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
Nurturing Lifetime Patients: The Top 10 Growth Strategies
What separates thriving chiropractic practices from those that struggle isn't clinical excellence—it's mastering the art of patient nurturing from first contact through years of care. When you treat your practice like your baby, constantly nurturing relationships at every touchpoint, you create the foundation for lifetime patients who remain loyal for decades.
Most chiropractors pour tremendous energy into those first one or two patient interactions, then shift to an unspoken expectation: "You called me, you booked in here, now follow my recommendations or take a hike." This healthcare authority mindset creates a disconnect that leads to patient dropout and missed opportunities for long-term relationships.
In this energizing episode, we break down the top ten nurturing strategies that transform first-time visitors into lifetime advocates. From crafting that perfect welcoming first phone call to implementing systematic 3-month, 6-month, and yearly reactivation protocols, you'll discover practical, actionable approaches that keep your practice present in patients' lives throughout their wellness journey.
You'll learn why personalized touchpoints before visits reduce anxiety, how post-treatment follow-up calls separate you from typical healthcare experiences, and why something as simple as a handwritten note can create lasting impressions in our digital world. We explore the power of automated email nurturing sequences, social media engagement, and systematized referral encouragement that turns every patient into a practice champion.
Whether you're building a new practice or rejuvenating an established one, these nurturing strategies create the sustainable growth engine that powers decades of success. Implement even a few of these approaches and watch as your practice culture transforms, your team rallies around patient relationships, and your retention metrics soar.
- Join Marketing 101 for Chiropractors Facebook Group here
- Learn more at EnricoD.com
- Book a free discovery call with Enrico to level up your business
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Marketing 101 for Chiropractors. I'm Dr D. This week we are going to go through nurturing your babies, which is pretty much your practice, and you need to be on top of your nurturing to get through lifelong wellness care. I mean that's the ultimate goal for all chiropractic offices is to have lifetime repeat customers. That's the lifetime goal for any business is to have repeat customers coming back and getting the pizza at your pizza place. Repeat customers getting their dental cleanings. Repeat customers getting adjusted. Repeat I know you don't like the word customers, but patients or practice members, whatever you call them.
Speaker 1:I've got the top 10 today, like david letterman remember letterman and we're going to go through them and instead of giving you exact ideas for each one of these, I'm going to give them in a general sense so that you can reflect back into your practice and be like well, what works for me and what works for our team to do these things? But these 10 things are really important in business building, in any type of business, not just chiropractic. But we're going to keep it very chiropractic and I may give you examples of what I do, but they may or may not fit how you do it. But let's go through them and let's go from the first experience a patient or a potential client or a lead may experience of your business, and then what it's like for them walking in and walking out. I'm doing this episode because, once they walk in and they become a new patient, those first one or two interactions are where you give them the most energy. And then after that, you as a business owner, as a chiropractor, have an expectation that them, as a patient, better follow the rules or take a hike.
Speaker 1:You have this undertone. It's a healthcare undertone, it's just the way it is. It's you, with the authority that you have as a doctor, being like hey, you called me, you booked in here, you paid the exam fee. It's up to you to follow the recommendations, otherwise, what do you want me to do? That's really the undertone. And as chiropractors, we're more compassionate because we have to be in order to keep people motivated and on board with the treatment protocol, whether it's an acute six visit plan to help them with a strained hamstring, or whether it's a 36 visit plan to help them with a levoscoliosis of their lumbar spine, whatever it may be, you have to keep them on board and this is called nurturing, and through that process you can build authority, you can build trust, you build a bunch of good things.
Speaker 1:Let's let's dive into these top 10 things. That'll get you thinking this is a podcast. We don't have to write anything down, you probably don't even have to watch the video. This is one. You just listen to and just reflect on what you're doing in your office, and if there's one or two things you're like, man, yeah, I got to really focus on that, then I think it was worth it for this podcast. We'll keep it short and sweet, like each and every week, but let's dive in.
Speaker 1:First thing is the warm, welcoming first call. That's usually the interaction that you have. It could be an email these days, it could be a contact us form on your website. It could be one of those, or even a reply to one of your marketing funnels. It could be, but typically it's that call. We're trying to get them on the phone. If you're chasing down leads, you're probably trying to get them on the phone, and if they are finding you on Google or referral, they're probably calling your office. So it is that first call. Train your front desk to engage warmly, ask about concerns and express excitement to help them. This is key. A great first impression sets the tone and make it your own in your practice.
