Marketing 101 for Chiropractors
Digital marketing is evolving faster than ever, and as a chiropractor, you're not just a healthcare provider—you’re also the CEO and marketer of your practice. Without a solid grasp of marketing fundamentals, it's easy to fall for one-size-fits-all strategies that waste time and money.
Join us as we break down proven, cost-effective, and innovative marketing tactics designed specifically for chiropractors. From social media mastery to Google Ads that convert, we’ll equip you with the tools to attract more patients, build lasting relationships, and dominate your local market. Stay ahead, stay profitable, and take control of your practice’s growth!
Marketing 101 for Chiropractors
Fostering Chiropractic Excellence and Innovation with James Chester
As a chiropractor and entrepreneur, I've navigated the complexities of our profession and the business landscape that surrounds it, often wishing for a guiding light through the murk. Enter James Chester, the mastermind behind ChiroHustle, who joins us today to share his remarkable journey from journalism to championing chiropractic unity and effective marketing strategies. James's insights into creating a cohesive community in a field peppered with diverse philosophies and techniques are both enlightening and inspiring. We delve into the importance of chiropractors being deeply rooted in their local communities and the critical role of state and international associations in preserving our profession's core values.
This episode doesn't shy away from the tougher conversations, either. We tackle the shifting sands of chiropractic education and the strain it places on new graduates, who often step into the professional world in need of further training. Through candid discussions, we underscore the urgency of mentoring these future practitioners to ensure they're equipped not just with chiropractic techniques but with robust foundational knowledge. And for those eager to elevate their digital presence, James's 'Cairo hustle strategy' serves as a masterclass in navigating the online marketing realm. His dedication to quality content is a beacon for chiropractors seeking to make their mark on social media. So, buckle up and join us for this whirlwind episode—it's more than just an adjustment; it's a strategic realignment for your practice and presence in the world of chiropractic.
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Everyone welcome to another episode of Marketing 101 for Chiropractors. Cool guest this week James Chester. If he looks familiar, it's because the guy's like Batman he's everywhere when it comes to chiropractic. I always see him in random spots. It's always cool. Thanks for being here, man. Tell us a little bit about what you do and how much you love chiropractic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been a lot of fun. 15 years and working in chiropractic. We've been producing chirohustle the past six and a half years. I came from a journalistic background, a marketing background, worked in a chiropractic clinic. We started making documentary films in chiropractic. I know there's a lot of loose ends there, but I was like what can I do to add more value? I did 58 interviews for our first documentary for chiropractic and then I was like this is kind of fun. I just continued for the past six and a half years interviewing chiropractors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's awesome. You probably have more content on new age chiropractic from the profession than I'd love to see your media file. You probably got tons of stuff from all different perspectives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I kind of feel like we went whole profession so it didn't matter what school you graduated from, what technique you practiced and what group you hung out with, what associations you were a part of. We basically toured on all the walls of chiropractic and promoted chiropractic for the profession as a whole. So it was never really built out of we're only going to do it to build a business through or we're only going to do it to promote this brand of chiropractic. We took chiropractic as a whole profession and said we're going to limit all the division and bring it all back together Like it's never been done before. So, whether I agree with everybody's views or not, we've never censored anyone. I think that that's really unique about our position is almost 1300 interviews in six and a half years and we've let everyone have a voice, which I think is a town squares type approach. We have people who have dialogue. We allow people to share what they're passionate about, and it's unique. Man, it's been an honor to host that many great minds.
Speaker 1:It is. It's really cool, man. It's cool that you do that and keep doing it. In any way we can support you. It'd be great.
Speaker 1:I think, a great discussion for this year, and the focus is about the profession. I think it's about how can we shift. It's a grind. Let's just start there. One of my clinics is that it's a grind every single day being a chiropractor. I think being an entrepreneur is a grind in itself, so I don't think we get any more pity than any other industry because they're all grinding, everyone's always grinding, but chiropractic is a unique grind. We feel like innately that we must solely take every hat of the business and wear it, and I think that's what drives us so far down year in, year out. What are some things that you know from the outside view? Because you're not at DC? You didn't. You know, you didn't write the boards and all that, but what do you see from the outside lens into our profession that we can focus on this year and maybe change one or two thoughts that can really drive us forward a lot faster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's really. It's a fun thing to talk about and I think everybody right now, specifically since the past three years, they're looking for their people, they're looking for community and they're looking to get support. And I think that, based on what you said, is like everybody's kind of wearing too many hats within their own. You know practice. I just think chiropractic is one of those professions that if the practitioner allows themselves to be overwhelmed, they will. And I heard this guy in Colorado one time as that's some philosophy night.
