Posts in the ‘Home Care Marketing Tips’ Category
Dealing with Negativity on Social Media
As I’ve said before, using social media as one marketing tactic is becoming crucial for businesses of all shapes and sizes. But what happens when someone has something bad to say about your business or agency and does so online? Receiving negative comments on your company’s Facebook page, blog, Twitter feed or Yelp reviews is always uncomfortable. Often, our first reaction to negativity is to try and remove the comment or jump to our own defense, but, because you represent your business as well as your fellow employees, it is important to approach these comments with sensitivity. An eloquent response which addresses the negative feedback will go a long way in upholding your reputation. Definitely do not ignore it. And only remove the negative comment if it is scandalous. Removing a mild negative comment makes it appear as though you have something to hide. Following are some negative comments along with suggestions on how to respond:
Negativity regarding your service:
“I hired Agency X for cooking and light housekeeping for my elderly mother and these services were not performed as stated! I advise everyone to stay away from Agency X and try Agency Y instead!”
How to Respond:
Because this negativity relates to your service and caregivers, it is important to address your regret that the customer had a negative experience and offer assistance, but also note that others who have hired your agency have had positive experiences.
Example: “I am so very sorry that you did not feel our services lived up to your expectations. Our clients are very important to us, and I hope you will contact us directly at customer.service@agencyx.com or phone number #X so that we may rectify the situation. We work very hard to make sure we provide top quality care at all times as our clients and their families are so important to us. We can only make it better if you identify yourself and let us see if we can make the situation right.”
Negativity regarding your company:
“Company A has bad business practices. I called their customer service line for help and they were rude and unhelpful. Never doing business with them ever again!”
How to Respond:
This comment is in regards to how your company operates and/or treats its clients. Again, respond with sensitivity that the client experienced rudeness, and let others who may read your response know that your company prides itself on quality customer service. Never, ever be snippy or negative in your responses.
Example: “We apologize that your customer service experience was less than satisfactory in your search for help with Company A. If you let us know a bit more about when this happened we could make certain that it does not happen to anyone else. I can assure you that we will look into this issue and see what we can do so it never happens to anyone ever again. Company A has always prided itself on delivering the highest quality services while rendering helpful and professional customer service, and we will continue to strive to uphold that value. We appreciate that you took the time to bring this to our attention.”
You may encounter even nastier comments than the kind listed above on Facebook or your blog. If a commenter seeks to just be nasty or uses an employee’s name, or worse, a client’s name, simply remove the comment if possible. If the person continues attempting to post comments of this nature, block him or her from your page or account. In all cases, be professional and never go on the offensive or attack the commenter back. Showing professionalism in your response to negativity speaks volumes about your agency and its values.
Social media and social networking are so very important in today’s marketing. Our professional social networking team will gladly work with you to create a strategy, offer constructive ideas, or even do the work for you. Call or email us today to see how we can assist.
FaceBook, social media, social media marketing, twitter, yelp
Different, Yet Effective: Branding for 2 Home Care Industry Vendors
Zeroing in on growing our clients’ businesses using strategy, unique branding, and personal messaging means each campaign and rebranding effort turns out totally different, yet very effective, every time. Let’s take a closer look at two home care software companies, HomeTrak and Arrow (corecubed clients), and their two completely different, yet effective, results.
HomeTrak is an industry leader in home care business management and scheduling software. corecubed accepted the challenge of creating an interesting look for their new Companion software program. Specifically, we were tasked with everything from logos, brochures, and CD covers all the way to a new trade show booth and web presence. corecubed helped HomeTrak Companion make an impression with both new clients and those who have been loyal customers for years.
Now, consider our work for Arrow, which offers a niche market home care software product to agencies requiring complex reporting requirements based on a variety of payment sources. Their main customer base is in New York, but they also have clients in nine other states. They came to corecubed for rebranding, new messaging, and a strategy to grow their already successful company.
When you hire me and my team of marketing experts, you receive open ears and brilliant creativity that brings out your voice in a fresh, unexpected delivery. Pop over to corecubed’s online portfolio to browse our work—and start imagining the facelift you’d like for your home care agency or company.
Proactive- the Key Word for Today. Take Heed.
Do not say we did not warn you! Last night we had another client’s website get hacked. The reason? Out of date software!
In the sage words of our Web Manager, Will Chatham, “it is not ‘if’ my site gets hacked, it is ‘when”.” Right now, more than ever before, the Black-Hat hackers are working to disrupt how we all do business on the internet. There are some reasons that a site gets hacked, and in the last few weeks we have seen all of them in use.
