UPFRONT | From the editor No such thing as bad publicity “But what do you actually do?” This may be a familiar question for many chiropractors when seeing a pa-tient for the first time or talking to a stranger at a dinner party. Unfortunately, it’s a question that defines one of the most important challenges the chiro-practic profession continues to face: public perception. There’s no doubt chiropractic has gone through significant progress through more than a century of existence. The amount of scientific evidence support-ing chiropractic care continues to grow and has allowed the profession to be recognized as an equal in many scientific and health care undertakings. In reality, however, the progression of chiropractic through the years has not really made a meaningful impact on public perception – at least, not in a big way. It has certainly not given chiropractic utilization rates an upward trend – although utilization rates vary across jurisdictions, ranging from as little as three per cent to as high as 25 per cent. It’s worth noting that those provinces with comparatively higher chiropractic utilization rates have, in the past, embarked on a multimedia information campaign that aimed at educat-ing the public about chiropractic. It’s time to take progress to the next level and go public. Through the years most chiropractors have successfully relied on word-of-mouth and patient referrals to grow their practice. That strategy, while proven effective in the past, might not be enough to sustain a practice in today’s competitive mar-ketplace. Remember those disturbing TV commercials run by the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board graphically depicting serious workplace accidents? Public reaction to these disturbing ads led to greater awareness about work-place safety. Health and safety practitioners loved those commercials. It made their jobs of promoting safety at work much easier. Perhaps professional associations can get a little more creative with re-sources. Perhaps, instead of an association publication written for chiropactors, how about a publication targeted to the public, distributed through health clubs, community centres and clinic waiting rooms? Social media platforms are another cost-effective alternative to reach the public: an aggressive, consistent social media campaign promoting chiroprac-tic benefits; a YouTube channel that’s regularly updated with engaging videos and consistently cross-promoted across social media channels; a Facebook page filled with useful information about people’s most pressing health and wellness concerns. Make the chiropractic case to the public and see what happens. June 2016 Volume 21, Number 4 EDITOR Mari-Len De Guzman [email protected] (905) 726-4659 PUBLISHER Christine Livingstone [email protected] (519) 429-5173 • (888) 599-2228 ext. 239 ACCOUNT COORDINATOR Shannon Drumm [email protected] (888) 599-2228 ext. 219 MEDIA DESIGNER Brooke Shaw CIRCULATION MANAGER Anita Madden GROUP PUBLISHER Martin McAnulty [email protected] DIRECTOR OF SOUL/COO Sue Fredericks Published and printed by Annex Business Media, 105 Donly Drive South, Simcoe, ON, Canada N3Y 4N5 Publication Mail Agreement #40065710 ISSN 1488-6952 CIRCULATION e-mail: [email protected] Tel: (416) 510-5189 Fax: (416) 510-5170 Mail: 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Canadian Chiropractor is published eight times a year: February, April, May, June, July/August, September, October and December. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada – 1 Year $24.00 (with GST $25.20, with HST/QST $27.12) (HST #867172652RT0001) USA – 1 Year $35.00 (US Funds) Occasionally, Canadian Chiropractor will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2016 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. MARI-LEN DE GUZMAN, Editor EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD @CanChiropractor Victoria Coleman, DC; Connie J. D’Astolfo, DC, Dip HA, PhD (cand); Pierre DesLauriers, DC; James P. Laws, DC, FRCCSS(C)(Hon); David Leprich, DC; Wanda Lee MacPhee, DC; Peter Moore, DC; Don Nixdorf, DC; Renae Rogers, DC; Greg Stewart, BPE, DC 4 Canadian Chiropractor June 2016 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
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