Since 2006 we have been collecting products that help home care agencies grow and posting them to one of our internal sites, www.markethomecare.com for sale. Recently we launched the site in a new shopping cart format, and it is along the lines of the websites we have been developing recently. Content management is really the future of how anyone who wants to do great business on the internet is doing it. Simply stated it allows anyone, whether computer/tech savvy or not to edit, post, upload and control the content of the site.

We have recently completed redesigns of several home care agency sites in ExpressionEngine, a content management system that allows for incredibly intense and powerful design with that added power of editing capability for the owner. A blog is built into the software, and the code is clean so the search engines love it. A picture is worth a thousand, so take a glance at Live Free Home Health and also Responsive Home Health. I think you will be impressed with the design, the information, the ease of navigation. And, just imagine if you had the power to edit as well! Read the rest of this entry »

Well it IS the 5^th of July and the celebration is over for another year. Watching all those celebrants, the fireworks, and the enthusiasm made me think of marketing a business, and the difference between a hard launch of a product (like the 4^th of July, don’t you wish?) and just getting the word out regularly about what you offer. Less flash, but definitely worth the effort.

Since we have loads of products and services that directly help those in the home care, home health care and hospice industries, you should know that we just upgraded our marketing site www.markethomecare.com so it is now easier to use, and better meets safety and compliance standards. Take a look see and let us know what you find there. We add in new products regularly, and the prices are right for those watching their budgets. And, in case you are not finished celebrating and want to see the largest fireworks display in North America, I am including a video from Thunder Over Louisville. Definitely NOT a flash in the pan, but the real fireworks deal.

“Telling the VNA Story to Obtain Referrals” presented my Merrily Orsini, MSSW

Friday, September 10, 2010

Burlington, VT

Continuing to share my research when interactive marketing was just in the beginnings, and relating it to social media today, I am taking excerpts from Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, “Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.

I just love the term “Google juice”, and they have many things to say about how blogging links boost your Google juice.  Again, this also now applies to social media, a phenomena that was not present in 2006 when they wrote the book.  In fact, nothing boosts your search engine’s standing better, they said.  Neither a press release or a full page ad in the NY Times will boost your search engine rankings as much as regularly updated blogs. The shortest, cheapest, fastest and easiest route to prominent Google rankings is to blog. Note that this is still a great way to get Google rankings, but we now recommend using WordPress as the tool in which to design your website so you have the benefits of search engine friendly text and format, plus a ready to go built in blog. And that technology is affordable. Take a short web questionnaire to see costs. Read the rest of this entry »

In working on several presentations I have upcoming,  I credit the start of interactive communication based on a book by  Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, “Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers” that I read back in 2006, I thought you would appreciate some morning musings/reflections on their message which is so very pertinent today.

The message was that the core marketing revolution is about the way businesses communicate – not just with customers but with entire constituencies – partners, vendors, employees, prospects, investors and the media. Author/philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once observed: “All truth passes through three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third it is accepted as being self evident.”  This new interactive marketing (revolutionary at the time in 2006) was being called “conversational marketing, open source marketing, two-way marketing, even corner grocery store marketing”. Now we just use it and it has become self evident!

Basically, Scoble and Israel state that blogging is not for anyone, but it works for a company that is a good company, has a good product, and has some interesting stories or referral possibilities in a particular knowledge base. The blogger-writer must be authentic, passionate and an expert with knowledge to impart with the time to blog regularly.  It is this transparent, authentic communication between business and customer that draws the attention of users who are interested in the product or service. Then the interactive communication becomes a customer generator, as trust is built.

November 15-17, 2010 Las Vegas

The Palazzo Resort & Casino

Social Networking: Is it a Missing Link to your Growth? presented by Merrily Orsini

November 16, 2:50-3:50 PM

Visit http://www.decisionhealth.com/PrivateDuty2010/home.htm for more information.

“A window of opportunity won’t open itself. ” Now that is a thought for the day. A product or service, no matter how good, also must be placed in front of those who need it or who could benefit from it.

Understanding who needs to know and how best to get to them are key to spreading the word effectively about a product or service. Right now, in today’s world, one of the best, most universal ways to reach targets is through the Internet. Whether by a website or social networking, the key is first getting attention and then keeping it. And lastly it is in converting those who are interested into buying.

There are many distracters and much noise out there vying for attention. There are also many opportunities, but, alas, that window of opportunity simply will not open itself.

What are you going to do today to see just how you can open that window? For some deeper thoughts on a global opportunity, think on the video below.

When the word pioneer is used to describe my role in home care, it fits the definition. Lead the way. Open up. Found. Forge. Break new ground. Initiate. Establish. Prepare. These are all accurate descriptions of my personal background and experience in home care and geriatric care management. And they are pertinent to how I currently approach marketing home care, home health and hospice today.

I founded a geriatric care managed home care agency. I forged forward with developing systems for training, for recruiting, for marketing that unique (at the time) business. I broke new ground in Louisville and in other cities working with people to teach how to run that kind of business. I initiated organizations, and established the Midwest Care Managers group so like minded service oriented people would get together, share best practices, and grow the industry. I prepared, and continue to prepare, others with whom I work for meeting the future in home care.

Also a pioneer in marketing home care using traditional as well as new social media, the trend continues. I and my business team at corecubed are leading the way in developing Web sites that help agencies compete in today’s market place. We are opening up new referral sources through our MOST program. We founded the MOST program forging and breaking new ground in educating about home care and how to meet needs through in-home care. We initiated and established educational PPTs and handouts for download and for takeaways so teaching and spreading the word about home care as an option to many situations could be explained fully and understood by many. And we are preparing those with the potential to refer to home care so they will understand and use the agencies that use MOST when their clients or loved ones have home care needs.

Yes, I am a pioneer in home care, and corecubed is a pioneer in marketing and teaching about home care. And, as pioneers, we are continuing to forge and break new ground in ways that our clients can use traditional and non-traditional methods to have clients find them when there is a potential need for home care.

See what Barbra London has to say about MOST and Merrily and corecubed:

Having a passion for work or for a hobby makes everything else somehow more interesting. I have a passion for contemporary glass art and Louisville is hosting the 40th annual International Glass Art Conference here this week with over 1000 artists, educators, gallery owners, collectors and museum curators coming to town to learn, watch, mingle, network and enjoy a shared passion.  Read a bit about the conference and my involvement.

Read much more about the conference, including lectures, visiting artists and exhibits in the area.

And forgive my inattention to all things work related as I delve into my passion and enjoy the over 30 exhibits around Louisville and Southern Indiana, and also the many friends and new friends who have the same love for glass art that my husband and I do!