This post was originally published on this site
Digital marketing has become an increasingly prevalent part of growth strategies for every business, including businesses in the healthcare and wellness industries. For chiropractors and other health and wellness business owners, now is the time to invest in digital marketing to keep up with trends, stay relevant in the market, and continue to scale at a healthy rate.
The evolution of marketing in health and wellness
Chiropractic businesses once relied on more traditional methods of marketing to spread the word, such as direct mail advertising through snail mail or screening events in the community. These methods require significant time and effort to organize, and — worse yet — distract the practitioner from doing their real job. While these might have been effective years ago, they no longer offer as much bang for their buck when there are easier, more affordable ways of marketing a practice.
Instead, owners of chiropractic practices should focus on generating new leads through more efficient and cost-effective means. These days, the two most effective forms of lead generation to find new patients are word-of-mouth referrals and digital marketing. However, it is important to remember that both methods have strengths and weaknesses businesses must understand when devising a marketing strategy.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool, but it is limited in its range and ability to reach new leads. Word-of-mouth marketing only reaches leads known to existing patients, such as friends and family members. For practices that pride themselves on exceptional guest service, word-of-mouth can be useful in generating long-lasting and loyal referrals. Still, in most cases, this approach to growth is slower than a business needs.
On the other hand, digital marketing can offer rapid exposure for practices. One of the big advantages of our online society is that we are perpetually connected, meaning that digital marketing materials can be deployed almost instantaneously after they are created. This is a stark contrast to traditional marketing materials, which take time to produce and distribute.
Digital marketing is the future of healthcare lead generation
Digital marketing is quickly becoming the dominant method of lead generation in the health and wellness industry. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google are massive in their reach — and their audiences are growing in size every day. As such, digital marketing is an invaluable tool for businesses that want to reach as many prospects as possible.
Digital marketing also allows businesses to target the right audience with the desired level of specificity. When marketing for medical practices, it is important to market to the right geographic range, depending on the location. For example, a practice located in a city might only have a two- to three-mile radius from which they can realistically source patients, whereas practices located in more suburban or rural areas may be able to target a larger range.
Ultimately, these considerations come down to understanding the practice’s unique marketing needs, which requires a marketing partner intimately familiar with the industry and your business. There are several factors that will determine what strategy is most effective for them — an independent practice, for instance, will have different goals and needs than a franchise location of a national practice — and identifying these nuances is the key to a successful digital marketing campaign.
However, perhaps one of the most important benefits of digital marketing for chiropractors is that it allows them to focus their time and energy on what matters most: caring for their patients. Outsourcing digital marketing to a skilled and experienced marketing partner can ensure consistency in messaging without requiring practitioners to take time out of their already busy schedules.
ADVERTISEMENT
Digital marketing is the future of lead generation for chiropractors and other business owners in the healthcare and wellness industry. This method helps chiropractors generate new and qualified leads for their business but also allows them to deliver even better service to their patients by taking this responsibility off their plate.
About the author: Gill Valerio is an entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of his agency, Elevate Marketing. The agency is focused on driving new revenue through digital marketing primarily in the Chiropractic niche. Now in business for 6 very successful years now, having helped numerous Chiropractors get back to loving their business and helping the patients in need the most.
