just want a good deal for the time being.

Moreover, if you offer discounted chiropractic services with a medical professional, you’ll start to devalue the appointment itself. You’re indirectly telling customers that your medical services aren’t worth what you’re initially offering them for. A doctor would rarely offer a “free office visit”—so you shouldn’t either.

The only discounts you should offer are “bundle” deals. For example, if someone buys 5 visits at once, they get 10% off. Or you could offer a free massage after their tenth office visit. This helps keep your current customers coming back without devaluing your services. (It also helps bring in more cash flow up front.)

Conclusion

Treat your practice like any other business. Strong marketing, especially through local avenues, is a great way to attract new customers and engage your current clientele. Growth has to start with marketing.   

How will you use marketing to grow your chiropractic business?