{"id":958,"date":"2008-07-21T11:52:05","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T16:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/?p=958"},"modified":"2018-05-21T16:21:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T21:21:11","slug":"chiropractic-special-promotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/chiropractic-special-promotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiropractic Special Promotions"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">What is a Special Promotion?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">How often do you use them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Why do you use them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Are there times that you shouldn\u2019t use them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">What is the key to their success?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Plus- 14 Questions for each promotion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Plus- 24 examples of special promotions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What Is a Special Promotion?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmaworks.com\/main\/uploads\/special-promotions.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"161\" height=\"80\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"5\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">A special promotion is a promotion that is not a regular part of your standard patient marketing procedures.\u00a0 Every clinic should have routine and recurring procedures that serve to promote its services.\u00a0 This would include different forms of patient education, recommendations to patients to bring in family members for a check-up, the manner in which the phone is answered, newsletters, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">On occasion, however, you may want to celebrate a special event, like the anniversary of our clinic, or hold a party for all of your patients for the holidays, or take part in a community wide donation program with your patients.\u00a0 This is called a special promotion.\u00a0 They can be targeted to your entire patient base, or just a section of it. For example, you could set aside a special day for just for kids or an after hours \u201cGirls Night Out.\u201d.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How Often Are Special Promotions Used?<\/strong><br \/>\nBecause these promotions can be directed at select groups of patients and non patients, you could have as many as one or two per month.\u00a0 However, they do take up staff time to prepare properly and to execute each promotion effectively. Therefore, a special promotion every 2 to four months is usually adequate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why use Special Promotions?<\/strong><br \/>\nThere are a number of reasons to do special promotions.\u00a0 First, of course, they can generate new patients.\u00a0 But there are other reasons as well.\u00a0 For example, handing out carnations to mothers on the week before Mother\u2019s Day is done just for the goodwill&#8211; because it is a nice thing to do.\u00a0 Another reason is that it can add fun for the staff by providing them with an activity outside of their usual patient services and admin duties.<\/p>\n<p>Another benefit of special promotions is that it draws attention to your office. Patients and non-patients see that there are extra exciting activities occurring with your office in addition to the great service you provide.\u00a0 It helps create marketing &#8220;buzz,&#8221; or conversations about your office.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When Not to Use Special Promotions<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you or your staff are already stressed with extra work, major in-office changes, or have repeatedly done new patient promotions recently, do not schedule a special promotion soon.\u00a0 You need to build up your routine and recurring internal and external promotional procedures for a while in order to \u201cgrow\u201d more new patients.\u00a0 A special promotion is like a special harvesting&#8230; you can\u2019t pick apples off a tree more than once in a season.<\/p>\n<p>Special promotions can act like an artificial boost.\u00a0 Often, the real energy has been built up in the office or in the community and a special promotion just \u201creleases\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>You may have seen other doctors trying to run a special promotion in the newspaper over and over, usually for something free.\u00a0 It may have worked once, and may work again, but probably not right away.\u00a0 Continuous \u201cspecials\u201d poorly targeted and improperly timed will grind your other promotions down to a halt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preparation Is The Key<\/strong><br \/>\nPlan ahead.\u00a0 At least 70%, of the work of a special promotion is in preparation.\u00a0 Avoid \u201ctoo little too late\u201d, a common mistake with\u00a0 many promotions.<\/p>\n<p>Plan several special promotions for the next six months.\u00a0 You can always cancel them later if you have too many. You can tie them into seasons, holidays, special events, or anything that might be of particular interest to your community, to your patients, and &#8230; to you and your staff.\u00a0 They should be kept fun and creative.\u00a0 Everyone should be involved.\u00a0 The event should be discussed at staff meetings, and different projects delegated to different staff, even the doctors.<\/p>\n<p>Different promotions can be delegated to different team members.\u00a0 You can give each person the option of creating their own event.\u00a0 In one office the Billing and Collections Coordinator took on the month of August and organized a\u00a0 &#8220;Flea Market&#8221; on a weekend in the clinic&#8217;s parking lot.\u00a0 Patients rented booths and a food vendor set up a shop, and health screenings were provided by the office. It was a resounding success.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, someone should act as the Special Promotion\/Event Coordinator to help keep things organized.<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 530px;\" width=\"450\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">14 Questions to Ask for Each Special Promotion<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Why are we doing this event and how does it align with our mission<\/li>\n<li>Who exactly is the special promotion for?<\/li>\n<li>Is the event just internal to the office, or just external, or both?<\/li>\n<li>Is the event designed to directly generate new patients, just generate good will, or both?<\/li>\n<li>What does the target market get out of it?\u00a0 Why would they want to participate?\u00a0 What is in it for them?<\/li>\n<li>What are we going to get out of the event?\u00a0 How will it benefit our clinic?<\/li>\n<li>When are we going to have it?<\/li>\n<li>What is the duration of the event?<\/li>\n<li>What is our budget?<\/li>\n<li>How are we going to promote it?<\/li>\n<li>What needs to be done?\n<ol>\n<li>Before the event<\/li>\n<li>During the event<\/li>\n<li>After the event.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Are all of the duties listed above delegated to individual staff?<\/li>\n<li>Who is the coordinator for the event?<\/li>\n<li>Do they have time scheduled to prepare for the event?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Examples of Special Promotions<br \/>\n(I-Internal, E-External)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Senior&#8217;s Day (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Valentine&#8217;s Day (I)<\/li>\n<li>National Correct Posture Month (May) (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Mother&#8217;s Day (I)<\/li>\n<li>Father&#8217;s Day (I)<\/li>\n<li>Kid&#8217;s Day (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Back to School Day for Kids (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Patient Appreciation Day (I)<\/li>\n<li>Community Appreciation Day (E)<\/li>\n<li>Open House (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Grand Opening (E)<\/li>\n<li>Anniversary (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Spinal Health Care Month (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Food Drive (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Toy Drive (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Other donation drives, such as YMCA (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Christmas gifts, coupons and health certificates (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>General referral coupons for friends and family members of patients<\/li>\n<li>Teacher&#8217;s Appreciation Day (I&amp;E)<\/li>\n<li>Care to Share (Internal)<\/li>\n<li>Doctors with a Heart<\/li>\n<li>Girls Night Out (Internal\/External)<\/li>\n<li>Cinco de Mayo Party<\/li>\n<li>Fireman Appreciation Week<\/li>\n<li>Blame Someone Else Day<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmaworks.com\/observations\/2008\/07\/22\/spinefest\/\">Example of One Doctor&#8217;s Successful Promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/\">For more articles on practice development for your chiropractic office.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/chiropractic-practice-management-tools\/marketing-manager-system\/\">To learn about our Marketing Manager System.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a Special Promotion? How often do you use them? Why do you use them? Are there times that you shouldn\u2019t use them? What is the key to their success? Plus- 14 Questions for each promotion. Plus- 24 examples &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/chiropractic-special-promotions\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[357,109],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chiropractic-marketing","category-marketing","tag-chiropractic-marketing","tag-special-promotions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5089,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/5089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}