Image of an iphone with podcast app showing Acupuncture Marketing School Podcast thumbnail, episode 3: Learn these marketing "rules" and get better results ASAP.

Episode 3: Use These Marketing “Rules” to Get Better Results ASAP

The marketing basics we all should’ve learned in acupuncture school.

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Welcome back! In this episode we’re going to talk about some of the “rules” of marketing.

These are core marketing concepts that everyone should know before they start marketing.

Now, in a perfect world I wish that every acupuncture school had space in the curriculum to dedicate one or two entire semester classes to marketing and practice building. However, we know that’s not the way that the world works and so most of us never learned these basic concepts. But that’s okay, that’s what you have me for.

In fact, these marketing “rules” are some of the first lessons that I teach inside Acupuncture Marketing School, which is my online marketing course for acupuncturists. I think it’s essential to start with these ideas so that you understand why I’m asking you to do certain marketing activities or approaches later on.

Because I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those people where, if you ask me to do something and you tell me specifically why I’m doing it, I’m much more likely to follow through. If I don’t understand why I’m doing something it just makes it harder to carry out the activity. Maybe you feel the same way, maybe not, but I do find that my marketing students feel more motivated and committed to their marketing once they understand how marketing works.

Let’s dive in. First I’d like to share the definition of marketing that I find most useful, and it’s going to ask you to think about marketing in a new way. This definition is really the foundation for everything that I teach and I find it especially helpful for my students who feel like marketing is a little sleazy or gross.

The definition is that marketing is simply letting the people who need you know that you exist.

And this involves teaching people two things in your marketing. One, that acupuncture can help them, and two, that your clinic exists in their community.

You’re simply sharing information, knowledge. If you tend to think of marketing as kind of pushy, salesy or sleazy then just come back to this definition and remember that all you’re doing is sharing information to help people make better decisions for their health.

You’re just teaching them that acupuncture might be able to help them and where your clinic is located. For example, you marketing is just saying, “Hey, acupuncture could really help your knee arthritis and my clinic happens to be around the corner if you decide you want to give it a try.”

And an important part of this is letting go of the outcome of what we have just taught someone in our marketing.

What people do with the information is up to them. When you release a marketing message into the world some people are going to say, “Yes, please,” and others are not going to be ready for it. They’re not going to be in a place where they’re financially, emotionally or physically ready and that is fine.

You’ve shared your message and they’re storing that information away to use later on if they need it, or to share with someone else who might need it.

Here’s an example, if you did a FB ad talking about acupuncture for knee pain for the elderly, maybe a younger woman hears it but thinks of her grandmother and passes it on. Maybe the grandmother says, “I don’t think I’m ready to try that because I’m worried about the needles or I’m not ready to make a change.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a no forever. You’re planting seeds. She might come back around to it if nothing else improves her knee pain. She might eventually say to her granddaughter, “You know we never did pursue acupuncture but I think it’s time.”

So again, all we’re doing with marketing is sharing information and knowledge that people can use to make informed health decisions. What they do with the info is up to them but it’s important that we keep putting it out there.

Let me repeat the definition for you one more time: Marketing is simply letting the people who need you know that you exist, which includes sharing the knowledge that acupuncture might be able to help them, and letting them know that your clinic exists in their community to serve them when they’re ready.

The next really important concept in marketing is called touchpoints.

Touchpoints are basically any reminder of you, your business, or your brand.

This could be seeing a Facebook post that you published, bumping into someone at the grocery store and talking to them about the back pain they’re complaining about , meeting someone at a networking meeting, when someone reads your blog post, etc.

All these things count as touchpoints. On average, across all industries, most marketing professionals will agree that consumers need 5 to 7 touchpoints before they’re ready to take action.

What you’re really doing with these touchpoints is building up trust.

You are getting in enough touch points that you bring the person to this place of trust where they say, “Okay, I’m ready to make a financial investment and let you put needles in me.

When we’re marketing, this is also really helpful to keep this in mind, that marketing is rooted in building enough trust. This also helps if you feel like marketing is pushy or salesy. Remember that trust the foundation for all good relationships, including clinical relationships, and that’s your goal.

There are also different kinds of touchpoints. You could say that they’re weighted. Some are warm and have more weight and some are cool or cold and have less weight. It’s a spectrum and every touchpoint falls somewhere along the spectrum.

Warmer touchpoints include things that build trust the fastest.

This typically includes meeting someone in person, live video and recorded video. These are very warm touch points because they give the person the opportunity to decide in that moment whether or not they trust you – whether or not they want you to put needles in them or if they want to share their personal health information, if they’d be comfortable in treatment with you, etc.

A really great example of a cold touchpoint would be a billboard on the side of the road. It’s not typically generating a ton of connection and I don’t know about you, but very rarely am I motivated by a billboard to visit a website or do more research. It’s not building a ton of trust.

The idea here is that the more warm touch points you use then the fewer touchpoints overall you will need to bring someone to that place of trust with a ready to make an appointment.

Now, piggybacking on the idea of touchpoints is the importance of consistency in marketing.

Consistency is sort of built in to the idea of touchpoints because if you have to get your message in front of someone 5 to 7 times, that means you have to keep showing up in your marketing over and over again.