- Tags for Internet Security
The reasons and the fixes are from Ask Securi:
- Website with known vulnerabilities
- Out of Date Software
- Bad Usernames and Passsword
So, what can you do? My advice would be to hire corecubed to monitor, update and backup your site if that site in is WordPress, but there are the words from another source if you are more of a do it yourselfer:
- Stay away from Soup Kitchen servers – dedicate a server for your testing, staging and production environment. Familiarize yourself with the concept around website cross-contamination.
- Please, please, please update your software – this includes all thing from the web server OS, CMS platform, associate plugins and themes. In the last month or so we have seen updates to both WordPress and Joomla.
- Back up your site, data and anything else associated with the site – don’t back it up onto the same server, that kind of defeats the purpose of a backup.
- Engage a professional – Would you allow your cousin to operate on you if you needed surgery?
- Use unique credentials, stay away from admin and use random generators for your passwords. This applies to everything from your cpanel to database access, every one of those access points are possible attack vectors. Here is an article you might find interesting talking to how someone would crack your credentials, “How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords“. Here is another one of a small test we did internally to identify the most commonly used credentials through the use of brute-force attacks.
- Don’t forget about your local environment, ensure you are running an AV on your machine – more often than not we see infections initiate from compromised machines housing trojans.
- Educate yourself – learn the do’s and don’ts about operating your own website, even if you have a professional. Don’t let yourself be a victim to a professional.
- Learn how to use .htaccess to lock down your site.
- Proactively scan your site manually to make sure things aren’t missed. There are a number of tools available to you, here are a few free tools (no emails and or registrations required): SiteCheck and UnmaskParasites
We all benefit greatly from the freedom and access we have with the Internet. Now it is time to put some extra locks on that open door, and to protect your self and your business, and those who do business with you. Call us or email us and we will be glad to help!
Three Tips for Marketing a Mature Business
Here
in Louisville it will soon be time for a beloved annual tradition. The 138th Kentucky Derby is just two weeks away. It’s thrilling to see all the elaborate spring hats, taste mint juleps, spot celebrities, attend Derby parties, and to hear the sound of one lone trumpet play the tune of “My Old Kentucky Home.”
But above all this, Derby-goers get most excited about a bang, the sight of the gates opening and an announcer screaming, “And they’re off!” Many horses will gallop, but there will only be one winner.
The business world is a lot like the Kentucky Derby. Competition is fierce and the stakes are high–and only companies with well thought-out strategies succeed and mature. Mature businesses, home care or not, are companies that have a strong base of clients and are well known within their industry or region. Plus, they’ve done a good job of branding—their name, logo and products or services are easily recognizable.
So how can you draft a marketing strategy that fits your unique stage of business life? The following marketing tips can help start the process:
TIP #1: Don’t get complacent.
Complacency is dangerous. A well-established customer base can deliver a decent influx of cash for a business, but it can also bring a false sense of security. Far too many agency owners fall into the trap of thinking that name recognition means they can fudge on their marketing plan, or not pay attention to their customers.
TIP #2: Use a strategy that fits the times.
Well-established companies often make the mistake of getting stuck in a rut when it comes to their marketing strategies. It’s not surprising–after all, if a marketing strategy got you this far, why abandon it? The answer to that question is that customers change and marketing strategies and tactics change with technology and competition.
TIP #3: Don’t stray from your core message.
It’s important that your company continues to develop new ways to market your products or services—but be certain that changing strategies doesn’t result in wasted time focusing on issues other than marketing. If you’ve got a good product that works, don’t change it unless a changing customer base demands revision. Change the marketing strategy – not the product.
My expert team at corecubed provides integrated marketing communications services using a strategic approach to help clients create high-impact campaigns to launch or rebrand products or companies. Contact us today!
Content is king! (But visuals add the crowning touch.)
Hopefully, if you are in business, you have interesting, unique things to say about your business. According to the findings of a recent survey conducted by HiveFire, Inc., it turns out that your personal reflections, advice and comments on industry trends are what your target audience really wants to read about. I’ve known since I starting blogging, using social media and writing newsletters that the more original the content is, and the more engaging and contemporanious it is, the more success you will find in reaching new listeners. So, if you enjoy writing, and can make it interesting, then write, write, write, and marry the content with a visual as much as possible.
Stay engaged to what your peers are saying and I guarantee you will easily have much more to contribute. The survey results also find that capturing reader attention can be as easy as adding a photo or image to your post. With this advice, sharing via blog, Twitter or Facebook once or twice a week can be a piece of cake.
Recently, I wrote about visual marketing and how relevant graphic campaigns—with the launch of Pinterest and Facebook Timeline—are with today’s audience. Read the post and my earlier posts about home care marketing tips, and you’ll soon realize even more how all the dots of marketing strategy connect, and how a healthy online presence is so important.
My fabulous team at corecubed can set up social media accounts, create a strategy for success, and implement!
