First – remember that marketing is simply letting people know what you do and how you can help.

In order to understand how revolutionary the web is for marketing, you first have to understand how marketing used to be done in “the good old days”.

Way back in the 1980′s – as teenaged girls roamed local malls with their hair perfectly feathered wearing stirrup pants to try to entice the boys wearing ripped jeans and sporting mullets – business owners had to adopt a “spray and pray” mentality around their marketing and advertising efforts.  By spray and pray – I mean that a business owner would decide “Hey -let’s try this -” and would then invest money to see if his (or her) idea for promoting the business would work.  (Forgive me as I use the masculine pronoun from here on out to make it easier to read and to write.)

Cha-ching.

First, our aspiring business owner would pay to get the idea produced-    Whether it was a television ad, a billboard, a newspaper ad or a radio ad – unless it was a very basic idea for newspaper or radio – he had to pay to have his great marketing idea brought to life.

Cha-ching.

Next, our aspiring business owner would pay to have the ad air.

Cha-ching.

Not just a single time – but in some cases for as long as 13 weeks.

Cha-ching.

Finally – after paying, and paying and paying – our aspiring business owner would finally learn if his “great” marketing idea had struck a nerve with his target audience.

If it did – he was happy.  If not – well – that’s probably where the phrase originated, “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again!”

Marketing was not for the faint of heart back in those days and it was common for business owners to literally drive themselves out of business as they struggled to hit upon the right way to market their business.

See – an essential part of marketing is to get inside your prospective patient’s mind.  Once you know WHY patients are wanting acupuncture – then you can customize your marketing message to literally reach out and grab prospective patients.

This is where the web is an AMAZING tool for marketing your acupuncture practice – because when people search for acupuncture on the web = they often use the exact words for what they’re seeking.  The search engines record and catalog these searches so you – as an acupuncturist – can simply log on to your blog and click on a link and SEE what words prospective patients are using to find acupuncture information on the web.

For example, one very popular search is  “acupuncture for fertility”.  Another very popular search is “acupuncture for back pain”.

With just a click of a button in your blog – you can gain access to this valuable market research.  Even ten years ago – this kind of marketing research information wasn’t readily available for small business owners.  As a result – small business owners had to resort to the “ca-ching” method of market research and testing.

Today – all you need is a blog.  Access these essential keywords and begin writing posts about these popular topics.  Before you know it, your blog posts will be seen by people searching for just those terms – terms you already KNEW they were using thanks to the handy dandy blog tools.

If you’re interested in learning more – pick up a copy of Acupuncture Practice Marketing.  It provides the easy step by step guide for accessing and using these powerful marketing tools to promote your acupunture practice.

Today – branding has taken on a new meaning and has become a “buzz word” in the world of marketing.   However, over the years the buzz word has “lost” some of it’s original meaning – diluting it in the process.  Today, you’ll hear the term bandied about by pseudo marketing professionals who don’t understand the origin of the term or WHY the word “branding”  came to be part of the marketing vernacular.

The original users of the term “branding” knew exactly the process they were trying to describe.  Many “modern” marketing professionals  want you to believe that “branding” is something you can purchase.  For these people, branding is little more than choosing  the right colors  and combining them with a compelling image.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

True “branding” is not something you can choose to apply to your company, rather branding is an expression of your acupunture practice’s DNA.  While the unsuspecting calf had no control over the “brand” which was seared into its flank – you do have an element of control but make no mistake – it’s not YOU that is doing the branding.

Your PATIENTS are the ones who are in “control” of branding your acupuncture practice!

Of course, there’s a message you want to deliver to prospective patients and you will use visual elements such as a logo or your business card to convey that message. Sometimes known as “branding” – the visual elements you choose to represent your new business are an important part of determining your future success. Part of the “brand” development process is to create visual elements – such as a logo – which help to carry your marketing message.

Every detail plays a role in how well the “brand” communicates  the “who, what and why” of your practice. Seemingly inconsequential elements such as the choice of colors and the style of font  used play pivotal roles in the overall message your “branding elements” communicate.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that those visual elements merely “set the stage” for the performance that is your “brand”.

Your branding goes much deeper than just the logo you’ve chosen to represent your practice.

Your visual branding elements are merely the introduction to your practice.  How you run your practice plays a HUGE role in the actual development of your brand.

That teenager you’ve hired to answer the phone after school – he or she is helping to build your brand.

The decor of your treatment rooms and waiting area – that also plays a role in developing your “brand”.

Basically – every contact your patient has with your practice is yet another building block in the development of your “brand”.

