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Sometimes You Have to Get Your Hands Dirty
Growing your business is not always an easy comfortable task. The fact is that sometimes you just have to jump in, get your hands all dirty and mucky, and do things that are uncomfortable for you. Push your limits and those of your employees by getting out of your comfort zone.
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. I was meeting with a client this week that has a thriving chiropractic practice. The practice has three chiropractors, 3 massage therapists, a nutritionist, acupuncturist, and more. They advertise all over the place including on shopping carts at the local grocery store, large yellow page ads, post cards to new movers, value-pac...tons of stuff going on.
These doctors understand the importance of marketing and are willing to put the time and energy into attracting clients. As we were talking about their needs, they identified their target client as someone that works at a larger company (they are in a busy metropolitan area), has insurance, and actively refers them to others within the company. Are shopping carts and the yellow pages the best way to attract this type of client?
They have been doing this same type of marketing for a while and were comfortable with it, but they also realized the growth they've experienced so far was coming from other efforts they'd been doing, not the money they've been putting into these advertising avenues. In order to make a shift and attract more of their ideal client, they need to make a shift in the marketing they are doing.
And that involves change and getting your hands a little dirty.
The advertising they are doing now is easy. Pay a couple thousand dollars a year and don't think about it again – clean hands.
Reaching out to their ideal client at corporations requires a much more targeted approach; creating and nurturing relationships and networking in a way they haven't done before. Having a more intimate approach to get "in" to large businesses and to foster long-term relationships with key people will take them a long way to achieving their goal. But first they have to get their foot in the door.
If you've considered targeting corporations for your services let's look at a few things you can do to your name known throughout the company:
- Have a column in their internal newsletter or intranet. Make it an "employee benefit" and discuss health topics - don't sell your services, educate.
- Get human resources on your side. They are a key player.
- Put a business case together on how your services will help their bottom-line. Do they have a high incidence of people missing work from back-problems or headaches from sitting at the computer all day?
- Offer to do free health talks during the lunch hour of offer to do free services. Create a "wellness day" and have other practitioners in the community participate as well.
Be creative. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Be smart about where you spend your marketing dollar.
(c) 2008, A Marketing Connection
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