I’m online more than most; probably up to twelve hours a day, running my business. As part of that I’m on social media a great deal. In fact I have all my social media tabs open all the time. It drives my teenage sons mad! But I like to keep on top of what’s happening, repost stuff, share inspiring things and keep in touch with Osteopaths worldwide.
My work makes my heart sing actually.
Keeping abreast of what’s going on helps me to evaluate my own marketing as well as the good, the bad and the downright ugly of the manual therapy world!
Some embrace online marketing but…
…they don’t like to appear ‘unprofessional’ or pushy. They are scared of posting too much for fear of offending their crowd (a generic term for those who like, follow and connect etc) to the point that they are turned off.
So this kind of marketing is a bit tentative. It’s low key. There may be the occasional post about a free appointment this afternoon or a mention of Back Care Week. There may be the odd image of a skeleton or raw muscles (don’t get me started!) with some medical jargon and that’s about it. Fear of over doing and annoying people it is the main driver.
But with social media newsfeeds spinning at the speed of light, let me give you a guarantee:
Almost nobody even saw it!
Some despise it!
Let’s face it times have changed dramatically since the advent of the world wide web! We don’t have to go to the supermarket because we can shop online. We don’t need to telephone, we can book restaurants online. And we don’t need to research at the library because we can get information online in a split second.
For small businesses, newspaper adverts, phone directory listings and leaflet drops used to be all that was necessary. Generic adverts were just for imparting basic information about contact details and location. There was very little targeted marketing going on.
So many Clients of mine despise social media and online marketing but they have to admit that ‘adverts just don’t work’. Honestly, I hear this all the time!
They worry that ‘resorting’ to stooping so low is a sign that they are unprofessional, unsuccessful and, frankly, desperate. They believe that if they are good enough, the public will come.
But in this busy and noisy world we now inhabit, so much daily ‘stuff’ is vying for our attention. The online world is crazily bombarding us with sales messages and the usual fear-inducing threats of what might happen if you are stupid enough not to use their product or service.
It can all get a bit bonkers. Our brains are wired to automatically filter out the boring, pointless and bland information which is crossing our path, be it verbally, physically, visually or audibly.
However, there are ways to easily harness social media and the online world to get our message across to our potential customers and perfect patients. Which leads me on to the marketing ninjas amongst you!
Yes some of you are total marketing ninjas!
Yes OK – it does take up an element of your time to be managing a marketing campaign. But those of you who learn how to ramp up your online marketing see incredible results. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it does happen.
For instance, from a standing start two years ago, I have built a very successful business without a single advert being placed.
My business has been purely grown from the kernel of an idea to help worldwide Osteopaths to treat more people to a successful enterprise with clients around the globe. And I have done that by developing and improving my social media marketing and by giving free information by way of downloadable e-books, cheat sheets and templates and by writing an informative blog every single Tuesday.
The key to being a marketing ninja is simple. Be consistent and persistent in your marketing. Sporadic doesn’t work. Those Osteopaths who I see in my newsfeeds posting diligently at least twice a day (don’t faint!) are the ones who are chipping away at their invisibility in their locality. Chip, chip, chip they relentlessly inform potential patients of the benefits of Osteopathy.
But what does a marketing ninja achieve?
Question: What is the biggest problem in a business such as yours and mine?
Answer: A steady flow of people who need our help.
Both of us are working towards the same goal. We both want to help our clients to a point where they no longer need us. That is the aim. So the problem remains that we need to keep on attracting more people to take their place. Else we will very quickly go out of business…
Because in helping more people, we are achieving our goals. And in achieving our goals we feel successful.
And if we fail to attract more new patients who need our help, we simply do our community and our crowd a mighty big disservice.
If you don’t know where to start, grab your marketing ninja outfit, click here and I will show you how!
