The Digital Practitioner: Marketing
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 July 2018

Think Like A Marketer Not A Clinician:

July 15, 2018 0
Think Like A Marketer Not A Clinician:

If you want to really grow your business and continually attract your Ideal clients that will return year after year then you really need to think like a marketer and not like a clinician.



Now for me in the first 5 years of running my optical practice, I was very dismissive of ‘marketing’ and every time a rep from the local newspaper or magazine called to offer ad space in their recent publication I used to get irritated, firstly by their salesy pitch and secondly by the flipping price!

Being naive and in the first few years I almost felt guilted into running the occasional ad and reluctantly paying a stupid amount with no real evidence of return on investment. 

Knowing what I know now, I can honestly say I may have well taken a match and sent the money on fire. In fact, that would have been more useful as at least it would have produced a tangible energy exchange and generated some light and heat!

My lack of acceptance and value on marketing my business was predicated on my experience with the traditional marketing system. 

In addition, I was basing the overall success of my business on the fact that 
1.    I was a qualified optometrist, 
2.    I’ve set up shop, therefore patients will attend.
3.   I’ll be sending out recalls, therefore I will get repeat business.

That’s fine, if you are the only optometrist in your county, or state and may have worked in 1985, but this is now 2018 and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but the biggest technological advance in the history of the world has just occurred over the last decade. 




But, here’s the thing, the world has moved on, technology has advanced, but it amazes me that so many healthcare practices are still marketing their business like it’s 2007!

In order to get up to speed and ahead of your competition you simply must be aware of the most effective marketing methods for your practice today. 

In effect you need to know how social media and digital strategy can revolutionise your practice in how your customer perceives and associates themselves with your practice and how you can use this to acquire loyal and raving clients who will be with you for the long term. 



First things first: 

Adjust your perception of what marketing really is in 2018.

“Marketing Is Caring!” – Marketing is providing the consumer an insight into what you, your brand or business has to offer and positing yourself with integrity in such a way that they will find it difficult to overlook your business or brand because what you offer ultimately will provide the most relevant positive impact on their lives in solving a problem or enhancing their lifestyle. You are giving the customer what they want!





Apply this thinking to your products and services and then reverse engineer how you would present and position your marketing in front of your Ideal Clients. 

Focus on them, get creative and put your content out there in a consistent manner. 

by: Alan Bryden

Thursday, 24 May 2018

Social Media for Doctors

May 24, 2018 0
Social Media for Doctors

Becoming a doctor is a great thing when your passion is to help people by saving their lives. It is evident from the fact that doctors today, using the most advanced and cutting edge technology are able to save many more lives. 

There are numerous doctors who do not fully understand the concept of social media which can improve the count of patients at their respective clinics. Social media plays a vital role when it comes to marketing your practice and fetching more patients.
Connecting with your patients outside the hospital or clinic can be an uphill task. A lot more doctors use Facebook, Medical Blogs and even Twitter accounts to contact their patients. This is proving to be beneficial as the doctors are pretty well marketed and they can provide in-depth knowledge of their practice area via these social networking sites. Apart from this, doctors can use various cost-effective methods to stay connected with their current patients.

Many patients today are social media friendly. They make good use of the internet to find correct information regarding their disease, symptoms, treatment procedure and a relevant doctor. Making full use of the opportunities presented by these social networking sites, doctors should follow their passion of saving people's lives.
Doctors can succeed in attracting more patients by constantly providing significant information about their practice and regularly updating it. Now the question arises how to update one's data which is already on the website? The answer lies in Search Engine Optimization. Get an SEO done for your website by a reputed company. They will use numerous techniques including exclusive content writing to rate your website sufficiently higher than the others on Google's front page. In layman's language, you'll get a higher PR. Patients searching for your practice area will then contact you and eventually your patient count will rise.
Online marketing and social media together have made the lives of doctors worldwide a lot more flexible. The operating cost of setting up a hospital, multiple offices, teaching and conferences have drastically come down. All the information a patient seeks is now just a few clicks away. Social media has built such a reputation that it connects patients with relevant doctors after the office hours and on weekends.

But that's only one side of the coin. There's a flip side to marketing your medical profession using social media. Doctors all over the world must take care of the fact what to be posted on social network and what not to be. Any misleading information can put someone's life in danger. Though, doctors should emphasize on providing top-notch health services and treatment to their patients.
Want to know how social media can help your practice achieve greater heights. Visit Practice Builders. We have been providing top-notch medical marketing services to physicians across the United States for the past 30 years.

by: Larry Holman 
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Larry_Holman/1405450


Saturday, 24 March 2018

Smart Ways to Market a Service Business

March 24, 2018 0
Smart Ways to Market a Service Business

For both product and service based business the principles of marketing stand true - what are your customers pain points and how can you solve it. 



Get your message and expertise out there!

Wednesday, 27 December 2017

A Happily Ever After for Chatbots & Messaging Apps?

December 27, 2017 0
A Happily Ever After for Chatbots & Messaging Apps?

On the aftermath of their debut on messaging apps, chatbots have been at the epicenter of an ongoing conversation about personalisation. Why did this collaboration happen? And how far will this go? It's time to take a deep dive.
In the '60s, renowned media analyst Marshall McLuhan argued that the 'Medium is the message'. He was certain that it had a role in shaping and controlling "the scale and form of human association and action" up to an extent. According to this theory, the medium embeds itself onto anything it transmits, and it directly influences the way the actual message is perceived. It tries to be an extension of our senses, expanding our ability to perceive and interact with the world.

