Our Fundamental 5-Step Blueprint for Attracting New Chiropractic Patients

Here’s Why Every DC Needs a System to Attract New Chiropractic Patients

As a chiropractor, you’re probably more excited about new patient clinical care than you are about new patient marketing campaigns.

But, that being said, you’re obviously still trying to build and run and grow a fulfilling and profitable business.

You have to remember that your practice is a business and every week you’re going to have to put on your business owner hat.

And it goes without saying that with over 35,000 chiropractors in the United States alone, you need to do what you can to stand out from the crowd.

The good news?

Expanding your practice’s customer base isn’t hard if you have the right marketing strategy in place to help you keep attracting new chiropractic patients.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to dive into in this guide.

Our Fundamental 5-Step Blueprint for Every New Chiropractic Patient Attraction System

At The Smart Chiropractor, we’ve found that building up your know, trust, and like factor by teaching and inviting consistently is crucial to creating real growth in your practice.

Literally EVERY, sustainable and growth-oriented business in the last 10 years has been built on this concept.

So, how do you apply that concept to your practice’s individual marketing plan for attracting new chiropractic patients?

Let’s dive in.

1) — Start Updating Your Practice’s Free Google Business Profile (and Don’t Stop!)

When people hop on Google to search for chiropractors in your area, you want to ensure that you’re one of the ones that show up on their search engine results pages (also often referred to as SERPs in many marketing articles).

A Google Business profile is integral to making this happen, and Google offers this for free.

Most chiropractic practices are usually based in a single location, so filling out your Google Business profile as thoroughly and accurately as possible is important.

That way when someone searches for you or chiropractors near them on Google Search or Google Maps, they’ll instantly see three primary actions they can take to contact you when your Google Business profile appears.

They can call, request directions, or visit your website to connect with your practice.

It goes without saying that if your NAP details are incorrect, you’re leaving countless opportunities on the table every minute of every day.

( There’s another effective way to leverage your practice’s free Google Business profile that we’ll dive into in the next step of this guide. )

Once you’ve set up your Google Business profile to help you start attracting new chiropractic patients, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do to help ensure your practice appears at the top of the list when your neighbors are searching for a chiropractor.

2) — Start Using Your Patient’s Most Searched Questions to Power Your Content (and Don’t Stop!)

Once your Google Business profile is in place ( don’t skip this step! ), it’s time to focus on putting out great, locally relevant content that can help move your practice to the top of the SERPs.

( Remember, SERP stands for search engine results pages. )

Doing so will help you accomplish two important goals.

First, you’re online audience will be able to learn more about the care you provide and what it is you actually do in your practice.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, you’ll set yourself up to start attracting new chiropractic patients that are more in line with your practice’s ideal patient.

So, how do you connect the dots between what you know and what those ideal patients your trying to attract want to know?

You start by using good keyword research to direct your online content creation strategy.

For example, by identifying the keywords, key phrases, and key questions that are performing well and relevant to what you do…

You’ll have what you need to consistently craft SEO or search engine-friendly blog posts that drive you up in the related SERPs to get you found.

Mention your location, the areas you serve, the business you work with, the local events you’re hosting or participating in, highlight local patient testimonials, etc.

Remember, your goal is not only to get found but to start attracting new chiropractic patients who live in your community.

In addition to leveraging blogs, you can also further leverage your Google Business profile to this end by posting to it regularly.

Yes, just like other popular social channels ( which we’ll also be diving into below ), you can create and share posts on your practice’s Google Business profile.

Our team at The Smart Chiropractor has found that posting to your practice’s Google Business profile at least once per week can boost the number of patients who find you on Google by as much as 5X.

Yes, you read that correctly.

We post to our Smart Chiropractor member’s Google Business profiles weekly, and we’ve seen some Docs 5X the number of patients they generate from Google each month as a result.

The key is not only in the content but in the consistency.

That said, let’s dive into leveraging those more traditional social media channels to help you with attracting new chiropractic patients.

3) — Start Geeking Out and Posting to Get Found on Social Media (and Don’t Stop!)

