The Top 10 Marketing Mistakes

TCM Practitioners Make And How

To Avoid Them.

TCM Practitioner
Marketing Report
August 2007 By Frank Prieto
Acupuncture Marketing Stratgist

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.

You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format.
 Introduction

Thank you for subscribing to NewACUPatient$. As an extra bonus I am happy

to provide you with this marketing report absolutely FREE. I hope you enjoy
and benefit from this information in your efforts to grow your practice.

This report will give you a no non-sense approach to marketing your practice.
You will get information and marketing ideas, but the main focus of this mar-
keting information is to point out the things you should avoid that are detri-
mental to your marketing success.

You’re probably very committed and focused in your work, which of course is
important to the success of your practice. But just as important is the market-
ing factor that most practitioners fail to understand, or feel cannot afford.

You may be very good at what you do, but if the public doesn’t know about
you how can you prosper? Or worse, you do understand the importance of
marketing and you start marketing your practice, but you’re unsure exactly
how to do it. So you spend what little money you had put aside for advertis-
ing, to find out your efforts were fruitless because you didn’t get a return on
your advertising investment. You’re back to square one, but even more vul-
nerable to failure because now you think marketing doesn’t work.

There are many talented practitioners that are passionate about their work.
They know they can provide natural, safe, effective and drug free alternative
health care, but they’re working a second job and attending to their talents
part time because they can’t make ends meet. If this sounds like you, I hope
what you are about to read helps you move your practice to the next level to
start helping people which is really what you love to do.

Frank Prieto
Acupuncture Marketing Strategist
E-mail: frank@mymworks.com
Phone: 786-333-1299
www.NewAcupuncturePatients.com

Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing August

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.
2007
You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this
document in any format.
 Positioning Themselves As “New Agey”
This is among one of the biggest mistakes alternative health care practitioners make.
I would say it’s probably done by 30% to 40% of them. It’s OK if you just want to
cater to vegetarians, new agers and spiritualistic people, but the rest of the public is
not “gonna” go for it.
Mistake #1
Don’t get me wrong... The public in general doesn’t care if you’re a vegan that drinks
unpasteurized milk. That’s your business and most people respect your personal
choices, but if you want to market yourself to the mainstream public, don’t come
across as a new ager because it’s a turn-off. We live in a western society, that al-
though has embraced alternative methods very positively in the last two decades, is
still a western society.

When it comes to marketing your alternative health care practice, make sure you’re
pictured wearing a lab coat instead of a bandana. If I come to you for health reasons
I know I will be treated with alternative modalities, but alternative modalities are still
medical not spiritual. If I want spiritual I know to look elsewhere.

Remember... in advertising perception is reality. I want to perceive you as a “medical”

practitioner. When it comes to marketing, stay away from being perceived as a “ho-
cus-pocus” mystical practitioner.

Failing To Accept That Marketing Is A Science

If you think marketing is an art, don’t feel bad-- 95% of people think the same.
Because of this misconception, 37% of advertising dollars go straight down the tubes
Mistake #2 without any effect whatsoever. Pretty sad isn’t it?

If you need to produce a brochure, business card, web site or any marketing tool,
first work real hard on “the message” (the text) you need to communicate to your
prospects, instead of focusing too much on the graphics. Most people think that get-
ting “creative” with the graphics is going to make a quantifiable impact. Here’s a tip;
people don’t care about you or your practice, people only care about what you can do
for them. Separate yourself from the competition with a compelling marketing mes-
sage that tells your prospect that you are the obvious choice. You can sell without
pictures but you can’t sell without words. The message rules... content is king!

Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing August

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.
2007
You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this
document in any format.
 Believing That Buying An Ad In Their City’s
Local Alternative Magazine Is Going To Pay Off
Investing your advertising dollars in the right medium is crucial to the success of your
marketing. Today 75% of the searches for products and services take place online.
Mistake #3 It’s no accident newspapers have lost a major portion of their advertising revenue to
Google and Yahoo.

Invest your advertising dollars in online marketing. You can reach far more people for
less. But most importantly, that’s where consumers are looking. It’s like going fishing-
- you have to find the spot where the fish are. But don’t forget mistake #2 (failing to
accept that marketing is a science,) because just like in fishing, you’ve got to have the
right lure (message) and the right hook (offer.)

Failing To Offer Flexible Hours.