Keeping your ideal “target” patient in mind is the first step in staging your “brand”.  See, when you focus upon the patient experience – you are – in essence – building your practice’s brand.

For example, if your practice is targeting families with young children – then that focus needs to come through in everything you do.  In this case, the “brand” you’re building is “family oriented natural health”.

You can communicate this brand in multiple ways – from the choice of color and font in your logo to having toys in the waiting area.  One practioner has young patients add their handprints to the walls of the waiting area.

With this kind of “target audience” in mind – the elements of the practice’s “brand” fall easily into place.   By engaging in this “all out” branding campaign – the acupuncturist establishes a place in the community.

Not only does it help the practioner in spreading the word- it also helps the patients to spread the word  via word of mouth marketing messages as well.  Word of mouth marketing is so essential to the success (and even survival) of any acupuncture practice – and tightly targeting your audience is a key element in creating this kind of “buzz”.

The visual elements such as a logo that you choose to represent what it is you do can serve as an introductory piece so to speak.

Successful restaurants do this kind of “staging” or “branding” very well.  If you enter a restaurant and see linen napkins, fine china and silver ware at the table settings – you know you’re in for a “fine dining” experience.  On the other hand, plastic sporks and paper napkins which spill out of the dispenser by the gross are a sign that you’re probably in for a “family style” dining experience.

Next, I’ll cover the importance of the colors you choose for your logo  as well as the importance of other elements such as the typeface you use.  However, remember – creating a logo for your practice is MUCH easier if you keep your patients in mind from the start.  After all – your patients are the ones who will be doing the branding of your acupuncture practice.

Marketing your acupuncture practice is probably the most challenging task you will face in building your practice.

Marketing your acupuncture practice doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little “attitude adjustment” to make marketing your acupuncture practice not only easy – but possibly FUN!

Let’s begin by substituting the word ‘marketing’ for another phrase – a phrase that means exactly the same thing as “marketing.

That magical phrase which you should substitute for the word marketing is  “letting people know what I do”.

Instead of saying to yourself, “It’s time for me to work on my marketing” instead say, “It’s time for me to think of ways to let people know what I do here in my practice.”

Even if you’ve only been in practice for a short time – you have no doubt seen the healing power of acupuncture.  Growing your practice simply means carrying this message to your community.

If you don’t believe that acupuncture has the power to  heal your patients – then stop right now because you’ll never be able to effectively “market” your practice!

There’s a lot of “education” that is involved with the growing of your acupuncture practice.  You’re going to encounter a lot of people who have questions and misconceptions about acupuncture.

It’s your job to educate your community about the benefits of acupuncture.

While an educated consumer is the local fast food restaurant’s worst enemy – and educated public is the acupuncturists best friend.

Most of your acupuncture practice building is in fact just letting people in your area know what acupuncture is – and that this ancient yet effective healing option is available locally.

When you begin thinking of “marketing” as merely spreading the world, all of a sudden – various “marketing tactics” begin to make perfect sense.  For example, you might want to consider developing a presentation to educate local groups on the benefits of acupuncture.  Join your local Toastmasters and polish this presentation until it shines.

Then, begin contacting local organizations and give talks about the healing power of acupuncture.  Women’s groups – business groups – church groups are just a few of the many organization that are searching for engaging and entertaining speakers.

When you give your presentation – have a friend or family member video tape your presentation.  Then, upload the video to YouTube – tag it with words describing your talk and then post this video to your website.

YouTube is one of the top 5 websites in the world with tens of millions of visitors each day – each searching for videos.  One acupuncturist uploaded his video presentation about acupuncture and infertility and was surprised to get a phone call from a woman in a foreign country who insisted that -after watching his video – that HE was the only one who could help her.

If you have a free  Healrite.com blog – then adding an article featuring your YouTube video within a website article is not only incredibly easy – it’s a great practice builder as well.

Just as the body is comprised of different systems – your marketing is also a marvelous integration of several “parts” working seamlesslyas a cohesive whole.

Your engaging talk – video taped and posted to your website (or free Healrite.com blog) can continue working hard at “marketing” your practice for months and even years after the presentation.

Remember – the purpose of your informative presentation is NOT to “market” your practice – but rather it’s to let people know the healing power of acupuncture.

No formal “marketing” will ever be more effective than your passion for acupuncture!

If you have an acupuncture website then you have a CHANCE at capturing the attention of these people – people who are searching for acupuncture!!!  (Need I remind you that if you don’t have a website for your acupuncture practice that you don’t stand a chance of getting any of those people as patients?)

