A note from Dr. Alex – this is an excerpt from my upcoming book “The Playbook for Chiropractic Practice Domination” which is now going through the final stages of editing and should be available by the end of October.
Marketing is a verb. A market is a group of people, buyers and sellers, who are engaging in buying and selling products or services. Market-ing is the act of creating these markets to facilitate the buying and selling.
Think about a farmers market for example.
Who are you going to find at a farmers market?
When I go to the farmers market usually I see people around 30 to 60 years old. I’d guess the majority probably hold at least a bachelor’s degree. They probably spend a lot of money on health related products.
They value fresh organic food, natural meat and don’t mind spending a bit more on their food to ensure its good quality. They may like buying directly from the farmer because they get a better value for their money than in the specialty grocery stores.
They also probably enjoy the social and entertainment aspects of the market and look at a trip to the market as a fun event.
Now, knowing this particular demographic is going to attract certain vendors to the marketplace.
When I go to the farmers market I see all sorts of vendors. There is a great Vietnamese BBQ stand that I buy pork sandwiches from. There is a terrific bakery that makes amazing pastries which I buy. There is an Indian food stand that always looks delicious (I haven’t bought from them yet). There is an orchid farmer who I buy from. There is a guy who makes his own toffee, which is delicious. There is a natural meat guy, a kettle corn guy, hummus guys, coffee vendors, and of course the fruit and vegetable vendors.
All of these vendors see the patrons, who I just described, as their target clients. However, as you can probably guess, all of these people aren’t going to patronize every single vendor.
Some people may not know much about Indian food, or not be familiar with hummus, or why they should try the blood oranges that just came into season.
You’ve probably been to a farmers market and seen the vendors giving out samples.
When someone offers you a sample, maybe you’ll try it, maybe you won’t. It probably depends on your mood and state of mind at the time.
Me, I’ll usually try the sample. Often this leads me to buy from them.
In the most primitive sense, what these vendors are doing is attracting leads.
The sample they are giving passersby is the lead magnet you learned about earlier.
By attracting customers wither their lead magnet, they hope to ascend them as clients into their highest valued client category, the repeat customer who refers.
Not everybody who passes by will take the sample, and not every sample taker will become a customer. BUT, the chances of them becoming a customer will be much higher than the chances of someone who didn’t accept the sample.
For the Vietnamese BBQ guys, all they had to do to attract me was BBQ their meat. Their BBQ pork smelled so good I had to have it.
Mrs. Fields at the mall works the same way. They are even sneakier.
Mrs. Fields will sets up in strategic locations to allow the intoxicating scent of their baking cookies to permeate as much of the mall as possible. It smells so good you have to go look at the cookies. Then you try their sample and leave with a dozen.
Of the people who accept the sample, some will buy.
Some of those buyers will become repeat buyers and regular customers.
This is going to sound obvious, but the same thing happens in your office.
You can look at this process as funneling people down a funnel or having them climb up a pyramid.
You start with a bunch of people, your target market, and offer them a compelling lead magnet that gets them interested.
It could be a raffle for a prize, a spin the wheel type deal for some branded promotional junk, a booklet of compelling and relevant information, a free 30 minute massage, a workshop, a book, or anything they might like. In return you get their information (so you can market to them), and an opportunity to make them a pitch for a first visit in your office.
This is how you get someone into your funnel or into the bottom of your pyramid. After they’re “in,” work on building a relationship with them through email, print and social media. Every once in a while send them invitations to come to your office by sending them special limited time offers. When they come in move them down the funnel or up the pyramid to your progressively higher priced services and packages.
Now, the fact of the matter is you aren’t going to get everyone moving up the pyramid, or even coming in at all.
Not everybody who “walks by” is going to be immediately interested.
Not everybody who takes your lead magnet is going to schedule a first visit.
Not everybody who comes in for a first visit is going to buy.
Not everybody who buys is going to become a repeat loyal customer who refers.
But – you can make damn sure everybody has the best chance to buy from you and move on to the next level with properly set up marketing and follow up SYSTEMS.
Once you get someone into your office, NEVER let them go.
The best and easiest way to do this is to create a system of follow ups for everybody you interact with at every level of your funnel. If this sounds kinda tough and laborious, it is. However, I’ve already done all hard work for you with my product The Ultimate Follow Up Formula. You can learn about this systematic follow up machine right here: The Ultimate Follow Up Formula.