Today many banks stay open late, and even open on weekends and holidays. Dentists
stay open later hours and see patients on Saturdays as do many medical doctors.
Mistake #4
If you want to grow your practice, advertise you are open on Saturdays. Those patients
that can’t get off work during the weekday to come see you will appreciate you can
see them on Saturdays. You can take Monday’s off to make up for Saturdays. This ap-
proach is working very well and is becoming common practice.

Failing To Ask For Testimonials.

Testimonials are one of the most effective marketing tactics you could have in your ad-
vertising arsenal. A testimonial is powerful because you have a third party telling your
Mistake #5 audience how happy and satisfied they are with your treatment and care.

How many times do you get an e-mail from a patient thanking you because their pain
has disappeared or whatever? Hit the reply button and ask them if you can use their
comments as a testimonial on your web site. Tell them you’ll only use their first name
and city or town. Most of the time the answer is yes. Ask and you shall receive.

Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing August

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.
2007
You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this
document in any format.
 Failing To Proactively Seek Referrals
Anyone in business agrees that when a new client has been referred, they have already
been sold on you or your practice. Like a testimonial, this is not you tooting your own
horn about how great you are. This is someone else (a third party) passionately telling
Mistake #6 a friend that they’re going to love you. It really doesn’t get any better than that. And
the best part is you didn’t have to pay for that lead.

So how do you seek referrals? Just like testimonials... you ask for them. Tell your pa-
tients you are now open later so you can provide more flexible hours and you now have
added capacity that you need to fill. Tell them if they know of someone that could ben-
efit from your services and refer them to you, you’ll send them a FREE gift. The FREE
gift could be a Barnes & Noble $10 Gift Card, etc. If they ask you what is the FREE gift
you say it’s a surprise. People love surprises, especially gift surprises anyway.

Failing To Send Online Hits To A Landing Page

The most common mistake made by people advertising online is to have their ads
linked to their home page. If you think that just because you tweaked and perfected
your PPC (Pay Per Click) ad that your job is done, think again. That’s only part of the
Mistake #7 equation. Having a landing page with a compelling marketing message that captures
contact information and has a call to action, is crucial to converting potential leads into
prospects and patients. The great majority of advertisers direct their visitors to the web
site’s home page which has nothing different or better or worse than the other compa-
nies they are competing with.

Just because a visitor clicks on your ad doesn’t mean they are sold. Remember... it’s
the message behind the medium that makes the difference. Don’t neglect the power
of a good landing page, otherwise you’ll just get traffic speeding through your website
without opting-in, buying or doing whatever it is you want them to do.

Allowing Incoming Calls To Go Into Voice Mail

If you are a sole practitioner and you are treating a patient you obviously have no
Mistake #8 choice but to let an incoming phone call go into voice mail. But you should not allow
this to happen if you can prevent it. Most times when people are looking for a service

Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing August

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.
2007
You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this
document in any format.
 they want to talk to someone right away. When we need to solve a problem we want
quick answers and a solution so we can move on with our lives. I can’t tell you the
number of times I see practitioners lose a new patient because the caller got a hold of
someone else that was available to respond to the call.

Be available as often as you can. If you’re going to have a busy day treating patients
then forward your calls to your spouse or a trusted friend that can help the caller to
avoid losing a paying client. If you provide a $75 service and a new caller needs to
come in for 10 treatments I think you can do the math and get my point.

Failing To Keep An Updated Database

Failing to keep an updated prospect and patient list is one of the biggest mistakes a
business of any kind could make. If you don’t have an organized patient list you should
Mistake #9 start building it today.

Your patient list is the most valuable asset you have. It gives you the ability to com-
municate with all of the people that are responsible for your success with the click of
a mouse. Staying in contact with your patients is crucial to their loyalty to you and the
future of the relationship. Communicating with them through e-mail and regular postal
mail is a sure way to keep the relationship alive. If you don’t nurture that relationship
it will eventually end. Stay in contact with your patients. Find a good reason to contact
them via e-mail at least once a month. Notice a said “good reason”. A boring e-mail
just for the sake of sending something won’t do it. Get creative and provide them
something of value they’ll appreciate.

Failing To Understand The Importance Of

Marketing
There’s an old Chinese war proverb that says; “Victory goes to the one with su-

Mistake #10 perior forces at the point of contact”. In business, all things being equal among
companies, victory goes to the one with superior marketing at the point of contact.
Final tip; Read the book “Selling The Invisible” by Harry Beckwith.

You chose this field because you love helping people. Improve your marketing... it will
allow you to reach more people that need your help.

Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing August

Copyright © 2007-2008 Frank Prieto Strategic Marketing.
2007
You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this
document in any format.