Tag: digital marketing

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SMG News

Sachs Marketing Group is a 2019 Los Angeles City Excellence Award Winner

The results are in! Sachs Marketing Group has been awarded a 2019 Los Angeles City Excellence Award by UpCity. Out of 624 marketing service providers in Los Angeles, we were selected as one of the top 20 based on our UpCity Rating, which measures digital recommendability by reviews, search score, domain authority and more.

By having our services listed on UpCity and featured as one of the top 20 agencies in Los Angeles, we’re able to cut through the noise, standout and create trust with prospective buyers. It’s an honor for us to be represented on the City Excellence Award List.

The infographic below goes more into detail on what makes a great agency in Los Angeles and stats that highlight Los Angeles as a marketing hub in North America.

UpCity helps businesses find marketing providers they can trust. The UpCity Marketplace creates and empowers successful relationships between businesses and marketing service providers. We provide transparency and insights to dramatically improve the marketing partner selection and purchase experience. Over 225,000 businesses visit UpCity each month seeking marketing services from over 33,000 providers in over 600 cities in North America. UpCity helps partners in the marketplace grow their business and build their digital recommendability.

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Digital Marketing

How to Develop an Omni-Channel Retail Strategy

If you’re in retail and don’t have an omni-channel strategy yet, you’re missing out on a lot of potential review. A recent report shows that out of 46,000 shoppers, 73% used multiple channels to make a purchase. Only 7% shopped exclusively online, and 20% shopped exclusively in store. If you were looking for proof that you need to create a seamless experience across all channels, there it is. To succeed in today’s retail climate, you must provide a quality product at an affordable price, of course, but these days, it’s becoming less about price and more about the customer experience.

Developing an omni-channel retail strategy improves the customer experience, which in turn, helps to boost customer retention. When you make a customer happy, whether they shop with you online or in-store, at your website or through your app or social media channels, chances dramatically improve that they will come back to you again and again for repeat purchases. When you consider the cost of customer acquisition is (at least) 5x higher than the cost of customer retention, it makes more sense to keep the customers you have happy than to constantly focus your efforts on bringing in new customers.

Note: Omni-channel isn’t quite the same thing as multi-channel marketing. Learn the difference in this blog post.

Step One: Determine Where Your Audience is

Taking the time to determine where your customers are spending most of their time online is important. Because there are so many channels to invest time and energy in, it doesn’t make sense to overextend yourself and try to be everywhere. Rather than making a half-hearted attempt at creating a cohesive social presence across all the major social media networks, on the off chance you’ll catch a customer’s eye, it makes more sense to focus your efforts on one or two social channels where you know your customers are.

Once you know the platforms your customers are using, figure out the mediums they use the most, and the devices they use. This way, you’ll get a clearer idea of where your customers are spending time, how, and where they normally shop.

For instance, you may learn there aren’t a lot of Instagrammers in your target audience. That means you can either ditch the channel, or skip it altogether and focus your efforts on other channels that are far more profitable.

Use your Google Analytics account to learn more about your customers – specifically the Acquisition reports. These will show you the channels that are effectively driving visitors to your website, and then you’ll get a better idea of how people are finding your business. If you want to go more in-depth, look at the Multi-Channel Funnels option and run different attribution reports to see the full conversion path.

Step Two: Identify All Touchpoints and Make Them Shoppable

To maximize your omni-channel approach, any and all customer touchpoints must be shoppable. If you find, for instance, that you have a decent size customer base on Instagram or Pinterest, both of these networks have shoppable post options that allow people to make purchases directly from those platforms.

The idea is that no matter where your customers are, you should make it as easy as possible for them to move from product discovery to conversion. If they find out about your product while browsing Instagram, but have to go to a computer to actually buy it, you’re taking the chance that the person either won’t want to do that, or can’t do it right then and will forget to do it later.

You’ll decide the touch points you want to use based on the ones you believe will be most profitable to you, based on where your customers shop and where they hang out.

Step Three: Create a Smooth Transition Between Online and Offline

If you are a brand with both an online presence and a traditional brick-and-mortar store for offline purchases, you have to bridge the gap between the two to provide a better customer experience. Major retailers like Walmart and Kohl’s have done this by allowing you to place orders online and come pick them up in store, rather than waiting (and paying) for them to be shipped to your home.

