Chiropractic Postcards- Are They Worth It?

Sending postcards may seem a bit old-school, but you shouldn't underestimate their effectiveness at driving new patients and re-activations.

Today we'll break down the three important types of postcards that you need for your chiropractic practice. Typically I talk a lot about social media and online marketing (because it's SUPER important) because it's the best way you can grow your practice quickly. But there is something to be said for the physical nature of mailing a postcard. And there are three postcard types I would recommend starting immediately which all have an extremely high return on investment.

Chiropractic Happy Birthday Postcards

So postcard type number one is the good old fashioned "Happy Birthday" postcard. We all know getting physical mail carries way more perceived importance than just an email. Think about it yourself. When it's your birthday, you open up the mailbox you'll see a card there. It makes you feel good! You should, of course also send a happy birthday email to your patient but sending a physical postcard at somebody's birthday has that little bit extra pizazz. It's a little bit special, it's a little bit over the top, and I think it delivers a very high return on investment through goodwill and caring.

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Chiropractic Reactivation Postcard Set

$15.00

Patient communication is the centerpiece of every chiropractic office. Send your reactivation mail with the most elegant and modern chiropractic patient postcards available today. The back is blank to accommodate a personal message and/or your office information. 

Pack of 100

Add to cart

The second type of postcard you should be sending is a re-activation postcard. The goal of this postcard is to engage with your past patients, let them know you've been thinking about them and that you care.

Over time you will have an inactive patients list in the hundreds, if not thousands. Sending a physical postcard and reminder of your practice thorugh direct mail is a compelling way to stimulate re-activations. Incidentally, you should also be sending these reminders consistently through email, but mixing in a physical postcard every few months is a great way to deepen your relationship and add another touch point.

A reminder that you exist is an excellent opportunity for your in-active patients to pick up the phone and call your office. How many patients leave your practice happy and healthy? Probably more than 90%. So think about it, you have a plethora of "fans' of your practice out there in your community. Don't hesitate to remind them with a physical postcard that you are part of their healthcare team and you are ready to help when they need you.

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Chiropractic Holiday Postcard Set

$15.00

Patient communication is the centerpiece of every chiropractic office. Send your Holiday mail with the most elegant and modern chiropractic patient postcards available today. 

Pack of 100

Add to cart

The third type of postcard you should consider is a holiday card. Around the New Year is a great time to send a physical piece of mail to your patients and let them know you are thinking of them. Pro-tip- the timing of your holiday card can vary. If you are looking for a boost in the new year, then it may be beneficial to wait until after the 1st to send. If you are looking for a little practice uptick before the close of the year (and as your patients are looking at their deductibles) then sending the holiday card towards the beginning of December may be a better idea. It's up to you!

These three postcards will give you touch point practically every quarter with your patients.

I'd encourage you to explore sending postcards in 2019. Test it. See what kind of return on investment you can get. I think you'll be happily surprised with the results.

Chiropractic Salary: How much money can you make as a chiropractor?

In this article we will look at the good, the bad, the ugly and even one avenue you may not have thought of that has been shown to generate up to 10% MORE revenue for your practice.

When we talk about chiropractic salaries, it's important to keep in mind that over 70% of the chiropractic profession are "sole proprietors." So it's not an actual salary that is taken. Most chiropractors take home whatever money is left after expenses. This equation is (top line revenue- expenses = take home pay) That take-home pay is what many chiropractors call their salary, even though by textbook definition it might not be an actual salary.

Chiropractic salaries- how much can you expect to make if you are a doc?

Total Revenue - Total Expenses = Most Chiropractors Take Home Pay (aka- salary)

So what does all that jargon mean?

Well, number one it says if you are not taking an actual salary. Think of an accountant at a grocery store. Their salary may be $65,000 per year, paid every two weeks. This amount stays the same every two weeks, regardless of if they took a vacation, or if the company made or lost money over those two weeks. A salary is defined as a fixed amount of pay over a certain amount of time.

