Skip to main content
Blog

Chiropractor’s Marketing Guide In 2020 – 9 Content Tips That Work (Posting Videos, Blogging, Podcasting)

By March 4, 2020May 12th, 2022No Comments22 min read
Chiropractic Marketing Guide

Here's A Summary Of This Amazing Guide...

Chiropractor’s Marketing Guide In 2020 – 9 Content Tips That Work (Posting Videos, Blogging, Podcasting)

  1. 80% Of Videos You Post Should Focus On A Condition

    Most of these videos should be made for Facebook and Instagram which means they should be short, preferably under 5 minutes.  Because of the nature of the platform, you will need to try to capture the viewer’s attention quickly. Also, no one likes a talking head so make sure to always demonstrate treatment to give viewers a better visual.

  2. Get Rid Of Your Nerves & Focus On What Really Matters

    Make it about them, not you.  The Chiropractors I speak with that know they should create videos but haven’t started yet are usually not making because of insecurities they have. If you view creating content as a community service all of a sudden it becomes a lot easier to do because you are being of service.

  3. Make Sure Your Video Content Quality Is On Point

    There are three things to really focus on when you are shooting the video.  The way it looks, the way it sounds and the content you are delivering. Make sure that you are shooting in a well-lit area that is neat and clean.  Demonstrate as much as possible. Have visually appealing aspects to the video whether it is explaining a poster on your wall, going over an X-ray, showing an adjustment, etc.  Make sure that if there is natural light that it is behind the camera. If you point the camera at a window it will wash out the Doctor. Use a tripod. Shaky video is the worst.  Be sure that you are aware of the audio. Shoot it when the office is quiet. .

  4. Make Sure Your Blog Copy Is Original

    The blogs that your website company posts for you are used on hundreds or thousands of other Chiropractor’s websites so they will not be helpful to your content strategy.  Unique content that answers the question a searcher has is what is valued by Google. It needs to be at least 1000 words but the longer the better.

  5. When Writing Blogs, Use More Local Keywords

    Work more local keywords into your blog, especially the first few paragraphs.  Google is getting smarter and smarter so you don’t need to stuff keywords into the copy but it needs to know that your blog is for your town.

  6. Post Consistently. If You Can’t, Find Someone Who Can.

    Be honest with yourself.  If there is one truth I have learned running a content marketing agency for Chiropractors it is that they HATE writing blogs.  So if you know you aren’t going to write a blog consistently give it to a team member to do. If you don’t have a team member that will do it, hire a writer.  For 1000 words you could probably get it done for between $75-100. Just give them the title and some guidance and before you know if you’ll have a blog.

  7. Use Podcasting To Network

    Podcasts allow you to “host the party” and as the host you get to invite whoever you’d like.  If you are a sports Chiropractor you could interview all the gyms and nutritional experts in your area.  A pediatric Chiropractor could interview all of the professionals that work with expecting and new mothers.  This allows you to network with the people you want to network with by providing value to them and putting them on your platform.  By being heard/seen with them their audience begins to know who you are as well.

  8. Setup A Consistent Interview Structure Or Theme For Your Podcast

    I like to have free-flowing conversations but I also have some questions that I ask on most, if not all, of the interviews to give it some consistency.  That structure gives me something to fall back on if the conversation starts to wane.

  9. Stay “In The Moment” Always When Interviewing A Podcast Guest

    Interviews are easiest because you just get to be interested in other people’s stories and don’t have to always be creating.  Let your personality shine. Be enthusiastic. Be present with the guest and try to think like a listener when asking your questions.

Why Content Marketing Is Real Marketing

“I get plenty of leads but it doesn’t turn into much.”  I hear this almost every day when I do Strategy Sessions with my fellow Chiropractors.  These frustrated Doctors are on a call with me because they are hoping for something different than what they have been doing.  They know they should be “marketing online” but they don’t really know what that means and all they ever hear from the Facebook gurus, who are really just 24 year old kids that bought a course on how to run Facebook ads for local businesses for $1997 that one time, is to run a CRAZY offer for a $21 first visit.  In their heart they know they should be doing more but no one really tells them what that is and that one friend from Chiropractic school seems to be killing it with their Facebook ads. 

