Chiropractic Direct Mail Marketing

Last Updated: May 17, 2019

Most chiropractors today are always looking for the next latest and greatest chiropractic marketing idea.  What they start to lose sight of is that the best marketing programs are often the old tried and tested systems.  Chiropractic direct mail marketing is one of the best ways to encourage patients to come into your practice.  The crazy thing is that very few doctors use this form of marketing.  In this article I’ll show you how this form of marketing can help to change your practice.

What Doesn’t Work

I believe very strongly in direct mail marketing.  I have always done very well with it, but the great majority of chiropractors I know say that it doesn’t work in their city.  There are certainly cities where this form of marketing works better, but it does work everywhere.

When I was still practicing I was a pretty hardcore Gonstead practitioner.  Doctor Gonstead had a quote that was stenciled on the wall of one of our student training rooms and it said something like this.  Chiropractic always works.  When it doesn’t, don’t question chiropractic, question the application.  I have had success with direct mail marketing in every business that I have been a part of.

I always had a hard time understanding why the people around me were not having success until I looked at what they were mailing out.  If the ads you are running, or the postcards you are mailing, were created by a local marketing company you’re probably in trouble.

I don’t have any formal marketing training or ad copy training, but I’m good at putting myself in the shoes of potential patients.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what I would want to see if I were a potential new client.  When you create ads in this way you see far better success.

What Does Work

In the scope of this article I don’t really want to get into how to write a good ad, but I have some great examples on my website.  We spend a lot of time at chiropractic school learning how to speak like a doctor.  When you write ad copy you need to write like a normal person speaks.

People are not interested in how important you are.  They are interested in what they want.  If you can provide them with heartfelt answers to their questions they will automatically see how important you are.  Give the people what they want and they will work with you when they need help.

Location and Length

If you are going to be placing an ad in a periodical of some kind it has to be on the front cover or maybe on the back.  Don’t buy into the idea that being in the middle is ok.  It’s ok if you want to get 90% less people to see it.  Pay extra for location and you will see much better results.

As far as length goes it depends on the ad.  If you’re doing a big ad then I think having more written copy is a good thing.  Compelling stories are always a good way to go.  If it’s a small ad then keep it simple.  If you try to stuff too much information onto a postcard, you’re wasting your money.

I could really do an entire day seminar on this topic, but the main point of the article is to try to think like a patient.  Write what they need to hear, not what you want to tell them.

By Mike Hamilton