So, you can probably already start to see that for many chiropractors there can be fluctuation. If you are taking home the amount of between the top line revenue and expenses, it can be variable from year to year, month to month, or even week to week. So unlike our accountant with a fixed salary in a corporation that might be $65,000 with a two percent raise each year; as a chiropractor to have the opportunity to make a lot more money OR a lot less money. So understanding the salary for many chiropractors is continually changing is critical to know as we start to look at the numbers.

via GIPHY

Now let's start at the bottom of the barrel. What the research has shown is that the bottom 10% of a chiropractor's salary is around $30,000 per year. Not exactly a good return on investment for eight years of schooling and upwards of $200,000 in debt.

So that is important to keep in mind with your planning. As a new chiropractor, it's unlikely you are going to be out purchasing your first sports car when you start your practice. As a new doc, unless you are bringing a big audience, a unique skill set, or you have found a fantastic opportunity, the starting point for your salary is often going to be quite low. The good news is that chiropractic salaries tend to rise the longer you are in practice. So while the first few years can be very tough, often there is light at the end of the tunnel!

As we get up towards the middle of the curve, we see two different sets of numbers emerge. Chiropractic Economics runs an annual, and the self-reported median salary is right around $100,000. However, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics pegs the middle closer to $80,000.

So the question is when self-reporting are a lot of chiropractors inflating their salaries? Or is it maybe just an incomplete data set?

Either way, it seems as though $80,000-100,000 is a good median point for a chiropractic income or salary. Now interestingly, as I mentioned earlier the data shows that salaries tend to increase as time goes on. So the longer you are around your community, the more that you have built a brand, and the more past patients you've seen, the more money you will statistically make.

via GIPHY

At the highest end, there is not a salary cap. In many cities, there are practices where the chiropractic owner can take home over $1,000,000 per year. Typically these practices have incorporated associate doctors across multiple locations that help grow the revenue.

And finally, the data has shown retail services can increase your top line revenue by 10% or more. This could consist of DME (durable medical equipment), nutritional supplements, pillows, and more.

More recently this type of "retail" has expanded into group coaching, clinic-gym hybrids, cross-fit classes, and other services. These new service lines have the opportunity to sit in the perfect sweet spot- lucrative for the provider and extremely beneficial for the patients.

So there you have it. Feel free to comment down below with any questions that you may have!

The Top 3 Blog Post Topics to Skyrocket Your Website Traffic

You may already know that blogging can drive massive traffic to your website and help more future patients find your office by improving your search engine optimization.

But while most chiropractors realize they should be blogging, far too many don't know where to start.

Does that sound familiar?

If so, you are in the right place, because in this article you will discover the three key categories and topics that will help you produce hundreds of future blogs!

The Top Chiropractic Blog Post Ideas

1- Create LISTS

Creating lists is a great way to start blogging, or to pump up your blog because they are relatively easy to execute and provide tremendous value for the people in your audience. You may choose to start with a list of healthy snacks. It's always nice to feature your favorite local healthy restaurants. Or maybe you even put together a list of your recommended stretches and exercises.

There are hundreds if not thousands of different ways you can go with it. The list's also tend to perform very well because the headlines typically grab attention. By putting together a variety of blogs around lists, you can provide a nice quick way for people to see your subject matter expertise.

Also, since they are easy to read, it's more likely the audience will "digest" the material, implement, and take action steps. So lists are an easy way to start blogging — an easy way to start posting that could have a tremendous impact.

Get "The Top 5 Researched Benefits of Chiropractic" Blog Post Here!

2- How-to Blogs

How-to videos blogs and videos are fantastic for many of the same reasons as lists. They provide immense value for the people in your audience. The other great thing about how-to blogs is the extra juice you will get from Google with search engine optimization. Many people start their search by typing "how-to...". So if you have a blog post that answers the question of "how to...", it becomes MUCH more likely that Google (and all of the other search engines) will push you to the top.

How-To Blogs Take Advantage of Google AutoFill and Drive More Traffic to Your Website

As the search engines push you to the top, it can disproportionately affect your website traffic. Studies have indicated the top 5 search results get over 75% of the total traffic, so moving even one position can make a HUGE difference on terms that are searched frequently.

