For practices looking to market their services, clinics, and practices, chiropractic marketing materials (especially the web) provide an opportunity to connect with patients, and potential patients, in a powerful way. Context is the way to make chiropractic marketing truly meaningful.
con·text • ˈkäntekst/ • noun
the circumstances that form the setting for an idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
When I wrapped my head around the intersection of content and context, it changed marketing for me. Phrases like “content is king” and “compelling copy” have been thrown around a lot. Without context, it’s hard to create rich content that compels the reader to take action, feel emotion, or share something.
The best way to get an understanding of how content and context go hand-in-hand is to look at a real-world situation. As someone that’s spent a fair amount of time in a chiropractic clinic with a low back issue, I don’t have to imagine too hard. A look around the waiting room would reveal patients from all walks of life, many suffering from lower back pain.
On one side of the waiting room, we have a woman who recently retired. She’s excited about the extra time she has to spend with her grandchildren. She’s also very social and loves to travel and play tennis with the neighborhood ladies. With her back pain, she has some legitimate fear about whether or not she can physically do all that she wants to.
Next to her, we have a former college athlete. While it’s been a few years since the “glory days,” he still considers himself a fitness buff and works out several times a week. He’s always up for a game of pickup basketball with the guys and plays in a co-ed softball league. His body has some wear-and-tear, and his nagging back pain is starting to affect his participation in sports and fitness, but he’s not ready to slow down.
Across the room is a corporate executive. Her career has spanned 40 years, much of it sitting behind a desk and in conference rooms. Her high-stress job and sedentary lifestyle have taken a toll on her body. Her career has been on an upward trajectory for decades, but she’s paying a hefty price for having put her health on the back burner.
Three patients from very different walks of life, but each suffering from the same issue of low back pain. Imagine these patients reading the chiropractor’s marketing materials such as the website and social media. Each needs to be communicated with in a very different way. Their motivations, fears, backgrounds and goals are all very different. To grow your practice, a one-size-fits-all marketing approach simply won’t do, and that is where context enters the equation.
4 Steps to Develop Context in Chiropractic Marketing
- Develop a specific goal for the content.
Perhaps you want to educate a patient about an issue. Or maybe you’re looking to build credibility by offering a few tips that could offer some relief at home. The most important factor is deciding on a goal before you begin creating the content. - Choose a Persona for the content.
In the chiropractic office we imagined, we looked at three unique patients. In our experience, most providers have a handful of personas that patients will fall into. Creating fictitious (but accurate!) representations of your patients is a great way to crawl inside their head and get a feel for their needs and concerns as you set out to create content. - Choose a stage of the Buyer’s Journey for the content.
After choosing a persona, amplify the context by writing for a specific stage of the Buyer’s Journey.
Awareness: The reader has recently realized a problem, is just beginning to express symptoms of an issue or has recognized an opportunity to improve something. Example: "I’m not moving like I used to. My back is stiff and it’s holding me back."
Consideration: The reader has clearly defined and named their problem or opportunity.
Example: "I think the wear-and-tear on my body from sports has caught up with me and I need come up with a plan to address my back issues."
Decision: The reader has researched and determined the type of solution or approach they want to take.
Example: "I could go to an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor. I would like to try something non-invasive, so I need a good chiropractor." - Determine the next step and ask the reader to take it.
Don’t leave it up to the reader. Give the reader the opportunity to take the next step in the Buyer’s Journey with a “Call to action”. Give them good information and help them move through the process.
Final Thoughts on Chiropractic Marketing
For content to really shine and be effective, it needs context. You can achieve context by developing and choosing Buyer Personas, and creating content for a specific stage of the Buyer’s Journey.
Casey founded Gravity Digital in 2000 after serving as the Internet Services Director for a Nashville-based Ad Agency. He's a rare breed that operates both left and right brain, so along with oversight of the company he's active in the creative process for our clients.
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