Often times small business owners (chiropractors) receive solicitations by mail that appear to be bills for advertising. Directory listings for “Yellow Pages” types of companies have for years been notorious for sending these mailings. Business owners beware, nearly 100% of these are not bills but rather a solicitation for goods or services. I feel they are a huge waste of money but I imagine the practice could be extremely lucrative for a directory company.
I scanned one I recently received at my ADIO Chiropractic office and wanted to share it with you. I divided into 4 sections below. Here is the top of page.
A Yellow Pages Directory Order Form
Looks official eh? Mailed in December to ADIO Chiropractic in Los Angeles, and it looks like a bill. It has the familiar “fingers walking” in the logo, along with an address. There’s a tracking number and options to edit the listing and even include a logo.
Section 2 shows listing and classification as CHIROPRACTORS DC, followed by a classification code and a yearly amount of $312.55. I wonder how many businesses mail those checks in? If it were an internet paid link directory, I still wouldn’t advise mailing a check (or making payment via credit card), paid link directories are a no-no for Google.
The section above does state that this is not a bill, but an offer (solicitation) for goods or services. It also states that you are under no obligation to make a payment unless you accept (want) the offer. My guess is many don’t see or read the info and they mail in payment, otherwise I would not have been receiving mailings like this one several times per year for the past decade plus.
The last section is what gets mailed in (should you accept the offer). The company accepts credit cards, checks and 30 Days Net payment. They do include their mailing address and Tax ID on the section that gets mailed in, and I suppose if a business owner wanted to they could make payment and have a tax write-off for advertising.
I don’t know about you but I’d say there are far better ways to advertise.
Recently I received a hand signed letter from Rey Valentin of Celebrity SEO Marketing. I can’t recall ANY of my SEO friends ever sending me a hand written letter (you bastards).
Well, Rey Valentin must have thought it important to contact me, and take the time to sign his letter by hand, and even hand address the envelope. I’m already getting the feeling he’s a special kind of SEO. Take a read through what he sent and let me know what you think.
Rey Valentin – 1040 N. Kenmore Ave. #403, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Hello Michael,
Last week, I was searching for a chiropractor in the area for my aunt and I noticed that you weren’t in the search engines at all.
No Google Maps listing.
No search engine results (none on the first 2 pages at least).
The only reason I heard about you was that you were referred by one of my friends.
It occurred to me that you are probably missing out on a lot of new leads and prospects because your company’s website couldn’t be found online.
Here’s a little known fact: 62 percent of all people who buy from your business check out your website before they spend a dime with you.
62 percent!
Ten years ago – it was just enough to have a website…
I’ve recently been enjoying reading and studying two different directories I’ve acquired for the city of Los Angeles, published in the years 1915 and 1916. These books were the beginning of what later became known to most of us as the Yellow Pages and I’ve been fascinated with the near century old ancestry of local search, advertising (especially for chiropractic schools and chiropractors), and vision that these individuals had.
Association of American Directory Publishers
The scanned page shown above is from a 1916 directory for the city of Los Angeles. The books were not prominently known as yellow page directories, and were more often referred to as city directories. This page lists the directory publishers president and other officers, as well as the “objects of the Association.” Today, we’d likely refer to that as a mission statement.
From the 1916 publication The Association of American Directory Publishers is described as such:
The Association of the American Directory Publishers is composed of reputable City Directory Publishers, organized for the general advancement of the Directory business. Any person, corporation or firm engaged in business as owner and publisher of a City Directory in the United States or Canada, who shall qualify as competent to gather information and compile a City Directory and furnish satisfactory references, is eligible to membership.
Association of American Directory Publishers Membership and Objects
The objects of the Association are:
First. The advancement of the Directory business and the improvement of Directories by the interchange of ideas and the exchange of experienced employes.
Second. To provide protection to the public against fraudulent advertising schemes which operate under the name of Directories, and to drive unprincipled promoters of the same out of business.
Third. To provide permanent and profitable employment to competent, industrious and honest Directory canvassers and compilers.
Fourth. For the mutual protection and advancement of the established and prospective interests of all who may become members, by personal advice and assistance of members as may be mutually satisfactory, desirable or advisable, and by such other means as may, from time to time, be shown to be wise, proper and lawful.
$100.00 REWARD will be paid by the Association for the arrest and conviction of any person or persons engaged in publishing, collecting or canvassing for any fraudulent or fake Directory.
