Unified Practice

One of the biggest hurdles facing clinics today is understanding how to effectively market to their patients to ensure they are spending their time, energy and money on tactics that will result in more engagement from current patients while also attracting new ones. 

In a recent webinar, we hosted acupuncturist and marketing expert, Michelle Grasek, who broke down three things acupuncturists need to keep in mind as they plan, create and distribute their marketing tactics:

Educate Your Patients

You’ve probably heard the term “provide value to your customers.” What that means is, provide content (blog, social media posts, email, etc.) that gives your patients new information they can use to their benefit. You are the expert when talking with your patients about acupuncture or treatments you provide — that’s why they pay you for your services! The more information you can provide your clients outside of a scheduled appointment, the more likely they’ll want to see you for another in-person appointment. 

A lot of small business owners say they don’t like marketing because they feel like they’re trying too hard to be sales-y and are left feeling defeated by trying to write marketing copy or creating something complicated. By approaching your marketing with the intent of educating your patients, Grasek says you’ll find creating marketing content will become much easier.

Find The Right Audience on The Right Platform

As you create your marketing content, it’s important for you to consider who your audience is. Are you creating a blog article for current patients, prospective patients, or both? Do more of your current patients follow you on Facebook or Instagram? Where have you had the most luck in your audience engaging with your content? 

These are all important questions to consider before putting your content out into the world. As a marketer (which you are, even if you don’t consider yourself one!), you should be somewhat familiar with the demographics of your audience on your social profiles, where your website and blog traffic come from (social media, organic search, paid ads),

Repeat Your Message

Repeating your message over and over may feel redundant and as though you’re annoying your target audience but that’s just not true. It feels redundant to you because you’re seeing the message every time it goes out, however, your target audience is not. 

There are many opinions on how many times a potential customer (or patient, in this case) needs to see your message. One of the most well-known theories is the Rule of 7, which suggests exactly what it sounds like: a client needs to hear or see a message seven times before they consider taking action. Known as the mere-exposure effect, people tend to show a preference for a thing, idea or message they are familiar with. According to a study conducted by psychologists, mere-exposure effect hits its max around 10-20 exposures before it becomes annoying. Now, consider how many times you’ve sent out a message hoping for action. How many times did it take before you saw a significant lift in people doing what you wanted? If you haven’t seen that with your marketing, consider upping how often you’re broadcasting to your audience. 

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