Posts Tagged ‘ chiropractic new patients ’

About a month ago I requested and received a free sample of Chiro-Squad(R) Superheroes trading cards. Being a single dad of a third-grader I know first hand the challenges of communicating the Chiropractic message to children. That’s why when I saw mention of the trading cards on facebook, along with an invitation to receive a free sample pack, I decided to see what the cards were all about.

I was pretty amazed at how fast my free sample pack actually arrived. I expected to wait a week or two but actually received the free sample within 2 or 3 days!   When I opened the package my pleasant surprise continued.

I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much in the way of quality.  I anticipated some light weight stock or cheap paper used for the trading cards. I was shocked to see they are printed on an extremely high quality glossy and heavy weight card stock.  The cards are glossy on the front and back.  The bottom line is these are not the paper thin cards I was expecting. They are definitely designed to withstand daily practice life and the rigors of being collected and traded by children. You can clearly see the gloss and high quality of these cards in the digital photos I snapped of them:

Although I was very satisfied with the cards I decided to move on to the real test, my eight year old son.  As I am reminded on a daily basis. . . there are few things as critical and brutally honest in this world as my eight year old boy.  (I can only imagine what the teen years will be like.)  With that in mind I was prepared for the worst.

I announced that I had ordered him a sample of Chiropractic Superhero trading cards. I expected some eye rolling and groaning but as he flipped through them he instead uttered the single word phrase, “cool!”  That may not sound like much, but if you have ever interacted with a grade school aged male, you’ll recognize it for the glowing positive testimonial that it really is.

He further confirmed his love for the cards later that evening when we had to run some errands.  My son had to take his Chiro-Squad trading cards with him in the car. Another very good sign!  The ultimate compliment for the Chiro-Squad trading cards came a few minutes later when he was describing details he was READING on the back of the cards. Yes you heard me correctly:  An eight year old was voluntarily reading!

He proudly informed me Cervico is his favorite character “because he is from Davenport”.  (My son fondly remembers our days at the Palmer College of Chiropractic campus in Davenport, IA and often requests to move back there someday). He went on to describe some of the body parts supplied by the third cervical spinal nerve.

Although he occasionally needed help with reading some of the words on the back of the cards, he was genuinely excited about learning the information. The few times he had difficulty with reading or pronouncing a word provided a great opportunity to educate him. What a wonderful way to assist him with understanding Chiropractic philosophy and human anatomy!

Overall these cards were a hit with me, and most importantly, with their target audience.  My son has already requested (ok. . . DEMANDED) that I purchase the remaining two packs so he can complete the entire 30 card set.

I currently don’t see a ton of pediatric patients in my Chiropractic practice but I’m hoping these Chiro-Squad trading cards will help change that.  I think they are a great way to reach out to children of existing patients and their families.  I plan on ordering more of the trading cards and the Chiro-Squad practice marketing kit which consists of stickers, tattoos, office posters, and even Chiro-Squad Kids’ Club membership cards.

I think the trading cards are a fantastic idea and a great way to communicate the Chiropractic wellness model to entire families. I want to thank Dr. Vic Naumov, D.C. for creating such a great product at a great price. I’ll wrap up my review with our “what’s hot” and “what’s not” breakdown.  After that I’ll conclude with some more information about the trading cards and where to buy them online.

What’s Hot:

• Very high quality glossy stock
• Durable
• Very affordable
• Colorful and attractive designs
• Variety of purchase options: Buy individual packs or buy in bulk
• Internal marketing kits to support the trading cards
• Positive and Principled Chiropractic and wellness messages
• Both Male and Female Superheroes avoid alienating either gender
• Extremely easy to introduce and implement in the busiest of practices

What’s Not:

There really isn’t much to NOT Like about the Chiro-Squad cards but here are the few negatives we could come up with:

• Not for all ages. (Probably most effective for the 5-12 year age range)
• Although both male and female characters exist, the cards still will generally probably appeal more to boys than girls.
• Due to the nature of the topics addressed, some of the words can be a little challenging for early readers, but that’s where the Doctor and parents come in!
• And the final potential negative “What’s Not” comes from my son:

“No fully poseable Chiro-Squad action figures!”

