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
The Patient Conversion Crisis: Why More Leads Aren't the Answer
Are you constantly chasing new patients for your chiropractic practice while watching potential patients slip through your fingers? You're not alone. The hard truth many chiropractors face is that pouring more money into generating leads doesn't solve the fundamental issue plaguing most practices.
The number one marketing mistake chiropractors make isn't about attracting attention—it's failing to convert interested prospects into committed patients. Think about it: what good are 50 new leads if only 10 ever schedule an appointment? Or worse, what if they show up once and never return? The math simply doesn't work. A single patient who commits to care and refers others is worth ten times more than multiple qualified leads who never return.
This episode unpacks the critical difference between generating interest and creating lasting patient relationships. We explore how marketing is like industrial fishing—you need systems to sort through what you catch, not just bigger nets. You'll discover why the patient journey should be meticulously designed from first click to care plan acceptance, with specific strategies including pre-framed videos, virtual consults that build trust before the first appointment, and conversion scripts that transform your front desk into powerful advocates for patient care.
Most importantly, you'll learn how to shift your practice from a volume-based approach to a quality-focused system that naturally generates referrals and creates sustainable growth. I share real examples of how chiropractors have transformed their practices by improving conversion rates rather than increasing ad spend, resulting in thousands of dollars in additional monthly revenue.
Ready to transform your approach? Email info@enricod.com for our free "Five-Step Patient Conversion Script for Chiropractors" that you can implement with your team in just five minutes. Stop leaving money on the table and start creating the practice—and the impact—you've always wanted.
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- Book a free discovery call with Enrico to level up your business
Welcome back to Marketing 101 for Chiropractors, the podcast where we simplify the complex world of marketing so you can grow your practice, attract your ideal patients and spend more time doing what you love helping people live healthier lives Not golfing, not traveling, not spending time with your kids. Helping people live healthier lives. You'll see why I emphasize that Today. I want to uncover the number one marketing mistake I see chiropractors making and, more importantly, how to fix it. This episode could completely change the way you look at your practice's growth. So stick with me to the end, because I have a free resource I'm going to give you that you can start using with your team today, just for listening to this episode.
Speaker 1:Most chiropractors think their main problem is that they need more new patients. I hear it all the time. If I could just have 30, 40, 50 new patients a month, dr D, my practice would just take off. Here's the truth. You don't have a patient problem. You have a conversion and retention problem. If your practice is getting leads from Facebook ads, google ads, health fairs, referrals, screenings, but those people aren't showing up, or worse, they show up once and they never commit, then pouring more money into ads isn't going to fix this big problem. The mistake we're making is we're chasing volume over quality and leads over patience, and it's catching up to the profession big time.
Speaker 1:I was sitting down with a colleague of mine talking and he was like listen, man, what the heck happens if Facebook or Meta changes their thing? How am I going to get new patients? And I knew this 10 years ago when I was thinking about this and the docs that are working under 10 years they haven't seen anything before that. They're literally putting all their eggs into the meta basket and they're concerned. They're like what if the plug is pulled on this? What happens if something happens? I'm like it's going to happen. It happened with google, where google clicks were killing it. Now it's so competitive and that's what's happening here. It's naturally going to happen.
Speaker 1:You can see the panic on their faces like what do I have to do a screening? I don't ever want to do a screening, man, I'd rather quit being a chiropractor. I'm like whoa, holy smokes, where have we got to? Where have we gone to in this profession to get to this point? So that's where this podcast is coming from.
Speaker 1:A patient who shows up, commits to a care plan and refers someone else is worth 10 times more than 10 qualified leads who never return. We have to think about that. How do we capture those people? And lead conversion is like fishing. It's like big, big industrial fishing, not just you casting one line at a time. This is like the mega nets you throw that stuff out into the ocean and you pull over time and you pull in and you sift through the leads. You sift through what you got. You'll catch a Tudor Bingo. If you don't, you sift through the other leads. But if you're catching mackerel and trout and other stuff that are in there, they're viable leads. These are good. The other stuff that are in there, they're viable leads. These are good. The other stuff the sardines, the anchovies yeah, we get it. We might not the tires and the license plates you throw away. But that's what we need to be focusing on.