Speaker 1:Our office, the people that we hire first off, are literally interviewed based on that phone calls. Those first phone calls. I want them to call, I want to talk to them on the phone, and we literally grade them one to 10. And those are the resumes that we keep people that have a nine or a 10 out of 10 on the phone, that robust, bubbly personality that pick up the phone and just excited to be there, and we hope that they continue with that the longer they work with us. So they pick up the phone hey, it's Full Life Chiropractic. It's Brittany, how can I help you today? Or I can help you today.
Speaker 1:And then the patient calls in yeah, I'd like to be a new patient. And they go through their concerns. Or they'll ask our front desk asks like hey, tell me what's bringing you to our office today? And they'll just keep a couple notes for us. And then we create that into the nurture sequence on the next step and I'll show you what what that is. And then they are just excited. At the end they're like hey, we're so excited to have you come in here. That's why we're not in network with insurances, so that we can help everyone come in. But I'm going to help you with your super bill afterwards so that you can try and submit and get some reimbursement there. That's just us. I'm giving you my example. We're not in with insurance. So for the rest of you, hey, yeah, we're direct in there. This is how it works. We won't know exactly your policy, depending on deductible, but we'll get you in here and get you all started. Don't worry about that. Leave the rest to us. We're excited to see you.
Speaker 1:You get it away from the financials, you get it away from money and you make it more about them emotional, right? This leads us into something and there's a different podcast for this about the virtual consult. That's why we get that information and before they come in for their first visit, they get a virtual consult. Go search for the virtual consult podcast and listen to that. It's a great thing. That has really changed the trajectory of my practice. We love it and it fits into this nurture sequence so well.
Speaker 1:So they get a consult call. That can be three minutes, it can be nine minutes, whatever it is, and the patient just kind of spills their guts about what's going on. It's perfect. So when they come in for their first visit, their exam, they're like hey, sam, I talked to you on the phone. Man Sounds like this, this and this are bothering you, started, then started this. Did I miss anything from that call? Is there started then started this? Did I miss anything from that? Calls or anything else you want to tell me about, maybe some other issues, and they're like no, I think that's pretty much it. Or they'll tell you secondary things like oh yeah, I didn't tell you, but I've had like plantar fasciitis or foot pain for like five years. I don't know what to do. That I'm like great, let's talk about that too. We're going to focus on the phone and then they match it up when they come in. Works really well.
Speaker 1:Number two personalized pre-visit touch points, the virtual consult. Send a welcome email with a text on information on how to get to the office, where to park and what to expect from the doctor. You may even embed some YouTube videos that you say hey, welcome to our practice, we're excited to see you. This is what you can expect. And then just a quick tour of the office, or just even the front or the front desk, so that they visually see this. So when they drive there, they see the parking lot, they're like, oh, this looks familiar and they get on in. How many of you are trying to find a new place, right? You don't know where you're going. These are personal pre-visit touch points that can help heighten the experience. You do this one time, you create the videos, that's it. You're good for the next 10 years or as long as you're in that location. You're all set, so you don't have to worry about doing these over and over again. So that's number two, the personal.
Speaker 1:What else can you add? Personal touch points pre-visit, pre-determined before they even come in for the visit. What else can you do? And it's going to be the reminder text for their first visit. It's going to be maybe an email that you customize for them, embedded with a video, a text to a video of the office hey, here's where to park, here's where to expect when you come in for your first visit. And then it's a quick video of your parking lot, your building, the front entrance, the front desk, so it looks familiar to them. There you go. A savvy way of doing this stuff is do it vacant, without any employees in there, or people or staff, so that the video will last no matter whether employees come or go. So that's a great way to do that too.
Speaker 1:Then the patient is in the office. Now that's number three the exceptional first visit experience. This is to ensure new patients feel heard, educated and not rushed. A well-structured consultation and exam build trust during this. What can you do in your office to make it an exceptional first visit? I know you guys already do great stuff. You have your exam processes, you have your orthopedic testing, you have your scanning, your x-rays, whatever it is that you do to really get the data that you need to do a clinical first exam, and those things are all really important and they're clinical. They're more important for you than they are for the patient. The patient sees this and values all the testing that you do to determine what's going on, but there's no emotional connection to testing. Testing creates a little bit of anxiety. For most people they're like, oh great, where they're going to find another cavity. Right, that's how we've been programmed. A test is to find a pathology and in your office you're trying to find not just pathologies but also underlying conditions that could be the root cause to what brought them to the office in the first place? It's the fundamental basis of chiropractic. And then what are you doing to make it exceptional? So this all comes into it.