It’s one thing to have an acupuncture website – but you want to have an acupuncture website that works as hard as you do at creating more business for your practice.  With that in mind,  here are 7 things that every acupuncture website should do…

7 Things Your Acupuncture Website Should Do

1. Provide basic information about your practice. Visit a dozen acupuncture websites and see how long it takes you to locate the acupuncture practice’s name, address, and phone number.   Now see if the office hours are easy to find.  When people are searching for an acupuncturist, this is essential information.  Make sure to include the basics and make sure that basic information is easy to find.

2. Use photographs and images. No where is the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” more true that on the web.  The photographs should include an exterior shot of your office so visitors can recognize it when they try to find you.  In addition to photos of the building, also include photographs of your staff.   Show your staff interacting (sporting friendly faces) with patients.  Use your staff and your patients – not stock photography!

3. Tell your acupuncture practice’s story. Your website should tell your acupuncture practice’s story.   Your acupuncture practice’s story is not a chronological “graduated from X  in 19XX – studies in Y from 19XX -19-XX.”  Instead, your acupuncture practice’s story is who you are, what you do, and most importantly WHY you do it.
4. Educate visitors on acupuncture. Don’t assume that because someone has arrived at your website that they are already “pre-sold” on the benefits of acupuncture.  This is your chance to “strut your stuff” and really sing the praises of acupuncture.

5. Give clear directions to your office. This is too obvious to mention, but I have seen acupuncture practice websites that do not even list the city where the practice is located. Provide a Google Maps or Mapquest link so visitors can map a course to your office.

6. Make sure the email address you provide is “manned”. Just as you wouldn’t think of not answering your phone – be sure to promptly return email messages.  Prospective patients who find your website are as likely to email you for an appointment as they are to call for an appointment.  Be sure to answer every email within 24 hours – NO EXCEPTIONS!  Check your office email from your home computer – and make sure your spam filters aren’t too aggressive to keep prospective patients from contacting you!

7. Feature patient testimonials on your website. Written testimonials are ok – but video testimonials pack real power and “punch”.  While you may be able to “forge” a written testimonial, there’s no doubt that video testimonials are the “real thing”.   Pick up a video camera and shoot patient testimonials as they enter your office.  Get patient’s permission and post these to your website.

Your acupuncture website can be the most powerful marketing tool in your marketing arsenal.  If you don’t have a website yet for your acupuncture practice – what’s stopping you from launching one?

With over 1 Million searches each month just on the term acupuncture, a website is an essential part of acupuncture practice building and marketing.  The BEST acupuncture website is one that can be found by prospective patients.

However, creating a website for your acupuncture practice that can be found by the search engines is easier said than done.

Many, many acupuncture professionals focus on the design of the website in determining which website is the “best” acupuncture website.   It’s natural.  After all, appearances are important. However, when it comes to building an acupuncture website, what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

The process of building the best acupuncture website is a three legged stool.  The three legs of the best acupuncture websites are

1. Coding
2. Content
3. Design

The best acupuncture websites begin with proper coding. The best acupuncture website is coded so that the search engines can read and find the second leg of the best acupuncture website stool – content.

Unfortunately, it’s possible to have a beautiful acupuncture website that displays properly but can’t be indexed by the search engines.  In other words, you can visit your website and it looks good to the humans.  However, when the search engine robots come to index the site, they see something entirely different.  They see the “code” and not the design.

Right now – up at the top of your browser, you’ll see the words “view”.   If you click “view” and then click “source” you’ll see how the search engines see this website.  That code is an important part of creating an acupuncture website that can be found by potential patients.

I once worked with a client who spent $10,000 building her beautiful website.  Unfortunately, her web designer was not a web developer and the coding of her site was done in a way that the search engines couldn’t index the pages of her website.    After 8 years, she wondered why potential patients weren’t finding her website.  Turns out her website wasn’t coded correctly.

Once you have a website that is properly coded, the second leg of the best acupuncture website is the content.  The best acupuncture website’s content not only educates potential patients of the benefits of acupuncture and holistic medicine – but it also showcases your current patient testimonials.  (This is covered in more detail in “Secrets to Organically Growing Your Practice” a 7 week internet marketing mastery course for acupuncturists.)

Finally, the third stool in building the best acupuncture website is the design.  Notice, design is just as important as coding and content.  How your website LOOKS is important.   The right design will make it easy for prospective patients to find the information they need to make the decision to pick up the phone and call for an appointment.

