Caring about your clients and your product or service shows through in a hundred subtle ways to your clients; regardless of whether you are in the healthcare industry or not.

In my experience, I’ve found that people that either work in healthcare, or start a business in the healthcare industry do so because they really, truly care about helping people. I also have found that most people in the healthcare industry - no matter if they are chiropractors or coaches or copywriters - are very passionate about what they do. They truly care about making someone’s life better.

And because they know at the core of their being that they can help you or someone you know live a better, possibly pain-free, healthier life they tell everyone they know about it. They do a good job talking about it and often give talks in the community and with their clients.

Communicate your passion through your written materials

My question to you is…does this passion, this sincerity, this caring show through in all your marketing materials too? Does it shine through on your web site and your brochures? In the handouts and flyers you put around town? When you talk with people your sincerity and passion is shown by not only what you say, but in your body language, the tone of your voice, the sparkle in your eye…and people pick up on that energy. Communicating that in written materials is not as easy because people can see all of these subtle yet powerful things.

Here are a few things you can do in your written materials to demonstrate you’re caring:

• Know what keeps your prospect up at night and be sure your sales letter or web site talks about those concerns in a friendly and personal way. It may be a pain in their leg, not being able to ski with their family, or not having the energy to make it through the day.
• Know about their pains and fears. When you are truly concerned about your prospects welfare it will shine through in your writing.
• Write like you talk. Be conversational and write to a fourth grade level. No big words or words that you have to explain their meaning.
• Picture one of your clients (or a good friend that’s experiencing a pain) and talk to them. Write how you talk, not how you write. Writing marketing materials is different and it’s ok to break the rules. You are not getting these published in academic journals or writing your dissertation.
• Give examples of people you’ve helped and how it’s affected them in a positive way.
• Be yourself and let your personality show through. Don’t be humdrum like so many other practitioners out there — let your passion shine through!

Is there anything you can rewrite today to show that ‘sparkle in your eye’ to your clients?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

A client I met with recently was looking to streamline their advertising. I met with them right after the yellow page rep had been there to renew their account. They had a full page ad in the yellow pages (they were very proud to be the first page in their category) and were spending thousands of dollars a year for this large ad.

These chiropractors are savvy marketers and ask every new client how they heard about them. Not a single one was from the yellow pages. So why had they been advertising with them so much for so long? And what was it going to take for them to stop?

I started asking them questions.

The first question I asked them…Who is your ideal client?

Their ideal clients are employees at large corporations in the area. These patients have good insurance, word of mouth referrals are abundant throughout the corporation once they are in, and the patients rave about the one stop care they receive at this practice.

Second question…Do you ask your new patients how they heard about you?

An enthusiastic “Absolutely every single time” was the answer (right answer).

Third question…Do you get patients from the yellow pages?

No.

Fourth question…How active is your website?

Not very active. We just redid it last month. They informed me that if they’re not in the top three listings no one will click on you (which is not true) and we don’t want to spend $6,000 a month to be in the top three listings.

Knowing this, are the yellow pages the right place to spend thousands of dollars?

Obviously not.

The fact is that the first place people go to find health related information is online - 80% of the time.

Do you have to spend $6,000 a month to be found right away on the internet? Absolutely not! A side note, many people, especially referrals, will use your website to check out who you are and/or look up your phone number and address.

There are many simple and inexpensive things you can do to ensure your website is found right away by your clients:

·      Change your website frequently

·      Have educational content on the site

·      Link to other businesses and have them link back to you

·      Send your clients there for information

·      Include your website address in all your advertising and marketing communications.

Having an online presence doesn’t have to be just for the big guys. Doing a few simple things can make sure you can be found - on the place where most people look for health information.

It’s ok to have a presence in the yellow pages, but dollar for dollar, you’re better off putting more of your energy online where your prospects are.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

We all have clients that love us. And I mean loooooooove us. These are our favorite clients that we like to think about all the time. Clients like these are the reason we are in business and the reason we love our business so much.

Unfortunately, not all our clients are like this. We also have clients that, after a period of time, leave us and don’t continue using our services. We know that in business this is not unusual. Client attrition is a normal part of a healthy business. Clients get better, move forward, change their minds.

However, as a business owner, it’s important you know WHY these people are leaving. I am going to call these clients “inactive clients”. Why are they not coming back? Are they using your competitors? A company online? Did you alleviate a pain they were experiencing - basically you did your job - and they have no reason to see you anymore? Was there something that upset them or made them uncomfortable that they didn’t want to come back? Does asking make you uncomfortable? Don’t stick your head in the sand! You need to know this stuff.