Today, about half a century later, the medium becomes an acceptable form of human interaction - say hello to your messaging apps. As of last year, there were 1 billion users (14% of the world's population) on WhatsApp. And combined with the users on Messenger, there are 60 billion messages - text, video, recordings that are sent and received each day. Where else would businesses find a better level of engagement?
In a recent survey conducted by Facebook, participants who could chat with retailers on these messaging platforms, be it on transactions, inquiries, or post sales services, felt more positive about the business. Commerce became a personal affair. McLuhan was right, and is still right - The impact of messaging does lie on the medium.

It's been almost 20 years, and why haven't businesses been largely successful harnessing these platforms yet? Because until chatbots came along in 2016, businesses marketing themselves via messaging apps were oblivious to one philosophy/brand of personalisation - 'If not human, be humane.'
Ever since they entered the market, chatbots on messaging platforms have been hit. They are having a positive impact on businesses, as more industries are jumping aboard the 'personalisation' bandwagon. Now, what is the next step? What does the future behold for this eclectic union? Here are 3 possibilities -
  • With chatbots, messaging apps will become the new browsers. They are about to do for businesses what websites were doing for them about a decade back. Forrester Research expects investments in AI and Machine Learning to triple in 2017, to better harness user behavior, to enhance the conversational interface brought about by bots.
  • Messaging apps will become more relevant to IoT installations. For e.g. more customers will begin to receive coupons, notifications on sales etc. via messages when they happen to just pass by the store. Or alternatively, employees in a factory can stay better connected with their machinery, and make better use of the data collected.
  • The 'App culture' is sinking, as users are getting more tight-fisted about device memory and data usage. But messaging apps/platforms are still titled 'essential' because messaging is now a way of life. Since chatbot platforms can directly deploy bots onto these apps, the need for a proprietary app is canceled. And the scope of services that businesses offer on these apps can keep expanding.
With the advancement in AI and Machine Learning towards its capabilities, chatbots are about to go a long way in understanding the nitty-gritty human behavior through messaging apps. But if McLuhan's theory still holds good a decade from now, chatbots might even become a critical part of human perception overall.




by: 
Ankeet Sarngin Kanungo
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9732180

Sunday, 10 December 2017

Thursday, 30 November 2017

A Brilliantly Simple Way to Boost Website Traffic - How to Get Internati...

November 30, 2017 0
A Brilliantly Simple Way to Boost Website Traffic - How to Get Internati...

Monday, 13 November 2017

How Twitter's 280 Character Increase Can Work for Your Business

November 13, 2017 0
How Twitter's 280 Character Increase Can Work for Your Business

It's official. Our Twitter timelines have doubled in size. All tweets will now fit 280 characters, up from 140. The new limit rolled out to Twitter users in almost all 40 languages. This is a big move for Twitter and can be an even bigger move for your business. 


The increase in characters shifts the focus directly on content. With the new increase you can create lengthier tweets that spark more conversation and keeps your audience more engage. Of course this could have been achieved with the 140 character limit and likely already has for many, depending on your demographic. 
But, with 280 characters, you are now able make more concise tweets that offer more insight about your brand without the worry of limits or having to overstate the matter over a spread of two or more tweets.
People love to talk about what's trending. People love to share. What better way to get your business thriving than by sharing more content with your target audience. Think of it this way, now you are able to discuss a lot more in greater detail about your products, services and current promotions. The better the quality of content shared in your tweet, the bigger boost you'll see in the long-term as people learn to come to you for information.




The boost also places more emphasis on the use of hashtags which is very important when promoting your business on he Twitter platform. Hashtags increase visibility in search engine rankings and is very effective when used to promote an event for business purposes. This not only allows small business owners and bloggers to expand their new customer base but it also generates more leads without you having to pay for them. How's that for an Aha! moment?
Twitter has about 330 million monthly active users around the world. The more you post, the more likely others are to engage with you. The primary focus is to drive interaction between you and your followers by re-tweets, replies, mentions and favorites. The 280 character increase will help you to further your brand's message by getting the word out and giving your followers what they want more of.
A Few Useful Marketing Tips To Help Utilize the 280 Character Increase
  • Start adding more detail about your brand in your posted tweets. Discuss what's going on with your business.
  • Use the right hashtags and increase them. The more hashtags, the more visible your brand.
  • Provide more commentary with your shared images. This encourages conversation with your base.
  • Interact with people by responding to their tweets and the tweets of others. Ask questions. Be descriptive. Give clarity.

Social media marketing helps a business to build its brand. Nothing expresses your brand on Twitter more than added content. Marketing your brand on Twitter is essential for spreading your business information and taking your business to the next level. Being able to share more content without the character limitations Twitter once had on its user platform is an added benefit to utilizing your marketing strategy and cementing the growth of your business.

Faye Bishop is a full-time Entrepreneur, Mommy, Writer, Foodie & Philosopher of Self-Determination. To read more articles like this one about small business interests and online marketing visit http://www.fayebishop.com




by: Faye Bishop

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9827235