Speaker 2:I was speaking with Michael, this rally and Michael had a talk and his premise was make the main thing the main thing. And that's like focusing on chiropractic and making yourself the best adjuster, the best communicator, the best supporting your community, like being involved in your community. And I think that that goes to a higher level when it comes to chiropractors being involved in their community. And I think that the more that they're integrated into their state, like decision making, state associations reintegrating with their chiropractic universities, reintegrating with the IFCO, reintegrating with the ICA, like reintegrating with the chiropractic purpose I think that that's what I've seen over the past couple years is people kind of drifted and became like solo, really solo, and wearing too many hats, and I see that if they wanted to maybe correct that, they should jump in and get more involved and build their communities up, not just locally but as a profession. Love it yeah, we really should.
Speaker 1:And then that should be the model for 2024. You nailed it as get involved in more ways than one. It doesn't mean you have to wear the hat, you don't have to run for president of your state association. Well, you got to do is just get involved. You got to be part of it, you got to be part of the community, you got to be part of the discussion. Otherwise, there is no discussion happening for chiropractic, there's no discussion happening for your clinic, there's no discussion happening and there's no glory in the grind of day to day. So that's a great one. Let's go off that like joining our associations or or contributing to certain certain chiropractic entities that are supporting us in the, in the backfield. What are some things that you think is a great start for some chiropractors?
Speaker 2:Well, I think I'm going to come in a little bit different angle. Like just last month, we had 60,000 people listen to our podcast. If I were to round up everybody, that was a contributor to every state association. It's not 60,000. Okay, so I think that there's definitely.
Speaker 2:We need more participation and not to say that I've done something wrong, but I've done something right, as I've gotten more attention to chiropractic than even the people that are running, for you know the organizations of each state. So just to know that a guy that produces a show for six and a half years can get more attention and traction for the chiropractic truth and message than a cumulative effect of 50 states Like that says a lot. So I think that we're always looking for people to contribute to us. We're always looking for great interviews. We're always looking for great sponsors. We're always looking for how we can interact with the profession better.
Speaker 2:I was just interviewed earlier today on another podcast and they're asking me similar questions and I was like look, I don't have anything to say about dynamic chiropractic.
Speaker 2:I don't have anything to say about these other chiropractic magazines. But the way you have to go is podcasting videos, shorts, reels and not saying that I want every chiropractor to be a real like genius. I don't want them that, like, they spend their whole life becoming a tick tock, or or they think that the only thing to do is like create like videos of them, like looking really smart or talking or adjusting Like. I think that you have to just support this truth of chiropractic whatever path you go, but I think that spoken word video is definitely more 2023 in the 2020s than you know a written blog or some type of a magazine. I think that we are transitioning with time and that if you want to get, if you want to get a movement going, you have to start the movement. Whether it's with me or with your state association or your college that you went to college with, like or your fraternity, whatever it might be Like, the profession needs more people to step into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we still don't have a TV commercial. I've been doing this for almost 20 years. I've heard all the big ones in our profession tell us it's coming and we still don't have a television commercial. That's out there for chiropractic, just period, and it's because most of us don't get involved, so there is no message, and we think that we have to argue about what chiropractic is and I don't know why it always has to end up like that it's. It's a hands on modality that helps people in a natural way. Can we just keep it like that and create a commercial? I think it'd be really great.
Speaker 1:There are some parts around the world where they have created commercials and they're actually pretty good and they've actually broadcasted them in their local municipalities, like in Alberta, british Columbia before they went psychopathic and Australia.
Speaker 1:They had these pretty cool.
