Osteopathy Awareness Week marketing ideas
Get your name out there!
Information display at a local shopping centre
You’ll need to write to the Centre’s management and request to reserve a prominent space in the centre for a couple of days – ideally Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Hold a healthy food stall or BBQ in your local area
Sell or give away fruit baskets or bread and sausages as well as brochures, leaflets and balloons. This is a great way to get locals aware of osteopathy and your clinic. Check with your local Council about regulations before setting up a stall.
Participate in local fun runs, walkathons and school or community fetes
Contact the organiser and ask how you can get involved. For example, at the start or finish of a run you can provide osteopathic treatment for participants.
Make sure your information is clear and accessible
Great giveaways
Make sure you have plenty of give-aways with your clinic details clearly visible. One example is osteopathy helium balloons with your clinic details attached on a card. Perhaps have an AOA information brochure with your clinic details attached on a card.
Sign of the times
Make sure you have plenty of signage that clearly identifies you and your clinic. You can never have enough signage or posters so grab attention and make it clear who you are and what you do!
A leaflet when you leave
Hand out leaflets on osteopathy to every patient you see when you issue a receipt for a treatment.
Try a little advertising
Run an advertisement in your local paper to promote your services in the local community. This will help your cause towards gaining editorial space for a press release or article. If there are a few osteopaths in your area you could split the costs and have a combined advertisement.
Get social
If you have a social media account, make sure you use it to promote Osteopathy Awareness Week. Use your Facebook page to promote osteopathy each day during Osteopathy Awareness Week. Try posting fun facts, images, videos and questions.
Use Twitter to tweet short, interesting items about osteopathy. Use the hashtag #oaw2014 to gain more recognition.
If you have a blog, use osteopathy awareness week to talk about the basics of osteopathy, or perhaps post about a niche area or condition that others might find interesting.
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to increase awareness of osteopathy and your clinic. Why not ask your patients to tell others how osteopathy has helped them. If you have any well-known patients, OAW is a great opportunity to ask them to help you promote osteopathy.
Try asking your patients something like “You may know that Osteopathy Awareness Week is coming up in April. If you’re happy with your treatments from me, it would be great if you could mention how osteopathy has helped you – perhaps to other people or on Facebook or Twitter.”
Contact local businesses
Contact local businesses and offer free talks on osteopathy or ergonomic workplace assessments. When you attend a business place, make sure you bring ample brochures with your clinic details attached.
1