Start A Content Conversation

We all have a lot to say. Between sales pitches and proposals and PowerPoint presentations, we’re kind of up to our eyeballs in information. But is information content? If so, what information?  

If content is king, how do you ensure he doesn’t get dethroned? The answer is to have a conversation.

BE APPROPRIATE

That doesn’t mean don’t post questionable photos on your website. (Don’t do that, though). Being appropriate means having something to say that reflects the venue in which you’re saying it. Your corporate website and a product-specific Facebook page that has a college-aged audience will have different things to say. Neither are mutually exclusive. But you likely have a different way of speaking when you’re talking to your best friend versus a corporate CEO. The content, or conversation you’re having needs to focus primarily on the audience with which you’re having it. Like any good conversation, it should be a two-way street. I’m not talking about a live chat feature. I’m talking about solid research. How your customers reach out to you tells you a lot about the conversation they’re looking to have. Traditional websites, product-specific sites, individual social media interactions, trade show interactions and even Skype chats, each attracts a unique audience that will respond to you if you are appropriate.

RELEVANT WEBSITE CONTENT

One of the primary drivers of Google’s search algorithm comes from relevant content. Google, they’re pretty smart. Not long ago you used to be able to type a bunch of keywords onto the bottom of your web page and jump to the top of Google’s search. Actual content that relates to the subject of the page, the industry associated with the site, etc., is one of the things that drives search results. More is not always better. Doing extensive research about search terms and analytics data will give you a good start in providing content that corresponds to the most relevant search terms for your site. If you tailor your content to what your audience is actually looking for, you will notice a dramatic difference in your search rankings.    

KNOW YOUR STUFF, BUT DON’T BE A KNOW-IT-ALL

Content is a conversation. It’s not a lecture. There’s a fine line between the two. Your job and the job of your business is to be the expert in your field. As such, you’re expected to know a bunch of stuff. But information is like having your in-laws come to visit. A little goes a long way. Keep in mind that what most of your customers want to know is that you know. They don’t need the complete recipe to your secret sauce. They just need to know that you know how to make it. 

BE BRIEF

A good deal of your ongoing conversations with your customers will be via social media. Social media is a drop in sort of place. It’s the virtual water cooler. Your interaction should be short, sweet and to the point. You don’t need to write the entire novel, just a short chapter. When you’re writing short content, be specific. Don’t necessarily talk about all your new products, just one at a time. Or maybe a single feature of a product. 

DON’T WASTE THEIR TIME

Your audience bores easily. Quick bursts of information that grabs their attention and allows them to get on with their lives will leave them wanting more. Respect the short attention span. You can’t win against it. Don’t even try.

BE BRAND CONSISTENT

Above all else, have a plan. Don’t sacrifice your overall brand strategy for a specific venue, but be flexible enough to remain appropriate. That takes a little effort. You may need to experiment a bit. 

There is no single way to generate awesome content. Your conversation is and should be different than your competition. What is consistent across the board is that you are having a conversation. You’re building a relationship. That’s the secret to creating killer content. Your voice should be unique. That’s what sets you apart. So now it’s time to start a conversation.

Patients, Grasshopper

We're all familiar with the traditional approach to healthcare marketing. Board certifications, big photos of the providers looking all serious and ready to find the next procedure that will get them published. Strength and stability and expertise are all important qualities, but there are some fundamentals that seem to be consistently missed in most healthcare marketing.

1. DON'T MARKET TO YOURSELF
The majority of healthcare marketing is done from the providers' point of view. Qualifications, looking serious, etc., all of these are internal-facing and have much more meaning to the providers than to the patients. From a patient's point of view, there are assumptions that a provider is qualified to perform the procedures they're promoting. Patients have two goals—to get better, and to be heard. That leads us to...

2. WHAT DOES YOUR PATIENT EXPERIENCE?
Here's a good little trick. Have a friend or a family member go through your patients' process. It's better if that person has a different last name and is unknown to staff. What is their experience? How long does it take to get an appointment? How long do they wait in the first waiting room? In the second? What is the lab experience like? How long does it take to get results? What is the process patients encounter when they receive their results? Remember that you're not doing this in a punitive way—don't look for poor performance by staff. If you find it, of course, address it. The goal is to experience what your patients, what your customers, are experiencing. At most levels, healthcare is tremendously competitive. The only point where it isn't comes from very specific specialists who are either the best in their field, or are alone in their market. For most providers, there are at least two other major competitors, sometimes much more. The ACA has or will open up an enormous market for new patients. These are people who have either never entered the healthcare system, or have used an ER as their primary care provider. In a competitive marketplace, a provider group that addresses wait times, customer service and simple friendliness will have the edge.

