The first, called “direct response” marketing is where you spend a certain amount of money and if the marketing rules are applied then we should expect a specific return on the money invested by a certain deadline.

The second named “market saturation” is where we set aside a portion of our marketing budget (which all business’ must have) to literally saturate our market for the purpose of name recognition. This type of marketing cannot be expected to give any type of direct return on the money spent however, over time; it can be effective in taking a particular market.

The third is self-explanatory. It can come in many forms however; its purpose is to educate our patients and communities on the power of what our services offer. Do not make the mistake of thinking that this only covers the education given inside the walls of your practice. There is an art to educating your city and making you the expert.

The fourth is found in numerous styles of marketing. There is power in the last model that should not be ignored. It is worth all of your effort to gain the proper training on how to interact personally with your patients and prospective business.

There is one rule of marketing that I believe we must cover before closing this topic for the day. There must be a certain return of investment for every dollar spent in business. Your business strategy must include the amount of money you are willing to spend in attracting each prospective patient. This one factor is crucial in the successful longevity of one’s marketing plan

Here is the long and short of it. You must gain an extensive amount of knowledge in all types of marketing to make it in this day and age. The days of trial and error are gone forever. The cost of doing business is too expensive for applied ignorance. Now, once that knowledge is acquired I can see how a person could use social media to utilize the other four marketing types in this one area. The power to do that can no longer be ignored.

Social media is here to stay and I see it as one of the most powerful types of media of all time. The fact that all areas of marketing can be utilized in its one type of influence is powerful enough. However, if one adds the fact that social media has an almost nonexistent cost factor for potential business then anyone should be able to recognize that social media is necessary in today’s chiropractic practice. The other four arenas are still crucial factors that must not be ignored but social media certainly deserves its place.

Have you begun to utilize the power of social media in your practice? Have you gained a true expertise in all areas of marketing? If not, what will you do about that?

Do you have any thoughts to share on this subject?

However, I do have a lot of knowledge about marketing and I would like to share with you that I feel social media has the best of all types of marketing all rolled up into one package.

For those that don’t know, there are four major types of marketing for chiropractic practices and business in general. Let me list those for you, in no particular order.

1. Direct response
2. Market saturation
3. Educational
4. Personal interactive

At the top of the list, you can now add social media. The reason I have placed social media at the top is that I can see how the other four from the list can be accomplished in the one arena of social media. Let me clearly state that it’s my opinion that the other four will always have a place in their own arena, but we can no longer ignore the power that social media holds in accomplishing all four for us at one time.

You must gain an expertise in all areas of marketing if you are to take full advantage of what each one offers. That is where groups like AMC come in. It is near impossible for one person to acquire that information on his or her own while running a chiropractic practice.

We are just starting to scratch the surface of this very deep subject so we will dive back into this on our next visit.

Before I go ask yourself, do you utilize all five of the marketing types we listed today?