CLIENT: ChiroPractice Marketing Solutions
PR AGENCY: Chet Holmes Int'l
TIMEFRAME: Nov. 2004 - ongoing
It's a bonus for kids going back to school. Students in many markets are receiving free backpack-fitting evaluations from chiropractors this season through a program set up
by ChiroPractice Marketing Solutions (CPMS) (Ivyland, Pa.). The effort is part of a comprehensive PR campaign engineered by CPMS to change the perception of the
chiropractic profession, long thought of as quackery. The marketing group pinpoints timely events and then finds a way to connect a complementary PR strategy. "We're topical,
we're current and we're seasonal with our releases," says Dr. Len Schwartz, president/CEO of CPMS.
"With kids going back to school now, being able to promote a free service where a chiropractor is willing to examine a child, the way his backpack fits -- as well as a postural
scoliosis exam -- is compelling for a parent," he says. "The best PR we've utilized is complimentary services that we can offer the people in the communities to be able to find
out what we're about." The efforts generate new patients while giving chiropractors a chance to reiterate the importance of a healthy back.
The efforts to improve chiropractic's image dates back to a 1987 antitrust lawsuit victory against the American Medical Association (AMA) for "lengthy, systematic,
successful and unlawful boycott" of the chiropractic profession. Now, nearly 20 years later, the quackery stigma has been diluted but not yet dissolved. "You have to level the
playing field. Chiropractors don't kill people," says Chet Holmes, president of Chet Holmes International and a strategic consultant who spearheaded the PR campaign. "The
whole idea is to teach Americans the importance of a healthy spine."
But the learning curve is a large one, adding challenges to the PR strategy that CPMS employs on a case-by-case basis. Doctors who sign on to CPMS receive 12 or 18 months of
strategic PR training aimed at increasing their client bases and reinforcing their legitimacy as doctors. Schwartz got the idea to market for other practitioners from his own
struggles as a chiropractor.
"As a practicing doctor, I always wished that someone would just take care of all of this for me so that I could do what I do best, and that's take care of patients," he says.
"We're trying to position our chiropractors as the health-and-wellness experts of their community by providing people with information about how to prevent, treat or eliminate
common problems [through chiropractic]."
Since founding CPMS in November 2004, Schwartz has left his practice to focus solely on promoting the profession. His grassroots efforts begin with the doctors. With the help
of Holmes, Schwartz's team of approximately 40 professionals has launched Web sites for each of his clients. Each month, the team distributes press releases within each of their
communities. The success of the press releases as marketing tools stands on two legs: timing and research.
In addition to the timeliness of said backpack-fitting efforts, Schwartz's and Holmes' marketing strategy is research-based. Despite the AMA's notable dismissal of chiropractic
as quacks in the 1980s, Schwartz now includes research from the association in his doctors' press releases to lend legitimacy of the field in science because, as Holmes puts it,
"Having data makes PR more potent. If you do research on your market and industry -- especially over time -- that's where you really break through."
For all trades that battle negative stereotypes, knowing the industry and supplementing all PR efforts with research is a useful way to alleviate potential clients' doubts. In
the case of chiropractors, such information as what chiropractic can solve that drugs can't takes the profession beyond mere back-cracking to a level comparable with the rest of
the medical profession.
"We're letting the public know through research. When I can use research from the AMA or even the New England Journal of Medicine, I use that information as a way to
first earn the piece instant respect or credibility," Schwartz says. "Then, with the special offer in the marketing piece, people are more likely to at least take advantage of a
complimentary consultation to find out whether our doctor can help."
Though official numeric measurement that quantifies the program's success is hard to come by at this early stage, Schwartz cites a growing number of positive testimonials from
participating doctors. CMPS consistently garners a minimum of 10 to 20 new patients per doctor each month, with as many as 90 patients in the case of one practitioner.
To Holmes, who works on education-based marketing for several Fortune 500 companies -- American Express, Apple Computers and Wells Fargo among them
-- the success of the PR campaign hinges on its inclusion of local and national elements. In addition to creating press releases and Web sites for individual doctors, CPMS hosts
seminars and publishes monthly newsletters and "Tip of the Week" segments.
It's a massive effort to push the chiropractic product into the realm of traditional medicine, but CPMS' PR strategy focuses on getting people face time with doctors to quell
the skepticism that has kept the field in the medical doghouse for so many years. The marriage of PR and chiropractic is making strides but, so far, CPMS' work has been just a
steppingstone.
"It's a way for a doctor to position himself as someone who knows how to prevent or treat something without drugs," Schwartz says, "which is really what we're trying to talk
about here."
Contacts: Dr. Len Schwartz, 866.655.8502, [email protected]; Chet Holmes, [email protected]