Ah, the history of local search continues to fascinate me. I wonder what these individuals would think of today’s online directories.
Chiropractor James Von Hipple was visiting my chiropractic office in Los Angeles recently and he left this business card by the front desk. I had not seen it at first, we like keeping a collection of cards for other chiropractors practicing in Southern California (actually we like keeping cards for pretty much anywhere chiropractors are practicing) so that we can refer to other doctors when people are moving, traveling, or have requests for chiropractors to take care of their friends and family.
I thought the card looked like it belonged to a race car driver, but then as I looked at it closer, I started thinking it more reminded me of those safety crash testing colors used when preparing automobiles for mock car accidents and such. Thought I had a card similar to that already posted here on the blog but I failed to locate it.
It’s not common that you see a chiropractor’s business card in black and I think it’s pretty cool. The combination of yellow red and black (venom lack ha ha) is a nice mix that gets one’s attention. Sorry the pictures aren’t the greatest, my regular camera is being temperamental so I shot these two pics with my iPhone.
Front of the card reads Murrieta Advanced Chiropractic – Dr. James P. Von Hipple, Doctor of Chiropractic. I don’t think I ever use my middle initial on business cards but I’ve seen quite a few other chiropractors that have. I’m taking a look through some cards from the past to see if that’s a common practice.
760-300-9290 – Murrieta Advanced Chiropractic
There are so many chiropractors that are creative with their card designs, I’m impressed with the desire for DCs to express themselves with a unique look, I’m not a big fan of the plain white and black professional looking business cards ( although I think it’s a good idea to have a set of those as well) so when I see colors or something I haven’t seen before, like sharing it.
MAC – Murrieta
I am to blame for the quality of the photo, sorry I didn’t get a better shot of the back of this card. This one got me searching through business cards I’ve posted in the past, and I’m reminded that next week I’ll be at 2010 DCS in Orange County, where I will undoubtedly collect several dozen cards from chiropractors visiting from throughout the United States. I hope if you see me you’ll have a card to share.
I picked up some chiropractic business cards while on campus at Life University in Marietta Georgia a few weeks ago and I have been meaning to post some of those cards here. I must have a few thousand chiropractor business cards in my collection at this point. Even so, I still prefer going online and searching for chiropractors, rather than sifting through piles of business cards tucked away inside a shoe box somewhere in my home.
Vida Chiropractic Center – Kennesaw Georgia
The first card comes from Kennesaw Georgia, and I received it from Dr. Andres Jimenez. The office is called Vida Chiropractic Center and it is located at 3820 Ethridge Place NW – Kennesaw, GA 30144. You can call the office at 770-363-6613. Visit the chiropractor’s website at VidaChiro.com.
I snapped these chiropractic business card photos with my iPhone so the quality may not appear like it has in some previous posts. For the 10 business card chiropractor Saturday post I had my Canon DSLR Rebel camera handy, so I got nicer pictures.
Rubin Family Chiropractic
I was really happy to see Dr. Drew Rubin and his family while I was in Marietta. I have not seen him since we were both at New Beginnings chiropractic philosophy weekends in New Jersey. Drew recently wrote an article for planet chiropractic titled: chiropractic care for children and the pregnant mom. Dr. Drew Rubin is a terrific chiropractor and an expert in pediatric chiropractic and pregnancy chiropractic type techniques and approaches towards care. His chiropractic office is located at 255 Village Pkwy., Suite 620 in Marietta, GA 30067. You can call the office at 770-937-6300. Chiropractors throughout the world seeking a family and wellness minded referral source in the Marietta area can count on Dr. Rubin.
Rodnick Chiropractic Michigan
I spoke to several chiropractors practicing in Michigan while I was at LIFEforce in Georgia. One of those chiropractors was Dr. Alexander Rodnick, a graduate of Life University. His business card had four different locations listed on it, which depending on how you look at things, may present a greater challenge when organizing office information for online local search. The four cities represented are Midland, Claire, Commerce Township, and Saginaw Michigan. I particularly liked the phone numbers on the card, and how they read “LIFE – KIDS – NERV – PAIN”. Give one of the above listed chiropractic office’s a call if you’re seeking a chiropractor in the Michigan area.
Gambino Family Chiropractic
I saved this card for last simply because it was formatted differently than the three cards above. Some people like to print vertically on their business cards and others prefer to print horizontally. By the way, two out of the four cards had information printed on the back. The Rodnick card had appointment information on it, and the Gambino Family Chiropractic card had a photo of a baby along with a quote.
