PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS SERVICE, WE ARE DEPENDING ON BUZZ MARKETING

WWW.FreeDCHelp.COM is up and running and full of information.  This site’s purpose is to provide a repository of materials that will be helpful to those in the profession.  On this site will be posted archived articles as well as sample reports, letters and marketing materials — FREE.  I also hope that as much assistance that this site may be able to provide to you, that you will see the need to pass along this “Secret” to others.   

Please do not hesitate to contact me, drvernonchiro@aol.com, if you feel that you may have information, resources or web content that could provide additional assistance to those in the profession. Please feel free to write me with comments or criticisms.

Remember: To get the most out of this newsletter, I suggest that you print it out and read it-don’t skim it-Refer back to it when implementing your marketing plan

The September/October patient newsletter has been posted to the web site and is available by clicking here. I suggest that you print it on Orange paper because of the Halloween season. You want to tell the printer, (Staples, Kinko’s) that you want 2 sided 11 X 17 copies, (make sure the pages collate correctly) on Orange paper, folded in half and then in thirds so it fits in a #10 envelope. (1000 copies cost me $465 at Kinko’s I hear THAT Staples is less about $300) Enclose gift certificates, about 3 in each newsletter for your patients to use too send in friends and family members. We have added a line on the gift certificates for the practice member to sign their name. This gives them a feeling of importance.

There Is No Such Thing As Junk Mail

When it comes to marketing, there are very few original ideas. To quote one famous marketer, “Pioneers and trailblazers come back with arrows in them. It’s much better to be an innovator instead.”

In fact, many of today’s hot marketing ideas originated in the early 1900’s in offline advertising and marketing. And many are take off’s from BJ.

Let me give you a few examples that I’m sure you have seen before:

Example #1: Give out product samples to prospects. If you are a service professional in this case a chiropractor, you give out “Free Exams” or “Spinal Checks” or “Thermal Scans” .

The marketing idea known as sampling was created in the early 1900’s by a man named Claude Hopkins. He created the idea of samples because he was hired to help a company sell its line of toothpaste.

Example #2: You go to a website and in order to get a free item, you have to give them your contact information like your name and email address. That item might be a report, e-course, or an audio/video clip. You get a series of emails and share additional information.

This is known as lead generation marketing. This type of marketing became popular in the 1970’s with classified ads offering a free report on some type of home-based business. The targeted prospect then gets a series of mailings that attempt to sell them one or more products. In your case, chiropractic services

“Okay Lenny, What’s Your Point?”

My point is, you need to start a marketing idea file. Professional copywriters and marketers call it a swipe file. When they need an idea for a marketing piece that they are doing, they can look at other ads or marketing pieces they have in their file to help get their creative juices flowing.

Even professionals know that they don’t have to create a brand new idea every time. They don’t need to invent a brand new wheel each time they write a marketing piece. They can borrow an idea from one industry and use it in another. Become creative, take the reports that you are sending to patients and create new ones for other conditions.

Another way professionals use their idea file is when they are writing a marketing piece and need some help with the headline. They “swipe” a headline from another marketing piece and rework it to meet their needs. (Note: while the professional term is “swiping”, it is not plagiarism. It’s not copying it word for word. It is creating your own headline that is similar in grammar or structure to a successful headline.)

“What Do You Put In Your Idea File?”

I recommend starting separate files for offline and online marketing. What works for online marketing doesn’t always translate well to offline marketing.

Most chiropractors will save marketing that they like which promotes other chiropractors.

That’s a big mistake. You need a broader pool of creative ideas to draw from. In addition, all of your comptetitors are borrowing their marketing ideas from each other.

Eventually, every chiropractor in an area is using marketing that looks and sounds the same. When a prospective client can’t figure out which chiropractor is best, then they resort to making a decision based on price.

Each time you see marketing that “wows” you,
save a copy of it in your idea file.

Open and analyze every piece of “Junk Mail” you get.

Think of it as getting a new piece of information to help you make more money.

