Become the Corporate Chiropractor in Your Town (Part 2): Comprehensive Marketing Strategy
In part one of Becoming the Corporate Chiropractor in Your Town, we made a business case for the concept of providing On-Site Chiropractic at local corporations. In this follow-up discussion, we want to compel you to implement marketing strategies that will position yourself as the expert in corporate chiropractic. Not only will this increase your likelihood of acquiring on-site care contracts with companies, but will position your practice as the place to go for pain and injuries for desk workers and physical laborers. This combination of on-site and referral generation to your practice provides a diversified approach to growing your practice.
A comprehensive approach to becoming “The Corporate Chiropractor” in your town will provide you opportunities to work with corporations and their employees in the following aspects:
On-Site Chiropractic
Referrals to your private practice
Compensated ergonomics contracts
Health Talks
Health Fairs
Webinars
In regards to ergonomics contracts, I do recommend pursuing a certification in ergonomics. For myself and my team of doctors, we received our Certified Ergonomics Assessment Specialist and Physical Demands Analysis certifications from The Back School. This education has provided us with the knowledge to assess, solve and report for office workers and physical laborers effectively. There are other options out there, and I recommend doing your due diligence.
Two common marketing principles that will help tell your story and provide new patients and corporate leads are Content Marketing and Direct Response Marketing. As Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute states, “Content Marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience- and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
The second type of marketing, Direct Response Marketing is marketing that elicits a specific, measured response resulting from a consumer’s direct response to a marketer. Direct Response Marketing facilitates the delivery of a call to action and outcome via direct or online interaction for immediate feedback and response.
The key factor in your marketing in both principles is what I call the 3E’s of Marketing: Ethical, Educational, and Elegant. You must provide value in your marketing that builds trust with your community and corporations, not revert to spammy or unfounded information that is without merit. We see that all too often in healthcare or marketing in general, and it will negatively affect your practice in the long term.
Here is a short example of utilizing 3E marketing that also positions yourself nicely with both the potential patient and corporation. Figures 1-3 of the OptumHealth whitepaper I mentioned in part one of our series (OptumHealth, Conservative Spine Care: The State of the Marketplace and Opportunities for Improvement) reveals research that supports your business case as the most affordable and effective healthcare option for musculoskeletal conditions.
Figure 1: An analysis of internal data- OptumHealth Client Data, 2011- Found the treatment of orthopedic conditions is the top cost category at 17%.
Figure 2: More than 80% of spine costs are associated with non-surgical treatments.
Figure 3: Cost efficiency favors a care pathway that begins with a patient consulting a Chiropractor. Total Episode Cost by Entry Point was $631 for Chiropractic. (See research article for other provider’s costs)
To interpret these 3 Figures discussed in the whitepaper into a consumable manner would be to write an article, post, email, video, and presentation distilling out the main findings. Simply stated, treatment of orthopedic, aka, musculoskeletal conditions are the top cost category, and that of all spine-related conditions, 80% are with a non-surgical intervention. Throw in research from Loeppke, R. JOEM, 2009 that Neck and Back Pain are the second costliest medical and pharmaceutical Health Cost Estimate Per 1000 Full-Time Equivalent Employees and you can now see now well positioned we are in this arena.
To then put the final touches on our value to the healthcare system and employer, you can refer to figure 3 of the Optum white paper that reveals we as chiropractors are the most cost affordable intervention for the treatment of conservative spine care.
Lastly, it is always a wise decision to have a testimonial secure your position in the marketplace. Here is a testimonial I uncovered during my endless research on corporate chiropractic:
According to Katelyn Johnson, Integrated Health Manager, Cisco. “At Cisco’s LifeConnections’ Health Center, having doctors of chiropractic working closely with the medical team has helped reduce our musculoskeletal spend, and patients consistently give high patient satisfaction scores. The integrated care team of chiropractors, acupuncturists, and physical therapists is critical to achieving our Patient Centered Medical Home model.”
So how do we get great messages and research out like the above? I like to break down our corporate chiropractic marketing strategy into 3 phases.
The Before Unit: New Patient Marketing
The During Unit: From Initial Phone call to end of treatment plan
The After Unit: After Treatment Plan
You can also take this concept and apply it to marketing to corporations for getting on-site, doing health talks or providing services during health fairs. The concept is the same, just the details of your marketing strategy would differ. I am going to discuss some strategies that will help you attract corporate employees and also position yourself well as the expert in your area that will potentially lead to corporate opportunities.
Before Unit Marketing Strategies
Turn your website into a content platform: Most websites are just digital business cards. You want to have an articles/blog section and your YouTube feed on your site with continually updated content.
Google: Total Web Presence: Google ranks you higher for valuable content, and if your website consists of great articles and videos as described above, you will be found much easier on Google. Keep in mind, Google owns YouTube and ranks valuable YouTube videos highly.
Facebook Targeting: FB ads and boosted posts allow you to hyper-target many demographics. For instance, if Company XYZ is located in your area and has 500 employees, you could run an FB post or ad with desk sitting content and target only employees who work at XYZ Company. That is hitting your target market!
During Unit Marketing Strategies
Patient Communication: You should be talking about effective ways to combat the ill-effects of sitting at your desk sitting patients during their course of care with you and your team. If they happen to work for a local corporation or are part of the HR, Wellness or Health & Safety departments, discuss with them on how you can help.
Patient Outcomes: Getting patients feeling better is the best marketing you can ever do! So do your best to resolve their conditions. This should go without saying of course.
After Unit Marketing Strategies
Email Marketing: 1-2 educational emails per week to your patient base is a great way to stay in communication with them consistently. The goal of after unit marketing is always to stay top of mind with your past patients. Did you know you can also upload your email list into a Facebook audience and only target them with great content?
Direct Mail Newsletters: A nicely designed mailed newsletter is a great way to keep in the front of your patient base’s mind. So when they or their co-worker complains of an ailment, they think of you first!
These are just a few strategies under each category that can be implemented, but if you start here, you will be well no your way to positioning yourself as the corporate chiropractor in your community. The key is continuity of your message meshed with consistency. If you implemented this comprehensive approach, you will not only drive new patients to your main practice but also be sought out by local businesses to help them alleviate their healthcare concerns for their employees.