“Take care of your spine now and enjoy your life.” How about a picture of a person sitting in front of a com-puter rubbing their neck, and then the next picture is of someone with an obvious postural issue arising from that? The caption could be, “Computers are doing more to damage human posture than anything else. Don’t wait for pain, its time you see a chiropractor.” Many other captions and images come to mind following the wellness-based marketing strategy. Hire a good marketing firm and promote wellness instead of pain, and see the utili-zation rates climb. There will always be those who only care about their health when it is lost, but there is a growing segment of the popula-tion that frequent health clubs, buy organic food, exercise regularly, do yoga. We need to tap into that growing group. We cannot do that with a limiting message about back pain. Many of these people will not have back pain, yet these peo-ple, if marketed to correctly, will see value in chiropractic to regularly maintain their spine. Again, if all our profession’s marketing messaging only focuses on pain, then that is all people will think chiropractic has to offer. My patients always tell me that when they tell a colleague they are going to the chiropractor, the response is usually, “Why? Does your back hurt?” That’s what the public thinks we are all about. I am sure if they mentioned they were going to the dentist, the response would not be, “Why? Do you have a toothache?” There is currently a TV ad for an extended health care insurance provider that says, “… covers expected costs like dentists, prescription drugs...” and on to say, “… unexpected costs like chiropractors...” Chiropractic should not be an unexpected cost. If marketed properly and correctly, most people would go to a chiropractor a lot more often. We have countless families that see us for wellness care year after year because they understand. Most chiropractors get adjusted regularly – not because of pain but to promote wellness. It’s the same reason we adjust our families. We see the results of neglected spines everyday in our office. The definition of insanity is, “repeating the same old thing and expecting a different outcome.” Advertising that demon-strates how to rake or how to stretch will not bring more patients under “wellness care.” Creative ads that stress the importance of wellness-based versus pain-based care are the way of the future. This is only my opinion. If you agree then it is important to relate this to your provincial associations as they are cur-rently doing what they think is best for chiropractic. I think we need to start thinking outside the box. Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College Practice OpportUnity ‘17 Wednesday, February 15, 2017, 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. CMCC — CCPA Hall Are you looking to... • Sell your practice? • Explore new employment prospects? • Find an associate, locum or fill another practice need? • Learn about products and services available to you? Gold sponsor Silver sponsors Registration is now open for Practice OpportUnity ’17. Meet and interact with CMCC students and industry professionals including associated business vendors. For exhibitor or display information, or to register as an attendee: Web: www.cmcc.ca/PracticeOpportUnity Phone: 416 482 2340/1 800 669 2959 ext. 200 Email: [email protected] We welcome new sponsors for 2017. Please contact [email protected] for more information on the opportunities available. Bronze sponsors Footmaxx The Orthotic Group Ultimate Glucosamine Media sponsor Canadian Chiropractor Magazine www.canadianchiropractor.ca CC_CMCChalf_Dec16_CSA.indd 1 December 2016 Canadian Chiropractor 19 2016-11-16 7:08 AM
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