In today’s world, social media is one of the biggest power tools you have at your disposal to help you find and engage with your ideal patient base.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become invaluable for individual chiropractic practices to build online visibility and awareness of their personal brand of care.

This ties back to the idea we mentioned earlier of boosting your practice’s know-trust-like factor.

Success on social really comes down to combining content and consistency.

For instance, if you’re a fun-loving chiropractor, be sure to keep it fun and light on social media.

Likewise, focus on posting informative videos and infographics if you’re all about patient education.

Whatever tone fits your brand, it’s important to think about your social media strategy through the lens of the Teach and Invite, Consistently framework we mentioned earlier.

If you are teaching – that’s educating, engaging, inspiring your audience – and then inviting them to take action, you’ll almost certainly find success on social media.

Again, consistency is key when it comes to attracting new chiropractic patients!

Consistency is also key when leveraging another hugely important asset of yours – your existing patients.

4) — Start Promoting Referral Incentives to Your Existing Patients (and Don’t Stop!)

An excellent way to bring in new customers the “old-fashioned way” is to create and promote a referral program in your chiropractic practice.

Most referral programs involve offering your current patients a compliant benefit or bonus when a referral of theirs comes in for care in your practice.

Note that every country and state has different rules regarding incentivizing referrals, so be sure to check with your local board on what’s allowed where your chiropractic practice is located… and then do it!

Also, don’t sleep on medical referrals.

Over 90% of MDs have been asked about chiropractic, yet only 11% on average are actually referred to a chiropractor.

Talk about a missed opportunity!

Especially when an estimated 30% of the daily volume in a primary care office is related to neuromusculoskeletal issues.

That gap is your opportunity, and building relationships with local medical doctors can help you ensure that those patients are referred to your practice when care is appropriate.

And it might surprise you to learn that most MDs often have next to no clue what chiropractors actually do.

For that reason, we recommend including marketing to MDs as part of your overall marketing strategy for attracting new chiropractic patients.

The best part about referred patients is that they are often the most compliant and happy patients.

It’s truly a win-win, so don’t hesitate to launch those patient and professional referral programs in your practice.

On that same note, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the power of positive reviews in attracting new chiropractic patients.

5) — Start Inviting Reviews from Your Satisfied Patients (and Don’t Stop!)

Another thing you should be doing is asking happy customers to leave ratings and reviews on your Google Business profile.

Simply put, the more 5-star ratings and positive reviews you have, the more leads you’ll get.

You get it. You know it.

Google reviews matter.

To get started, request a review every time you hear a positive comment in your practice personally.

Such reviews are sure to be positive, personal, and authentic and likely appeal to those considering starting care in your practice.

And if you’re considering using an external system or program to help you gather reviews, be sure to find out what is and isn’t allowed where your practice is located.

As noted at the beginning of this guide, you’re not only a chiropractor, you’re also a business owner.

Taking care of your business is what will ultimately allow you to continue to serve your community for years to come!

Remember, Authenticity and Consistency are Key to Attracting New Chiropractic Patients

Your chiropractic business can’t get ahead of the growing competition if you’re not actively taking steps to keep attracting new chiropractic patients to your practice.

Literally EVERY, sustainable and growth-oriented business in the last 10 years has been built on the fundamental strategies we described in this 5-step guide.

Spending more and more money on new patient acquisition is not the only answer you have for attracting new chiropractic patients (and is likely both incredibly expensive and ineffective).

Focus on getting those systems in place. Focus on Teaching and Inviting, Consistently.

Focusing on closing the holes in your patient “bucket” by improving your retention and reactivation.

These strategies will cost less, yield more, and help you build long-term relationships with your patients instead of simply creating a revolving door of transactional care.

A Word About The Smart Chiropractor Program for DCs

Looking for more guidance, tools, and retention tips to help your start attracting new chiropractic patients and to help your practice grow?

We’re here to help.

Schedule a demo with our team today so we can talk through how we can help you activate more new patients, improve your retention, and improve your reactivations without any additional ad spend.