During my last semester of my undergrad, I was the project manager for a team that worked on creating a strategic communication plan for a local chiropractic center. 

1. Northwest Chiropractic Center Proposal
1. Background
To determine background information of the Northwest Chiropractic Center, we first
reviewed their Facebook page. They only have nine reviews, and 396 “likes”. There is much
room for improvement, at least in the review area. The NCC does have 21 Yelp reviews, which
are mostly current. The latest post dates back to 2009.
We compared the NCC to another local business in Maryville, Home by Sonja. They post
regularly on Facebook about things that would interest the 1,461 people that “like” their page.
They post sales, new products and Facebook live videos. The web presence of the Ivy Cottage in
Savannah, Missouri, was also reviewed. Although they don’t have a website, they do post
frequently on their Facebook page about events going on in the community. Ivy Cottage would
be a great partner to help promote and grow each other’s client list, because they partner up with
local businesses to promote each other.
The demographics to focus on are Maryville residents of all ages. Since this is such a
generalized practice, it can benefit clients within all age ranges, but we believe their focus is on
church groups, athletes and pregnant women. By focusing on church groups, there is an
opportunity to reach residents of all ages, especially older generations. By focusing on athletes,
the doctors will reach a clientele of sport related injuries or concerns. Lastly, by focusing on
pregnant women, it can help ease the symptoms of pregnancy.
2.Situation Analysis
The current situation of the Northwest Chiropractic Clinic (NCC) is that they have many
clients from all over the country, however a majority of the clients live within a few hours drive

2. from Maryville. The NCC also has a focus on more functional medicine, such as pregnant
women getting different supplements to help with the lack of nutrients they may not receive
during each trimester of their pregnancy; for example, to help with morning sickness. The NCC
is currently expanding their facility to accommodate more clients as well as new doctors.
Potential limitations are staff knowledge of how to maintain social media for the practice
and limited funds for advertising and promotions. Another difficulty could be reaching interest
from students. Since chiropractic care is not always covered by insurance, students do not have
extra money to spend on it. The last difficulty we see is convincing the public that the NCC does
innovative medicine and not just back or neck adjustments.
3. Core Problem/Opportunity
The opportunities we are going to highlight are expanding clientele in Maryville,
improving the social media to explain functional medicine and to get a new logo in hopes of
updating the brand image. The NCC has to work extra hard to find clients all over the region,
since many people would automatically think of going to their competitors in St. Joseph or
Kansas City, and not to Maryville. There are also three other chiropractic offices in Maryville
that they have to compete with as well.
4. Action Planning
Goals and Objectives
● Goal -
○ The goal is to raise awareness of the NCC in the Maryville community to attract
more clients.
● Objectives -
○ One objective goal is to expand the publics relation to the NCC’s efforts.

3. ○ Another goal is to improve communication with the target publics throughout the
year.
○ The last objective goal is to increase clientele when the new chiropractors arrive.
5. Key Publics and Messages
● Key Publics
○ Residents of the Northwestern region. The target are people who value health and
wellness, as well as self-improvement. These potential or current clients are
health conscious and working to improve themselves.
■ Their motivating self-interests is that they want to better themselves and
live a healthier lifestyle.
■ The status of the current relationship is that residents are not aware of all
of the different work the chiropractors do. It doctors have expressed how it
is commonly misconceived that all they do is align spines, and nothing
more. The issue is informing residents of all of the services offered, for all
ages at NCC.
■ Third party influential and opinion leaders include those in office, church
leaders, campus leaders and influential members of school boards.
○ People who are living with skeletal misalignments that do not realize they have a
problem as well as people who are living with skeletal misalignments who realize
they have a problem.
■ There is also a subgroup of people who know they have these pains but
believe there is no cure because they have not looked into chiropractic.

4. ■ Another subgroup is made up of people who do not understand that
supplements can make a huge difference in their lives.
● Need to focus on the quality of life for this group.
○ The different publics for the Northwest Chiropractic Center are their current
patients, mom’s in the community as well as the surrounding counties, and
students.
○ The target audience are new mothers, athletes and the elderly. They can be
anyone who has skeletal misalignments whether they are aware of it or not.
○ The NCC can use their current clients as referral sources for new clients.
● Messages
The NCC wants to inform the public's about all of the services they offer. They also want
to expand their clientele upon the arrival of the two new chiropractors. Their overall message is
with a combination future expansion and informing the publics through various mediums, they
will have a stronger connection with their current and future clientele.
6. Strategies and Tactics
● Strategies
○ For two targeted publics, the Northwest Chiropractic Center will be expanding
their practice as well as informing the publics that they do more than just
adjusting backs and necks. They want others to be aware of all the different
services they offer.
○ The best way to reach these groups are through Facebook, and Yellow pages ads
for the older generation.
● Tactics

5. ○ The strategy will be implemented by sending messages to these publics through
social media, through different church group gatherings throughout Maryville and
through discount incentives from word of mouth by clients.
○ If the doctors frequently update their Facebook page with information about what
they do and any specials they run, it should attract potential customers. To reach
an even larger audience, we suggest the doctors buy Facebook ads, targeted at
their specific audience and run a campaign for a few weeks every year.
○ By taking out an ad in the NW student newspaper, the doctors will reach most all
students on campus. Most students read the newspaper, since it is short and
current and will see the doctors’ advertisement.
○ The audience can also be reached by word of mouth, by using discount cards. The
doctors could do something where after someone receives a service, they can
hand business cards out to their friends for their friends to receive a discount on a
service or product. Lastly, these audience members could also be reached through
the NW student newspaper.
○ Welcoming party to show new building improvements and arrival of new doctors.
This could be by an open house or BBQ of some sort.
○ Along with that, if the goal is to expand clientele, the NCC needs to stay in touch
with other local businesses and promote each other. They also need to take
advantage of the free advertisement (going to local churches) so they can save
funding and post a large ad two times a year in the local newspaper.
○ The NCC can also use current clients as a referral source for new clients.
7 and 8. Calendar and Budget

6. ● The timeline to reach all of these publics through social media is by the Spring of 2019,
when the first doctor will be arriving. The deadline for scheduling church groups and
developing a presentation is the Fall of 2018 and the Spring of 2019. This will give the
doctors enough time to get settled enough to promote and schedule the group’s meetings.
The budget is still to be determined. For our suggested tactics and strategies, there is not a
need for a large budget. The largest concern is the doctor’s time to talk to groups.
10. Evaluation Criteria and Tools
The best way to determine success is to look at how the doctors expanded their
relationship with the public. Did they increase their online presence? Did they have a welcoming
party of some sort (BBQ) to welcome the new doctors? Did they offer some sort of incentive for
clients to tell their friends? Was there a growth in amount of patients they receive?