Who's Your Target?

The fact that everyone needs to see a chiropractor causes us to sometimes fail to set a target market. It is true that everyone who has a spine should be having it checked, it is challenging to market to that broad a range of people. Specializing in a particular field in chiropractic might seem like setting a target market, it is not. Specializing in areas like sports or pediatrics limits the public’s understanding, as well as the type and number of people a straight chiropractic can and will see. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to try to specialize in chiropractic, in areas like sports chiropractic or pediatric care. I have met very few people who manage to stay straight when they get into these “specialties.” However, it really is desirable to target a specific group of people so there should be some sort of specificity to your marketing campaign.

One of the problems we have encountered in our chiropractic marketing is that we have reduced the population into two audiences. First there are those people who think they need or may need our services due to the presence of a particular problem that they associate with chiropractic, particularly musculoskeletal conditions. Non-straight chiropractors have spent so much time, effort, and money on targeting this group that they have pretty much turned off the rest of the public for all of us! So this is a target market, just the wrong one. Whether we want to reach the back pain audience at all is up for discussion, but we do not have to worry about it. With things as they are, they will come in whether we want them or not. Simply putting your name and the title chiropractor out there will draw those people in because the general public’s perception is that is what chiropractic is all about.

The other audience includes those that have no back problems but want to improve their health. Usually that desire for improved health is really a desire to “get rid of” some medical condition. While they want improved health, they really do not know what health is and targeting medical conditions will never increase their understanding. We need to target our marketing and publicity to this group, to get them to understand that they need chiropractic care. This is our “buying audience.” The problem confronting us in chiropractic is targeting our buying audience. When Sears runs an ad they do not promote every one of the thousand of products they sell. They promote one or two, a washing machine or a few electronic items. That is why back pain ads were so effective at one time. They targeted a specific audience (sufferers) with a specific product (relief). How effective would Sears be if week after week they promoted nothing but washing machines? I am sure every week someone needs a new washer but the audience becomes more and more limited every week, especially as people buy a washer.

So what’s our specific product? Or more correctly, what is your specific product? It is better health, a more productive life, a longer life, improved performance, greater potential? You must identify the product you have to offer and how being under care at your office will logically provide that product for the consumer. All of that is a discussion for another time. At this point, we need to clearly define our product. Think about where we have come in chiropractic since 1895. Our product was a cure for deafness. Then it was a cure for all disease. Then it became prevention, then back pain and musculoskeletal problems, and relief. Now it is everything from musculoskeletal problems to human potential, to who knows what! Sometimes I think we do not know what we are promoting in chiropractic as a profession. Frankly, I am not sure that it matters because most of the profession will not want to promote what you and I want. So maybe we need to clearly define out product, make sure it is a desirable one among the general public and then go out and market it.