Randi Drinkwater is the president of Alternative Growth Streams (AGS), a company whose mission is to help alternative health care professionals grow their patient base. She’s also a colleague of ours from IntegrativePractitioner.com, where we both contribute to the growing community of practitioners. We asked Randi for a case study from AGS’s work with CAM […]
For some time, Google’s been showing search results differently for geographically specific search terms. In English, that means when someone searches for something like “Chicago chiropractor”, “Las Vegas Acupunture”, or “Miami Massage Therapy” the results that come up look a little different. To see the difference in the search results, click on these two links […]
Reader M writes: I’m wondering what the best way is to network with other practitioners in a small area. I’m feeling uneasy, shy, and even slightly pushy just cold-calling people, especially in planning exactly what I want to say. I don’t want to inconvenience people, and I don’t want them to feel like I am […]
Massage Therapist “M” writes: “I need suggestions on what to include in introduction letters to MD’s to telling them about my massage services.” We’ve touched on this before, but here are some specifics you might consider when writing to an MD: 1. Leverage before you write. If you can make personal contact with any MD […]
I had an inquiry last week from Taradel, a print services firm that does some specialty print work in the CAM/holistic industry, particularly with chiropractors. If you’re in the US and considering any print work, particularly newspaper inserts, you may want to check them out. Here’s a snippet from what I received from them: Business […]
After the post on marketing with integrity, I thought it’d be useful to provide an example of putting the principles to work. Referrals from existing patients are critical to growth. Good patients tend to refer other good patients, and that cycle is an important one for growing your practice with the kind of patients you […]
It’s no secret that CAM practitioners, on average, aren’t keen on marketing. It isn’t something most students desire (or get) training in during school, and as practitioners, there’s a sense that marketing is just a little bit dirty – that it’s the sleazy side of business that simply must be done to get ahead. It […]
With all the work that it takes to run a practice, it’s easy to forget that business is not all about you – it’s about your clients. There are a thousand little things that make up the client experience, but making things easy – simple, fast, pleasant – tends to keep patients returning and referring. […]
For their 50th anniversary a couple of years back, Chiropractic Economics posted a pile of free marketing articles on their website. There’s enough weekend reading here to keep you busy for a while… http://www.chiroeco.com/50/market/index/ Related Posts: Practice Help for Chiropractors
Although it’s by no means the only method to promote your CAM practice, email marketing is one of the easiest and cheapest. Add to that the fact that a growing proportion of your patient base is going to prefer email as a means of communication, and it’s worth considering. The challenge for many practitioners, of […]
The new yellow pages came out in our area last week, so as usual, I took a spin through to check out the competition. To my surprise, some of the newer practitioners in the area had chosen not to advertise. Our area is pretty thick with chiropractors, and the number of naturopaths and TCM practitioners […]
Entrepreneur.com has a good introductory article on newspaper advertising: Newspaper Ads They touch on demographics briefly, but for alternative health practices, I’d suggest you pay close attention to your target market when deciding whether to run an ad. Sure, everyone needs health care, but not everyone wants or can afford your health care. Ask yourself, […]
A concise summary of the difference between Marketing and Advertising. Worth a quick read to make sure you’re marketing your CAM practice, not just advertising it…. Marketing vs. Advertising: What’s the Difference?
A couple of interesting pieces here that might help with deciding where to spend your marketing dollars. CAM Usage Most Popular at Midlife CAM Usage Climbs With Education Level Anyone else corroborate this from their own practice? If the middle aged and educated are your best prospects, it’s wise to keep this in mind when […]
As a follow up to yesterday’s Putting the “Alternative” in Alternative Medicine, I thought it would be interesting to look at the term complementary from a business strategy perspective. There are some deeply entrenched camps on this issue. There are many who view the term complementary as subservient to the allopathic medical community. It’s the […]
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