Over the past several years, I’ve had the good fortune of coaching many naturopathic doctors–both in private and group coaching. Across the board, I have found ND’s to be highly intelligent, compassionate, and talented healthcare experts who take their work seriously and are highly patient-centered (rather than profit-centered). I’ve also noticed that many naturopaths struggle to create lasting success and prosperity from their practice. Indeed, many of them struggle to stay afloat and some even have to work part-time jobs in other fields to generate the income they need to live.
This trend has to stop. Naturopaths typically invest thousands of dollars in their education and 4-5 years of their lives learning their craft. Institutions like Bastyr University are NOT cheap.. and require a deep level of commitment. Many naturopaths are graduating naturopathic school with $100,000 of student loan debt, and very little understanding of how to market and manage a successful private practice.
First off, allow me to rant for just one minute: I believe that all naturopathic colleges need to do a MUCH better job of teaching business and marketing skills to their students. It’s a disservice to charge as much as they do, and not equip them with the right skill set to thrive in private practice. Alright, enough said about that.
When it comes to building a successful private practice, you have to know how to implement effective marketing, practice management, and contact management systems. The most effective way to generate a steady stream of new patients is to:
1. set up a highly professional naturopathic website that has lead generation, good copywriting, SEO, and lots of great content
2. drive as much traffic to that website as humanly possible on an ongoing basis using both online and offline marketing strategies
I very much embrace a direct response approach to marketing for naturopaths, as I have found this works best. This means using front-end advertising and marketing strategies that lead with a free offer, bring people back to your website, get them on your email list and educate them through consistent email marketing using a system like Aweber. The average person needs 7-9 points of contact before they will buy.. and this is definitely true when it comes to pursuing naturopathic care. You have to have excellent educational systems in place, as most people are pretty much clueless about how naturopathic medicine works and why they should invest money into this form of care.
As any marketing coach will tell you, be sure to get out in your community, hand out lots of cards, attend networking events, set up free talks, and so on. Be sure, however, that you are constantly sending people back to your practice website, and encouraging them to opt into your email list (once again, so you can easily stay in touch with them indefinitely). If you can start building a responsive email list that grows into the hundreds or thousands, you’ll see that this becomes the greatest asset of your practice. All that you’ll eventually need to do is nurture your relationships with people on that list and they will feed your practice with continued growth.
I also highly recommend using social media as much as possible. Be sure to set up a customized Facebook fan page, Youtube channel, and Twitter profile. Create a dynamic and engaging WordPress blog. Use online video and blogging as educational platforms to share your message and lead people to your practice. This is a great way to be innovative and position yourself in a unique way that emotionally resonates with your audience. Social media is all about building your audience, just as your email list is an audience unto itself. I’m a big fan of using Facebook pay per click marketing to build a large local following of people who become fans of your page, then building relationships with these people using blogging, video, and other forms of content.
Get very clear on the unique value you have to offer and create a concise marketing plan to share your mission and passion with the world. Think BIG.. even if you’re not wanting to see 70 patients a week. What I mean is to go beyond mere survival and map out a game plan that will enable you to have lifestyle freedom and prosperity as a naturopath. It IS possible with the right mindset, marketing and contact management systems, and skill set.
to your success,
Kevin Doherty