The Gambino family practices chiropractic in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Dr. Dan Gambino was one of the chiropractors that helped keep Santa Claus going during the 2005 worldwide toy drive season. The office is located at 217 N. 27th St. in Clarksburg West Virginia and the zip code is 26301. You can call the office at 304-623-7800 and you can visit their website at DrGambino.com.
I’m at a chiropractor conference in Tempe Arizona (big ASU game going on today next door to hotel I’m at) and I’ve already received a stack of new business cards from chiropractors across the country. Lot’s of docs have figured out that when they give me new cards I often post the info when it’s fresh stuff or something I really like. This morning a chiropractor in Columbia Illinois gave me a stack of 10 Chiropractic Business Cards, he’s ready to roll for 2010!
Dr. Laurie Robert Mestdagh and his 2010 business cards
Dr. Laurie didn’t have just one card, he had ten different styles, all wrapped together in a rubber band, and ready to hand out to other chiropractors visiting from throughout the US and Canada. Colorado Chiropractor Steve Visentin gave me a stack of cards in the past, but I think Laurie has outdone him with a “10-pack.”
Free Exam Chiropractic Business Card
I like the traditional Red White and Blue Free Exam cards chiropractors hand out. I’m not certain if every state allows chiropractors to promote Free Chiropractic Exams or Free X-Ray Exams so I’d recommend checking your state laws before creating such a card.
Other chiropractors have had good things to say about Dr. Mestdagh and I can tell you he rocks with his adjusting skills. Office is located at 1550 North Main Street, Columbia, IL 62236 and you can get more info about his office at columbiplanetc1practic.net.
It’s not the first time I’ve gotten marketing materials from Dr. Laurie, he’s shared tons of chiropractic brochures, flyers, motivational postcards, and other stuff with me over the years. You never know when chiropractor contact info will get posted here, but it’s unlikely to happen if I don’t recieve anything.
While I’m on the topic of postcards and chiropractors, I’m hoping to get some more chiropractic holiday postcards for 2009 so I can share them here. Made something creative for the holidays or the new year? If so, get a contact address and send it along, I’d love to check out and share what you’ve got.
I came across a great advertisement listing of a Practice For Sale in Asheville NC yesterday. As I read through the ad (I’ll show it here) I was reminded about good use of granular terms but I caught a few addition things that could have been done. We’ll go over some of those tips after you look at the ad body.
The ad was posted to the classifieds and it wasn’t the typical, short on information, practice for sale ad.
You can see the ad here although it may not appear if content is deleted after sale of the office.
I like that the user account referred to the location practice was listed in (in this case Asheville North Carolina), and I like how details such as price, number of rooms, number of bathrooms, square footage and other features were addressed.
I’m adding some formatting to the paragraphs so the ad reads better on the page, that’s the first tip I would have suggested. Here it is…
Asheville NC Practice For Sale
Practice for sale in Asheville, NC. 1500 SF, 3 year diversified practice located in medical community across the street from the main hospital and sits beside another hospital. Practice is all-inclusive and includes a Cox flexion/distraction table, zenith 440 adjusting table fully loaded, hydro ther-massage bed, mechanical traction table and 2 Dynatron 525 E-stim units as well as a new (06) high frequency x-ray system, new processor and Quixote documentation/ billing software system. Computer software includes 2-3 desktop computers and a medical tablet for the doctors notes, no travel cards.
The building is owned and included in the all-inclusive purchase price. The building is a standalone quadraplex with 3 doctors on the other 3 sides, 2 dentists and a psychologist. The office has a very large size waiting room, reception area, storage room with built-ins, kitchen w/ mini fridge, exam/x-ray room, 4 treatment rooms with equipment mentioned above, an extra bonus room large size, that is currently storing files/x-rays/freezer, but could be used as additional adjusting room or therapy/exercise room. The doctor has their own private office equipped with small closet and personal bathroom and entrance from the parking lot.
The purchaser will own the building, but will belong to an association that manages the exterior of the building, landscaping, parking lot, picks up trash daily and manages the heating and cooling, as well as plumbing, and all utilities. The amount monthly is $541.00,however this also covers trash pick up, water, gas and your electric bill. All you pay is the mortgage of the practice and phone bills everything else is all inclusive in this upscale doctors park in downtown Asheville, NC (rated in the top 10 places to live in the past 7 years in fortune and money magazine).
