You need a communications plan For this section, I interviewed communications consultant Victoria Miecznikowski who helped me launch both of my clinics. According to her, it is of paramount importance to have a communications plan – and I second that. What follows is my conversation with Miecznikowski. If you have any other communications questions, you may contact her at [email protected]. 1. Why is a communications plan important? A commu-nications plan will help you identify your needs and opportunities, determine communication goals and measurable objectives, develop your strategy and tac-tics, and help you craft your key messages. 2. What is branding? Why is it important in a chiropractic practice? Originally, branding referred to a company’s trademark advertising, using visual designs, logos and slogans to create a brand identity. These days, your brand has become your value proposition. What can you offer your clients and prospects that your compet-itors don’t? What is your niche? How can you solve a problem that they don’t even know they have? You want to position yourself as an expert in your field. 3. When you design a communications plan, do you tailor it to the individual chiropractor? The first thing I do when meeting with a new client is talk to them to find out their goals, both long-term and short-term, and to gain an understanding of their style of communicating. Most importantly, your communications plan should also be tailored toward your intended audiences. Again, do some research to find out which methods your cli-ents, and potential clients, prefer to use to communi-cate with you. What are other clinics doing? What can you do to enhance your customer service in a way that works best for you and your clients? Bottom line After all of this, the next question of course is: How is the new clinic doing? Is it viable? Do people know about it? Because it is a niche clinic in use only 10 hours per week, it still generates over $1,500 per month after all expenses. The benefit of this niche set-up is that it keeps the day or hours open to rent to other health professionals. In the fall, a medical doctor will be running a chronic pain clinic out of that space during the day – helping more people and generating more capital, which will further reduce my expenses. The Alpha and Omega of Spinal Healthcare HILTON ATHENS HOTEL www.wfc.org/congress2015 www.canadianchiropractor.ca September 2014 Canadian Chiropractor 15
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