Differentiate Your Chiropractic Practice

In this blog post, we’ll be looking at five ways that you can differentiate your chiropractic practice from your competitors.

Let’s start by looking at the definition of differentiate. 

1. 1.
   recognize or ascertain what makes (someone or something) different.
2. 2.
   TECHNICAL
   make or become different in the process of growth or development.

So differentiation isn’t only about making your practice standout from the competition, but it’s also about growth and development in the process. So we’re going to look at a few ways to set yourself apart while also growing.

1. Update your branding

One way to stand out is to have excellent and consistent branding. Every once in a while it’s not a bad idea to revisit your branding. What does your logo look like? What about your color palette? Are they fresh, eye catching and professional? Having a great brand is an easy way to stand out from the competition. 

Then, you’ll want to make sure your branding is consistent. Here is a checklist of places to make sure are up-to-date with your branding.

• Website
• Social media accounts like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube
• Print materials like business cards or brochures
• Digital and print advertising
• Signage

2. Send a handwritten thank you note after a patient's first appointment

We’ve probably all gotten those mass produced mailers that remind us about our next vet, dentist or doctor’s appointment. Sometimes we get a birthday card from our insurance. But how often do we get a short, handwritten thank you note after a first appointment? Few and far between. 

Taking a few minutes to write a nice handwritten thank you note after a patient’s first visit is a great way to stand out and it’s just old fashioned, courtesy.

3. Add value through quality content

Another way to showcase why you’re the best chiropractor for your patients and to grow your online marketing is to produce quality content that is relevant and helpful to prospective patients. There is a construction company in Texas that started in a saturated market. The owner posted weekly videos about different parts of the home construction process and he did this consistently for months. At first it was slow, but now the videos get thousands of views and he has a months long waiting list. His content was so successful in setting him apart from other companies because he produced consistent, relevant content for his audience. People appreciated it.

There is no reason you can’t do something similar with chiropractic. Whether it’s a video, an event or a blog. If you can produce quality content on a consistent basis then that’s going to put you in a league of your own. Find a cadence and a rhythm that works for you. You can even start with monthly. It doesn’t have to be weekly. Just try to be c consistent and focus on the quality of the content you’re making.

4. Establish strong loyalty and referral programs

A great way to differentiate and develop a great reputation and relationship with patients is to establish loyalty and referral programs. A loyalty program is a great way to show your patients you appreciate their continued patronage. You could offer a free appointment after a certain number of appointments or you could offer a reduced rate for consistent appointments. You’ll have to figure out what works best for your practice and your numbers.

You can also have your happy patients help you recruit new patients through a referral program. This is great for a couple of reasons. The first is what better way for a new patient to find out about a chiropractor then from one of their current patients. Word of mouth marketing is extremely powerful. The second is that it encourages happy patients to share about their experience. As a referral program, you’ll want to offer something for each referral that books an appointment. Whether it’s their next appointment for free or a gift card. This will show you appreciate their goodwill.

5. Create short videos of patietns telling their chiropractic stories

Another way to standout from the crowd is to have your patients share their stories in short form videos. The Joint does a great job producing video content. You can check out some of their patient stories here. You may not have a huge budget to do a big production like theirs, but you can still produce video content based on your budget. Here are a few ideas:

• If you have a little more budget to work with, you could hire a local videographer for a half day to shoot all the videos at once. You would just need to make sure that you were able to schedule your patients to be there on the same day.
• Take the videos yourself on a DSLR camera if you have one or just on your iPhone.
• Ask your patients to send you a short video testimonial if they have the time and thank them with a free appointment.

As always, we hope this blog post provides you with a few actionable ideas and useful information.