The practice is located down the street from the very well-known Biltmore Estate. All insurance plans are currently open in NC and one company controls many insurance groups, so transition will be smooth for new owner. Practice utilizes all major insurance, medicare, pip, workers comp, and cash. Seller is asking $400,000.00 but willing to negotiate price and carrying costs so feel free to bring any offers. Also feel free to email any questions or concerns. Pictures available upon request.
The ad ends with a request to email or call if wanting to see pictures or get more information.
It’s one of the best examples I’ve seen of a Classified Advertisement using detailed granular information in an ad post. Far too many ad posts include barely a sentence of information. Having run classifieds online for chiropractors more than 10 years now, I do see what ads work better than others. Depending on what’s being advertised, I’d consider these factors…
Formatting: In the original ad this post isn’t formatted. It’s a lot more difficult to read as a result. If you’re using multiple sentences to describe your listing, always format the text in a way that is more appealing to the eye.
Photographs: The ad system allows for photos to be uploaded and ads including images do stand out from others. It’s probably the single biggest factor affecting whether people click or not.
No Email: Unless you want to receive more spam, I’d never advise including your email address inside the body of an ad placed in the classifieds. The contact form works fine and will keep scrapers and spammers from grabbing your email address.
Phone Number: In this case phone number was included, and for ads like this I think that’s a bonus.
Website: Far too often overlooked is the adding of a website for more information. It’s so easy to create a one page site or blog which can use a combination of photos, videos, and text in listing a practice for sale.
Video: I mentioned photos, but video is easy to do as well and can be uploaded for free. See this example where a real estate agent uses online video to show a Peterborough Chiropractic office for sale.
Something that’s easy to do (and is free) is to setup a basic page on Flickr and use it to post photos and video of the office for sale. Look at this Chiropractic Office Pennsylvania (it’s not for sale but it’s photos grouped on a site) as an example.
All in all I think the amount of detail in the post was fantastic and taking the few steps to include the information mentioned above can really make a classified ad post stand out.
I had three different chiropractors call me (actually they called my staff and I haven’t called them back) during the past week regarding ordering plastic spine keychains ( <–see the ones we use for ADIO chiropractic here) for chiropractic offices. There were some chiropractors that had called me the week before that as well, so I figure they must be looking for these custom-made keychains online, and not finding the information for ordering.
I believe there are several companies making the custom molded plastic keychains but I did find the information for the company that I ordered my keychains from. The company is Anatomical Models International and they’ve moved recently. Their address is: 15 Hargrove Lane, Suite 1-D, Palm Coast, Fl 32137. You can call them toll-free at 877-208-9372.
They sent me a flyer around the holidays, but I have not yet put in my order for 2009. I scanned the price sheet they sent me even though the rates listed say they are intended specifically for existing customers. I’m sure if you call them and mentioned seeing their information on planetchiropractic.com they’d be willing to give you some kind of special. Personally, I would put the name of your office and your phone number (or maybe your web site and your phone number) and order a large quantity. Plan on ordering at least 500 and see what kind of rate it would give you one 1000. Our last order of keychains went quickly and patients really enjoyed them.
Use the image from above to get address information, phone information, and an idea of your best scenario price sheet. They have different styles of printing available. On a brochure I received for personalized spine key tags they showed three different images. I like promoting companies that create good products and offer good services to chiropractors so I posted a PDF copy of the brochure here. Download it if you want more information or just call the number above for a sales representative.
Again, the style of keychain I used in my office can be seen here.
I was throwing away some old files today when I came across some printing proofs I received from a yellow pages marketing company back in 2004. The advertisement was to appear in the alternative medicine and health practitioner category of the LA Westside Yellow Pages book. I believe the sales rep sent me four different advertisements, none of which I used. If I find a copy of the ad we did run, I’ll post a link here.
Here is a scan of the advertisement that was prepared…
NO DRUGS, NO SURGERY, JUST RESULTS! Dr. Michael Dorausch ALL PPO PLANS ACCEPTED
Licensed / Board Certified Sports Injury • Auto Accidents • Sciatica Personal Injury • Back And Neck Pain • Prenatal Care Headaches • Hip Pain • Migraines • X Rays • Free Parking
I think what happens to a lot of chiropractors is they end up running the advertisements that sales representatives create for them. It’s easy and doesn’t require any creative input. This ad was made with no input from me and I believe it was a smattering of advertisements seen for chiropractors in other cities and information off of my website. That’s a generic photograph in the ad, something I wouldn’t recommend. The address was wonky, since we’re technically not located in Culver City or Marina del Rey. Actually, looking at it now, I noticed it wasn’t even complete. The office is located in Los Angeles, California. (Marina del Rey and Culver City happen to be within blocks of our location).
