Are You Missing the Best New Patient Options in 2021?
Last Updated: February 18, 2021
The last year has been unpredictable. Marketing programs that chiropractors have used for years have disappeared in the era of lockdowns and social distancing. This rapid change has been frightening to many doctors, but change always brings new opportunities.
Today we oversee close to 2,000 chiropractors scattered across the US and several other countries. Those that invested themselves into their online marketing efforts in 2020 did better than ever. Competition dropped and many savvy doctors saw significant increases.
The online world can be confusing. There are so many different ways and places to spend money, that it causes many doctors to feel overwhelmed. Should they run Bing Ads? Facebook? Google? Yellow Pages? YouTube? LinkedIn? Twitter? The list goes on and on.
The most common question we hear at Inception today is…“Outside of my website, what can I do to get more new patients online?”
There are really two consistent options:
Yes, these are the same platforms that offices have already been using the past couple of years, but the simple fact is that they work.
Google Adwords should be your first choice in producing high-quality leads online because it allows you to be the first visible option that a potential patient sees whenever they search for a chiropractor in your area.
If your traffic from the Ads leads to your website with nice professional quality pictures and a clear call to action, they will convert.
There isn’t an office that shouldn’t be running Google Ads if they are wanting to be aggressive online and it’s the first place to start when trying to reach new patients online.
Facebook, on the other hand, is a little bit more tricky.
In some cities, it can be that silver bullet that every company claims it to be. In other areas, I’ve seen offices go through company after company, only to get the same result of nothing at all.
The difference in results ultimately comes down to how well you can craft an offer that breaks through the noise of the news feed and entice an audience who was never intent on visiting a chiropractor when they initially decided to log onto Facebook.
What makes Facebook great is that it allows you to reach a whole new audience that isn’t out there on Google looking for you. It can be a great option for offices that are wanting to increase their overall exposure to potential customers in their area.
If you’ve never tried Facebook Ads before, it is definitely worth a shot, and something that I recommend every office try for at least one month.
What else is happening in 2021
In 2021, online marketing is also starting to make another gradual shift towards automation.
There are now dashboards that can automate the entire process of turning a lead into a patient. This means that anytime a lead comes in, a potential patient automatically receives personalized texts and emails that encourage them to become a new patient in your office.
On top of that, an office can automate their patient onboarding process, complete with online fillable paperwork, appointment reminders, and even reactivation messaging to re-engage patients and get them back into care.
With all of these systems available, it can allow your office to truly shift its focus back to your patients. You will no longer have to worry if administrative tasks are being completed in the office because they will all be happening in the background.
For offices that start to embrace this automation, their next big step would be to increase patient flow by leveraging new (or improving old) systems to continue to lead more patients into the office.
As you fine-tune your strategy for this year, we at Inception have broken down online marketing for chiropractors down into these 7 essential steps:
