Question for you: Are “ideal” patients found, or created? I have to say, I think it’s the latter!

Let’s talk about how to get patients who are already committed to acupuncture, before they even become your patients.

Those elusive, “ideal” patients who don’t require convincing about acupuncture. Patients who are ready to commit to a course of treatment, to invest in their health, and to make an effort and do their part in achieving their wellness goals.

How the heck do you cultivate this kind of patient? Where do they come from?

The number one way I’ve found to do this is to constantly educate your audience about how acupuncture works in your marketing.

When I say “how it works,” I mean everything that you find yourself repeating to your new patients on a regular basis. So this would include, primarily, treatment frequency, i.e., the fact that acupuncture is cumulative, as well as how you practice and what your unique expectations are of your patients.

In this episode I talk about how I’ve seen this play out in my own clinic marketing, and two marketing examples that made this really clear to me.

When I spend time teaching people about treatment frequency and what to expect at my office in my marketing, then I get patients who are already “on board” with how acupuncture works and they’re much more likely to commit to a series of treatments. They don’t have to be convinced.

Let’s dig in deep, as I compare patients from Google Ads vs. those who follow me on Instagram, and their readiness to become long-term patients. Not that I have anything against Google ads – this comparison simply made this concept crystal clear for me.

At the end I leave with you my best suggestions for what to talk about in your marketing to cultivate patients who are on board with acupuncture AND the unique way that you practice – aka, your ideal patients!

Show Notes:

– Scholarship competition for Acupuncture Marketing School (Accepting applications 5/10-5/13)
– Episode #9: You Are Not Annoying People with Your Marketing
– Forgot to mention this in the episode, but the Free Acupuncture Social Media Templates are ready! Click here to download.

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🎙️ Episode #10: How to Cultivate Your Ideal Patients Using Marketing

Transcript:

Hi there, welcome back! Today we’re talking about how to get patients who are already committed to acupuncture, before they even become your patients. Before you even get them on the phone or in your office and explain how acupuncture works, how it’s cumulative, etc. These elusive, kind of “ideal” patients who don’t require convincing about acupuncture. Patients who are ready to commit to a course of treatment, to invest in their health, and to make an effort and do their part in achieving their wellness goals.

So how the heck do you cultivate this kind of patient? Where do they come from?

The number one way I’ve found to do this, to attract patients who are all-in with acupuncture, willing to commit to their health and invest in their health, is to constantly educate your audience about how acupuncture works in your marketing.

When I say how it works, I mean everything that you find yourself repeating to your new patients on a regular basis. So this would include, primarily, treatment frequency, how acupuncture is cumulative, as well as how you practice and what your unique expectations are of your patients. For example, the diet and lifestyle changes that you often recommend, etc., the ways that you need patients to participate in their own wellness for best results, etc. If you often ask people to make dietary changes, you can describe those changes or share what you usually recommend, or even just mention, outright, how important diet is in the way you approach the practice of this medicine. Right, so, including that information in your marketing repeatedly, so that patients are not only aware of it but are used to it and they get to a point where it seems natural and makes sense to them.

The idea here is that you are cultivating your own ideal patients. And when you teach this info over and over in your marketing, what you’re really doing it allowing people to self-select whether they are your ideal patients or not. Because if they’re listening to you and they’re not feeling it or it doesn’t resonate, they’ll probably stop following you or simply never make an appointment. And this is FINE, by the way. It is okay to repel people who will never become your patients or who aren’t a great fit for the way you practice. The fact is that by teaching these things and being honest about how you approach the medicine, you’re going to attract more of the right people compared to those who unfollow or unsubscribe. This is a natural part of marketing an it’s okay.

So let me give an example. Let’s say that on your Instagram account, you’re repeatedly talking about how you usually recommend a series of 6 treatments, minimum, for new patients for anxiety management. That means that the people who are turned off by this idea, of coming in for weekly treatments, are much less likely to make an appointment, right?

But the people who are fine with the idea and who feel like what you’re saying makes sense to them, are going to stick around and keep learning from you. And then – and this is the really important part – when they do become your patients, they don’t require convincing to stick to the treatment protocol that you recommend – because they were aware of it before they ever made their first appointment. All right, so they self-selected IN to the specific way that you practice this medicine, because you were teaching and sharing about it regularly in your marketing.