Speaker 1:When they come in, they're welcomed. Somebody stands up from the desk and like, hey, you must be Sam. And they're like yeah, I'm Sam, you find us okay. Yeah, I actually did. Thanks for the instructions. Great, I've got all your paperwork. You sent it via email. We appreciate that. Or hey, we didn't get that paperwork. Here's a clip. Um, let's do this right now, before you see the doctor. You know that happens sometimes. Uh, or they're ready here, Let me show you around.
Speaker 1:And then they come on in and, because the exam room is in the back on purpose, they have to pass the, the adjusting area and there's just a quick little thing this is where we do adjusting and based on who's in the office at that time sometimes kids are screaming or sometimes we're doing like a muscle stretching or whatever it is they can tell hey, we do. You know sports injury stuff. Hey, we take care of a lot of kids. They can just point to them and then walk them right down. That's only like a five to 10 second tour. They get to the exam room the door shut. Hey, can I get you anything? Any water, any sparkling water, any tea or anything? Most patients say yeah, some water, and half of them say no, what a great experience. Them say no, what a great experience.
Speaker 1:We've made our office a wow experience on purpose Chandeliers, tiled walls, quartz countertops. We did that for the aesthetic based on where we are in our city. We did that on purpose to get that wow factor. It's a marketing strategy. Honestly, for some of you that's not it. That's why I said I'm not going to tell you what I do. You have to fit this into your office.
Speaker 1:What are the things that you do to give the patient an exceptional first visit experience? This will last forever. Really important. That's number three. Number four post-visit follow-up. What are you doing on those post-visit follow-ups?
Speaker 1:I most of the time not every time, most of the time will call in a patient to see how they felt after their first treatment, after the first, that first visit. If we did an adjustment that day, hey, how are you feeling? I kind of tell them what to expect when they go home. Maybe use some heat or maybe some tenderness after an adjustment. But I'll call them up. If they had an appointment at 5 45 and I'm done at 6 15, I'm not calling them at 615 30 minutes later asking them how they did it. But if they were a new patient this morning, I'm probably calling them in the afternoon. Hey, mike, how's it going, man, how are you feeling a few hours after that adjustment? Any difference there? Any soreness? And I'm bringing up the negatives any soreness, any swelling, any stiffness. They're like no, everything's doing pretty good. Great, I was just going to tell you, if you did, you can use heat on that and I'll see you again on Thursday for your next appointment. And then, if they do, you can guide them through and like, oh man, this guy really cares. So you had a great staff phone call. This is all.
Speaker 1:By the time the first visit is done, you've contacted them two or three times. I mean this is a different healthcare experience, right? That's the whole point of that Post visit follow-up. That's number four. Number five email and SMS education series. We have two podcasts on nurture sequences. I highly recommend going back to those podcasts and listening, or going to the YouTube channel and looking up on adjusting success on nurture sequences. Just put in nurture sequence either on the Spotify or Apple you'll find the podcast or on the Adjusting Success videos and we go through nurturing sequences on what to create and what you should create. If you don't use email marketing in your office, you absolutely should be.
Speaker 1:This is where you're going to create emails that are timed After the patient has done their first visit. Your team already knows to hit the trigger on MailChimp, on HighLevel, wherever it is. You hit the trigger and they're triggered for their new patient sequence. And the new patient sequence typically goes three or four months of a bunch of emails. You could do 12, 16 emails where they get them every week. I think ours is 16 or 17, where they get two or three emails a week for the first week, then like one or two emails a week for the next few weeks Kind of sound familiar right With Truman and then once a week and then once every two weeks kind of kind of tapers out and then they automatically get put into our newsletter uh automate funnel. So whenever a newsletter goes out they're automatically part of the newsletter. So and that's on forever.
Speaker 1:Once they're done care planning, we put them in a lifelong nurture sequence which has, like I think we're built it up now to 40 emails, where now they're just getting information about our office all the time. How to refer to our office. Hey, by the way, we take care of families. Hey, by the way, we take care of newborns. Did you know? These are tips, recipes, eating, fitness, nutrition, just stuff always going. Hey, by the way, did you know we do massage? So a lot of value in those emails.