3. WHERE ARE THE BOTTLENECKS?
After receiving the data from your trusted source(s), analyze it. Can you accommodate new patients within a 48 hour timeframe? Do patients wait longer than 15 minutes past their appointment time? Remember that the wait time isn't just calculated in the main waiting area. Patients who have an appointment at 10am and aren't seen by a provider until 11, 11:30 will view the waiting period in its entirety. Rightly so. How long does it take to get test results? How long does it take to provide those results to the customer? There are always extenuating circumstances. Providers are busy. There is a shortage of doctors. And being a healthcare provider means tedious hours of paperwork. But from the patients' point of view, waiting for an hour or more after their appointment time is part of the problem.

4. WHAT IS YOUR CUSTOMER LOOKING FOR?
Most patients are taking time out of their own busy lives to come to you. Unless it's a routine physical, they're not coming to see you because they want to—they're coming to see you because they have to. Primary care physicians in particular are the traffic cops of the healthcare system. Much like triage in an emergency situation, primary care will lead to more specialized services. Patients are often scared and confused. The more complexity their symptoms present, the more doctor visits they'll need to endure. Let's face it—a doctor visit is not usually a happy occasion. A patient is looking for comfort, reassurance and most importantly, information. The entire patient care chain, from the initial appointment setting to the final referral, is part of the same experience for your patient. Clearly understanding their concerns goes far beyond being board certified. It requires a human touch.

5. FIX YOUR BOTTLENECKS, AND THEN PROMOTE IT
Putting the patient experience first is often a paradigm shift for a healthcare provider group. Doing so starts from the ground up, and from the top down. Respecting a patients' time, being clear and concise in your explanations, and then clearly explaining the next steps required provide the patient with a level of trust that no amount of letters beside your name can do. You may not be able to provide a 15 minute appointment guarantee. Logistics may not allow it. But promote it. Work as a team to ensure everything moves smoothly, and when the wait time exceeds 15 minutes, give your customers something. A gift card to Starbucks is a valuable commodity. A 15 minute guarantee will draw new patients from the large pool that now exists, let them know you understand their experience, and providing gift cards will offset any unforeseen circumstances. Starbucks gift cards can be personalized with your branding. People will do a great deal for very little. By providing some token as compensation for their wait, you let them know you get it. The patient experience is rough. To the patient, it's not a job. It's their life.

I've seen the healthcare process from both sides. I've worked with providers of all disciplines to help identify and correct issues. I've been a patient, waiting for hours in consecutively smaller waiting rooms. I've read old magazines, listened to piped-in Muzak and wondered why I scrambled to make an appointment time that was completely unrealistic.

Healthcare providers are providing a service. They have customers, just like any consumer business. The regulations and reimbursements and paperwork are intense, but other industries have similar challenges. Hospital groups and provider groups continue to grow and expand. The competition is intense. A group that decides the patient experience is more important than anything else will win. That fact has been proven again and again.

Your competition will continue touting their certifications and promote their latest machinery. If your message is simply, "we will see you within 15 minutes of your appointment time, or you receive a gift card", you will rise above. Patients are consumers, whether they or you are aware of it. Provide a consistently negative experience and your patients will walk away. But provide a sensitive, timely and positive experience, and you will reap the benefits.

Put TOM To Work For You—Top of Mind And How To Get There

TOM, or Top of Mind, is a marketing term used to identify whether or not your business is the first one people think of when they need the services you offer. Marketing, like the military, loves acronyms. We have a bundle. But all TOM means is that, when your customers need you, you'd better be there.

Top of Mind Recognition isn't complicated to achieve. The ingredients are straightforward. And the whole package is easy to assemble. Unfortunately, it can also be very expensive. Being TOM is much easier in a small market, and very, very expensive in a large market.

Top of Mind really has everything to do with your brand identity. You definitely want a good one. Without a great brand identity, you can't achieve TOM. You need a clear, concise and identifiable logo. A catchy tagline doesn't hurt. Be consistent with your advertising, because repetition is the key to unlocking TOM. It's also the key to creating a brand identity, which is one of the key ingredients that goes into this.