Find out WHY they leave

While it’s important to acknowledge that all clients don’t stay forever, you need to put a system in place to find out why they don’t. You may not have ever thought about why you lose clients before. Maybe you’ve thought about it and didn’t know what to do. Maybe you are afraid to know, or don’t want to know. It’s a touchy subject and may be personal. What if they just didn’t like you? The only way to find out why a client has become inactive is to ask them. I understand this can be uncomfortable, but you need to find out. And the best way to do that is to ask.

Make a plan to call inactive clients

Asking why patients don’t come back is something that needs to be done on a regular basis - it’s a process you should systemize into your business so it happens automatically. Systems need to be put in place so that when clients do become inactive (and you need to determine when that is) you make a phone call and find out what’s going on. A less preferable option is to have your assistant call.   Saying something as easy as “hey, we haven’t seen you in a while and we’ve missed you. Is there anything going on? I noticed we haven’t seen you in a few weeks. Is there something I can do to entice you to come visit us again?” Be friendly and welcoming, but truly inquisitive as well. You may find there’s something going on in your business that needs your attention. You may also find that a client is experiencing some sort of hardship you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

When you call to check on an inactive client you are doing several things. You are showing them you care. You are telling them they matter and you noticed their absence You are checking on the quality of your business; both its processes and your employees. You are being a caring friend and checking on the welfare of another.

This is one of those action steps that you just have to do. Your business will run better because of it.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

What better way to get new customers than by being highlighted in your community paper. Being featured in your local newspaper or a local magazine - in an article, not an advertisement - is a sure way to have new clients lining up out your door.

Having an article about your business featured in the community news shows both your patients and prospects that you are an expert in your field, that you have cutting-edge, newsworthy things going on in your practice, and that you are on-top of your game.

The difficult part about being featured by the local press is that you have to get their attention. Most reporters receive hundreds of press releases a week. They have the challenge of finding new and different things going on in their community that their readership cares about.

Here are a few tips for getting the press’s attention and making their job easier:

1.  Try to put a local spin on what you are doing. Was a new study done in your industry? Take that information and talk about how it affects the people in your community.

2.  Keep in mind you are selling your ideas to a reporter, who is selling NEWS to their readers. You are not selling chiropractic care or how massage helps you relax.

3.  Use facts and statistics in your press release if you can. If your target market suffers from chronic headaches, are there any studies that show how many people suffer from headaches and how that affects their work?

So how can YOU help your local reporter meet the demanding needs of their job?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Are you one of those people that go to a trade show and walk from booth to booth filling up your bag with goodies from all the trade show booths? Do you collect pens from your doctor’s office? Keep the magnet from the veterinarian on the refrigerator?  

I do. I love collecting all this stuff — it’s shameless and it’s fun. I love going back to my room after a trade show and sorting through all the things I collected throughout the day.

I came home from a recent trade show I attended (SHSMD conference in Washington DC) with tons of stuff. My favorite pens are there every year and I was sure to grab several this time - one in every color they had. I come home with gifts for the kids. This year I came home with an electronic coffee warmer to plug in by my computer - it’s truly amazing the things companies give away.

The question is, is it worth it? As the receiver of these handouts I enjoy the overall experience of the conference more. But what about the companies handing out the promotional items? Is spending the money on these trinkets worth it? How many of you have worked a trade show, or sponsored a community event, and felt like people were taking things without caring who handed them out? They didn’t even look at your name on the mug, they just grabbed it and walked on.

I did a little research on the promotional products industry. Let me share with you what I discovered…

According to Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), the healthcare industry is one of the top ten users of promotional products in the U.S. Another one in the top ten is professionals such as doctors and lawyers. My dear readers, that is most of you!

The promotional products industry was an 18.8 billion dollar industry in 2006, so we know companies purchase promotional items. A lot of promotional items.

But do they work? Is a patient more likely to visit your practice if you hand out a mug or a pen with your talk?

According to studies done by Georgia Southern University, the answer is yes! Recipients of promotional products are reported to have:

            - a significantly more positive outlook on your business

            - a higher likelihood of recommending your business

            - a higher likelihood of patronizing the business.

The top three promotional items purchased in 2006? Wearables such as t-shirts, hats, etc, and writing instruments followed by calendars.
 
Top ten uses for promotional items? Business gifts, trade shows, brand awareness, employee relations & events, public relations, dealer/distributor programs, new customer/account generation, new product/service introduction, employee service awards, not-for-profit programs.

3 Tips for choosing a promotional products company

I asked Steve Horwitz with Consider It Done for advice on how to choose a vendor to provide promotional products. He suggested healthcare marketers:

Find a vendor with specific industry & product experience. If the vendor specializes in your industry you are safer because they already know the best manufacturers for the products that industry purchases, and they understand what you’re working to accomplish.