Being in a large metro area like Los Angeles, there were four major yellow page books distributed by different companies. On top of that there were a dozens local directories maintained by smaller operations. In 2006 we had advertisements running in nearly every major yellow page book. That dropped to about half in 2007 and even less in 2008. As of 2009, we are completely out of all forms of print advertising in the Los Angeles area. It feels good.
I mentioned yellow pages in my 2007 post on advertising dollars for 2008 and I talked about split Metro advertising also in 2007. Anybody that’s been in small business long enough, has been targeted by yellow page and Internet directory scams, I’d still advise small business owners be on the lookout for fraudulent activity not only online, but off-line in the print world as well.
I received two postcards yesterday from two different California chiropractors and I wanted to share them both here. The first one comes from Capitol Chiropractic in Sacramento, and it features seasons greetings from 3 wonderful ladies (I’ve never actually met Angela Basset but I’m a pushover for big floppy kissable ears).
First off, I greatly appreciate the postcard I received from Beth, Jeri, and Angela. captive for some reason you stumbled across this post and you’re looking for a chiropractor in the Sacramento area, their office comes highly recommended.
It takes work to put together a postcard like this (but it’s worth it). First, you can’t deny the energy that comes from genuinely sending a card like this to all the people you love, there’s no way to break that law of positive attraction. They took the time to come up with a creative photo, selected a postcard design, went through the printing process, hand labeled countless envelopes, invested in postage and mailed all the cards out (while still staying focused on serving the people in their chiropractic practice). With that level of attention to detail, how do you think they would take care of you and your family if you were a patient there?
Kevin Joe from Southern California
The next card came from chiropractor Kevin Joe from Southern California. On the back of the card Kevin was thanking me for helping to promote CCA events in Southern California (like this one coming up in San Diego) and I thought it was pretty cool that he thought about us during the holiday season.
OK, that is one awesome looking photo, don’t you think? I thought the whole card looks great, the lighted palm trees, handwritten message, and everyone’s names included on the card. Hey hey, looks like Uncle Joe is making his nieces and nephews famous on some guys chiropractic blog.
I have the same thing to say about Dr. Kevin as I do about Dr. Jeri and Beth, he’s a spectacular individual, that’s incredibly humble, and is extremely passionate about what he does. How many of you took the time to gather up members of your family and take a photograph for the holidays? Sadly, I haven’t done so yet this year. What we have been doing in my office though, is taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree of everyone that wants one. That’s been a big hit and we’re going to have lots of photographs as a result.
Dr. Kevin Joe runs Joe Family Chiropractic in Fullerton, California. The office address is 1370 Brea Blvd., Suite 120 – Fullerton, CA 92835 For those seeking a family chiropractor in that area, call 714-447-3361.
Thank you Dr. Kevin, thank you Beth and Dr. Jeri, and thanks to everyone that takes the time to read through my often ramblings of chiropractic mishmash. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festivus for the rest of us, and good tidings to all!
A Yellow Pages Directory Order Form
Section 2 shows listing and classification as CHIROPRACTORS DC, followed by a classification code and a yearly amount of $312.55. I wonder how many businesses mail those checks in? If it were an internet paid link directory, I still wouldn’t advise mailing a check (or making payment via credit card), paid link directories are a no-no for Google.
The section above does state that this is not a bill, but an offer (solicitation) for goods or services. It also states that you are under no obligation to make a payment unless you accept (want) the offer. My guess is many don’t see or read the info and they mail in payment, otherwise I would not have been receiving mailings like this one several times per year for the past decade plus.
760-300-9290 – Murrieta Advanced Chiropractic
MAC – Murrieta
Vida Chiropractic Center – Kennesaw Georgia
Rubin Family Chiropractic
Rodnick Chiropractic Michigan
Dr. Laurie Robert Mestdagh and his 2010 business cards
Free Exam Chiropractic Business Card
The ad was posted to the classifieds and it wasn’t the typical, short on information, practice for sale ad.