And of course, some people may be turned off by the idea of 6 weeks of treatment for financial reasons, right? So whenever you’re teaching about this in your marketing, it’s a good idea to mention this concern outright – you can just say, “If you’re worried about the cost of weekly treatments for 6 weeks, I totally get it, and I want to let you know that we take insurance, or we have a sliding scale, or we offer a discount for first responders,” etc. So in that same breath you’re educating people on how acupuncture works, that it’s cumulative, and eliminating a fear or resistance that they might have concerning finances. And if they’re right for you, they’ll stick around.

But I’ve seen this approach work again and again, not just in my own marketing, but in that of my students. And it doesn’t have to be complex, okay? It could be as simple as saying once a week on your Instagram account, how many treatments do I need for x condition? One week you might be talking about anxiety and how many treatments are needed, and the next it’s how many treatments for menstrual disorders, then for cosmetic acupuncture, then for fertility, etc. But every time you mention this, you’re helping people get used to the important idea that acupuncture is not quite like western medicine, right? It’s not like pharmaceuticals where you expect to take a pill and start feeling a difference instantly.

So let me give you an example of this that has been playing out in my practice in the past 4 months or so. Like I said, on my Instagram account I teach a lot of the same things over and over again, about treatment frequency, and I give a lot of the same advice, mostly natural skincare advice since I really love cosmetic acupuncture. I talk about diet tips, skincare product tips, sunscreens, etc. etc. and I let people know through my posts and stories that cosmetic acupuncture (like acupuncture for most things) is 50% my job, as the acupuncturist, putting in needles, and 50% the patient’s job, being willing to make lifestyle changes. The idea is that, genuinely, when a patient is eating enough protein, reducing their stress, getting more sleep, and drinking more water, then cosmetic acupuncture has a much stronger effect. Otherwise, I’m fighting against them and their lifestyle, trying to make their skin more vibrant with cosmetic acupuncture. It simply works better, and is a better use of their money, if they work with me and make an effort at home. So I’m not shy about sharing this info on Instagram.

Plus, showing up on Instagram regularly is a great way for patients to get to know me. They know I’m a little goofy, I’m a cat lady, I wear mismatched Harry Potter socks, I wear hot pink scrubs or scrubs with little cats wearing hats. So by the time they make their first appointment, the patients who find me through Instagram are already BIG fans of cosmetic acupuncture and my practice, and they are SO excited to meet me, to see my office in person (because they’ve seen it plenty of times on Instagram right? But never in person), and they’re so excited for their cosmetic acupuncture. It’s like an event for them to be in my office after seeing my digitally on Instagram. Right? Basically, they are fans of what I do and how I do it, before they ever arrive, because they learned so much about cosmetic acupuncture from my Instagram account. They’ve had plenty of time self-select as a patient, and they’re all in.

And importantly, they’re already aware of everything that’s required of them as a patient. So in their cosmetic acupuncture consult or their first treatment, I’ll get ready to dive into my usual spiel about the treatment frequency for cosmetic acupuncture being twice a week for five to six weeks, and they’re like, oh yes, I read about this already. It’s fine. I’m ready.

Okay, now let’s contrast that with new patients that I’ve been getting from a Google ad that I started in late January. Because this contrast actually really helped me identify this phenomenon, and to reinforce for me, you know, yet again, how useful social media is for marketing, because of that opportunity to show up and teach and let people get to know you over and over. Patients who find me through my Google ad have MUCH less exposure to me or how I practice this medicine than those who follow me on Instagram. It makes sense, right? They’re searching for something on Google, whether it’s natural pain relief, anxiety management, or natural wrinkle treatments, and they see my ad. They pop over to my website, peruse a little, and make an appointment. Awesome.

However, that means that many of them have never been introduced to the idea that acupuncture is cumulative and multiple treatments are needed, or the idea that I’m going to give them homework. So A) I spend a lot more time in their initial appointment explaining, clarifying, and repeating these things, and B) they are much less likely to be prepared to commit to a series of treatments. Because for many of them, their initial treatment in my office for the first time they’ve ever heard of the concept that acupuncture is cumulative.

So I’ve found that new patients who arrive from the Google ad are much more likely to have the idea in their head that they “just want to give acupuncture a try” for one treatment and see if they feel any different. And THEN they’ll decide, after that, if they want to keep coming back. Right, which we know is not really how it works. Compared to people who have been following along with me on social media, who hear this info so often that they just accept it as fact, that if they want to really know if acupuncture is going to work for them, they need to give it some time.