More traffic means more people will visit your website and more people will begin to understand your unique healthcare message which will inevitably result in an increase of new patients into your practice. So "how to" blogs are fantastic. You can go to thousands of different directions; these are an excellent way to start putting out blog content quickly and efficiently while also helping your search engine optimization.

3- Weekly Health Tips

And finally, the third content category is weekly health tips. This is a huge focus of what we do at The Smart Chiropractor and have seen tremendous success. When you can provide health information, health education, and health entertainment every week, it's a tremendous value-add to the people in your audience. It's also great for audience building.

Evaluating research updates and explaining why it matters to your audience (the life impact) is one powerful way to go. You could also feature a healthy exercise that you have found helps your patients with low back complaints.

There are a million different ways you can go with weekly health tips, but the bottom line is that they are a great way to establish cadence and consistency with your brand and practice. Putting out consistent content is crucial. And when you can do it in a way that adds education, information, and entertainment to someone's day- well know you have a piece that ready to be shared!

Get a FREE "Research That Matters" Blog Post!

You'll notice a common theme between all of these categories. They all focus on the other person. They focus on your community, your audience. So take a moment to understand what are you after. Who is the ideal person that you'd want to see in your practice?

Then ask yourself what the primary issues or problems that those individuals are dealing with are.

Then break it down one step farther and ask:

Visual Representation of Your Web Traffic After Following These Tips

• How can I teach them something that benefits with a how-to blog/video?

• What's the list that they might be interested in that will make their life better and or more comfortable?

• And what is a weekly health tip that will tie it all together?

Focus on providing content that will help make their day and life better.

When you're putting out blog content on your website and social media channels it can help position you as that expert. It will help you become a healthcare leader in your community.

If you have any questions or you want to run any topics by me, leave them down in the comments below. I'll be happy to chip in and help you get on the right path to improve your SEO, ramp up your content production and getting more people into your practice!

How to Create an Iconic Chiropractic Logo

Designing a chiropractic logo can be challenging! You probably spent more time in the clinic than at the museum of modern design. This article is intended to simplify the process for you. I'll help you discover the three key design elements that will help make your chiropractic logo stand out and make a lasting impression.

Also, we'll look at some examples of what not to do when creating a logo that will represent your business for years to come.

Logo design got me like…

Creating a chiropractic logo for your practice that can stand the test of time and perhaps even last your entire career isn't easy. So we're going to go through the three key things that you need to keep in mind as you go through that process to make sure you get the result you desire.

Now whether you are a new doc just starting out or maybe a doc who's getting ready to rebrand your practice, deciding on a logo can be one of the most intense times in anyone's practice. You want to make the right decision. You want to make sure it's going to be something that you can be proud of, and that's it's not going to look dated and drab in a few years. This is so important because the branding and logo of your practice are going to be on every piece of marketing material that you get out to the people in your community. That's why it's so important to do it right the first time!

There are three key things that you can keep in mind as you go through your process to make sure you get a fantastic logo that will make you proud.

1- Clean Design

Number one is looking out for clean design. Ever notice how the suits Frank Sintra wore in the 1950's look just as sharp today. It's all about clean design. He wasn't wearing a frilly Seinfeld-esque pirate shirt. It was clean and straightforward. So make sure that your logo is not too intricate.

This is a common problem I see with a ton of chiropractic clinics.

Especially when you want to incorporate a spine when you get small, and that image gets smaller, and you try to get it into the top of a paper, or you try to get it very small on a shirt. It just becomes a blurry mess. Keep in mind that cleaner design enables your logo to be seen very quickly and very easily if you think of some of the biggest companies that you know Nike has the check or the swoosh. McDonald's is the M. Google is the G. There is a clean aesthetic design where it does not get messy. It does not get blurry regardless of how it is utilized a clean design is number one.

2- Breaking Apart Image and Text

Number two is making sure that you can break apart the image and the text. So a lot of times you might have a brand name for your practice and then a small icon. Be sure that you can break those apart. Depending upon how you want to utilize your logo- if the logo is too tall or too wide you can become jammed into a sloppy final product. But when you can take the little icon and maybe move the words to the left move the words to the right or keep it centered and balanced, you have the opportunity to utilize your exact branding your logo your icon on all your merchandise and marketing materials without having to compromise on aesthetics.