The Chiro-Squad(R) Superheroes

“Connecting Kids & Chiropractic Across the Globe!”

Let’s look at the Chiro-Squad Superhero trading cards in a little more detail.

The Chiro-Squad was created by New Jersey Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Vic Naumov.  The squad consists of a team of 5 Chiropractic superhero characters:

• Cervico
• Lumbardo
• Thoracico
• Thoracica
• Sacra

The Chiro-Squad Chiropractic superhero trading card set consists of 30 total cards available in 3 separate packs of ten cards each.  There are 24 cards representing each of the spinal levels and six bonus cards. Each of the 24 individual spinal segment cards features a Chiro-Squad character on the front and valuable chiropractic patient education on the reverse. The back of the card features a description of background information on the Chiro-Squad character, a spinal nerve chart, a description of the body areas supplied by the spinal nerve in question, and possible health conditions associated with the spinal nerve highlighted.

Each individual card also discusses a Chiropractic Principle and features a notable Chiropractic related quote from Dr. Vic Naumov.  The bonus cards feature additional bonus information. For example, the back of the “United” card in our sample describes the origin of the Chiro-Squad.

For more information, or to order your Chiro-Squad trading cards, visit the official website at:

http://www.chirosquad.com

You can also use the contact information below:

Without a doubt, the king of all Chiropractic patient testimonials is the video testimonial.  Recording a short video testimonial from patients is more time consuming than other types of testimonials, but also usually creates the greatest results.  Let’s take a closer look at some advantages and disadvantages of the video patient testimonial.

Disadvantages

• Time consuming: It takes time to film, edit, and post video testimonials (especially when you are first learning how to do the entire process).

• Expense: Video testimonials require you to invest in some equipment and computer software that you may not already have. This can make the initial expense more than other forms of testimonials.

• Permanent and Not As Easy to Edit: Although they all mean well, patients aren’t familiar with the legal and ethical issues facing the modern Chiropractor. They also may be nervous when in front of a camera.  As a result they may say or do things that aren’t in the best interests of your Chiropractic practice.  Making minor corrections to a video testimonial is more difficult than text. With a text testimonial you can quickly make minor changes and indicate the changes you made. A video testimonial doesn’t afford this luxury. Editing the middle of a video testimonial may be difficult, may require cutting or cropping, or might even require completely re shooting the testimonial.

• Difficulty: Although not extremely difficult, video testimonials require more effort and knowledge than a basic text or audio Chiropractic patient testimonial.

• Patient Reluctance: Many patients are reluctant to appear on video and thus these patients are less likely to agree to a video testimonial.  You may find less people willing to provide a video testimonial versus a text testimonial.

Advantages

• Trust and Credibility: This is without a doubt the biggest advantage of the video patient testimonial.  In fact it’s such a huge advantage it pretty much trumps all off the disadvantages we mentioned above!   The social proof value of a video testimonial is much greater than that provided by a text testimonial.  As a society we generally place more trust in something we can see and hear firsthand. There is simply no substitute to watching and hearing a person provide their personal account of something.   Seeing a patient provide a glowing testimonial of Chiropractic care and your practice is truly priceless.

• Validity: A video testimonial reduces the chances that you can be accused of falsifying or editing the actual content of patient testimonials.

• Requires Less Time and Commitment from your Audience: Let’s face it, we have become an instant gratification society. The general public doesn’t like to read anymore than they have to, especially when it comes to things like advertising. The sad truth is many people will disregard text testimonials simply due to the fact that it requires their time and effort to read.

• Versatility: The video Chiropractic testimonial is highly versatile. It can be used in a variety of different venues and media outlets. Video testimonials can be used on your Chiropractic website, chiropractic blog, in DVDs and other chiropractic marketing materials, in television commercials, on social media accounts and more. Video allows you to be much more creative than text.