Label it with a separate piece of paper and list what you really liked about that piece. Really focus on marketing and ads you see for other industries.

For example, I have a postcard from a plumber in my idea file that is extremely well-written. If I ever was stuck for an idea on a writing a new postcard marketing piece, the plumber’s postcard might be one of the first ones I’d take out and look over again.

Organize your file so it’s easy to find what you are looking for. I have stuff sorted by a variety of topics. For example, here’s 4 of the topics I have stuff sorted by:

Great Headlines
Great Marketing Ideas
Service Business Ideas
Product Business Ideas

The next time you sit down to write a marketing piece, you can borrow ideas from your idea file. Give it a try — your bank account will thank you!

21 “Secrets” From Anthony Robbins

Ø      ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

Ø      TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their
conversational skills will be as important as any other.

Ø      THREE. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all
you want.

Ø      FOUR. When you say, “I love you,” mean it.

Ø      FIVE.. When you say, “I’m sorry,” look the person in the eye.

Ø      SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

Ø      SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

Ø      EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone’s dream. People who don’t have dreams
don’t have much.

Ø      NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the
only way to live life completely.

 Ø      TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling

 Ø      ELEVEN. Don’t judge people by their relatives.

 Ø      TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

 Ø      THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer,
smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”

 Ø      FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve
great risk.

 Ø      FIFTEEN. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.

 Ø      SIXTEEN. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson

 Ø      SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for
others; and responsibility for all your actions.

 Ø      EIGHTEEN. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

 Ø      NINETEEN. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps
to correct it.

 Ø      TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it
in your voice.

 Ø      TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.

“One Thing” That All Your Marketing Must Have.

What is the “One Thing” That You MUST Have In All Of Your Marketing pieces If You Actually Want Them To Be Effective? What I’m about to describe for you is probably, hands-down the most important part of any advertisement. In fact, I would go as far as to say that if this part of an ad, flyer, brochure, letter, postcard, yellow pages ad, or any marketing piece for that matter, is not done correctly, the likelihood of the marketing piece pulling new clients for you is slim to none.Marketing genius and author of the incredibly popular book, “Tested Advertising Methods” John Caples (which I highly recommend), says that this one part of a marketing piece actually accounts for 80% of the piece’s success or failure. Caples actually calls it, “the most important part of an advertisement”. There have been tons of books written on this “One Thing”. There have been tons of workshops and seminars given on this “One Thing”. Some marketing consultants actually get paid thousands of dollars just to make sure that this part of a patient’s ad is just right.So, what is this “One Thing” that can make or break any and all of your marketing efforts? It’s what’s called a Benefit Rich Headline, and when used properly can attract double, triple, even quadruple the number of new patients that you are getting right now with any of your current marketing.

Let me explain what it is and how you can instantly begin using this crucial marketing principle. But, before I do that let me explain exactly where most chiropractors (most professionals in general) go terribly wrong with all of their marketing.

Here’s one of the biggest mistakes…They use their name or the name of their practice as the headline of their ad. This is a common and killer mistake. Here’s why. First, it ends up looking exactly like everyone else’s ad. Second, it doesn’t speak to anybody’s needs.

If you really want your marketing to be effective and really draw people in, you have to understand a very important marketing principle. The Headline in an advertisement should serve one purpose and one purpose only. And that is to get someone to read the rest of the ad.

Period!The way you accomplish that is by having a headline that talks about a benefit (or benefits) that your prospective patients are looking for.

Let me give you a couple of examples, and then I’ll come
back and explain some more. Here are some examples of Benefit Rich Headlines:

“How to eliminate your back pain forever, without any drugs,
all while experiencing the most relaxing 45 minutes of your
life”

“Who else would like to get rid of their back pain forever,
without any drugs and in 60 minutes or less?”

“Discover the 45 minute secret that reduces stress and
gives you more energy than you ever thought possible”“Why this simple technique can eliminate your back pain
forever”

Think about someone with back pain seeing an advertisement for a chiropractor that has this as the headline:

Len Vernon, DC
East Gate Chiropractic

Now think about that same person seeing an advertisement that has this as the headline:

“Discover the secret of how to eliminate your back pain forever, without using a single drug…Guaranteed!”

