The way you look at things all depends on your vantage point. Remember what it was like to be a kid? Mom and Dad dragged you around to different appointments. You went to the doctor, and the whole time you were there you thought about climbing trees, riding bikes, or playing with your friends. The thought was basically get it over with and escaping out of there to something more important. . .fun! You didn’t really want to hear what anyone had to say, and you weren’t actively listening. TMI. . .too much information. But, the good news is, that childish distractions didn’t stop some of that information from penetrating into your head. You remembered certain things, but more importantly you would remember the way the situation made you feel.

You can make a profound difference in a person’s health over their lifetime by starting their chiropractic care as a child. All successful businesses have a vision for the future. . .a goal and a plan on how to get there. Those kids you take care of today are going to grow up and make health care choices as adults based on what they experience in your office today.

So how do you delve into the uncharted area of marketing to pediatrics? You start implementing good Public Relations (PR) procedures. PR is a component of marketing. It’s not so much about the information that you’re dispensing, however, it’s more about how you are making people feel. One of the best statements that I have ever heard was this, “If you love a Mother’s children, she will love you forever.” You want to create a loyal patient, “love” children. That means that the moment a child walks into your office, they are not just sitting on the sidelines. They are considered a VIP.

First you need to evaluate your office. Is it kid friendly? If you can’t relate to kids in your office, you won’t be able to reach children outside of your practice. Make your office the place to be. This is one of the best PR things that you can do. If you do a good job, the children will talk about it to everyone. Give them something to do that they can relate to, like install a video game system, and forget the PowerPoint presentation. Make your office playful! If you’re going to build your practice for the future you have to accommodate that market segment. Put up colorful graphics, and keep words to a minimum.

Second of all you have to look at pediatrics as a market segment. What are the challenges and opportunities? One area that you can prospect for children is this: in the newspaper every day/week there is a listing of new births. You can send out congratulations cards, which express concern about their baby. This is the time to show them that you care about them. Provide them with “light” chiropractic statistics on early chiropractic care, not a text book explanation.

Children present not only a huge opportunity for stemming disease in the future by consistent early treatment, but they are also the future of your business and a huge untapped market segment. Most successful businesses make a short range plan of one - two years, and a long range plan of five, ten and fifteen years. If children aren’t part of that plan, all you have is a short range reactionary marketing plan with neither real vision for the future nor passion for the profession.

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

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