In our first blog for AXXESS, we wrote, “So, in essence, marketing should start with exploring what value the agency brings to their target market. Then, that value should be expanded and delivered, and talked about. Understanding who the agency serves best, and who gains the most from the agency’s services, will help the agency pinpoint who should be getting the communication about the value the agency is delivering.”
“Communicating” is the key word here. In 2014, communicating means not only speaking TO a target audience, but also having that target audience find your agency on their own. When the referral source, the Accountable Care Organization, the Medical Home, needs help, they come looking for it. Using integrated marketing tactics with the agency website as the core, the communication becomes inbound, not outbound. This means that when someone is looking for service, they will find the agency, and, if the website is created correctly, the referral source will make a HIPAA-compliant inquiry for service provision on the website, the agency will respond quickly, and an admission is completed. And, it really all relates to the advances in technology.
Technology is not only the biggest game-changer in how people communicate and how businesses run efficiently in 2014, but technology is also the biggest influence on how marketing has changed for the present, and will continue to change into the future. Are you old enough to remember when the Yellow Pages were the absolute advertising necessity in any market? Well, today, the absolute necessity is a good agency website. Secondary to that is a good agency blog and a presence in social media that supports the integration of all the integrated marketing efforts. All of this, of course is strategy based, but that is the topic for another time.
It was certainly a lot easier to place an ad in the Yellow Pages. However, the upside potential of today’s inbound marketing makes that static ad seem as archaic as it really is. Inbound marketing (or content marketing, or educational marketing) is all about creating a place with relevant and helpful information that a) helps the website (the place) become found in search engines (where folks are looking) and b) provides the searcher with (hopefully, if designed and maintained correctly) the information to make a decision to chose the agency for the referral.
Marketing in 2014, especially home care marketing, is really about creating relevant content, distributing it where it will benefit users and agency alike, and working to keep the content fresh and updated. Marketing is no longer either B2B or B2C; rather, it is a shared experience, with the user, whether a business or a consumer, finding helpful information and acting on it.
A good agency website is a replacement/alternative for those old-time Yellow Pages. It serves as a resource for problem solving. It is not only becoming a customer-driven standard, but it is also an (unexpected) successful avenue for recruitment. The web itself is a fluid medium, and the number of sites, as well as the age and distribution of users, is constantly changing. It is truly interactive, and is the best global medium for dialog. It is becoming faster and faster as broadband is becoming common across the United States. It is available 24/7, and allows information transfer without boundaries of time and geography. There are HIPAA-compliant technologies that integrate well with the EHR systems and other technologies used in the industry as a whole.
To continue this love fest with technology and the Internet, it really does level the playing field for small companies (smart ones!). Its use as a proven research tool grows daily. It is global in reach.
If you are struggling with creating an effective strategy for 2014 that uses integrated inbound marketing tactics that get results, corecubed can help. Visit our website, call us at 800-370-6580 X1, or email us at info@corecubed.com. You will be glad you did.
About Merrily Orsini
Merrily Orsini’s professional background combines her skills in technology with her expertise in communicating and a fondness for interacting with people. Her business ownership began with a geriatric care managed in-home care agency, a venture that garnered her the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1996. She would later sell that business and found corecubed in 1998, a digital marketing company that focuses on marketing aging care services using strategy, design and integration to get results for our home care and aging care client partners. Recognized nationally for her expertise in strategic marketing for aging related services, particularly home care and home health services, Orsini is involved in numerous organizations within the home care industry. She is the past Chair of the Private Duty Homecare Association of America, and recently served on the board of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice. Learn more about Merrily at merrilyorsini.com