I also want to add that, obviously, I have nothing against the patients who arrive from Google ads, and emphasize that they have all been lovely people, in various places on their health journey, and I enjoy meeting them and teaching them about acupuncture. Right, like, this is not me saying that I don’t like those patients or that I don’t want to spend time teaching people that acupuncture is cumulative if that’s what we need to talk about. That’s totally fine. It’s simply that I’ve discovered that it’s less work for me in person, in my office, with a patient, if they have had time to be exposed to my marketing, BECAUSE I specifically gear a lot of my marketing around these concepts of treatment frequency, self care, etc. So I hope that makes sense.

And I also want to say that this doesn’t mean I don’t think Google ads are a good idea. I totally do. I’ve done Google ads on and off over the years, and I’ve always found that for my practice, in the area where I live, which is a smaller town with less acupuncture competition, that Google ads almost always pay for themselves, at the very least. They usually make more money in new patients each month than they cost, right? So I have no problem continuing to run them as long as that’s the case. As long as there’s a positive ROI. And of course, some of the patients from Google ads have become long-term patients, and some show up at my office with a very strong awareness of acupuncture already, and what it’s all about.

Which brings up the point that in some areas, patients are better educated about acupuncture than where I live. I live in, as I said, a smaller town, about 8000 people, in a more conservative area in central New York state. So to clarify, not in New York City. I know sometimes when I say central New York, my international listeners occasionally think that means in the heart of  New York City. Nope, haha, I live in the opposite of that. So I have always had to spend a lot of time educating potential patients about acupuncture and how it might be able to help them in my marketing.

But it’s possible that where you live, this isn’t the case. Maybe most of the new patients you see have already had acupuncture before and don’t need the conversation about treatment frequency. It depends on a lot of factors. But regardless of where you practice, I’d really encourage you to try this method out in your marketing – both in your email marketing and on social media. I think at the very least it will make it that you have to do less explaining about how acupuncture works at every new patient treatment.

So my recommendation is that you regularly talk about, for your specialty and the conditions you like to treat, both treatment frequency AND your basic expectations of patients. Share the self-care that you expect them to take on to make their acupuncture treatments more successful. And don’t be afraid to repeat this info over and over. Remember that people need to hear your marketing message multiple times before they take action, and many of your followers have probably never even heard you teach it before. Repetition is the heart of marketing, so don’t be afraid to repeat yourself.

Like I just said, worst-case scenario, this marketing approach will hopefully make your life easier when you meet new patients in person, so that you have to do a little less talking about acupuncture basics or background at the first treatment. And best care scenario, this will actually start to generate patients who have followed you for long enough that what you say deeply resonates with them and makes sense to them, so that by the time they make their first appointment, they are already raving fans of you and acupuncture. They’re excited and ready to go, ready to commit to a series of treatments and ready to make an effort to improve their health.

That’s all for this week’s episode! Before you go, I want to let you know that the Scholarship Competition is officially open for Acupuncture Marketing School! This week I’ll be awarding two scholarships for this online program. Acupuncture Marketing School is my foundations marketing course for fellow acupuncturists. I think of it as the marketing basics we should have learned in acupuncture school, with a focus on digital marketing – email marketing, social media, content creation, Google reviews, etc.

I’ll be giving away a seat in the course to one acupuncturist and one acupuncture student on Sunday, so definitely get your entry in ASAP. I think it’s SO important to get acupuncture students thinking seriously about their niche, their marketing plan, branding and marketing message well before they graduate. I think it will help our profession as a whole if acupuncture students have a really strong awareness of what life it like after graduation and what they can do to build strong businesses in their communities.

But I digress, let me tell how to enter. All you have to do to enter is record a video, two minutes or less, introducing yourself and explaining why you need this marketing education – how will it impact you, your business, your community? And email it to me at scholarship@michellegrasek.com. I’ll include my email and a link to the scholarship website in the show notes for this episode.

If you cannot record a video, you can submit your scholarship entry as an audio file if you like, or as written text in the body of an email, no more than two paragraphs, please. We get a LOT of scholarship applications from acupuncturists all over the world, and so we ask that you keep your entries short and sweet if possible, so we can give ample time to every application.

Again, links are in the show notes to learn more about the scholarship, Acupuncture Marketing School and how to submit your entry! Good luck and I can’t wait to get your submission!

Until next time, bye my friend!