When we're talking about logo and branding it's all about aesthetics; so make sure that you can break up the words and the little image or icon so you can utilize it with all of your marketing channels.

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Clean design.

Please don’t do it.

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3- Get the VIBE right

Number three make sure that your logo and branding match the aesthetic of your clinic. If you have a clean, modern practice, make sure that that logo is clean and contemporary. This simplifies the process and friction for consumers or future patients. Consequently, if you have a rustic office don't hesitate to go rustic with your logo. There are still ways to make that look beautiful. But keep in mind that the branding and the colors of your logo should very much mirror what people are going to see and experience when they come into your practice. When they receive something via e-mail, go in for a visit, or check out your website, everything should be unified. That is what establishes branding. It is the unification of your aesthetics and messaging.

Photoshop…or did this happen in real life?

BONUS TIP- Got to keep them separated!

Whether your logo designed was sourced from Fiverr or if it's an independent designer, make sure that you get one copy without the background. I've seen too many practices where they have a nice beautiful logo, and it's just on white. And they're trying to use it on something that's not white like a shirt, and they end up with a white square on a dark shirt with a logo on top. There are plenty of programs where you can strip the background cleanly and efficiently, but while you're at it, ask your graphic designer.

Creating a logo, and branding are a few of the most important things that you can do as you establish your practice and also as you grow and evolve. But keep in mind clean design wins the day. These quick tips will get you 99 percent of the way there!

I'd love to see your logo, and I'm happy to provide any feedback as well. Drop them down in the comments below. I'll take a look, and I'll answer any questions that you may have.

And remember, "great design is devine" - (me)

Understanding the Lifetime Value of a Chiropractic Patient

Understanding the lifetime value of a patient is crucial when marketing your practice. Lifetime value, or LTV, is a particularly important metric when you are spending money on paid search/PPC/Google Adwords. And we all know the power of being able to drive down the cost per click and acquisition. By reducing costs, you will be able to spend more on marketing and scale!

Below is a conversation that I recently had with Matt Adams of Empirical360 here at The Evidence Based Chiropractor HQ where we dive deep into the lifetime value of a patient in your practice and how to maximize your returns.

Understanding the Lifetime Value of a Patient

(conversation has been edited for clarity)

Jeff- Let's dive right in- what's been your experience as far as how many chiropractors or service professionals know the lifetime value of their patient's and what does it mean to their practice?

Matt- So you start with the first question there. The number of chiropractors that I've talked to that has a definitive answer on the lifetime value of a patient is probably close to zero. I don't think that that's through any fault of their own. It's a complicated question to answer.

The reason that lifetime value is so fundamentally important is it's how you can base your decisions on your marketing efforts. Lifetime value helps you assess the health of your practice in regards to patient retention. Are you offering enough services? Are you seeing patients drop off during their care plan? Are referrals coming in? By understanding lifetime value, you can start to answer these questions.

Jeff- The challenge is that a lot of docs get pulled into the weeds when they attempt to calculate LTV. But, in essence, it's quite simple. Just take your total revenue, divided by the number of patients, within a specific timeframe. And that's the easiest way. But using time as the variable, you can do a comparative analysis of let's say last year to this year. Has your lifetime value over time been increasing or decreasing? If you're doing a good job retaining, if you're doing a good job interacting with your patients, and they are coming back into your practice at different points in time it should continue to ascend. And if it's flatlined or it's going down as the year's progress, then that is probably a good indicator that you lack long term retention.

Matt- Yeah absolutely. So there's a couple of different ways that you can look at this as well from a practice standpoint. If the past year is less than what it was four years ago you may ask yourself- did I stop sending out e-mails for patient retention? Did I quit sending out e-mails to get those google reviews and keep people engaged? If you know, last year your revenue numbers for lifetime value are less than what it was four years ago. You have an issue. Another way to way to look at it is based upon your marketing. Again tying back to your e-mail campaigns and getting people engaged through social media, etc.