A brand identity can best be defined as your company's visual personality. It encompasses your logo, your company colors, your tagline, different advertising campaigns, your website design, your building's signage, vehicle wraps, etc. All of these elements need to be consistent. That way, when someone sees your ad in a magazine, and then sees your commercial on TV, and then sees your truck down the street at their neighbor's house, your company name and brand will be reinforced in this potential customer's mind. You see where we're going with this. Consistent message. Repeated again and again, in different ways with different media, at different times and at different locations. Pretty soon, your potential customers will be humming your tune.

Getting your business to achieve TOM can be a long-term and costly endeavor. But the payoff is that your business is the first one your potential customers think of when they need the services you offer.

Think of the local businesses with the catchiest jingles. Sure, they annoy you, but you remember them. Having a professional jingle written is an additional and often expensive cost, but putting an advertising message to music is a proven technique to help people remember. When you were learning the alphabet, you sang the "ABC" song. Same thing with a jingle. That jingle you've got stuck in your head right now? The one you heard on the radio on the way home from work, the one you're going to see on the commercial when you sit down to watch the local news? When you need the service they offer, whether it's a plumbing emergency or buying a new car or anything else, that jingle will stick in your head and that will be the first place you think of. Most jingles include the company's phone number or website address. And, unfortunately, the more annoying, the better. As long as it's catchy.

Whether you commission a jingle or not, your message needs to be everywhere. Here's where it gets a little bit more complex. You need to think like your potential customer, not like you. The overwhelming majority of ad campaigns fail because the campaigns end up advertising to the advertiser, not the customer. It doesn't matter what you like. It matters what your customer likes. And you need to discover what that is. And when you know who your customer is, you can get inside their heads and discover what else they like to do. Because human beings are complex. That complexity gives you lots of opportunity to surprise them. For instance, let's say you run a theater that shows live plays. You know that your audience likes some culture. You also know that, if they're coming downtown, they'll likely be going out to eat beforehand, and probably grabbing a drink afterwards. That's an example of what else they like to do. So go meet with the owners or managers of the surrounding restaurants and bars and talk to them about co-op advertising—you put posters or coasters or other types of items in their locations, they put ads in your programs. You just run the theater, but you've also created an event night for your patrons. You've gotten into their heads and discovered what else they like to do. And when all these businesses work together, everyone wins.

All marketing is local, no matter whether you're a national chain or the small Mom-and-Pop down the street. You're part of a community. Get involved. Sponsor teams, which allows you to get your logo on uniforms. Have your business join the local adopt-a-road program. You'll get a sign with your business name on it. Be a member of local business groups. Have booths at local festivals. Does your community have a farmer's market? Have a booth there. If you're a car dealer and want to sell more hybrids, a booth at the farmer's market is ideal. Have a few models in the parking lot to test drive. The point is, be where people aren't expecting you to be. Marketing wears people down. Being advertised to is offensive and is easily tuned out. Find something unique to do that gets your name in front of people. Don't copy your competition. Make your own statement. That's the whole idea, isn't it?

Being Top of Mind isn't difficult. It just takes time and investment. But the return on that investment is that you are the first business everyone thinks of. Being Top of Mind is not a bad place to be.

It's Not Me, It's You — How To Break Up With A Client

We've all had them—relationships that start out great, the sky's the limit, love is in the air and there's nothing but rainbows and happiness. Just so we're on the same page, I'm talking about a relationship with a client. I mean, the same thing can apply romantically, but that's a different blog.

You start your relationship casually, maybe a meeting over coffee or a casual hour chat at their place, a conference room, and then it moves into the head decision maker's office and you know things are getting serious. You're selling yourself harder than a hooker when the eunuch convention's in town and you make the deal. Whatever it is you're selling, whatever service you offer, they are chomping at the bit to make the deal with you. Life is amazing. You are winning in a Charlie Sheen way.

And then time passes. Something goes wrong. The original spark just isn't there anymore. They call you constantly, all hours of the day and night, and they want changes, lots of changes. They've decided they don't like the concept they just spent the past week gushing over. Eventually, they end up taking advantage of your goodwill and they aren't holding up their end of the bargain. You don't get paid, or there's a new condition for you to get paid. And then you now it's time. It's time for the "it's not me, it's you" conversation. Because it is them, isn't it? It's not you. You tried your hardest and worked your sorry little heart out and did everything you could to make the relationship work. But they took advantage of you.

So how do you break up with a client? I've had to do it several times. I've had to do with and without lawyers. It's a lot easier without lawyers.