On these calls I explain to them what I call the Online Marketing Matrix.  It states that there are two kinds of online platforms and two kinds of marketing that Chiropractors should be focused on.  The platforms are attention based and search based. The attention based platforms are the ones where people spend their time within their personal news feed being delivered content that they have curated with people or businesses they like or follow and paid ads.  These platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The search based platforms are where people go to get their questions answered or look for specific things. This is mainly Google and YouTube.

Here is the Online Marketing Matrix and some of the different examples Chiropractors should focus on.

For all of the platforms, you can implement strategies around both types of marketing.  Those are lead generation and content marketing. Lead generation is what most Chiropractors think of when they think of online marketing.  This is usually paid advertising where you are trying to get a lead or a patient. Facebook offer ads and Google ads are commonly used examples of these.  Content marketing is where you are using one of the three types of content (video, text or audio) to deliver information to your target market with no real call to action.  The purpose of this is to provide value to your ideal patient and to begin to build trust with that person.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Just Running A Facebook Ad

Why is it that there are SO many “marketing agencies’ ‘ telling Chiropractors that they should be running Facebook ads?  Where did they all come from? Five years ago there was no real done for you marketing out there that specialize in Chiropractic.  I could talk about this all day but basically a cottage industry of online entrepreneurs began selling courses on how to run Facebook ads and some of them were specifically around how to run Facebook ads for local businesses.  The way this works is they teach them how to make an ad, run traffic to that ad on Facebook, pick a niche to focus on and sell to that niche. For $1,997 you are now a business owner. Some of these people that bought these courses, legitimately now run multi million dollar a year businesses off of just that.  Makes that $200K in student loans a little harder to look at huh?

Chiropractors are a perfect target (some would say mark) for these people because we are easy to identify and find.  We all went to Chiropractic school. We all know lots of other Chiropractors. We are all in Facebook groups together.  Most of us say we are Chiropractors on Facebook. Chiropractic clinics are normally Doctor owned and operated businesses meaning it is easy to identify the ultimate decision maker.  This is why you get so many friend requests from marketing people.

So these agencies are now armed with the knowledge of how to run an ad on Facebook and their niche and they all tend to find their little pocket of Doctors willing to give it a shot.  But because all they know is how to run a first visit special ad that is what every Chiropractor is doing.

The GOOD is that sometimes they work.  Typically the discount special ad will work for 3-6 months before it starts to decrease in effectiveness.  In some areas it lasts longer. In other areas it is shorter.

The BAD is that because there are so many people selling this idea to Chiropractors, and there are enough success stories, that now everyone is doing it.  I see towns of 50,000 people that will have 7 offices running basically the same ad.  24 months ago it was rare for more than one office to be running ads but that is how fast it has metastasized.  So not only is there more competition amongst Chiropractors but other local business niches were chosen by the people who bought the courses and they are running the same type of ad for all of the gyms, karate studios, and dentists in town.  People’s news feeds are becoming polluted with terribly produced, bottom of the funnel, Groupon style ads. That means they are interacting less with the ads which leads to more expensive leads.

The UGLY is that I believe these ads can cause long term negative brand equity for your practice if this is all anyone ever sees from you.  When every time they go onto social media they see you severely discounting your services with no value added to help counter balance that you will start to be seen as exactly that, a discount Chiropractor.  I believe Facebook offer ads should play a role in your online marketing strategy but it shouldn’t be 100% of it. Maybe more like 10%.

Content Marketing Can Create Patients Out Of Thin Air

When you run a Facebook ad for a discounted first visit or you run Google ads to people looking for a Chiropractor you are competing for the already converted in a zero sum game.  The people looking for a Chiropractor have already decided that they need a Chiropractor. When they go to Google it is like 10 years ago when people opened up the yellow pages to the Chiropractor section.  They were going to call someone so it better be you. That is why the yellow pages were so easy to get a positive ROI from back in the day. You paid for the biggest ad, put a tracking phone number in the ad and kept track of how much was collected off of each call.  

Facebook is like the newspaper, TV or radio when I started in practice.  You could put your ad in places where people were spending their time and attention.  This was a little different than the yellow pages because people weren’t watching TV or listening to the radio to find a Chiropractor but if you were able to make your offer enough times you might get someone to take action.  Most of these ads were similar to the Facebook ads you see today. An offer to come into the office. These attention based platforms have the same issue as the intentional based ones in that people who are taking advantage of the offer are people who already believe Chiropractic is the solution to their problem.