Jeff- How does lifetime value play into making good decisions with Google Adwords and PPC advertising?

Matt- Yeah it's huge. So it's paramount for us because again we have our own proprietary CRM. We encourage all of our clients to use this not just for the sake of it, but because it's fundamentally important for our clients to be able to grow their practice. But when it comes to having a lifetime value assigned to a particular patient, that's when you can go back to a specific ad, which developed into a lead, and help you optimize your campaigns. We want to be able to maximize towards an actual sale happening, revenue being generated, above and beyond just a lead being created, which is where most marketing companies fall short. Who cares if a point has been created if it generated no revenue for you. So when we look at our CRM, and we see all these different lifetime values that were assigned to this particular campaign which generated that appropriate action step and conversion. That's the importance behind that because then you're getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to your marketing.

Jeff- What are somewhat are some individual factors that you've seen that can affect lifetime value? For instance, your lifetime value may be different in you live in Manhattan compared to Lexington. What are some of the various factors where not everyone is going to have the same lifetime value, and that's okay?

Matt- I would really wouldn't be able to answer that question. And the reason for that is because when I speak to chiropractors about knowing the lifetime value, they don't know the answer to that. So I don't have anything to assign it back to, whether it be demographics, geographic location, etc. But insurance reimbursements are different across the country, and so that's important to know. Because if somebody has a $1,000 marketing budget and has a lifetime value of $300 per patient and we get the three new patients...we're in the red. Whereas if I talk to somebody in different locations that are saying, "we'll make about a $1,000 from every new patient, and I spent $8,000. Well, now they've doubled their money. And so that is a necessary component to your marketing. And that's what's fundamentally important because then as a marketing agency I can tell you if you're going to spend a $1,000 with us and you're saying me that your life lifetime value is $300 per patient and then I may tell you PPC may not be the best option for you right now. Yeah, maybe you do a little bit more social media or organic search.

Jeff- And I think that gets back to some of the points that we've chatted on earlier episodes. Understanding not only the lifetime value that's going to set the anchor but the secondary component of having proper keyword targeting so you're not competing at a level that's beyond the scope of what you can do to increase your conversion rate. The amount you pay per click pay is the advertising amount that you're starting with as the patient goes down the funnel of acquisition so to speak. And if you don't know the lifetime value, you going to have a difficult time deciding as the conversion steps increase along the acquisition cycle.

Matt- Oh yeah absolutely. You know marketing agencies are excellent, but that's also why we prefer to call ourselves a revenue-generating agency.

Jeff- Messy data is not only a chiropractic issue. There are a lot of health care companies that also get stuck in paralysis by analysis and have difficulty making the right decision. The sooner that you understand your data, you will have a competitive advantage, and that's an essential part of doing paid search. Any competitive advantage you can have that drives down the cost of that click or that acquisition is a perfect thing because that enables you to scale.

Matt- Yes absolutely. You need to know where your new patients come from. You don't want to be in the situation where you're looking at your patients and all the information and data that you have for your practice and saying I have no idea what to do going forward. So your data being clean is probably the most important thing.

Jeff- That's an excellent point. You are segmenting out what's what's working and what's not — balancing out branding and sales. You've got to balance short term strategies and long term objectives. And I think that's a that's a tough situation as well as the dilemma of the entrepreneur and the business owner. Many times you start doing things that work, and then you stop doing those things for no good reason! I'm sure that you see that all the time.

Matt- Yeah absolutely. Again it becomes kind of a snowball effect you get going down the path of having different systems and ideas, and you spin off in one direction and you it becomes a very challenging thing to dig yourself out of it. So the better you can clean your data, know your sources for where patients are coming from, and have definite and assignable value for patient acquisition- it will help the growth of your practices is that plain and simple.

Jeff- I think that's a that's a very good ending point. And I encourage everybody if you have questions about lifetime value to throw them down in the comments below. I know Matt, and the team at Empirical will take a look. I'll take a look. We're happy to work with you answer any questions that we can to help you get a better grasp as far as what's going on in your practice with lifetime value.