5 Modern Tips for Marketing Your Acupuncture Practice
Andrea De La Cerda
| DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
As an acupuncturist, keeping your practice competitive requires you to continually educate yourself on the latest developments within your field. The same holds true for your marketing.
As consumer trends are evolving at an even faster rate due to COVID-19, the way you market your chiropractic practice should evolve as well. Here are five simple strategies you can utilize to keep your practice up-to-date on the latest marketing trends so you can maximize your visibility to prospective patients, book more appointments and grow your revenue.
Tip #1: Leverage Social Sharing
For acupuncturists, word of mouth has long been a go-to tactic for attracting new business. However, word of mouth is happening online these days – particularly through social sharing.
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent)1 of U.S. adults are active on social media (with usage spanning all ages from 18 to over 65), and people spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on social media per day.2 Research shows people use those social platforms to aid in their health care decisions.3
With this in mind, social media presents an excellent opportunity to market your practice. Use popular social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to share your patients' success stories (assuming they provide their consent, of course). You can post photos and videos celebrating wins that resulted from their treatment, such as "4 weeks without nerve pain" or "Back to playing golf!"
These types of posts are powerful because they feature stories about real-life people with real-life victories, which makes for content that is especially relatable and shareable.
You can also use social media to get creative in how you're sharing important updates about your practice, including how you're preventing the spread of COVID-19. For example, some medical professionals have used TikTok videos4 as a fun way to show off all the PPE they wear or demonstrate how they sterilize their office between patients, turning what could have been a boring post into something more engaging.
For example, one doctor – Dr. Rose Marie Leslie (@drleslie) – uses TikTok videos to keep teens informed about coronavirus with humorous and playful videos that raise awareness about how to stay virus-free.5
Tip #2: Use Responsive Design for a Mobile-Friendly Website
Do you know that roughly 70 percent of the time people spend online is on a mobile device?6 As a result, having a website that does not function well on devices with smaller screens, like smartphones and tablets, can interfere with your ability to attract new patients.
Consider that 53 percent of mobile users will leave a website7 when its pages take more than three seconds to load, and 52 percent of online users say a poor mobile experience will make them less likely to engage with a company.8 Meanwhile, 79 percent say they are more likely to return to or share a mobile website if it's easy to use.9
The best way to make your website mobile-friendly is to ensure it's built with responsive design. This means your website is built to automatically adjust its content to fit the size of smaller screens, making it mobile-friendly. Not only does this help you keep visitors on your site, but it also helps improve your organic rankings in search engines like Google.
Tip #3: Keep a Constant Eye on Your Online Reputation
With the majority of consumers turning to the internet to find local businesses, you can't ignore your online reputation. This refers to what people see when they search for your practice online, including the business information that shows up for your practice on Google, as well as on review sites like Yelp or Healthgrades.
Here are a few common problems acupuncture practices typically face with their online reputation:
Their business information is not appearing on Google or directory sites, making it hard for potential patients to find them.
The business information displayed is incorrect or incomplete.
They have a low star rating for online reviews, leaving a negative impression of their practice.
Their most recent reviews are negative, taking the focus away from positive reviews.
The best way to improve your online reputation is to be proactive about monitoring and managing your business listings and reviews. If you haven't done so already, set up profiles for your practice on popular directory and review sites like Google My Business, YP.com, Yelp, etc., and fill them out with information about your practice (phone number, address, business hours, photos, etc.). If a profile already exists that you did not create (which sometimes happens), be sure to claim it.
In terms of attracting more positive reviews, focus on ways you can improve the patient experience in your office (including making them feel comfortable by implementing additional safety protocols in response to COVID-19); and make sure to regularly check your reviews and respond as appropriate.
Tip #4: Become a Local Influencer
Research shows10 that 76 percent of people are more likely to choose one business over another when they feel connected to its brand. You should find ways to become involved in local causes and activities that are important to members of your community and are closely aligned with the values of your practice. Here are a few examples:
Speak on health and wellness topics in your community (chamber of commerce events, wellness fairs, in-person or virtual conferences and webinars, etc.).
Host free workshops that address your patients' typical needs (pain management, stress management, sports injury recovery, etc.).
Engage in interviews with the local media (newspapers and news stations, popular health blogs, podcasts, etc.).
Sponsor local organizations and events (e.g., your community's annual Heart Awareness Month 5K).
The more you rise up as a leader in acupuncture in your local community, the more people will remember and trust your practice, making it easier to earn new business.
Tip #5: Streamline Your Marketing Technology
There are so many marketing tools available for your practice that it can become overwhelming. Trying to manage your website, digital ads, social media presence, online reviews, live chat platform and more can feel like a full-time job, which takes away from your time with patients. (More than 90 percent of businesses use more than five different vendors and tools for their marketing, with the average number used being 12.)11
Additionally, with so many different marketing solutions, your data is spread out across numerous vendors and platforms, making it more challenging to analyze your performance on a broad scale.
To improve your marketing efficiency, consider working with an all-in-one marketing partner who can deliver all the services you need through a single system, allowing you to easily access and analyze your data, and in turn, better manage your business and track your results.
References
Social Media Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center: Internet and Technology, 2019.
Hutchinson A. "How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media in 2019?" Social Media Today, Aug. 6, 2019.
Bulgaro I. "Healthcare Social Media Strategy: Five Ways to Build Trust." Healthcare Weekly, Feb. 11, 2019.
Gupta MJ. "TikTok in the time of COVID: an unexpected wellness tool for health care workers." KevinMD.com, May 10, 2020.
Ojeda-Zapata J. "UMN Doctor Uses TikTok Video Site to Educate Teens About Coronavirus." Twin Cities Pioneer Press, April 5, 2020.
2017 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus." Comscore white paper, March 22, 2017.
Kirkpatrick D. "Google: 53% of Mobile Users Abandon Sites That Take Over 3 Seconds to Load." MarketingDive.com, Sept. 12, 2016.
"What Users Want From Mobile Sites Today." ThinkWithGoogle.com, September 2012.
ThinkWithGoogle.com data on revisiting / sharing mobile sites.
"#BrandsGetReal: What Consumers Want From Brands in a Divided Society." SproutSocial.com.
Oetting J. "Too Many Tools? New Data on the Complexity of Marketing Technology." HubSpot.com, Feb. 1, 2017.
As modern medical standardization continues, the field of traditional Chinese medicine has the advantage of comprehensive personalization. For rare or complex cases, deeper consideration of constitution is invaluable. Proper constitutional assessment, especially with first-time clients, can guide desirable and predictable outcomes. This leads to a higher rate of return, and greater trust between you and your patient.
Though the creation of a financially sustainable, health-promoting model feels far away today, we are casting a vision for a full return on health, believing that this compels us to keep one foot firmly rooted in caring for the sick and the other foot firmly founded in maintaining health. Shifting from a fee-for-service model to value-based care using a phased approach is paramount.
Traditional Chinese medicine and the Vedic traditions both offer rich frameworks for understanding human health, emphasizing the balance of physical, mental, and spiritual aspects. The concept of "souls" or spiritual components in TCM, namely Hun, Po, Shen, Yi, and Zhi, bears significant similarities to the yogic concept of koshas. Their similarities and differences provide insights into how these systems contribute to holistic health practices.