1. HAVE A PRENUP
No matter how much in love you and the client are at the beginning of the relationship, something will eventually go wrong. The longer the relationship goes on, the more likely it is that something will break down. Create an agreement that clearly states your obligations, the client's obligations, any compensation involved, the length of the relationship, any specific payment terms... essentially, every single detail involved in your relationship. This is a great time to find a lawyer. If the type of work you do has similarities across the board, a standard contract or a standard set of terms and conditions that are part of a contract will ensure that all parties involved, no matter how much in love they are now, will clearly understand the repercussions of the inevitable breakup.

2. COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OFTEN
All relationship specialists say the same thing. If you don't communicate, your relationship is doomed. On a side note, aren't most relationship specialists on the tail end of bad relationships themselves? I digress. The key to successful business relationships comes from identifying potential issues before they become issues and solve them in an expeditious way. The goal with your business relationship is to not have it end. It's a helluva lot harder to build a new relationship than it is to nurture an existing one. That said, sometimes communication fails. Sometimes people are just nuts. Communication breaks down for a multitude of reasons. Do your best to make sure it doesn't. But recognize that sometimes it does.

3. BE VERY, VERY CLEAR IN YOUR BREAKUP CORRESPONDENCE
The best way to avoid any misunderstanding or lack of clarity in breaking up with a client is to be absolutely clear with the client that you are breaking up with them. You will be shocked at the level of simplicity you need to explain that the relationship has ended. Sometimes it will come as a surprise to the client that you're ending the relationship. Many clients (hell, many people) don't see their own behavior as problematic or confrontational or difficult. You are there to serve them, after all. If you're a good and decent person, with a solid work ethic and a genuine trust of human behavior, well, first of all, I have great pity for you and some sad news for you—you're one of the few who does. Okay, I'm the same way, and it takes a lot of problematic behavior for me to get to the point of firing a client. I bend over backwards to accommodate nearly every request. But I've also come to the point several times where I simply can't accommodate anymore. My correspondence to the client is always in writing, usually via email (as that is the main form of communication by which I engage my clients), but from time to time it will be via written letter, and sometimes, if I believe there's trouble or there's potential legal action, certified mail. I explain why I am ending the relationship, I explain clearly what time period is involved in the breakup, what physical or digital files (if any) will be provided, and what compensation is expected. I generally will sacrifice compensation if it means the relationship will end and I will be able to move on cleanly. That may not be your way, but it's my way. I always figure that if money isn't involved, there are a lot fewer lawyers involved. Every situation is different. Every client is different. I've had multiple types of situations and each has been unique.

4. BE VERY WARY OF TAKING THE CLIENT BACK
I don't know if it's just me or if it's every marketing professional, but I have never had a client I fired NOT come back to me. Every single one. Seriously. Most will simply contact me as if nothing has ever transpired between us. Some will acknowledge the past difficulties. For the most part, the initial peace offering is "just a little job" that needs to get done quickly. "You know what I like, I know you can do a good job." As a self-employed marketing professional who's just survived the worst recession we'll hopefully ever see, I've been hungry. Very hungry. I'm not proud of it, but I've taken those clients back. When you're looking at a stack of bills and can no longer answer your phone because all you'll be doing is talking to bill collectors, your pride suddenly doesn't have quite so much value. There's not much that can be said when you have, as Seinfeld put it, no hand. When you do eventually regain hand, it's important to re-examine that relationship as quickly as possible, and get rid of it again as quickly as possible.

Breaking up is hard to do, that much is true. But breaking up with a bad client, like a bad romantic relationship, leaves you feeling a sense freedom and empowerment that will hopefully translate into intelligent forethought and well-vetted clients in the future.

Oh, who are we kidding? We love getting hurt. Bad clients give us good stories.

What An Online Form Tells Your Customers

We've all seen them. The ubiquitous online contact form. On the surface, these forms seem to be a convenient way to collect and distribute initial contact data. If you've had a website with a contact feature for any length of time, you likely have one of these types of forms on your site.

From a website owner's perspective, these things are great. Deployed properly, they can help reduce spam email and triage client contact. Gathering a few important details (name, email, phone, etc.), can better prepare your team to speak with these new potential clients.

But from a customer's perspective, the view is different. Online forms can be seen as an impersonal form of contact. They get in the way. When a customer has a question or wants to contact you about the services you provide, the online form tells them the following:

1. You're too busy to talk to them. 
An online form that collects data becomes a black hole where a customer inputs their information and it disappears into the void. If your customer has a question or concern, or wants to hire your company, they want an answer. If the client is contacting you during normal business hours, the expectation is that you or someone else will be able to talk to them. If someone is sending you a contact email, they have reached the point in their purchasing decision where they're looking for specifics. Putting a form in their way stops the purchasing process in its tracks.