Speaker 1:But then over and then, every now and then, a little, a little punch line of like, hey, this is how you come back to our office or this is how you get people to refer to our offices. Here's, here's a 50% off. You know, new patient exam thing for your next referral, things like that over time that nurture them. They're in the back. Your team has to do nothing. They just hit one button and it's set and done. They can unsubscribe, they can do whatever they want on their end. Who cares At that point? Who cares? So that's email and SMS and there's ways to use it For many of you. Using what's called ReviewWave, sked TrackStat, you can blast, text your patient list and you can have acute or active patients, inactive patients, and then target certain lists on who you want to send those blasts to Be seldom with these. Don't overdo it. You know what happens when you do that. A lot of people try and opt out.
Speaker 1:Number six handwritten notes. Man, this is such a classy touch to run handwritten notes and just throw them in the mail. These are better than sending people gifts. These are better than trying to hunt people down, trying to bribe them to come back when you notice something that they do. So the notes that we give out, it's got a logo card. It's a white card with our logo on the front, nothing written on the inside. So you have to write on the inside by hand and it says thank you for, uh, referring us on Facebook. We saw that in the mom's group. That's super cool. Uh, we see these things and we appreciate you, and that's it. That's that's it. It says thank you, sending them a happy anniversary card. Hey, it was great talking to you yesterday. I hope you have such a great weekend with your on your anniversary trip. Congrats on 21 years of marriage. And you put that in there. Man, these things come back. They always, when they come back, they're like thank you so much for the card. Right, you can do birthday cards, you can do these automation type things too, but these handwritten thank you notes for just random things leave a touch on people and they end up coming back long term.
Speaker 1:This podcast is for you to have a thriving business 20 years from now. That's honestly what we're doing here. You're not going to see the fruits of your labor. You may on a couple of things immediately, but as you build these systems and you have them in place and it's just the culture in your office who's not going to come back to your office. You know what I'm saying. Outgoing engagement regular check-ins, birthday messages, patient appreciation events, social media interactions, workshops all these things, the ongoing engagement that you keep people with. The easiest way to do this is have them subscribe to your email list. That way you can continue doing email marketing. That's the best way to do it. And then referral encouragement.
Speaker 1:A lot of you say referral is how your businesses run. And then I asked Great, what are your strategies on getting more referrals? How do you do this? And you may have one that you do, and then you really haven't continued, but it just kind of happens organically and you don't know why. Uh, you don't know what you're doing or why you're stimulating those referrals organically. Why is that happening? And and you and again, the undertone, the authority undertone of being a chiropractor is one of those things that you just expect people refer to me. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm a damn good chiropractor. They better be referring to me. I better be the talk of the town. Um, every day with the magic that I perform in my office, right, but it's your expectation that referrals come in, not your clients, not your society, not your community that does that for you.
Speaker 1:When the conversation comes up for chiropractic or back pain or headaches, yeah, and they're sitting around and their kids are playing at the playground like, oh man, you should go see the chiropractor, you should try chiropractic, and that's how the referrals happen. But how do you educate them on the importance of referrals? Friends and family? By making it easy and rewarding for them. That's it. And that's through email marketing, that's through your table talk and that's how. That's how you get people through the door.
Speaker 1:So I pick my best clients that have been in 100 plus visits, because we keep track of their PVA and they come in If they're part of the 100 plus club and they don't really refer a lot. I ask them hey, man, how's everything going? You obviously love us. I haven't had any referrals for you. And it's a tough conversation to have because some people are like they're just introverts, they don't really talk to a lot of people, they're like I don't really get out much. And then other people like, yeah, no, we love you, we love to talk about you all the time, and I don't I don't know who was the last person that probably came in, but I bring it up all and that's it. It just gives you that stimulating referral, encouragement table talk that has it out there, and then the rest is that email, nurture sequences that I was talking about.
Speaker 1:Just, you know, value, value, value, recipe stretches, healthy eating, healthy sleep. And then this is how you refer to our office oh, by the way, did you know we take care of kids? Oh, by the way, did you know we're the only ones in the area with shockwave that does this, this, this and this? Hey, by the way, did you know we're the only upper cervical chiropractic office in 45 miles that does the this technique, the knee chest technique or whatever it is that you can highlight and all the things that it can help with? You know, to give them ideas. So it's the symptoms that are the trigger words for the patient who are like oh, I'm going to listen for sciatica, I'm going to listen for sciatica, I'm going to listen for migraine, I'm going to listen for vertigo. Trigger words, not back pain, neck pain, specific ringing in the ears, things like this, that now you've got your warriors on the ground, boots to the ground watching out for you and then your name's going to come up first. That's how that all happens.