• Website Search Engine Optimization and Increased Site Traffic: Prospective patients and the general public aren’t the only ones who value video. Google and other internet search engines love it too! By regularly updating video to popular  sites such as YouTube you can improve your Chiropractic website’s position in internet search results and drive visitors to your Chiropractic blog or website.  Thanks to Dr. Jason Ulsrud over at RockStar-Chiro for pointing out I should indeed add this to the list of advantages!

These are just a few of the main advantages and disadvantages of the video Chiropractic patient testimonial. What are your thoughts? Do you have something you feel I left off of the list? Let me know by leaving a comment below. I’d be happy to add your input to our discussion and even provide you with the credit!  Feel free to leave your comments and feedback in the comment section below.

In our next post we’ll begin taking a look at the actual process of the video testimonial along with tips on how to pull off some of the best Chiropractic video testimonials around!

Until then keep promoting yourselves and our profession!

-Dr. James

I’m often asked by Doctors of Chiropractic if I think patient testimonials are a good idea.  Done properly, I think they are a wonderful idea and one of the best ways to build social proof in the world of Chiropractic marketing. In this series of articles we’ll be discussing Chiropractic patient testimonials, video testimonials, social proof, and more. I’ll also be providing some handy tips along the way on how to best accomplish all of this. I’ll even end by providing FREE downloadable permission and release forms to allow you to legally and ethically use your patient testimonials.  So enough introduction, let’s get started!

Patient testimonials fit right into an area of Chiropractic internet marketing that has become a hot topic of late: Social Proof.  Social proof is nothing new. It’s simply a new buzz word and spin applied to an age old concept.  On the most basic level, social proof is little more than providing reviews ,testimonials, and other evidence to prove that your product or service is effective, accepted, and well liked.

Patient testimonials are obviously an ideal technique to build social proof. While print or text testimonials are effective, the best idea is always video. If you can’t or won’t work with video testimonials than you should try and at least use photos along with your testimonial.  Most people tend to dismiss plain text testimonials as simply being made up. A photo of the individual along with their testimonial is a better idea since it puts a face with the text and helps to establish a little more credibility.  The king of all Chiropractic patient testimonials is without a doubt, the video testimonial.

We have become a very visual society. We tend to place more trust in something we can see and hear for ourselves rather than simply reading.  Video testimonials are probably one of the best ways a Doctor of Chiropractic can build social proof. Although they require more work than other types of testimonials, it is well worth the extra effort.  We’ll  take a look at some of the benefits and disadvantages of video testimonials in our next post.

Are you running proactive or reactive Chiropractic internet marketing?

Chances are you’ve probably never even thought about it. Marketing is marketing right? Your attitude and approach to your Chiropractic marketing can have just as significant of an impact on it’s success as the marketing content itself.

Due to the daily time demands of a Chiropractic practice, many Doctors of Chiropractic simply run their marketing with a reactive approach. What the heck is reactive Chiropractic marketing? In the most simple terms it is when a Chiropractic marketing strategy simply reacts in response to changes.  While reacting to changes in a market is an important aspect of any marketing  program, it can’t be the sole foundation for your advertising efforts.

Don’t get me wrong, you definitely need to react to change.  You need to analyze ROI and the effectiveness of your marketing.  No one is telling you NOT to respond to change. The problem is most Chiropractors work exclusively in reactive marketing mindset. They develop tunnel vision and break things down to a black and white world consisting of one problem and one solution.   This leads to marketing that is two steps behind and can be devastating to your Chiropractic success.

Let me give you some quick examples. Let’s say you run a newspaper ad. It runs for one or two weeks with minimal results. Due to the expense and the dismal results you pull the plug on your newspaper marketing because it “doesn’t work”.

Another example can be seen with the current state of our economy in America. All across the country times are tough and things are slow. Many practices are reacting to this by simply scaling back or eliminating much of their advertising to control costs.