Speaker 1:And then, for a limited time and because because I'll tell you why during those times in the mid you know, 2012 through 2018 that time there was this push from the profession to get together Mild, mild, but I did see it in all different patches across the United States, canada, europe, there was this kind of band of like hey, we got to get together and then it got fragmented for a whole bunch of political reasons white papers and other things and scopes but that's a different story for a different day.
Speaker 1:But that, that banding that was happening, that push, that small growth that the ACA saw, the small growth that the ICA saw during those times, was because there was a lot of people like you and me saying it's time to get involved with your state associations and I was heavily trying to get involved at that time too, personally, but I was seeing it around. There was a cumulative effect. Whether it was a positive charge or a negative charge or both, it doesn't matter, but I noticed that and so you're nailing this on the head. We need to get back with that and create enough inertia so that it keeps moving forward and growing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the problem is is that when that all was transitioning and growing and going in that direction, they were forgetting that they needed to make the main thing the main thing again in the chiropractic schools. They started to let like the, I guess, the guidelines and being strict on keeping chiropractic in the chiropractic schools, like in their names. I think they started getting entertained by different organizations that wanted to medicalize chiropractic and wanted to diminish philosophy, wanted to diminish technique, wanted to diminish skills. For what? Well, I mean it just creates a weaker version of chiropractic, not just in chiropractic, but I think all across the board. We've had weaker regulations and truth and education and higher education.
Speaker 2:Like, I think it's not just chiropractic but chiropractic is a I've had this talk numerous times Chiropractic is just a component of, like, the people getting college degrees that can't go practice in that field because they're not trained well enough once they finish school to go do that thing. So it's not just chiropractic, it's across the board with higher education. But you think in a doctor program that would be a huge. They would correct that faster. Like, you don't know how to adjust, you don't have philosophy. What do you call yourself a chiropractor for? Like, you pass classes for a medical profession that has zero to do with the chiropractic profession. How does that make you a chiropractor?
Speaker 2:So I think we've really confused through that transition of retiring people out of the universities that were, like the real deal philosophy teachers, I think people with any sense of like Drawing a hard line, like no, we're not doing that, they basically move them on. So now they've like ushered in weaker leaders and that will take and call it musculoskeletal, that will call it intersegmental dysfunctions and remove cell luxation and Remove any intelligence and remove universal intelligence and take the green books out and not have people with a Mantle of philosophy there to speak on the campuses like they just want to usher in like the weakest, less vitalistic approach to the chiropractic profession and all those schools. So tell they fix that. That's why we need to come together more, because if people don't step into their state associations and those international associations, eventually there's not gonna have any foundation of philosophy, science or art. It's all gonna be physical therapy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, one thing this cut a check every month. You know that's a start. It's a start. They all need funding. So support who you need, who you believe you need to support, but without, without some input from you, from in the trenches, I mean we're not gonna move forward. And we need, we need to do that, we need to, we need to band together for that.
Speaker 1:You brought up something in the green room before about, you know, the new grads. I mean for us older docs. You know we can sit here and complain all we want, but it's it's our own doing, by not being involved in this, to be getting the grads that we're great we're getting. I mean not, and they're gonna. They're gonna turn into great chiropractors, but unfortunately they're not coming out of the gate and what it does is it requires a lot more from us to groundwork, to train and to grow them, which is which is fine, but wouldn't it be easier, wouldn't be nicer to have associates coming in with hitting the ground running and you being more of a mentor rather than a trainer? That you know that's been my biggest frustrations. I feel like I'm an Adjusting professor at one of the colleges. When these kids come to my office. I'm like going back to square one. I'm like, geez, no, we got to do it this way. But anyways, that's mine, that's my little rant there. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:Well, chiropractors should be playing in the professional leagues Once they finish a chiropractic doctor degree.
Speaker 1:I like that analogy.
Speaker 2:They shouldn't be playing in the sandbox and confused with the alphabet and Confused with how to tie their shoes and confused with how to be a professional and and what their profession stands for and what they're capable of doing. You know, I made a post last night. Is is gosh, let me go check it real quick but it really nails this, this topic, and it was Our people program to think small and and I think we are programming the professionals of this era To think small and to not have the full equipment. Like, if I'm gonna like recruit somebody to come out and be a professional football player, I want to make sure that they could block the court for the quarterback they're running back on to make sure they can block. I want to make sure they can run the ball, I want to make sure they can catch the ball, the backfield.
