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NPDA Webinar REMINDER: SEO and SEM for Private Duty

The National Private Duty Association is partnering with corecubed for an upcoming informative webinar entitled “SEO and SEM for Private Duty: Creating, Coordinating, and Converting.”

In today’s digital marketing environment, it is imperative for a website to be well crafted, professionally designed, and optimized to facilitate visitor usability and Internet search technology—guiding quality traffic to your site. Home care is specifically challenging because the words “home care” can mean remodeling, refurbishing, carpet cleaning and lots of other things besides in-home care. Add to this that you want the visitor to take an action while on the site–you have to have search engine marketing in play to accomplish that. This informative webinar will discuss how to best lay the foundation for optimizing your site, and how to strategize and implement marketing on the site, all geared specifically to the private duty market by experts who work in this arena daily.

The Details:

Webinar Title: SEO and SEM for Private Duty: Creating, Coordinating, and Converting
When: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Time: 3 p.m. Eastern (2p Central, 1p Mountain, Noon Pacific)

Registration is due on Monday, sign up today!

 

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Every Home Care Agency Needs a Website!

Are you bargain hunting for a new website? Buyer beware! Think of it this way: According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect’s “first impression.” And when the competition is stiff, you know how important that first impression is! Why take a chance on a website design that is hard to navigate, doesn’t create a fantastic impression within seconds, or could be vulnerable to security risks at a time when website hacking has risen by 81 percent?

Stay competitive with our new Custom WordPress “Clouds” Theme. One of our newest, modern website designs, “Clouds” will get your home care agency up and running online in no time. WordPress is a content management system which allows you to easily update text and photos on the pages of your website. As part of this theme package, we install the WordPress software on your web host’s server, and then install the “Clouds” theme. This includes adding in your logo and customizing the colors of the theme to suit it.

Try a live demo of the “Clouds” theme and see more details about what is included!

This theme is designed to house bigger websites with deeper navigation than some of our other themes. Enhanced features also include blogging capabilities, a live social media news feed such as Facebook or Twitter, customizable slideshow displays, and multiple editable areas.

Each of our Custom WordPress Themes is constructed using best practices for coding and search engine optimization. And, here are even more ways you will benefit from our team of home care professionals:

  • We know how to build home care related websites. Our experience in home care, home care marketing, and home care website design and development goes into each theme.
  • We do all the setup for you. We install WordPress, necessary plugins, get everything configured, secured, and set up the right way.
  • We implement the theme and adjust it based on your logo and colors. No need for you to lift a finger until it’s all ready for you to use.
  • We include training time on how to use your WordPress website and the Custom WordPress Theme you have purchased.

Our website design team is known for high quality website design and development that gets your business to the finish line for a fantastic return on your investment.

The Customer is Always Right, Right?

What do you do when a loyal customer requests something for free that simply can’t be given away? Practicing good customer service, you’d better come up with something to please all parties—you just never know who may be listening. Take for instance, Samsung Canada, and their response to an unusual request for a free phone upgrade.

It’s not so unusual that a customer would want a free upgrade, or that someone would communicate with a brand directly via private message on Facebook, but what is, is the unique dragon drawing and scribbles that accompanied the message on Facebook—to serve as a cherry on top.

Shane Bennett, a loyal Samsung purchaser, is the sender of the Facebook note and also the person Samsung should thank for a positive moment in the PR spotlight. Since Samsung could not deliver on the requested phone—that is not even out yet in stores—Samsung wrote back, and attached an equally amusing drawing (below).

That the company took the time to respond to his large request meant a lot to Bennett, so he posted Samsung’s drawing to Reddit where it was voted to the front page—it went viral. Reading this article on PR Daily.com inspired me and reminded me of what I preached earlier this month in this blog post—customer service is not a one-time event; rather, it is a process, and it permeates all components of the business:

  • Attitude: Bright, friendly, and helpful
  • Meeting Customer Needs: From introduction through the relationship, any contact must be knowledgeable, helpful and responsive
  • Handling Conflict/Issues: Resolve conflicts or issues with respect, courtesy, and a genuine desire to help the customer
  • Special Requests, Services or Needs: Going out of the way to not only meet needs, but exceed expectations, making certain requests, services, or needs are not only met (baseline) but exceeded

How have you surprised your customers with excellent customer service and attention? If you need one-on-one consulting for great home care marketing and service, give me a call!

Reminder: Order the Home Care Pulse Private Duty Benchmarking Report

Just wanted to remind you that you can still pre-order your own custom edition of the 2012 Report at 40% off with our promo code CORE2012, any time before March 31st. Plus, you can now download a preview of the 2012 Report at www.privatedutybenchmarking.com.

The new Personalized Agency Benchmarking Report is the only report in private duty home care that shows you how you measure up to the industry. With the information you submitted when you took the survey, Home Care Pulse will create a custom, confidential report, designed just for you, that compares your agency side-by-side to the latest industry benchmarks in each chart and graph.

If you didn’t participate in the study, you can still take the survey at www.privatedutybenchmarking.com by following the steps on the home page. Your information won’t be included in the study results, but Home Care Pulse will still be able to use it to create your custom edition.

Your Personalized Agency Benchmarking Report will  contain the full results of the 2012 Private Duty Benchmarking Study with personalized benchmarks, including:

  • Your Profit & Loss vs. Industry
  • Your Referral Growth vs. Industry
  • Your Caregiver Turnover vs. Industry
  • Your Agency vs. Leading Agencies
  • Geographic Comparisons
  • Plus, Articles from Industry Experts!

To preview the sections and content, download the Report Preview now at www.privatedutybenchmarking.com.

A Home Care Marketing Plan for Success

In a recent post, I shared that aging care providers across the country are exploring new marketing practices because the way they have previously received business and referrals is changing. Marketing should be at the core of an agency’s strategy for company growth and development of community relationships and referrals—and below are my signature questions for laying the foundation for creating a strategic home care marketing plan.

Before digging deep into strategy details, ask yourself if you have completed the following strategic marketing steps:

  • Have you strengthened your brand through a website redesign that meets today’s technology?
  • Have you focused on the materials needed for education about your services?
  • Have you trained office staff to do better intake and understand private duty better?
  • Have you adopted a meaningful cause?
  • Have you started a PR campaign that focuses on identifying interested media to share your company story?
  • Have you created a culture of networking that includes participating in community events?

With those marketing steps in the back of your mind, now you need to find a way to stand out and be remembered. Here’s how you do that!

  • Understand the target audience.
  • Understand the messages that resonate with the target.
  • Marry the visual with the message.
  • Communicate often in channels that reach the target.
  • Focus on results, based on measurement.
  • Communicate to the right people within referral organizations, and make their lives easier.
  • Make a good first impression.
  • Interact and respond appropriately, online, direct and in person.
  • Fulfill needs.

Throughout the coming weeks, I will expose my secrets for integrating marketing efforts in an orchestrated strategy. To provide a visual for a marketing plan outline, click and reference this guide below.

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, if you have questions about marketing your home care agency, I would love the opportunity to strategize to help you meet your marketing needs. Or, book me to speak at your next home care or marketing event.

 

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