While the above examples may seem like perfectly acceptable ways to react to a situation, they are not proactive solutions. In actuality they are simple responses made with little thought about the future of your Chiropractic success.  At best they are short term solutions.

So what’s the difference between proactive and reactive Chiropractic marketing?  As we discussed before, reactive marketing is simply taking a black and white approach to your advertising.  You see a problem and pick an easy solution. This creates quick fixes and limited opportunity for growth. It’s patching a hole, slapping a band-aid on the situation, and waiting for success to find you.

Proactive Chiropractic marketing takes things to the next step. While it may be necessary to apply a short term fix, proactive Chiropractors are constantly thinking outside of the box. They are always looking for alternative solutions, ways to create opportunities, anticipating changes, and always thinking about the long term.

Proactive Chiropractic marketing avoids the easy knee jerk reaction to a situation.  Rather than canceling that failing newspaper ad, the proactive Chiropractor is more likely to spend time making changes to it until they find what works.  Instead of cutting back on their advertising budget during a slow economy, a proactive  practice will stay the course or even increase their advertising budget. If current advertising isn’t creating the desired results, the proactive Chiropractic practice tries new and creative marketing techniques to create success.

Are you running proactive Chiropractic marketing? Or are you simply going with the flow and reacting to change after the fact? While reactive Chiropractic marketing may work in the here and now, it can actually be a barrier to your long term success .  Now is the time to take a critical look at your Chiropractic marketing.  Stop reacting  and start creating the  success you desire!

As we were discussing in  part 2 of this series, we are intelligent enough to infer the different meanings of words when used in a different context but unique article creation software often is not.

Many of these programs create unique versions of an article simply by swapping words for their synonyms which can produce some sad content.  Let me drive my point home by examining how these unique content creators can take your content and chop it up into an ugly mess of meaningless text.

Let’s suppose you wanted to rewrite the following sentence and produce some different variations of it:

While walking the dog, Bill saw a bug and smashed it.

Now let’s say in an effort to save some of your valuable time, you simply plug this sentence into a unique content creation program or website.  For the sake of this article we will assume the only words that would be reworked would be the words “walking”, “dog, “bug” or “smashed”.

I decided to head over to one of my favorite sites, http://thesaurus.com, to pull up some common synonyms for the 4 words in our example. Here are a few examples of what I found.

• Walking: advance, amble, ambulate, canter, escort, exercise, hike, lumber, stalk, shuffle, stroll
• Dog: canine, bitch, cur, doggy, bow wow, hound, pup, puppy, mutt, pooch, flea bag
• Bug: disease, germ, virus, bacterium, failure, error, insect, malfunction, glitch, annoy, harass
• Smashed: bang, blast, clobber, shatter, pound, intoxicated

You can probably already identify the problem. Most of these sites and programs just aren’t intelligent enough to know when and where to properly make changes to content.  They will often just blindly swap out a word for its synonym with no regard for context or proper usage. The results are frequently awkward and often even somewhat comical.  Using our list of synonyms many of these unique content creation programs would alter our original sentence and create gems such as:

• While ambulating the canine, Bill saw a insect and intoxicated it.
• While hiking the bitch, Bill saw a error and blasted it.
• While strolling the fido, Bill saw a annoy and banged it.
• While shuffling the hound, Bill saw a germ and shattered it.
• While escorting the pooch, Bill saw a disease and pounded it.
• While cantering the mutt, Bill saw a malfunction and clobbered it.

While the content above is definitely 100% unique, it is also 100% useless. Keep in mind this is only one sentence.  Just imagine this mess occurring on a larger scale and garbling text everywhere within the content of that 1500 word article you wrote. Yikes! Although you may be able to get this useless drivel and a link published, it is probably eventually going to cause more harm than good. This content will be shared, discovered, and read by your prospective patients and clients.  What will they think when they read it? I’ll leave you to ponder over that question and I’ll be back to wrap things up in the next post!