Content marketing, whether it is videos on social media, blog posts on your website or a local podcast, can begin to educate people on the problems they have and the solutions you provide.  You can begin to create patients out of thin air, and in turn change the entire trajectory of a person’s life.

Let’s say there is a woman named Mary that lives one mile from your practice.  Mary gets debilitating migraines three times a week. She has to lay in a dark room for hours.  Her kids feel neglected. Her husband is feeling the strain of having to do everything. She has to take days off of work because of it so her job is in jeopardy.  She isn’t able to do the things that bring her joy for fear a migraine may unexpectedly set in. She has been suffering for years now. She has NO idea Chiropractic could help.  She either hasn’t been told or maybe she asked her MD and she told her that it wouldn’t help. But one day, as she is scrolling through Facebook she sees a video with a bold headline that says “How To Eliminate Migraines Without Drugs”.  She stops and watches the three and a half minute video from a Chiropractor who has an office a mile away. It makes total sense to her. She wonders why no one had ever told her this before. Mary can now look up that Chiropractor online.  Maybe watch more videos. Read more blogs. What happens next? Mary doesn’t then go to Google and let the search engine decide who she should call. If she decides that she should give Chiropractic a try she is 99.9% of the time going to call the Doctor she saw on that video.

This is the beauty of Chiropractic.  We have the truth. Explaining the subluxation and how the adjustment is the only thing that will fix that makes sense to people.  We all explain that to people one on one. Content marketing allows you to use the modern marketing methods to communicate that message in a much more scalable way.

Amazing Video Content WILL Attract New Patients - Three Pro Tips To Make Sure Your Content Is Gold.

I believe that video is the most impactful way to deliver natural health care information to your community.  Potential patients can not only learn new information but they can begin to know, like and trust you at the same time. Unfortunately, it is the content that is the most difficult for people to make, for lots of different reasons.  Here are the three tips I think will help you get started or will help you optimize what you are already doing:

1

80% Of Videos You Post Should Focus On A Condition

Focus 80% of your videos on conditions. Most of these videos should be made for Facebook and Instagram which means they should be short, preferably under 5 minutes. Because of the nature of the platform you will need to try to capture the viewer’s attention quickly. The way to do that is to make sure you are talking about something they already care about. Mary knows she has migraines. If you put a migraine video in front of her there is a good chance she will watch it. If you talk about why seeing a Chiropractor is beneficial she will scroll right past because she doesn’t even know Chiropractic can help her specifically.
2

Get Rid Of Your Nerves & Focus On What Really Matters

Make it about them, not you. The Chiropractors I speak with that know they should create videos but haven’t started yet are usually not making because of insecurities they have. They don’t like how they look on camera. They don’t like the way their voice sounds. They’re worried their friends from college will make fun of them. They are worried other professionals will challenge them on what they’re saying. And on and on and on. The only thing that I have found that helps with these types of issues is if you start caring about the people who are out there suffering simply because they don’t know what they don’t know. If you view creating content as a community service all of a sudden it becomes a lot easier to do because you are being of service.
3

Make Sure Your Video Content Quality Is On Point

Make the video worth watching. There are three things to really focus on when you are shooting the video. The way it looks, the way it sounds and the content you are delivering. Make sure that you are shooting in a well lit area that is neat and clean. Demonstrate as much as possible. Have visually appealing aspects to the video whether it is explaining a poster on your wall, going over an X-ray, showing an adjustment, etc. Make sure that if there is natural light that it is behind the camera. If you point the camera at a window it will wash out the Doctor. Use a tripod. Shaky video is the worst. Be sure that you are aware of the audio. Shoot it when the office is quiet. Invest in a mic that you can plug into your phone or camera to help pick up crisper audio. Bad audio is tough to sit through. And finally, focus on delivering as much value as possible in the video. I think 1-2 minute videos are too short to really dive into a topic. 3-5 minutes I have found is the best amount of time to be able to deliver great information without rambling on.

If You Haven't Already, You Need To Start Blogging - Three Simple Hacks To Remember Before Posting.