Speaker 1:So referral encouragement and, lastly but not least, long-term relationship building. You know you got to keep in touch even after they stop coming in regularly. Occasional wellness check-ins we have a three-month, six-month, one-year and two-year activation, reactivation protocols. The three months has organically kind of turned into like a doctor call, call email text type thing, like a more uh the doctor. It goes on the doctor's list that you know the. The CAs have tried many times to get them back.
Speaker 1:And then you call in and be like hey, nancy, I can't believe it's been since December, but time flies. I was just thinking about you today. I haven't seen you since then. It's been a long time. Hope everything's okay. Don't know why you crossed my mind. I hope it's just all good news, give me a call back, let me know how everything's going and make sure that you're okay, and that's how I've done it.
Speaker 1:It's developed over time to be more of that type of a voicemail that I leave If I connect with them on the phone. That's exactly what I tell them. If they actually pick up which is 2025, nobody picks up. But if they pick up, I literally say that I'm like Nancy, how have you been? Is Dr Enrico for Life Chiropractic? I haven't seen you since December. I can't believe it's March. Like, what is going on? How have you been? What's going on? I don't know why you crossed my mind, but I'm glad you picked up the phone.
Speaker 1:Be like oh no, everything's been great. You know we ended up moving. Or they tell you something I got to get back in. That's that's. You know, that's the what you want. Great, that's awesome. What days work best for you? Oh, you know I'm off Mondays, them.
Speaker 1:I just write it down if I'm not in front of the EHR or whatever, and we get them in and that's how it goes. Or the voicemail will get people to call back. They'll be like oh man, dr D called me. I can't believe it's been that long. Let's get us in there. Or you don't hear anything back. Hey, come back on in. We were working on this, this and this. We got to this point. Let's come on in for a re x-ray. See how your spine's holding up since then. And that's at no charge. Come on in for the x-ray, let's just do that. And then when they call, they come on in.
Speaker 1:And it was or a scan or a thermal scan, whatever it is that you do in your office, you know, posture, check, posture pro, picture, ipad, whatever it is that you do, objective finding, offer it to them for free, as long as it's quick. It takes a few, you know a few seconds. Do it. Then, once they come on, hey, come on in, and I do it as a doctor. They go into my appointment schedule. I go in, I take the x-ray. I'm like, hey, things are starting to slip a little bit. You're here anyways.
Speaker 1:Did you want to get adjusted today? Just to remind you, it's $85 for an adjustment. Did you want to do that today? Otherwise, this is all free. No one has ever said no. No one's gotten their car, drove all the way over to the chiropractor's office to just do the free x-ray it rarely happens. Or the free thermal scan it never happens, they're all yeah, let's just do it. Sure, you waived your re-exam fee. Sure, you waived this, you did that. But you got your adjustment right, you got that in and now you got them on the table. You can talk about them. Hey, remember our wellness plans. You can come in for twice a month for 120 bucks a month. Come on, sign up for that. Do that one every other week, get back on the horse, get your well and yeah, I need to do this. You're right, that's it. And then you sign them up. Sound good.
Speaker 1:Been a chiropractor for 17 years, so this podcast rolled off my tongue pretty easy because of the things that I do. But think about those 10 things. Think about those things in your office. Tweaking these things can pivot the energy in your office. It can rally your team together, it can change the dynamic of just the culture and once you do that, you can rev things up and can get people excited. Sometimes you do like these nurture things and there's a staff member or CA or somebody that gets excited about doing them for you and they build it, they.
Speaker 1:Hey, doc, I know you said let's do a 12 sequence. It's I did 28. I just got carried away. I got 28. I spaced them out over time. Instead of 12 weeks, it's going to go for five months and I think it's great information. You're like, wow, thanks, thanks for doing that, and you'll see the team rally behind this stuff and build it for you. You cannot sit here and do all 10 of those things and build them yourself. Trust me, you need a team behind you to help make it more robust. Go try it, report back, leave some comments let's know how it goes and if you have any ideas on top of that, share them in a community, share them on the Facebook group, share them online and get other people to read it too. Reply to those emails I send out as well Say hey, you know, I had another idea on that podcast. I heard you might want to add that for next works really well in our office. That's great. Have a great week. Thanks for everything that you do. Keep doing it.