Speaker 1:The best marketing you can do isn't always about the reach. It's about creating a patient experience and process that converts these people in. Think about this what good is 50 new leads if only 10 ever make it into care, make an appointment? Instead, what if you had 15 leads but 12 became long-term patients and referred their friends and family? That's how you build a sustainable practice. The real secret isn't marketing like this. Actually, marketing doesn't stop when someone just clicks your ad. This is where it all begins. I want you to change this. It's like, okay, I'm going to build this machine. This is what I help chiropractors do for all these years to build the machine, the machine build it. Then they either don't use the machine or they take off with it. They run with it and they understand it's a tool. Then they can use other methods to funnel into the machine and build the nurturing process. That was my vision from the very beginning with all this Create systems that your team knows, sops that your team follows.
Speaker 1:Not automations just on your CRM that's just built in, that's the easy stuff, but automations that your team follows and systems that your team follows to nurture all new patients, not just leads from Facebook. You shouldn't be treating them any different than the referral from Ms Jones that has been fantastic in your practice for the last six years. So we got to talk about how to fix this. We got to fix the thought process and we got to fix the process itself, the systems. Here's the journey your patients should be taking and this is what you need to think when you create every ad and when you create every system in your practice is number one. They see your ad somewhere, whatever you're doing Google ads, meta ads, instagram, wherever they see it, they see it. It should educate and build trust, not just push the discount.
Speaker 1:This is where you guys are getting so frustrated on is I don't want to do these $29 exams anymore. Yeah, I don't blame you. You'll get a bunch of $29 leads, but they're one and out. You know this, you've learned this. They're looking for the discounts because everyone's running this, the joint's running it, everyone's running it. Send them to the joint. The joint's built for that. They're built for the one and out, or they even have a better SOP system than you do. They've got literally nothing in the practice except a chiropractor and their hands and they do a $29 thing. And then they're like, hey, for 79 bucks, you can sign up for the whole month and we'll see they're doing a better job than any of you guys are doing Now. The cost per average visit is low and yada, yada, yada overhead and all that stuff. Fine, they're a corporation with cash that has, unlike you, that lives. Your family lives off your business, which is different. The EBITDAs are different in those corporations but you got to take their system SOP manuals way better than yours and that's the fact because they zoned in on it. So now you're competing $29 new patient exams with the joint.
Speaker 1:They book an appointment. That's step two. Your follow-up system should confirm and remind them. That's where automations are kicked in. They show up. That's the whole point of the marketing, right? The SCRM. You have the texts, the phone calls. Your team's calling trying to get them to book that appointment and get them to show up with the reminders. Right, that's not where the work is done, that's where the work begins. They show up. They should already know who you are and what you do before they walk in.
Speaker 1:If you're doing simplistic ads, you need to add in the virtual consult bridge before that first exam. So your team just worked hard, your CA, jessica. She worked so hard to get them in. They got in, they responded, they answered her voicemail, she sent them the paperwork and, hallelujah, they filled out the paperwork. It came back. She's like oh my gosh, this Facebook ad. We got it, dr C. We got the ad coming in tomorrow, friday.
Speaker 1:Well, what ends up happening is tonight she called the guy Larry that booked in. Larry, hey, great to see you. You're all confirmed for tomorrow. Thanks for following up with us. We're so excited to see you. Is it okay if Dr C calls you tonight when he's done working on a shift at six o'clock? He just takes five minutes, talks to you, gets to know you a little bit, see what the problem is, making sure that tomorrow we can actually do something to help you. That's it, and really what it is is OPQRST. You can get that done on the virtual consult. It takes five minutes, folks. I've been doing this for years Five minutes. Hey, larry, it's Dr D. How you doing, man? I'm seeing you tomorrow at let me check, you're 215. 215,. You're booked in. I'm excited to see you.
Speaker 1:Tell me what's going on. How can I prepare tomorrow for you, or do you think I'm even the right person to see? Well, I don't know, doc, I got this pain shooting down my leg. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. You're going to help you. We're going to make you feel better. I'm going to take some x-rays tomorrow when you come in, just so you're prepared. It takes about 60 seconds to do it. It's going to quickly show me the joints and we'll see what's going on there. Barring anything radical that's happening there, I think we can help you. If not, I can send you for an MRI and we can still help you.
Speaker 1:But it sounds like you found the right place. I'm excited for this and you this. And he jumped on our promo. This is fantastic 99 bucks typically $250 to do all that. That's fantastic. I'm glad you're coming in. Take advantage of that promo, get you on board for 99 bucks and let's see what it's going to take to really fix the problem so that you're not just in pain forever. Does that sound good? And they're like yeah, I'm excited, man, thank you. That's how the most conversations go. Everyone's excited because they're on the phone. The ones that are not excited are the ones that don't respond. Yeah, we know that. Great, keep working on it. That virtual consult Now, dr D, they know my name.
