Good ole summertime is here and so begins the summer slump (no pun intended) for chiropractic practices. Several times throughout the year chiropractors face the challenge of keeping patient flow consistent, but it’s a fact, patient appointments always seem to decline a little more during summer season.

Reasons vary; but the biggest reason is people just get busy and their routines have changed. When the normal school routine has ceased for the summer months, another routine starts up and what happens is the trip to the chiropractor gets left out of the summer routine.

I guess it’s easy to do. Sports and other activities take a break and summertime activities take over. During the school year, many families will schedule their chiropractic appointments after school; they swing by on the way home. When you remove “picking up the kids from school” from a mom’s daily schedule, you also remove that convenience factor of already having everyone in the car and already being out of the house.

So what is a chiropractor to do? How can one compete with the thrill of summertime fun and get squeezed back into a mom’s busy daily routine? This is when you have to get creative in your chiropractic marketing.

First of all you have to think like a kid and you have to think like a parent. Not so hard to do with a little help.

Below are six seasonal ideas to boost your chiropractic marketing and keep those patients from falling off their chiropractic routine. These ideas are simple and the cost is minimal. One day a week of throughout the summer months, have a theme day. I’ve listed a few ideas below;

Beach Blowout Day- Let your patients know that on this special day summer, kids can come in dressed for a day at the beach. Bathing suits, flip-flops, beach towels, hats, sunglasses. Let them choose how over board they go. Purchase a cheap plastic pool fill it with sand, not the whole pool, just enough to cover up some trinkets you buy from the party store. These are usually sold in large bags. Bury the trinkets in the sand and let the kids dig for one or two trinkets.

Fill the Food Bank Day- This one is great for kids as they love to give to others. Summertime is a slow time for area food banks. On this day, you can have your student patients bring in a can or boxed food item.

Creative Writing or Art Contest- Have your student patients write something about why they come to the chiropractor and how it helps them. Or have them draw a picture showing what they do at the chiropractor. Have a wall dedicated to displaying these works. You can even have the works judge by other patients as they come in. The works can be numbered and your patients can vote for their favorite. Have a coupon for a snow cone as a prize for the winners.

The Chiro Shop- Set up a mini store with affordable toys and items that kids can look at throughout the summer. Give each item a cost in tickets. Each time kids come in they get a ticket to save up for something they see in the shop. You can also give tickets when they have participated in any of the events already mentioned. Give a ticket for bringing a friend. Give a ticket for being on time. Encourage the kids to tell you what they are saving up for.

Popcorn Mania- Rent a popcorn machine for a day and serve fresh popped pop corn in paper cups.

Where’s Chiro Waldo- Find Waldo stickers and place them in odd places all over your office and waiting room. Tell the kids to see how many they can find. Maybe they should get a ticket for each one they can point out. Don’t forget to include the wee ones in this activity. Make some easy to find.

This is also a great way to get your staff involved with the chiropractic marketing, interacting with the patients and enjoying their time at work during the summer months.

Plan your activities, type them up on some bright summer colored paper and set them out at the front desk for your patients to see. If you collect patient emails, send the activity calendar in an email to all of your patients. Are you on Facebook? Post the activities there too and your patients can follow along via your status updates.

Sounds like super summer fun at the chiropractor’s office. You might even gain some new patients when you become the coolest chiropractor in town.