Become a Marketing and Media Powerhouse on a Tiny Budget
How the 6 D’s of Exponential Organizations have allowed the chiropractic practice to be a marketing and media powerhouse with a tiny budget.
About three years ago I read the book Abundance by Peter Diamandis and then his follow-up book bold. I stumbled upon Peter Diamandis during my path of trying to learn everything I could about marketing, which started five years ago.
I first joined Strategic Coach, one of the top entrepreneurial coaching groups
I didn't attend Abundance 360 due to its hefty price tag of 10k for the weekend. Most likely worth the 10k, but I was already doling out 10k for Strategic Coach and 10k for a marketing mastermind group in San Francisco. However, I did purchase the aforementioned book Abundance. This book is where I first learned about disruptive technologies and the 6 Ds of exponential organizations.
When I first grasped the concept in its entirety, I didn’t find it applicable to the Chiropractic profession. Oh, how I couldn’t have been more wrong back then.
Over the last two years I have been on a journey to protect my ever-growing chiropractic business, and understanding the disrupting nature of today’s environment is my focus. Intertwined with that is having my marketing strategy designed with the 6 D’s in mind and effectively turning my business into a marketing and media company.
Nicole Cowley of ChiroSocialTech posed this very question.
“Should Chiropractors Go for The Close and Define Themselves As Media Companies”?
I couldn’t believe more in this concept, and many others who are way smarter than I, feel the same.
But how can you, as the chiropractor on a limited marketing budget, pull this off?
That’s where modern technology is converging on marketing principles to allow the Chiropractor to pull this off on a limited budget, and it’s downright amazing.
So what are the 6 D’s of Exponential Organizations, and how does it relate to your marketing?
I will use Vanessa Bates-Ramirez’s thoughtful and concise article to lay the foundation for how you can translate this concept into your business growth.
The 6 Ds of Tech Disruption: A Guide to the Digital Economy by Vanessa Bates Ramirez
“Technology is disrupting traditional industrial process, and they’re never going back.”
The Six D’s of Exponential Organizations
Digitized
Deceptive
Disruptive
Demonetized
Dematerialized
Democratized
"The Six Ds are a chain reaction of technological progression, a roadmap of rapid development that always leads to enormous upheaval and opportunity."
--Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, Bold
Now how does this relate to your Chiropractic practice?
Digitized
Anything that becomes digitized enters the same exponential growth we see in computing. Digital information is easy to access, share, and distribute. It can spread at the speed of the internet. Once something can be represented in ones and zeros-From music to biotechnology- it becomes an information-based technology and enters exponential growth.
Old School Chiropractic Marketing
Direct Mail
Phone books
Being on insurance plan
Business Cards
In Person Networking (still great marketing)
Public Speaking (still great marketing)
Modern Chiropractic Marketing
Social Media
Email
Webinars
FB Live
Video
Funnels
Websites
Many more, the list goes on
Deceptive
When something starts being digitized, its initial period of growth is deceptive because exponential trends don’t seem to grow very fast at first. Doubling .01 only gets you .02, then .04, and so on. Exponential growth really takes off after it breaks the whole-number barrier. 2 quickly becomes 32, which becomes 32,000 before you know it.
Modern Chiropractic Marketing
You can go from being an unknown in your community to a well-known thought leader with a fully involved marketing strategy. Your competition that is not keeping up with this disruption (which many are not) will be left behind.
I did this in Boca Raton, FL which was and still is saturated with Chiropractors. But many are old school!
Disruptive
The existing market for a product or service is disrupted by the new market the exponential technology creates because digital technologies outperform in effectiveness and cost. Once you can stream music on your phone, why buy CDs? If you can also snap, store, and share photographs, why buy a camera and film?
Old school chiropractors are not keeping up with changes in insurance and marketing.
The Modern Chiropractor is disrupting the industry in many ways.
Look into what Dr. Ed Osburn is doing for Chiropractors with his Laptop Lifestyle movement. Talk about disruption.
As Gary Vaynerchuck often states, "you need to be disrupting your own business before somebody else does." Are you being left behind?
Demonetized
Money is increasingly removed from the equation as the technology becomes cheaper, often to the point of being free. Software is less expensive to produce than hardware and copies are virtually free. You can now download any number of apps on your phone to access terabytes of information and enjoy a multitude of services at costs approaching zero.
Modern Chiropractic Marketing
Creating great content on your website drastically increases your organic Google search. No more cost on phone book listings and ads.
Digital Newsletters. No cost of direct mail, but I do love direct mail newsletters if you can afford it.
FB live is free!
FB ads are extremely underpriced for its effectiveness and its targeting capabilities.
Start or be active in a local closed FB group that is within your niche. For instance, I am extremely active in a Triathlon FB group since I treat many triathletes.
YouTube Videos
Email is a very low monthly subscription cost.
Information on marketing has been demonetized. I.E. The Modern Chiropractic Marketing Group, podcasts, etc.
Fiverr and Upwork to handle of your production needs for extremely low costs.
Dematerialized
Separate physical products are removed from the equation. Technologies that were once bulky or expensive- radio, camera, GPS, video, phones, maps- are now all in a smartphone that fits in your pocket.
Modern Chiropractic Marketing
Cell phone to shoot videos instead of full photography set up
Digital marketing instead of mailers. Great demographics targeting. (Full disclosure, I still believe in the value of direct mail newsletters and such). I send out direct mail birthday cards, welcome letters, thank you letters for referrals, Micro-Break Cards, etc.
Electronic Medical Records systems that reduce clutter, increase patient communication through appointment reminders, etc.
Democratized
Once something is digitized, more people can have access to it. Powerful technologies are no longer only for governments, large organizations, or the wealthy.
Modern Chiropractic Marketing
It used to cost a lot of money to have a fully involved marketing strategy as a Chiropractor. Now it does not, relatively speaking.
I wholeheartedly believe in delegating and outsourcing, and when you can afford it, outsource your marketing. As well, if your marketing dollars are producing great results, I believe in putting more money towards that strategy. You are in effect printing money. Don’t forget that!
Once again, marketing information is democratized and readily available for all Chiropractors.
“The Six Ds are a road map showing what can happen when an exponential technology is born. Not every phase is easy, but the results give even small teams the power to change the world in a faster and more impactful way than traditional business ever could.”
- Vanessa Bates Ramirez
As Kim Walsh-Phillips states in her book “No B.S. Guide to Direct Response Social Media Marketing."
“Different is better than better."
How are you going to cut through the content clutter and differentiate your practice?
I recognize that you probably are aware of much of the content of this article, but I challenge you to get your mindset out of the box that is the Chiropractic profession. It is truly a great time to be a Chiropractor, you just have to discard the limiting beliefs and old school thought processes. You can have a fully developed marketing plan no matter the perceived limitations. That is my challenge to you.
For a complete understanding of the 6 D’s I highly recommend Peter Diamandis’ book “Abundance”. It will transform your outlook on our future.
For Access to the full article referenced, by Vanessa Bates Ramirez
https://singularityhub.com/2016/11/22/the-6-ds-of-tech-disruption-a-guide-to-the-digital-economy/