In our last post we discussed the need to create and publish unique content.  Although content should be unique it doesn’t need to be entirely new. You can rework an article and edit it to make it significantly different and unique from it’s parent article.  In other words, you can make minor changes to content to convey the exact same message in a different way.  With that in mind we can begin to understand the logic behind unique article creation software.

The idea is simple. Write one unique and original Chiropractic article, post, or blog comment.  Next, simply upload that article to a site or software program and let it automatically and instantly churn out dozens of unique variations of that article. You do the work to write one article and get dozens of unique versions in return.  Some of these sites and programs will even automatically submit these unique versions to various sites for you too!  Sounds too good to be true right?  I think you see where I’m heading with this.

It’s a wonderful idea if it could all be properly executed. The problem is most of the software and sites out there are marginally useful at best. Why? They often produce variations of articles that are either awkwardly worded, or downright unreadable.

Although I’m not familiar with all of the unique content creation software out there I can tell you how many of them work.  In most cases the software simply rewrites an article the same way you or I probably would; they make minor changes to word order and swap out words for their synonyms. For instance, the may take the word “dog” and switch it to “canine”.  Not too big of a deal right? After all the meaning of the word is still the same. So what’s the problem?

Unfortunately, English is a very complex language.  The same word can often mean something totally different depending on the situation or context in which it is used. Take for example the word, “bug”.  Used as a noun the word can refer to an insect.  The word “bug” can also mean a glitch, error, or malfunction (such as a bug in a computer program).  If used as a verb, the  definition of the word “bug” would change to “annoy”.  While we are intelligent enough to infer the different meanings of these words when used in a different context, most of these magic article revision software programs are not.  In fact, they can produce results that are pretty pathetic.

We’ll discuss some examples in our next post!

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of Chiropractors using software to automatically generate numerous unique articles from an original article they wrote or to create multiple blog posts or comments from an original.  I totally understand the concept, but the problem is most of these sites and programs often end up spitting out garbage. While these tools live up to their name and create unique content, it may end up doing more harm than good.  In this 4 part series I’ll be discussing what unique content creation software is, why it’s around, and my personal opinion on its usefulness and effectiveness in the world of Chiropractic marketing.

Let’s start with the basics.  Why would someone even need to create unique variations of content like an article or blog post? It all boils down to the old saying “content is king”. To stay at the top of the Chiropractic internet marketing game you need to publish original and unique content on a regular basis.  You might think writing one article would be enough, but that just isn’t the case.

To compete in the world of internet marketing you need to publish a lot of unique content to a lot of different sites and locations. Why? Although there are dozens of reasons we’ll focus on two main reasons. One is to simply create visibility and awareness of your name and website.  The other reason is to create backlinks to boost your website page rank and your site’s position in internet search results.  Generally, the more links you have published to your site the better. Therefore many Chiropractors and affiliate marketers publish as many articles as possible with a link to their website included in the text.

Now comes the next obvious question. I should just publish my one article to dozens of websites, blogs and article sites right? Wrong. While this would be the easy way to do things it won’t work.  The top article submission sites and other content rich sites usually require the content you submit to be 100% original and unique.  You won’t get away with publishing identical content in mass (at least not for long.) Yes, these sites really do check. Publish the same article dozens of times and you’ll not only find yourself labeled as a spammer, you’ll also find your articles deleted and yourself banned from many submission sites.

To further complicate matters is the fact that Google frowns upon duplicate content. So much so that they recently began taking steps to penalize sites in their search rankings that appear to publish deliberate or malicious duplicate content. Getting into all the details is beyond the scope of this post, but let’s just say you need to publish unique content and not the same old stuff over and over again!

Welcome to the ChiropracticPR.com blog. Pardon our virtual construction mess…but we’re currently finishing up our blog to provide you with great content and information! This blog will be your home for staying up to date with ChiropracticPR.com, our latest press releases, chiropractic internet and social media marketing, and much more!

Stay tuned as we’ll be adding new content soon!