Offering special promotions and events on holidays can increase referrals and awareness of chiropractic and your practice

Throughout the year there are numerous community events and holidays that afford us an opportunity to introduce personal, family, and corporate wellness. Reach out to your community with seasonal promotions. These public relations and marketing efforts require both staff and patient participation. Once your patients understand the purpose and value of chiropractic care, they, too, will wish to be part of community wellness and participate in annual events.

Spring Forward
First and foremost, delegate a staff member to oversee these projects. This crucial step ensures that the details of your programs have accountability and follow through. Determine which employee has both the energy and desire to see the project through. Also, tap into the creative nature of your staff and patient base. Making note of holidays and special events creates a fun atmosphere and an integral connection between your office and the community. Following is a list of steps to implement these special promotions:

Special events calendar. Map out monthly program themes for the entire year on a calendar to help visualize upcoming seasonal promotions. Here are a list of holidays on which you can hold special events (January to July are 2003 dates):

• January: 1—New Year’s Day and Kwanza ends, 20—Martin Luther King, Jr
• February: 14—Valentine’s Day, 17—President’s Day
• March: 17—St Patrick’s Day, 20—vernal equinox (first day of spring)
• April: 6—daylight savings begins, 20—Easter Sunday
• May: 10—Mother’s Day, 26—Memorial Day
• June: 15—Father’s Day, 21—summer solstice (first day of summer)
• July: 4—Independence Day
• September: 2—Labor Day, 8—Grandparent’s Day (first Sunday after Labor Day), 23—autumnal equinox (first day of fall)
• October: 14—Columbus Day, 27—daylight savings ends, 31—Halloween
• November: 11—Veteran’s Day, 23—Thanksgiving, 29—Chanukah begins
• December: 7—Chanukah ends, 21—winter solstice (first day of winter), 25—Christmas, 26—Kwanza begins.

Community programs and resources. For a list of yearly fundraising and holiday programs, contact your community library or Chamber of Commerce. Corporate neighbors may offer employee health fairs, while church and civic organizations have fundraising efforts or bazaars during spring and summer. A letter addressed to the chairperson can read as follows:

“As a proactive member of our health care community, our chiropractic office offers a number of health and wellness programs. If your organization holds lectures and is in need of speakers, we are always available. Our popular topics are: stress management, aging gracefully, ergonomics and you, and health and wellness for the entire family. We also offer postural screenings during your special events. There is never a charge for these programs. Please call our office to reserve your special time.”

Local charity donations. Include a charity drive during one of your events. One of the most frustrating aspects of outside events is no-shows—people who agree to an in-office evaluation but never show up at your office. But if you request a modest donation to a local charity for your evaluation, it eliminates the free service concern and allows them to seriously consider a second visit in your office. A $10 to $25 donation to a local charity will be a win-win situation. I recommend contacting a well known charity and request a letter authorizing you to collect funds. Your letter can be written as follows: “Our office is involved in the community by offering a number of postural and stress screenings for a nominal fee, which we donate to a local charity. We would appreciate the opportunity to collect funds for your local chapter. If this is acceptable, please send a letter of acknowledgement and the collection process details.”

A letter of endorsement from a local charity can help open doors previously closed.

Door prizes from local merchants. After receiving the letter from the charities, begin gathering door prizes from local merchants. Not only are you keeping expenses down for these events by using products and services others rather than from your revenue or inventory, you are, more importantly, creating alliances and developing relationships with the local neighbors and merchants. Door prize coupons for a free massage, facial, oil change, flower arrangement, lunch, dinner, movie tickets, and much more may be available. You can place a goldfish bowl in your reception area where patients can place their names for the drawing. Be sure to have a list of prizes offered and all participating merchants.

This is also an opportunity to increase your professional exposure with an interactive promotion. Depending on the holiday, include relevant organizations or groups. For example, the military can be the focus for Independence Day, or senior citizens group for Grandparents Day. Also, include special activities or prizes for children only. They can earn merit badges or prizes via community wellness efforts, which include your events, and they can attend special health and wellness workshops to write essays or create drawings on a particular theme. These events provide more exposure—such as the local news media—when including teachers from the local school as judges or a team member(s) of the local sports team.

Timeline and event book. As with every promotion, you should have a strict timeline for each aspect of the event. Determine who, what, and when. Create a checklist for the person in charge, including the support staff, budget concerns, supplies, creating displays, sending letters and emails, printing posters, having handouts ready, and collecting door prizes. Establish an event book with the logistics and all necessary items to establish a successful duplicate event for the following year. Be sure to note the pros and cons so that the next event will be better.

Advertising. Flyers, mailings, broadcast emails, posters, and phone calls should be used to advertise the event. This is a great way to reactivate patients. While calling to see whether they received your letter, invite them for a tune-up adjustment.

There are a number of professional suppliers selling promotional material from banners, flyers, newsletters, and pamphlets for seasonal events. Many of our seminar and consultant leaders have printers who create marketing materials, or you can search for creative ideas from your staff and patients.

Seize the Day
Here are a few ideas for holidays that I have implemented:

    • Labor Day—promote ergonomic programs on safety and stress management, while promoting referrals by offering door prizes. Patients can offer their workplace for a workshop on ergonomics. Those who participate and provide you leads for screenings or workshops will have a chance at the door prize. Be sure to use this opportunity to call your local coporations to assist their safety and ergonomic team.

    • Valentine’s Day—promote family wellness care with chiro-tines rather  than valentines. Hang a large red heart from poster paper with number of smaller heart cutouts on top. When patients refer for a complimentary consultation or evaluation, write their name on the outside of the smaller heart and their potential referral inside. The person with the most hearts on a board wins the door prize. I recommend dinner and a movie for two.

Send individual chiro-tines to active and inactive patients. For example: “For this Valentine’s Day, give the gift of love with our Chiro-Tine. This is your opportunity to tell others the chiropractic story, and give them a complimentary evaluation to determine their level of physical and structural stress. Give your family and friends a gift beyond all others...Give the gift of health. Each Chiro-Tine is worth $100 in initial visit services, including the consultation and examination. There is a recommended donation of $10 toward the Community Food Bank. The patient with the most Chiro-Tines will win dinner and a movie for two.”

    • Thanksgiving—collect nonperishable and canned foods for your local food bank. Offer door prizes for everyone who donates at least two cans. If people refer a friend for an evaluation, they double their chances of winning.

    • Christmas—although many offices slow down, this is actually the best time to stimulate reactivation and referrals. There are many charity drives during the Thanksgiving through New Year’s period. Toys can be collected for the local Toys for Tots program. Give stocking stuffers and have a drawing for items such as pillows, supports, or nutritional supplements. Ask a local supermarket to donate a holiday dinner or turkey.

I always include my version of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” in my holiday cards because it usually results in a number of calls (see sidebar page 44).

Besides adding excitement to your event, these activities create a strong bond between your office and the community. Marketing is a balance between promotion and cost effectiveness. This will decrease expenses and offer strong residuals in the form of new patients and community awareness. CP

Joel E. Margolies, DC, has been in practice for 24 years in Atlanta and is the author of four chiropractic books: Smart Start, Chiropractic Marketing and Public Relations, Chiropractic Workshop Workbook, and Personal Injury Workbook. He sends a free weekly chiropractic email newsletter concerning practice management, public relations, and philosophy to more than 8,700 chiropractors in 31 countries. Margolies can be reached via email: joel3639@aol.com   or website: www.chirosmart.net.