Blogs are great content pieces because they will help you show up when people are searching for solutions on Google in the future.  They also last much longer than videos on social do. Once they are on your website they are available for Google to show in search results.  Videos on social media get buried in your news feed once you’ve stopped putting money behind them. Blogs help your website to be seen as more relevant than your competition’s because you are creating new content for them to show.  This can help with your Google Maps placement and overall website ranking. Here are the three tips I think will help you make your blog strategy more effective:

1

Make Sure Your Blog Copy Is Original

You have to have original content for your blog. The blogs that your website company posts for you are used on hundreds or thousands of other Chiropractor’s websites so they will not be helpful to your content strategy. Unique content that answers the question a searcher has is what is valued by Google. It needs to be at least 1000 words but the longer the better. The average blog shown on the front page of Google is 1800 words long. These 200 word blogs that I see on Chiropractor’s websites will do more harm than good in the long term. You may get Google to show it but if people click on it, see that there is nothing to it and click back to the search results Google will eventually stop showing your blog because it won’t find it relevant.
2

When Writing Blogs, Use More Local Keywords

Work more local keywords into your blog, especially the first few paragraphs. Google is getting smarter and smarter so you don’t need to stuff keywords into the copy but it needs to know that your blog is for your town. It doesn’t do you any good for someone to see your blog in another state if you are trying to get local people to walk into your practice.
3

Post Consistently. If You Can't, Find Someone Who Can.

Be honest with yourself. If there is one truth I have learned running a content marketing agency for Chiropractors it is that they HATE writing blogs. So if you know you aren’t going to write a blog consistently give it to a team member to do. If it is an associate you just need to give them the title and some structure on how you’d like it to be written. If it is a lay person, you can either give them an outline and a few resources or they can interview you about it so that the blog can be more in your voice. If you don’t have a team member that will do it, hire a writer. For 1000 words you could probably get it done for between $75-100. Just give them the title and some guidance and before you know if you’ll have a blog.

Start A Local Podcast Now. Three Ways To Create Meaningful Podcast Content (That People Will Want To Listen To)

Audio is the most overlooked piece of the content marketing puzzle.  People love consuming content passively and audio is the only format that you can do that with.  Podcasts are exploding in popularity and they are some of the easiest pieces of content to make. Now, I am not sure that a local Chiropractor talking about Chiropractic is going to hit #1 on the charts any time soon but you can use a podcast to start to build your network and be seen as an expert in your community.

1

Use Podcasting To Network

Podcasts allow you to “host the party” and as the host you get to invite whoever you’d like. If you are a sports Chiropractor you could interview all the gyms and nutritional experts in your area. A pediatric Chiropractor could interview all of the professionals that work with expecting and new mothers. This allows you to network with the people you want to network with by providing value to them and putting them on your platform. By being heard/seen with them their audience begins to know who you are as well.
2

Setup A Consistent Interview Structure Or Theme For Your Podcast

Have a structure or a theme to your podcast. My podcast Path To A Million podcast is all about helping Chiropractors grow to a million dollar practice because that is my ideal client. I like to have free flowing conversations but I also have some questions that I ask on most, if not all, of the interviews to give it some consistency. That structure gives me something to fall back on if the conversation starts to wane.
3

Stay "In The Moment" Always When Interviewing A Podcast Guest

Don’t overthink it. Podcasts are pretty straightforward. They don’t take as much thinking as a blog and there isn’t as much production to do as there is with video. Interviews are easiest because you just get to be interested in other people’s story and don’t have to always be creating. Let your personality shine. Be enthusiastic. Be present with the guest and try to think like a listener when asking your questions.

Your community needs you now more than ever.  You aren’t competing with other Chiropractors in your town when you create content.  You are educating people that may have no idea that Chiropractic could help them. You are competing against them doing nothing or worse, trying to medicate their way out of pain.  If you make creating content less about you and more about the people you are trying to serve it will become that much easier. If B.J. had the tools of communication we have today or if all of us worked to spread the message as hard as he did using those tools Chiropractic would be at a 90% utilization rate instead of 10%.  People are dying. They need the information we have. It is your responsibility to get it to them. If you have any questions for me please reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram at drnicksilveri or email me at [email protected].

Would you like an online marketing strategy that makes you THE expert in your area?

Click here to schedule a FREE strategy session
Nick Silveri

Dr. Nick Silveri owns LVRG Media, a content marketing agency that services chiropractors who want to create great content that attracts qualified new patients.

Skip to content