Not to knock independent sales people, but buying from a real company with an actual location, employees and real live people answering the phone during business hours is priceless - especially if there is a problem.    

Look for a published satisfaction guarantee.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Making goals and objectives before writing your copy is the way to get to the meat of your subject.  A clearly defined purpose will help you write faster and better.  A good acronym to adopt in setting any objective is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Time-Bound. Let’s take a look at how this can be applied to writing copy.

Specific: A specific objective covers at least one of the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why. Who does this target? What do I want them to learn? Where is it going to be published? When will it run? Why am I doing this? A general objective for a DM piece is to increase sales. A specific goal is to increase sales by getting 50 new leads per month.

Measurable: Measurable objectives allow you to be sure they’ve been met. You can easily measure the specific objective of getting 50 new leads, for example. It’s more difficult to measure an objective like educating your target audience about a new product … but still possible. You may need to use follow-up phone calls or other evaluation methods to see if the objective was met.

Action-Oriented: If your objective is to get 50 new leads a month, what action will you take to meet this objective? What will you do to ensure that you meet the marketing director’s needs with your copy? Who will you interview to make sure you cover all your bases? Where will you do your research?

Realistic: Setting realistic objectives means creating objectives you’re willing AND able to work on. If you don’t have enough time or the necessary resources to complete the project, your objective isn’t realistic and you need to revise it.

Time-Bound: Set a timeframe to finish the project and to accomplish major steps along the way. For instance, set dates to complete your research, to write the lead, to complete your first draft, to edit and rewrite, and to submit.

Setting objectives before you begin writing is crucial. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, knowing who you’re writing for and what they need to get from the copy is your key to success.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

The first step to take before writing your next direct-mail piece or article - even before you do any research or interviews - is to set your goals and objectives. You usually have multiple objectives when you’re writing. They could be to increase sales, generate revenue, educate consumers on a new product, increase name recognition, strengthen a relationship with vendors, or any combination of these. So clearly defining your copy’s purpose before you start can make the difference between average copy and phenomenal copy.

Most copywriters don’t take the time to write down their goals and objectives. If you don’t take the time to write them down before beginning, you can easily focus too much effort on one objective (which may not be the most important one), or unconsciously bounce back and forth between objectives, thereby confusing your reader. Here’s an example of objectives a hospital may have for a direct mailing: The marketing director wants to increase sales. The COO wants to increase name recognition and build relationships with vendors and suppliers. Stockholders want to generate revenue immediately. And physicians wish to educate consumers on what they do and what they have to offer.

Here are specific steps to take to make sure you clearly identify your objectives - and follow through on meeting them:

1. Ask everyone involved with your copy - editor, client, whoever - “What do you hope to gain from this piece?” Write down their answers. Even if you think you know what they’re going to say, DON‘T ASSUME ANYTHING.

2. If you’re writing an article and not a sales piece, what are the requirements of the publication? What do its readers want?

3. Analyze the way the identified objectives interrelate. Is it possible to meet everyone’s objectives and still create an effective, polished sales piece? If not, what do you drop or modify?

Are you missing any important goals or objectives in your writing?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Positioning yourself as an expert or a “guru” in your field is a planned and deliberate process. We all know who the experts are in our respective industries.

They are the ones we turn to in order to learn about a specific topic. We check their Web site or the book they wrote to find answers to our problems. These experts travel the country and give outrageously priced seminars, and are always quoted in the media. But what do these people do that makes them experts?

They may be saying the same things we do, just in a different way. Here are some things you can do to help you become known as a guru:

1. Write articles and publish them in trade journals, industry-specific newspapers, or e-zines in your field. Writing articles for trade journals or groups in your industry does several things. It makes you think through and research your industry thoroughly, and puts your name in front of people who are your target market.

Although it’s unlikely you will be paid for writing the article, the exposure you receive from others is incalculable. Yes, you are writing the article to promote yourself and your company, but it’s important you don’t write an article that looks like a sales piece. It needs to be educational and informative to the reader.

2. Write a book…easier said than done for many of us. Besides requiring a lot of time, research and energy, writing a book requires a specific skill. You may not be a writer, but you can hire one to help you. Nowadays you can write a book and publish it online, have a small publishing company publish it and try to sell it, or try to get a major publishing company to print it for you.

3. Give speeches. Being introduced as the keynote speaker at meetings and conventions quickly puts you in the expert chair. A speech is more memorable than an article and doing one immediately enhances your reputation as an expert. Giving a speech is personal, immediate, and puts you in face-to-face contact with your target market. Association meetings are ideal for this.