Speaker 1:They're coming in tomorrow. I'm going to help you, I'm going to take some x-rays, I'm going to do this, I do some thermal scans, you're preparing them. So when they come in and our office is beautiful, they walk in, they're like woo, yes, this is cool. And then they Brittany, is that you on the phone? Yeah, that was me talking to you. Great. And then like it's just this rep. So, and that's where it begins. Once they sit down, now it begins. Yes, it's your job.
Speaker 1:A day one is no different than any other patient, from whatever source they come from. You give them your best, but the follow-up is what is so important. On this, larry, good news, bad news Good news definitely can help you. I do this all the time, unfortunately. The bad news is this is going to take some work, man.
Speaker 1:We got degeneration in the left hip joint. It's not surgical. I don't think you need a hip replacement and we're going to make sure it stays that way for the rest of your life. But this torsion in your pelvis see this twisting this left side of the hip and the right side of the hip the left side looks bigger. It's an optical illusion. On the x-ray it's really just because your torque so much you're coming towards the screen. That's what's going on there. We gotta take that torque out of the pelvis. We're gonna do a lot of sacral and pelvic adjusting for you. This is gonna take time. Muscle memory is gonna fight with us on this.
Speaker 1:It's gonna take repetitive visits over time, but I'm going to make them exciting. You got to do some homework with some stretching and use some heat and I promise you, over the next six weeks you're going to have fantastic results. You're going to start feeling better, probably in a few weeks, but we're going to do this for six to eight weeks and then I want to take another x-ray and make sure the torsion is out of the pelvis. If it's not out, you're just going to go right back into this. In six months from now, you're going to be in the exact same pain. Does that make sense? Oh yeah, that makes. That's it. That's my day. That's my day too. That's it. Here you go. Here's a 24 visit for all you suckers out there. Here's a 48 visit care plan, larry. It's $4,400. It's going to take eight months and we're going to work through this. I don't care what you think about me or what you think about the 48 visit plan, but I do them all the time. If I know I can't get this person better in six weeks, why would I give them a 12 visit plan? So that's a different podcast for a different day. Jerks, they say yes to care Now. They say yes to care Now we start baking the cake. Now we're doing it. Your consult, your consultation, your exam and report should inspire confidence and commitment to them.
Speaker 1:I gave you a typical structural thing that you see in your office rotation of the pelvis, hip DGAD, L5, dgad, whatever. All this stuff I gave you. What you typically see you can translate to the cervical. I think those are easy home runs. Easy home runs, those ones. I love the neural stuff, the neural tone stuff. Now you blow their mind. Now you absolutely blow their mind.
Speaker 1:Internal torsion, tone of the nervous system, tension on the spinal cord, cranial movement, sacral movement tension. Guitar strings are too tight and you can't even play a note because your guitar strings are so tight. We're going to loosen these guitar strings. We're going to bring the system back in balance. We're going to redo your thermal HRV and static EMG scans to show you change. It's going to happen over time and we need to repeat those scans every probably three times to see what's going on. We do them every 12 visits. So 12 times three, 36 visits. We're gonna do that. That's what we're going to do and you're going to notice some sleep changes. Through the sleep You're going to sleep better. That's how your nervous system is going to regulate and then that's how we're in that guys like four minutes, four minute ROFs.
Speaker 1:There's your tonal example. There's your structural example and I'm sure you can do the rest, and I'm not any smarter than any of you. Some of you are geniuses and can do a way better job than I can. There's no reason why that's the marketing plan. Now they're excited for this care. They're like oh my God, my toughest cases are scoliosis. Those are so tough 48, 60 visit plans, months of care and I just keep my fingers crossed that we can change these curves with all the homework and all the work we do for them. I don't do a lot of it, but those ones are tough. Those are structured. Now you're trying to promise them we're going to make some changes in the curve. Those are tough. Those are tough promises to make, but the rest pretty good. They stay, they pay and they refer. Are they finishing these plans? Are they referring?
Speaker 1:I just had a lady yesterday brought in her daughter. She's starting care there. Her POTS symptoms are under control for the first time in her life. She's like I tell everyone about you. She was a Facebook ad probably about a month or two ago, and you see that and you're like okay, here we go, now we're doing the conversion thing. It's turned into this. She's on her second plan, her daughter's starting on a plan, her husband joined on into wellness. The whole family is getting care.