2. You don't trust them.
The use of CAPTCHA technology, those squiggly words and numbers that separate man from machine, are used to help limit the types of website attacks perpetrated by things called "spambots". These automated hacking tools scour the web to find open email addresses, and then inundate them with spam email. Spam email is a real threat—viruses are often embedded within them, so that when they're opened, nefarious things can happen. However, that's your problem, not your customers'. What you tell your customers when you force them to use this technology is that your comfort is more important than their ability to easily contact you.

There are a few simple ground rules for opening email. First, most commercial email hosts (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) have firewalls built in. They will detect what is likely spam and quarantine it for you. Your "junk" folder is a graveyard of these types of emails. It's important to check your junk folder often. Spam quarantine software isn't foolproof. And if your business is consumer-based, you will receive emails from people you don't know. Become email savvy. If someone tells you they want to send you $9 million from Nairobi, or wants to give you a way to meet local singles, or wants to give you free software, etc., those are bad. If an email seems like a legitimate contact, but has been quarantined, send a fresh email to the address to confirm. Or, if the contact has left a phone number, call them.

3. You're too big (or small) to help them.
This is another unintended consequence of an online contact form. Think about the last time you needed information from the IRS or the Social Security office, or a large bank. If you go through the online contact process, it's very similar to the chaos of an automated phone answering system. Press 1 for English, press 2 for Swahili... You have no idea where the form is going, when you'll be called back, or if you'll be called back. The same process works in the opposite direction. Many micro-businesses use this type of solution to help triage their incoming correspondence. There may not be anyone available to answer a direct email, or a phone call.

The general rule in website development for the past decade has been the use of these forms. Recently, however, many users are electing to abandon them. Why? Because they're not as secure as we've been led to believe, and they alienate customers.

What's the alternative? If you can't collect initial data from a client, how do you know what they need? Here are a few techniques that are so old-school that they're not even retro anymore. But they work.

1. Encourage phone contact.
Yep, the old standby. Giving your customers the clear and attractive option of calling you or your team directly, whenever they need you, sets you above your competition. We all get busy—a ringing phone can seem like a personal attack on your day. But a five minute phone conversation can not only solve a problem, it can reinforce a relationship. If a customer has a problem, solving it immediately will defuse the ticking time bomb. Forcing them to send you a form and then waiting for you to get around to answering them can bring even a tiny issue to a boiling point. Answer the phone promptly. If you can't, have a message on the phone that lets customers know how quickly you'll get back to them. And follow through. Most business phones have a flashing message light. Treat that light as if you were the bomb squad diffusing the big one. The faster the light goes out, the better the outcome.

Answering the phone and returning calls promptly (within the hour), is the basis of any successful marketing strategy. All the advertising in the world won't help you if you don't return a call. Just as a professional, friendly greeting by staff when a customer visits your store or office is the front line of your marketing plan, so too is answering calls.

Consider the value of a live operator. If your customers have to work their way through a maze of "press 1 for sales, press 2 for support", they will be discouraged. A voice on the other end, no matter how inconvenient for you, is convenient for them.

2. Provide direct email addresses.
Web development philosophy for years has been to mask or hide all open email addresses. This has been done, legitimately, for security purposes. However, the ability for your customers to contact someone directly via email outweighs any potential security or spam-related inconvenience you may face.

If you have multiple departments, provide a direct email to each. And then answer them, either by email or, preferably, by phone, and within a very limited time.

I appear to be brushing web security aside in this post. That's not the case. Having your email hacked is an inconvenience. Having your website hacked can be devastating. If your business relies on its website for any type of contact, you need to ensure your website hosting company is legitimate. Commercial hosting companies have server "farms" located across the globe, which can deflect web attacks by switching to a different location. Security for commercial web hosting companies is high and dependable—it has to be. The type of data stored on these servers is crucial. If you have a blog site, or if your website is inconsequential to your business, use one of the discount hosting companies. Security is important. It's also worth more than $3 per month. If you choose the right hosting company, it's not your problem.

The basics of marketing come down to this—when someone calls, answer. When someone has a problem, fix it. The basics of marketing have nothing to do with your logo or your website or your sign. It has to do with how you and your staff treat people.

The litmus test is this—would you want to do business with you?