Creating the best acupuncture website means focusing on all three “legs” of the process.  The best acupuncture websites can be found by prospective patients who are actively searching for an acupuncturist.  Once patients are at your website, the best acupuncture websites provide enough information for patients to feel confident enough to pick up the phone.

When coding, content and design come together – they create the best acupuncture websites – a website that will be a constant source of new patients for your acupuncture practice.

See, while over a million people are searching for “acupuncture” each month, there almost ten thousand more who searched Google last month for the words “Chinese herbal medicine”.

If Chinese herbal medicine is what you do – then don’t you think it’s important that people who are typing those words into Google be able to find your practice?

Part of successfully marketing your acupuncture practice is to recognize the other terms your prospective patients are using to FIND your practice.  One way to find out what words prospective patients might be using is to ask current patients to describe your practice.  You might be surprised what you learn!

Many acupuncturists rely heavily upon word of mouth advertising to market their practice.  However, when you rely upon word of mouth advertising to promote your practice, you don’t have any way of knowing how your patients are spreading the word.  Are they telling their friends and family that you’re an acupuncturist or do they say you practice Chinese herbal medicine?

The only way to find out is to talk with your current patients.  Find out what words they use to describe your practice and then, create your web content with those words in mind.

Ok – this is ASSUMING that you have a website to promote your practice.  It also assumes that your website is easy to use and easy to update.  Having a website that can be found when people type in terms that describe what you do is ESSENTIAL to organically growing your practice.

Marketing your acupuncture practice doesn’t have to be difficult – and it can even be easy and dare I say it – FUN!

There are dozens of online directories, each of which offers you the option of being listed in their online directory for only a nominal fee.  However, if you list your practice in each and every online directory, you’ll soon find you’re spending hundreds perhaps thousands of dollars just on online directory listings.  Which ones do you need to list your practice in?

In order to answer this question, you first must have a basic understanding of the process  your potential patients go through when they’re tying to find an acupuncturist.

So let’s begin as many online visitors do.  It’s been estimated that 4 out of 5 people begin their search for goods and services using Google.  So, go to Google (www.google.com) and type in “acupuncturist” in [insert your location].  Notice, you need to enter your geographic location to this search.  Don’t just search “acupuncture” or “acupuncturist” because that search is too broad.  If you live in North Dakota and you’re looking for an acupuncturist – you really don’t care about the acupuncturists practicing in southern Florida.  If you’re seeking an acupuncturist, you’re going to type in “acupuncturist” + the geographic location.  The geographic location may be a city, a county or in some cases – a state!

Here’s where you’ll find the answer to the question, “Should you pay to have your acupuncture practice listed in an online directory?”

What online directories do you see listed when you type in that combination of words into Google?

If a directory is listed on that first page – then that is probably a good place for you to advertise.  If you don’t see an online directory listed on the first few pages of Google – then that is definitely a directory you can skip.

However, it’s essential that you perform this exercise for YOUR geographic area.  See, when you type in other cities, towns or locations, the results will be entirely different.  The “right” directory listing for a practice in Vero Beach, Florida may not be the “right” directory for a practice located in Detroit, Michigan and vice versa.

You’ll find more tips and tricks like this in the resource, Organically Grow Your Practice Using the Web.  It’s a 7 week internet marketing mastery course written in down to earth language just like this to help you learn how to attract new patients to your practice through the web.

Whether you are currently running a busy acupuncture clinic or are partners in one doesn’t really matter. What matters is the bottom line. If your patients don’t know who you are and what you can do, then they will never find you. In today’s day and age this is more important than ever.

Increasing competition, smarter technologies and ease of communications make it a lot harder for acupuncturists to stay competitive in building their practice. Like so many other professions they need to stand out from the crowd with their own brand.

Developing a unique brand is easy with acupuncture practice marketing. This can be done with various platforms. For instance, some of the most common models being attractive websites, search engine advertising, Internet marketing, pay per click advertising, and blogs. Ultimately, all serving the same purpose: to gain more exposure for your acupuncture practice.

Your acupuncture practice marketing expert can develop strategic solutions tailored to your business. They can advise you on the various aspects of acupuncture practice marketing.

Aspects of a promising acupuncture practice marketing campaign:

Your acupuncture practice marketing expert will be able to show you how easy it really is to develop an effective campaign to get you ranked on Google and found by customers. This could involve all or parts of the following aspects:

• A website/ blog
• Keyword optimization for search engines
• Social network marketing
• Search engine optimization
• Offline marketing

The fascinating aspect of acupuncture practice marketing is the fact that it works if it is done by a professional acupuncture practice marketing expert with plenty of experience.