4. Conduct seminars. Seminars are longer than speeches, usually a half-day to three days, and are given by almost all gurus. These presentations are more in-depth than speeches and can be used as both an informative training tool and as an effective marketing tool for specific markets.

5. Polish your Web site. Your Web site should provide information about yourself, similar to a resume, as well as be a resource for people gathering information within your niche. Your Web site should be the place people go to when looking for an answer to a question or when researching material for themselves. You should also sell your products online, as well as have ways for customers to contact you and know what services you provide.

6. Hone your public relations skills. Be the one the media turns to when there’s a question they need answered or they need a quote for a story. I’m not talking about simply producing press release after press release about your next speech at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. You need to find a “hook” to grab people’s attention.

7. Sell smaller versions of the big piece. Now you have all of this information put together. You’ve developed articles, a book, speeches and seminars. Now break this knowledge into smaller parts and sell the pieces. This may include audio and video tapes, booklets and pamphlets, newsletters, software, and resource guides, to name a few items.

Achieving and keeping your status as an expert means providing a constant flow of new information to your target market. If you do all of the steps above, are you destined to be a guru in your field?

No, you need to have something valuable to say, too. It doesn’t necessarily need to be earth-shattering, but something interesting. You need to have a little different twist. If nothing else, following these steps are sure-fire ways to get you noticed in your industry and lend credibility to yourself when talking with prospective clients.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

Putting “emotion” into your marketing is something that most marketers don’t talk about. It’s not always the easiest or most natural thing to do. The natural thing to do is for you to talk and sell to your prospects logically. We usually do this by talking about our features.

Your sales messages should talk to your prospects like you would talk to a friend. One way to do that is to use your prospects name often. But in an advertisement, newsletter, or other mass communication you won’t be able to call your prospect by their name — but there are other ways to “talk” to the reader in a more personal tone.

Here are a few different ways you can put emotion into your marketing messages:

     1.   Don’t talk in corporate speak. Use terms like “you” and “your” rather than “the”. For example, “your coffee” versus “the coffee”.   By making it more personal, you reach out to the reader as if you’re speaking directly to them.

     2.   Have a clear idea of who you are talking to. Picture one specific person you are talking to, not the variety of people that will be reading it. I tell my copywriting students to actually put a photo of this person on their monitor while they’re typing so they remember to talk to that one person. The picture helps you stay focused.

     3.   Talk to your customers and prospects like you would a friend. Be conversational. One way to check your copy is to read it out loud. Does it sound like you talk or does it sound like you write? They are different. In school we are taught to “write” scholarly, not conversationally. Throw everything you learned out the window – write like you talk for your marketing pieces.

     4.    Let your personality shine through. It’s ok to be different – people like you for it. People “see” you because of it. If you like to travel, have three crazy kids, or love bungee jumping – share that with your readers. Your personality will make you stand out from the other 3,000 advertisements your readers are exposed to each day. A great example of this is my new friend Michelle. Check out her web site at www.mlsalater.com. Can you tell what she loves to do in her spare time?

     5.    People buy based on emotion, not logic. While it is important you include logical reasons in your copy to justify a purchase, those logical reasons should be only a small part of the actual selling you do. Talk to prospects emotions by addressing the benefits your product provides. Talk emotionally about how it will help them.

What ways can you add emotions and feelings to your marketing?  Can your prospects see the real you?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins         

www.amarketingconnection.com

When you are hired to write copy for a client, there are many things your clients will ask you to do. You’ll find that often times they have multiple objectives for one piece. It could be to sell their product or service, in addition to positioning their company or product in a certain way.  Other times you’ll be asked to announce new information to the public or to their employees. The list goes on.

Whatever the reason your client hires you to write copy, it is important when writing the copy that you show an advantage or advantages to the reader.

What do I mean by advantage? For example, think about:

Why is it better? Why is this product better? Why is this doctor better? Why is this company better? Why is this new announcement better? What’s in it for them (the reader)? I’m sure you’ve heard of WIIFM (what’s in it for me) phrase before - focus your copy on that idea!

What you need to do in your copy is tie the specific advantages of the product/service with the needs or desires of the audience reading your copy (Or at least most of the readers).

You want to show the reader, with your words as well as with pictures, what they gain, as well as what they could lose if they don’t take advantage of the product/service. What the reader gains or loses can be tangible things like money or sometimes even better, use non tangible things like emotions, security, spiritual growth, embarrassment, keeping face with their friends, etc.

So, how do you do this?

As a copywriter, you first need to know the advantages of what you were hired to write about. Ask the person that hired you what they are. Ask in any interviews you do, what they see the advantages are.

A tip…one question I always ask when I interview someone, “What is the number one advantage of this product as your clients see it?”

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com