You have to keep repeating the same message, that hopefully appeals to your ideal patient avatar, over and over. The repetition makes sure they have the opportunity to keep hearing it and get enough touchpoints. So if you feel like, “Gosh, I’m just saying the same thing over and over again in my marketing,” then you’re probably doing it right!

This is especially relevant for social media. So keep in mind here that first of all, not everybody probably heard your marketing message the first time you released it. And even if they did and they’re hearing it again, they need that repetition. For example, I’ll tell people to keep saying the same social media messages over and over again and they’re like, “Yeah but I already said this three weeks ago.”

Okay, no problem. Some of your followers were not online and for some who were online, the algorithm may have chosen not to show it to them. So to get your message in front of the broadest audience possible you have to keep repeating it and if you happen to hit some of the people who already heard it the first time, it’s good for them to hear it again.

The last marketing concept that I’d like to teach you today is the idea of features versus benefits.

There’s a marketing adage that says, “features tell, benefits sell.” What the heck does this mean?

This is all about writing your marketing message from the perspective of your ideal patient avatar.

If you missed it, I recommend listening to the previous episode, all about identifying your ideal patient avatar and how to apply it in your marketing. In that episode, we do a deep dive, so if you’re not familiar, definitely go back and give it a listen.

Features are when you simply list facts.

I see this a lot in advertisements, where acupuncturists will just list facts about their credentials and education and then list their clinic location. No call to action, no direction or motivation for the audience, just a series of facts. And this is a whole episode unto itself that’s we’ll save for another day, how to write advertisements that actually convert.

But for now, let’s use the example of a FB ad, and in the caption, it says, “Michelle Grasek is a licensed acupuncturist, she is board certified and a diplomate of yadda yadda, she specializes in XYZ style of cosmetic acupuncture, and she’s clean needle technique certified. Make an appointment today.”

Okay, so this is just a list of facts about me as a professional that honestly means very, very little to potential patients. Sure, they’re happy to know that I am qualified for my job and that I have done some continuing education, but it doesn’t speak to their particular interest in themselves, let’s be honest.

Benefits, on the flip side of this, are when you talk about why those facts should matter to the potential patient.

Explain to them, why should they care? In the case of cosmetic acupuncture, I would come at it from the angle that I specialize in a kind of acupuncture that helps reduce fine lines and wrinkles and helps your skin look fresh and more youthful. Because those are things that people care about. Not the specific style of cosmetic that I do, not my credentials, etc.

Now, as an aside, you can still use the phrase cosmetic acupuncture, of course. I do think it generates a lot of questions and it piques people’s interest. They’re like, “Oo, I haven’t heard of that, what is it?”

But it’s not enough typically to just say cosmetic acupuncture because it generates more questions than clarity. You want to spell it out for them, what’s in it for them?

Think about the things that are troubling them – their wrinkles, their aging, the condition of their skin as they get older, and how much that troubles them. And then describe the outcome – you know, the happy, rosy, sunshiny outcome after a series of treatments, I mean, within reason, right. We’re just being honest that acupuncture can relieve or eliminate certain symptoms. Okay, but don’t be afraid to describe how wonderful that would feel to them, from their point of view.

One more thing to consider here. In the first episode, we also talked about how, in many ways, people don’t care so much about the specific modality you are using to make them feel better. And I know this is a big shift in our thinking when we think about marketing acupuncture.

But it’s not always necessary to talk so much about acupuncture itself.

Whether we help people with acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, herbs, etc. – that’s not nearly as important to people as the ultimate outcome of feeling better.

So this is why we’re not emphasizing our studies and our credentials, because it’s all stuff that doesn’t resonate with the patient as much as hearing about their own symptoms.

And I know this is difficult, because honestly, we love this medicine and we WANT to talk about how deep and powerful medicine it is, gosh I mean, it’s so true, I’m in awe of traditional Chinese medicine everyday.

But most people are just not in a mental place yet where they’re committed to their wellness on that deep level where their thinking to themselves, I want to learn live, eat, exercise and sleep with the seasons. They’re not necessarily ready to for this whole new lifestyle (or they don’t know that they need it).

Instead they’re like, “I’m freaking constipated and I want you to make me feel better.” That’s objective number one. Once you get your attention and convince them that you can help, then you can have the opportunity to bring in all of the power of Chinese Medicine to transform their life.

All right! I hope these core marketing concepts help you think about marketing differently, feel committed to consistency in your marketing and getting in enough touchpoints to build up that trust.

And I hope that you remember these concepts if you ever feel worried that marketing is going to make you feel pushy or salesy.

Just make sure you’re approaching your marketing from the angle that marketing is simply letting the people who need you know that you exist, which includes helping them understand that acupuncture can help them and letting them know that your clinic is available when they’re ready for you.

If you need more help with these concepts or with getting organized and strategic with your marketing, definitely check out my online course, Acupuncture Marketing School. I’ll include the link in the show notes.

And don’t forget to visit my website michellegrasek.com to grab your free marketing downloads. I have worksheets and checklists for you guys, I absolutely love creating them, so good! And you are more than welcome to email me at Michelle@michellegrasek.com. Talk to you soon!