Which do you think is going to be more effective at luring the person in to read the remainder of the ad? The second one.  No doubt.

Why?

Because it speaks to exactly what it is that a person with back pain is looking for.

That’s the key.

Remember, people are emotional creatures by nature. People make buying decisions out of emotion, not out of logic. We buy things emotionally and then later on rationalize the buying decision with logic.

Why is that important to understand?

Because when we hit people’s emotional hot buttons - by talking to them about their problem, their circumstance, A BENEFIT TO THEM - and not about the techniques that we offer or the years we’ve been in practice, we are much, much, much, more likely to see them read our ad and take some action.

Always remember…when in doubt, appeal to someone’s emotions by talking to them about how you, your service, or your practice can directly benefit them.

Now, there are a couple of really important points that you need to grasp.

Number 1, your name or the name of your practice should never be the headline in your ad.

I know that this tip sounds totally contradictory to what everyone else is doing, but having your name (or something that’s not an emotional triggering benefit) as the headline is a HUGE mistake. I hate to have to say it this way, and this is going to probably come out sounded really bad, but hey what the heck…It never stopped me before.

Nobody reading your ad cares about you or your practice.

I know that sounds really, really harsh, but unfortunately, it’s the truth. What people are thinking when they’re reading your ad is, “what’s in it for me?” For a headline to be effective, it must convey a benefit. And, the bigger the benefit, the more effective the headline.

If you’re thinking to yourself that you don’t want to have a headline that only talks about back pain, or a headline that only talks about energy or allergy relief, because chiropractic is more than any one of those services, than you might have to read up on Niche Marketing.

The principle of Niche Marketing says that all of your marketing should be niched.  Meaning that you should NOT try to be all things to all people in all of your marketing. Instead, pick one of the niche groups that you work with (back pain, headache, etc.) and individualize your marketing pieces so that they appeal to only one group at a time.

You can explain ALL of the benefits of chiropractic and offer a bunch of different services, like nutrition but when you are marketing, you want to market to one group at a time. This way you won’t look like a jack of all trades, and instead you will look like specialist.

Remember, specialists always get paid more for their services.

Cardiologists always get paid more than general practitioners.

Why? Well that’s a positioning issue and one that I don’t have enough time to get into in this issue.  But, I promise you I will in a later issue.

So, to rap this baby up…

1. Think about the exact group that you are trying to attract
with your marketing piece.

2. Determine exactly what it is that they want - the chief
benefit.

3. Come up with a headline that offers and promises to deliver
on that chief benefit, and use that as your headline.

Quick side note - using words like Discover, Secret, Easy,
Last Chance, You, Free, Suddenly, New, Breakthrough, Quick,
Miracle, The Truth About, Introducing, Facts You Should,
Suddenly, and How To, in your headlines will drastically increase the response rate of the ad.

It might sound crazy, and I know you might be thinking to yourself that I’m out of my mind - that it sounds like stuff from the tabloids - but it works!

And, it works like gangbusters.

When you try it for yourself you will be a believer for sure.

If you make that one change alone to all of your marketing
pieces (add a Benefit Rich Headline) I guarantee that you will
see a massive increase in the response to all of your ads.

Still available-A Must Read Classic

Think and Grow Rich is a classic motivational book. Every marketing guru in chiropractic recommends it and this is one of those rare occasions that I do as well. I think every chiropractor “NEEDS” to read this book and refer to it often. Especially while trying to increase your practice numbers. You can have an e-book version for instant download for $3.00 (3 measly bucks to increase your brain) by clicking here. You will receive a $3.00 invoice from Paypal. Once paid the e-book is sent

I WILL NEVER SELL, LOAN, SUPPLY OR IN ANY WAY GIVE YOU INFORMATION TO ANOTHER THIRD PARTY. THIS IS MY PROMISE.