Are you a chiropractor who needs to attract high-quality new patients to your practice?
Every patient visit is valuable, but chiropractors love working with patients who are:
- In need of and interested in long-term treatment
- Compliant with treatment recommendations
- Punctual for visits and payments
- Pleasant to work with
- Eager to refer your practice to others
Great care encourages patients to develop these qualities, but the first step is getting them through the door for the first time.
Attracting new patients requires a variety of marketing approaches along with business practices that make your office a welcoming destination for first-time visitors. Here are a few strategies to employ at your practice to improve new patient recruitment.
Develop a Strong Online Presence
Your practice’s online presence starts with an attractive and user-friendly website, but shouldn’t end there.
A strong online presence may include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO) for your website
- Consistent updates and content creation, such as blog articles
- Creating and sharing educational videos
- An active social media presence
- Listings on platforms like Yelp and Google Business Profile
First, make a comprehensive effort to improve your online presence. Then, develop a plan for consistently monitoring and updating your website and accounts.
Utilize Local SEO
A beautiful website is wasted if it isn’t seeing any traffic. That’s why SEO is a critical aspect of effective online marketing.
SEO involves the strategic presentation of content that helps your website rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). In particular, SEO can improve your SERP rankings for search queries that relate to your geographic region. For example, effective SEO will direct more searchers to your website after entering queries like “chiropractor in (your city)” or “chiropractor near me”.
An existing website’s SEO can often be significantly improved with just a few minor tweaks. Or, to maintain a strong and sustained search engine presence, you can commit to a long-term traffic-driving approach via blog articles and other content.
Some expertise is required to improve your website’s SEO. Fortunately, this work is easily outsourced to talented and affordable digital marketing agencies or consultants.
Offer Free Consultations
A free consultation is one of a chiropractor’s best tools for converting a prospect into a patient.
During a free consultation, a patient can come into the office and get familiar with your practice without making a financial commitment.
Free consultations create an opportunity for you to offer enticing evidence about the benefits of your care. For chiropractors who successfully convert free consultations into long-term patients, free consultations are great investments.
Run Promotions or Specials
Similar to free consultations, promotions, and price specials motivate cost-sensitive prospects to give your practice a try.
Some simple approaches to discounts and specials include:
- Offering discounted prices for first visits
- Offering discounted prices during certain time periods, such as holiday specials
- Distributing coupons
- Running contests or giveaways that new patients can enter to win free appointments
Like free consultations, discounts, and specials represent small investments with major potential payoffs. By offering minor short-term savings, your practice earns lucrative opportunities to win over patients who might otherwise look elsewhere.
Partner with Other Businesses
Many chiropractors find value in partnering with other local businesses in order to cross-promote and gain exposure to more potential patients. For example, your practice can partner with a local gym or spa to offer package deals that include discounted rates to both businesses.
You may also choose to network with other small business owners through referral groups such as Business Network International (BNI). These organizations connect you with other local entrepreneurs who are motivated to establish mutually-beneficial connections.
Be Strategic About Using Insurance
There are pros and cons to accepting insurance. Many chiropractors choose the cash-only route. Cash-only practices don’t have to deal with insurance companies that typically offer restricted coverage and aren’t generally supportive of preventive care or long-term treatment plans.
However, while accepting insurance can be very frustrating, it may broaden a practice’s appeal to a wider group of patients In certain marketplaces. Some consumers may not consider making health care appointments that aren’t at least partially covered by their insurance, but many will if value and results are what they are looking for. Thus, while accepting insurance may seem to offer a competitive edge over cash-only practices, it is imperative to weigh out the pros and cons of private pay vs. insurance participation.
Get More Tips for Attracting Quality Patients
At Aligned Mentoring for Chiropractors, we work with ambitious chiropractors who want to grow their practices. If you’re eager to make moves that quickly and substantially increase your new patient bookings, we can help.
To learn more, contact AMC today to schedule a no-pressure consultation.
