Is it time for your family-owned chiropractic practice to grow? Are you looking to expand your chiropractic practice from a small local business to a medium-sized regional practice? Are you looking for ways to get your family-owned chiropractic practice's name out into your community and surrounding regions?
Owning a family-owned business of any kind is an extremely stressful responsibility. Not only are you tasked with owning the business, from administrative and conceptual management to day-to-day tasks, but you are constantly surrounded by your wonderful family. Oftentimes with a family-owned business, you will find that the majority of your clientele is local and socially related people. But if you're looking to expand your chiropractic practice beyond your current clientele, you may want to consider performing a needs analysis.
Perform a Needs Analysis
A needs analysis is a process where you determine and address your business's needs or "gaps" within the current process and/or conditions. Then, you assess what you want for your business. This helps you determine what is most important - the things you NEED, so you can prioritize them accordingly. Then, you can start tackling your WANT list, which will lead to improvements in performance and will guide you toward accomplishing your family-owned chiropractic practice's desired growth results.
During your needs analysis, you will want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Who are my current clients? (breakdown by demographics, location, career, associations, interests, etc./)
- How did I obtain my current clientele?
- What marketing campaigns have I already executed?
- What type of new clientele am I looking to come to my chiropractic practice? Are there specific demographics you aim to serve?
- How much of a financial increase do I want to see my family-owned practice increase by and over what period of time?
- Who can I leverage in the community to gain more clientele?
- Which clientele could potentially become advocates for my practice?
Make a Plan
Now that you have reviewed your wants and needs, it is time to make a plan of attack. By determining which method you want to take to gain more clientele, you will be able to allocate funding properly.
Some paths you may consider include (but are not limited to/):
- Get referrals through your existing clients and employees
- Use social media to get your name out there
- Invest in FacebookAds or GoogleAds
- Invest in local advertising
- Hire more employees
- Build off of your family-owned business's values
Get Referral
It is no surprise that your plan to gain more clientele for your chiropractic office would be to leverage your existing clientele. There is no better or more powerful marketing strategy then by word of mouth. Consider setting up a referral program, with your existing clients - it will be greatly appreciated. If your clients are happy with your family-owned chiropractor practice, you will find that they will try to bring more people to you if you asked. Often times people assume that smaller family-owned businesses prefer to say on the smaller side, which can be untrue for many practices - which is such a limiting assumption.
Leverage Social Media
A cost-free way to get your name out there is through the power of social media. You should have set up, other than your business website, accounts with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You may also consider leveraging Pinterest and Snapchat and a couple of newer platforms such as Tik Tok.
Optimize your platforms with these tips and tricks:
- Post mindful, helpful, and useful content. Make sure your content has purpose and meaning.
- Remember that your social media presence represents your family-owned practice, so make sure it aligns with your values, goals, and community.
- Never violate HIPAA.
- Connect with your community and clientele through the use of existing groups. Consider creating your own groups to share content.
- Create a business Facebook page NOW.
- Post regularly, but don't overwhelm your readers.
- Create blog posts for your website and advertise via your social media channels.
If you have a budget for social media, consider investing in Facebook and Google advertisements.
Advertise Locally
If you are able to set aside a budget for marketing, you may want to consider advertising locally. Some strategies may include:
- Have decals made up and put them on your vehicle.
- Rent a booth at a local weekend market.
- Put your business's name on a local sports team's uniforms.
- Sponsor a local event.
- Purchase a spot on your local news channel.
- Have business cards and flyers printed up and place around town.
- Get involved in local meetings and professional groups (local business groups, Chamber of Commerce, civic associations, etc./).
- Post your business on local directories.
- Invest in a local non-color print magazine or newspaper advertisement.
- Celebrate your business's milestones.
Hire More Employees
If you're in a position where you want your practice to grow, you are most likely in a stable financial situation, so you may want to consider hiring more employees. Behind more employees, you naturally received word-of-mouth marketing throughout the community and through the new employees' personal and electronic networks.
The great part about hiring more employees is that you are able to support the increase in your clientele. This is a win-win and should always be considered if your business can financially support it.
Emphasize Your Family-Owned Values
How could you not want to support local? Lean on the fact that you're family-owned and operated. Share your values through the culture you create and the messages you sent to your community about your practice.
If your chiropractic practice brings the family-owned feel to the front of every patient's visit, you have a higher rate of retention with your current clientele and any new referrals that come in. People love to feel a part of something, and when you walk into a family-owned business as a client, you feel a part of the practice's culture and success.
Looking to Expand Your Family-Owned Practice?
If you find yourself needing to find funding for your chiropractic practice, First Union Lending is here to help.
We have nine different business loan types to choose from. This means that we're uniquely qualified to help you find the perfect loan to open your small business.
Applying for a business loan doesn't affect your credit. Better yet, your business loan may be approved as soon as the same day.
To discuss our business loans with one of our lending experts, click here or call 863-825-5626. We'll talk about our various business loans and help you find the right one for your medical practice.
Get started with the process now by learning more about our business loan types.