Speaker 1:That is how you do it, but it's the reason why that works is because the SOP is there. The systems and procedures are ironclad for your team to follow. Does everyone fit in there? No, do you have off days? Yeah, do you wish you could have that pitch back and swing again? Yes, it happens. Sometimes you were off, you knew this patient needed it and you just didn't give them 100%. You were intimidated or you didn't want to be intimidating, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:That's where it all goes, and I've been working with two chiropractors that have been struggling with this. We got the front end fixed. Yes, we're getting them 50, 60 leads a month on Facebook Great. But they're getting like six to 10 to 11 new patients a month coming in from that. But the conversion rates went up, where 10 out of 11 are signing on to care plans, and I told him now that we've been working for three months, I'm like, okay, well, what's the numbers? I do, we're making an extra $14,000 a month that I can legitimately see from the ads. But that I can legitimately see from the ads. But thank you for conversion, because that first month he was like dude. We got like one patient in but it was an issue there. I told him if you're going to work this hard to convert people just to come in, shouldn't you work harder once they're in?
Speaker 1:Most chiropractors are giving up at that new patient. They're like gotcha, you're in, got the fish, took it out of the net, threw it on the ice. Successful day of fishing? Not really. Did you check the fish? Are you going to nurture the fish? Are we going to do the right? Are you going to fillet it? Are you going to prepare it properly so it makes it back to shore so you can eat it or sell it or whatever you're doing? There's more steps to the process than just catching the fish. So here's some practical strategies that I got for you three of them to fix your marketing mistakes.
Speaker 1:Number one use pre-framed videos in your ads. Create short, one to two minute welcome videos. Send them to every new lead before their first appointment. In the video you introduce yourself, you explain what to expect and you share a quick success story. This builds trust instantly, so you don't have to do all the virtual calls. I still love the virtual consoles and I will continue to do them. Automate your nurture, set up text and email sequences that confirm the appointment, educates the patients and reduces no-shows. Even simple reminders like hey, this is Dr D, I can't wait to meet you tomorrow at 4 pm, bring any questions you have Can just dramatically increase your show up rates. Another one is hey, are you going to bring anyone else to take advantage of this $99 offer? Spouse, family member, friend? We had a lady bring in her friend. Two of them Both jumped on me. I said hey, for $99, we're going to try this. They're and her friend, two of them both jumped on me. I say hey, for 99 bucks, we're going to try this. I'm like great.
Speaker 1:Train your front desk with a conversion script. The way your team answers the phone or greets a walk-in can make or break the patient journey. We strictly hire bubbly people to answer our phones. There's no exception. If you're monotone or you have off days, boom, you're off the phone or you're fired One or the other. We find something else for you to do or we find someone else. We've put together a free resource for you called the Five-Step Patient Conversion Script for Chiropractors. It's a simple, one-page script you can train your staff with, immediately Email me at info at enricodcom. I'll send it to you. Or if you got the email reminder about this podcast episode, it's right there. We put it right in the attachment for you and click on that. If not, just email us, we'll send it to you. Or if you haven't, and then I'll put you on the marketing list so you get the email every Friday of the new episode and if there's any attachments, you'll automatically get them from now on out. So let's recap this episode.
Speaker 1:We want to wrap up and we want to call to action. With everything that we do, most chiropractors don't have a lead problem. They have a conversion problem. Fix the funnel, create an experience that builds trust and focus on quality patients over quantity of leads. If you're doing the $29 exams, you're going to have to sift through more junk. It's just the way it is. I want to give you that free resource, so just reach out to us at infoandenricodecom.
Speaker 1:Follow those steps. It'll take five minutes to implement with your team. Give it to your front desk, give it to your manager, give it to somebody, give it to them at the next training this week and tell them hey we, how are we, how are we going to? How are we going to up our game with our marketing, no matter what marketing that you do, even if you're a referral based practice. How do we up it 5%? How do we increase what we do 5%? What that was that 5% going to translate to? Is it 5% increase in collections is going to be 5% increase in referrals. What is that going to end up doing? Think about it.
Speaker 1:Go there and if you have any questions or any tidbits, or if you are successful in some type of conversion in your office that you know you are, but you're one of those quiet types. You don't run your own consulting company, you don't do anything, you just keep being a chiropractor and you know you're good at it. Go into the group Marketing 101 for Chiropractors and jot down a comment and just say, hey, we're really successful at doing it like this because we do this A and B and put it in there. You may help somebody for free, like just reading that. They'll be like, oh man, what a great idea. Or they might reach out to you and they might just send you a DM and say, hey, can you tell me more about that? How do you guys implement that? That's pretty cool there, that's.