Marketing your acupuncture practice doesn’t HAVE to be a mystery!  There are proven techniques to building your acupuncture practice without “hard core selling” or pushy “marketing” techniques.

The web is a GREAT too to educate patients and prospective patients while building your practice.  The key is developing a web presence that can be FOUND by the search engines.

When acupuncture practice marketing goes wrong:

There is also a more serious side to acupuncture practice marketing. It’s when you spend hundreds of dollars to find yourself stuck, not knowing where to turn next.

Many acupuncturists are guided by their beliefs that sometimes it is good to save money and go with the cheapest provider.  While this can certainly be accurate, be sure to check credentials and work with knowledgeable marketing professionals only. Your main objective is to be found and create more business as a direct result. You’d hate to see your efforts wasted just by using the wrong acupuncture practice marketing professional.

Mention the term “selling” (a close cousin of the dreaded term “marketing”) and suddenly visions of pushy salesmen dressed in polyester suits with bad toupees start dancing in most acupuncturists head.

If you think marketing means “selling” and “pushing” and “prodding” people into doing something they don’t want to do – well then I have GOOD NEWS for you!

The good news is that  marketing your acupuncture practice doesn’t HAVE to be like that.

As a matter of fact, there’s no BETTER way to DRIVE away new patients than to adopt the used car salesman’s sleazy marketing tactics.

Instead, adopt a new approach to marketing your acupuncture practice.  Instead of viewing it as a necessary evil, try to think of it as letting prospective acupuncture and OM patients know what you do and how to find you.

Creating a Marketing Strategy for your Acupuncture Practice

A marketing strategy for your acupuncture practice is similar to the function a road map plays when you’re planning a road trip.

Developing a marketing strategy is as easy as defining where you are and where you want to go.  Yes, it’s JUST THAT EASY TO CREATE A MARKETING STRATEGY FOR YOUR ACUPUNCTURE PRACTICE.

However, instead of drafting a marketing strategy – where you simply think of ways to let prospective patients know what you do – ,ost acupuncturists rely on their patients to do word of mouth marketing for the practice.   The problem is, word of mouth advertising as we used to know it is literally dying.  It’s being replaced with a “new” kind of word of mouth marketing that is happening online.

You’ve heard of Facebook and Myspace, haven’t you?  Tens of thousands of people are joining those two popular social networking sites.  Instead of talking over the back fence, people are talking online instead.

That’s why you need a marketing strategy.  Marketing your acupuncture practice is simply creating a road map of how you’re going to reach your prospective patients with the message of what acupuncture and oriental medicine can do for the people who live and work near your office.

Millions are already searching for acupuncture on the web while millions more are searching for drug free ways to relieve pain and improve health via the web.  That’s why a website is an essential part of winning new patients for acupuncturists.

A healthy acupuncture practice requires a healthy attitude surrounding marketing your acupuncture practice.  When you start viewing it as spreading the message of health and well being instead of “sleazy selling” you’re on the right track!

When you know what phrases people are typing to find answers, you can then create articles that contain those essential “keyword phrases”.  It’s an ESSENTIAL part of creating a website that can be easily found by people who WANT to become your patient!

Today, when I clicked on that tool to create this article, I was actually stunned at what I saw.  Last month there were 1,220,000 searches on the term acupuncture.

That’s right, last month there were over 1.2 MILLION searches for the term “acupuncture”.  I’m not surprised, considering that a recent WebMD poll reports that 85% of respondents were VERY OPEN to alternative medicine as a treatment option.

The term “acupuncture” is actually quite broad, and few people just type in “acupuncture” to find what they’re seeking.  Some people are seeking information on how to TRAIN to become an acupuncturist while others are seeking information to learn is acupuncture can offer relief from their symptoms.

The tool allows you to “dig deeper” and find out exactly WHAT people want to know about acupuncture.  Some of the other terms people are using to find information about acupuncture on the web are:

• acupuncture for back pain
• acupuncture for depression
• acupuncture and infertility
• acupuncture weight loss
• acupuncture sinus
• acupuncture sciatica
• acupuncture asthma
• acupuncture anxiety

Knowing the words people are using to search the web for the solutions you offer is CRITICAL to creating a website that can be found by the people who need the healing relief you offer.    Because, as you look at the list above, it’s easy to see that people want to know if acupuncture is the answer to what ails them.

If you’d like to learn more about this easy to use style of web presence, contact us.