Speaker 2:But if we took the chiropractor, that's finished in school and we're like, hey, where's your confidence level? What if we put you into the game? Are you gonna be able to perform? Like, when anybody pick you up on the fantasy team? Like, no, like you're, you're not even able to play on the field. I and you call yourself a doctor, like I think we need to do better with that part of the rearing. If we will, or the fundamentals, like, if you're going to go out there and want to play professionally, then we have to have you professionally ready. And I think that we have to have a higher level of like, like certainty within the new grads to where whether they're going to go train with MLS, whether they're going to do Kairos training culture, whether they're going to be Gonsted specific, whether they're going to be whatever upper cervical specific, like whatever they choose, they should be like ready for action.
Speaker 2:Like if their main dot goes down or a dot goes down, they can step in and manage those reps and keep that practice going, not in the sandbox out of grad school, out of doctorate program, not knowing how to tie their shoes or what the alphabet is or what their philosophy is or how to adjust with proper technique. If they have to go on a mission trip, go on 10 mission trips but learn how to practice the art of chiropractic. You know, a lot of times people ask me what is chiropractic? That's a healing art. Like they find where there's a misalignment your spine they correct it and then they let the body do what it does and that's naturally healed itself. That's it. So if chiropractors can't do that, what are we doing to the profession from the education standpoint? We're really mucking them up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure, I'm seeing it. I mean I don't think I was perfect, you know, 16 years ago at a Palmer, but I did hit. I had some rubber on the ground. You know, I felt like I was, the wheels were turning. You know, I felt like I was confident enough to help my community and then learn from there.
Speaker 1:I feel I have associates and they literally tell me I'm like I was really hoping for more of a mentorship here. I really don't know what I'm doing and you know, three months down the road, I'm like, okay, gee, whiz, let's okay, what do we need? They're like everything you say, stuff I've never heard of before. You're telling patients things that I was never taught, like what we can do, that I'm like, oh my gosh, I missed it. I really missed it, missed the boat and I'm in a new pair. You know my story.
Speaker 1:I'm from Canada, now I'm here, so I'm getting different. I'm getting different things. I was working with Palmer and Northwestern and CMCC. Now I'm working with Sherman and National and Palmer, daytona and Life, which is great. Different, different mixes and matches, but I'll tell you what some stand out above the rest significantly, so we can get into the Paul politics of all the schools too. But you, I think you and I both agree. I mean Sherman is really like the golden horse from the back that has just taken the charge of this profession forward, and their campus is beautiful. Their philosophy is there. The kids are coming out they're not kids. The doctors are coming out adjusting on fire Like they're just, they're good, they're really good. Coming out of school, they're doing something right there, right. And then the few life grads that I've been working with here from Atlanta I mean they're great too. I know they're good. They have some rubber hitting the ground is how I feel. The rest, I'll save the speech for another day.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not up to me to judge somebody's skills. I just mentioned to the trends within the profession and when I hear the echoes in the hallways and the chatter and the hallways of everywhere that I go. That's why I've joined arms with Sherman and they sponsor our podcast. That's why I joined arms with Life West and why they've sponsored our podcast, you know. That's why, you know, every week I wake up somebody's looking to sell their practice through me or somebody's looking to find an associate through me. You know, it's because I didn't start an associate business, I didn't start a practice brokerage business, but because people start building trust with me in this profession, they're like, hey, you know everybody, how can we get this thing done? So then I was like well, what if I build great relationships with the brands within chiropractic, like IFC as a sponsor of ours, you know, the professional baseball chiropractic associations, the sponsor of ours, the professional hockey associations, the sponsor of ours. So I feel like we've done a great job with titronics and got them on board.
Speaker 2:And you know, I think that the people that we've had a chance to actually work with over the past six and a half years, it's showing me like what is the snapshot of reality. When you want to get X-ray into your office, who do you deal with? You know what? If you need to learn a day one, day two, who do I refer people to? Like, if somebody's looking for a new table, who do I send them to? And that's the thing is like. When you, when you are the interviewer and become that chiropractic oracle, you become so universal to the profession that I mean, is it Bill Estub that has the best patient education or is it Keith Lawson? And neither one of those guys are chiropractors.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you think about guys like Tony Ebel that are running Epic Pediatrics. Dude has like the best content out there to educate people on taking care of families.
