As I hear the mass cry of chiropractors across the nation going up in unison. . . “I hate Marketing. . .Nothing I do is working,” you can take heart that you are not alone. Most people fail because they are making similar mistakes.

Money allocation is a biggie. If you aren’t putting your money in the right place, you are just not going to get the return. It’s that simple. Most chiropractors are spending way too much money on the latest and greatest marketing wonder that is going to change your world. . .within 24 hours or less. Here are some scenarios that I see over and over again. They are traps for failure, but the real solution is simple. Let’s analyze a couple of common traps first before we get to solutions.

1. Spending lots of money on advice from self-proclaimed chiropractic marketing gurus. . .and getting no real tools that are specific to your business. Your practice is as individual as you are and any marketing that you do has to work with your strengths and weaknesses. What worked 10 years ago for some guy is ancient history to a true marketer.

2. Media – including newspaper, TV, Radio, inserts, etc. A big media buy from a slick media sales person isn’t going to ensure you instant success. Hint. . .they lie a lot, or should I be politically correct and say they are good at presenting statistics. If you get into the larger advertising venues, you’d better know what you are doing or prepare to lose. The money spent on advertising world-wide exceeds 385 billion dollars per year. The average consumer is bombarded with 1500-3000 marketing messages a day, so you also have to be strategic in crafting an appeal if you are going to play with the big dogs. You also have to be a master at media placement.

The point is, buy by the numbers. Don’t make emotional buys or be influenced by your own biases . . .a very hard thing to stay objective about when you own your own business.

So if those are some of the traps, what is the solution? Quite often I get asked, “What is the one thing that I should do?” The magic bullet that will make everything else work, requires a simple math analysis and action. Hire an entry level marketing person. There are a lot of Moms looking for part time work that will pay you bigger dividends than the one hit wonder wannabe ads. Instead or paying $700 for a one impression ad in the newspaper, you can hire someone for $8 - $12 per hour and get 70 hours of work. Delegate!! Give them a list full of networking assignments, scheduling talks, doing events that are valuable to the community and doing public relations with patients, etc. That is a whole lot more mileage for the dollar than that one ad. Make sure that they have good materials going out to approach people with, however, or you will be shooting yourself in the foot. There is a principle called linking attributes which states people will link attributes based on their perceptions. A well-dressed person will be perceived as more legitimate, intelligent and worthy of their time. The same holds true with your materials. If you put out high quality materials and have a professional put-together person presenting them, you will be perceived as a professional and an intelligent choice for their health care.

Article Copyright 2007 Educate for Health, LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.

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