Speaker 1:Px yeah, he's running the Px experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure so we think about like what are we getting as a profession? How can we all work together to make it better? I think there's so many opportunities out there, but we need to raise, rise the tide and not say you're doing it wrong, but say, hey, I got your back and I think that that's how we get better. Is you know my mentor, who's Canadian, who started out the first podcast that I learned from is that Osborne, and he would always tell me we're all more alike than we are different. And I think that about people, not just chiropractors Like, if you want support, that means somebody's looking for support. Yeah, now, if you want help, that means somebody else is looking for help. If you're confused, that means someone else is confused. But if you're doing well, that means other people are doing well too.
Speaker 2:And I think that when you start to realize that there are people doing it well, you don't have to go out there and reinvent the wheel. Just plug into things that are working well and make them better. Like Sherman, make them better, like life West, you know, make them better, make them all better. And then you know, my, my, my, my parting statement Would be if you don't like the way a university to run. Go get on the faculty. Go run to be president of that school. Turn it around like Jack Boyle. Is that Sherman? You know, if you don't like the way that Palmer downpourts run, go run for faculty, come in and take over from the inside out like go re-infiltrate these institutions and put good people into these schools and take over from the inside out.
Speaker 2:Yeah don't bitch about it like go and get a job working as an admin, go and get a job as a Counselor, get a job as a technique instructor, get a job as a janitor, I don't care. Get a job inside of that organization and make a difference.
Speaker 1:It's how. It's how the difference is made. It's, it's the truth. Some university scratching her head saying, well, I don't want to leave what I got, but if you then don't bitch, they don't. They don't complain, he's you can. If you're not gonna play, if you're not gonna throw your hat in the game, you can't play. So, but we need more hats in the game. That's, that's the double-edged sword here. That's what you and I are trying to say here is that, yeah, we can just step back, but that's what we've been doing for the last 50 years is just stepping out. We're just like. We're not even gonna show up to the game and watch it, we're just gonna sit in the bleachers, and that's not. It's just not working.
Speaker 2:It's just not working or or find those boomers that are ready to get out of private practice and graduate them into faculty. Yeah, there you go. It doesn't have to be somebody scrapping their early career, it could know. I mean the real principled chiropractors out there that have fire passion for the profession, that are just done in practice. What?
Speaker 1:a great idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll make a difference. We're gonna recruit you guys back into these, these schools that have lost their way, and we're gonna teach them Subluxation based chiropractic. We're gonna talk about the green books. We're gonna talk about the big idea, the 33 principles. We're gonna talk about the sacred trust of chiropractic and how to protect it. We're gonna talk about any intelligence, universal intelligence. We're gonna talk about things that matter to this profession more than an insurance code.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, things that matter.
Speaker 2:The foundation of the profession has to be preserved and the fundamentals have to be taught. You know, I coach soccer in college for 16 years ago and I made the guys run like they were track athletes before they got to touch the balls, like before they got to play like soccer. I made them become, like you know, cross-country athletes, like they ran for the first two weeks of like the season before they even got a chance to touch the ball. So I think that if we just know the fundamentals and and we get really strong on how to block and tackle and we get really strong on how to like work as a unit that's what we need is organizational, like unity, to where people can actually learn how to play a game together win, because if not, you're just gonna run out there and Get taken out one by one. So until you get unified and organized, that's. It's a tough game.
Speaker 1:It is. Yeah, you're right, man, way to go. I've definitely followed James on On social, all of them Facebook, instagram. Follow fine Cairo hustle, like them, follow them. His contents always great, it's on cue, it's on par, and I I follow you. It's great stuff. It's always it's just nice to read it, just nice to fill the feed with some of your stuff. Thanks for doing everything that you do. I'll put all your tags and everything in the podcast info and we'll connect very soon, my man.
Speaker 2:Carapact marketing 101. Let's hustle, let's do it.