This allows customers to save time and hassle associated with going to your store and finding out you don’t have the item in stock, or having to call to find out. They can pay for the purchase online, and simply pick it up later, rather than having to go into the store and find it themselves. Saving time is a good motivator for customers.

Services like Prime Wardrobe allow you to shop for clothes and shoes you’d like to try. The items are shipped to you to try on, and you buy only what you want to keep – with no obligation to keep any of it. This is helpful because a lot of the time, you’re not sure something will look the way you think, or fit the way it should based on the description. If you make the purchase first, you’re left with having to return the items, possibly losing money because you have to pay for return shipping. This encourages people to buy because they can try before they commit, or exchange for a different size or color with greater ease.

Grocery stores and fast food restaurants are following along on the trend, using third party services such as Instacart, Shipt, DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats. Though they don’t generally deliver, customers in the right geographical areas can get pretty much anything delivered – from tacos to fried chicken. It’s a great option for when you’re sick of pizza delivery, or just don’t have time to make the grocery trip on your own. Partnering with third-party services allows brands to capitalize on creating an omnichannel experience and add convenience for their customers, without having to invest a ton of money into their own brand-specific initiatives.

All in all, anyone in retail – whether you have an offline presence or not – needs to consider their omni-channel strategy. Put your customers first in everything you do, and test everything until you get the best possible results. Your bottom line will thank you.

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Social Media

Leveraging Google Maps New Public Events Feature

In a feature that could directly compete with Facebook Events, Google Maps is now allowing users to create public events with specific locations. Though it has yet to be publicly announced as of March 25, 2019, the feature has been confirmed through a dedicated help center article.

Google began highlighting public events in Maps last year, but until now, there hasn’t been a way for regular users to add event information to Maps. Google announced last year at their 2018 I/O conference that they were going to be heading down a path to make them more social, and this appears to be one of the ways they’re doing it. In addition to the public events feature, Maps has also gotten more social with augmented reality directions, personalized recommendations, and the ability to vote on restaurants with your friends. These developments were also announced at the 2018 I/O conference, with no formal release date at this time.

According to Android Police, the implementation is laggy right now, with events taking up to an hour to appear on the map. Not only this, but it appears to be available only in certain regions – and not available to all users within the region. It may have something to do with a user’s local guide status, as it could be problematic to allow every single Google Maps user the ability to add events. Local Guides are users who have earned that status with previous contributions to Google Maps – with check-ins, photos, reviews, and answering questions from other users.

As the feature gets a full rollout, I’d expect to see it become more clear as to the regions and users the feature is available for, and anticipate the time until the post is live on Maps to shorten dramatically.

What You’ll Be Able to Do With the Public Events Feature on Google Maps

You will be able to broadcast events related to your business, such as restaurant openings, concerts, open mic nights, art gallery debuts, etc. without having to send invites or spam social media posts for marketing purposes. That’s not to say you can’t still use social media to promote your event, but Google Maps will provide additional exposure.

If you don’t already have a Google My Business listing, now is a great time to search for your business and claim the listing. This will give you the ability to control what Google displays to users who search for your business, while also helping your overall search rank.

Google has made public events available on Google Maps for sometime now, letting users browse nearby events from a long list of categories including classes, nightlife, concerts, outdoors, and more. Like these, any user created public events will be viewable on the map and searchable for all users with the Events tab.

At this time, the event creation feature is only available for Android users, and there’s no official word on when we can expect it to roll out to other platforms. If your Google Maps app doesn’t allow you to add your own public events, check for updates on Google Play. If that still doesn’t work, be patient, as it’s possible the feature hasn’t been introduced for your location or specific device yet. Based on the fact that it can take up to an hour for an event you create to be live on Google Maps, the feature is still in development.

How to Create an Event on Google Maps

You can add events to a Google Maps listing from the Contribute tab in the Android app. Once in the Contribute tab, there’s another tab for events. To start creating an event, tap “Add a Public Event.”

When creating an event, specify the name of the event, the location, start and end times, category, description, and website where users can for more information about the event. There’s also the option to add photos to draw more attention to your listing. You can use photos of your venue or past events.

How to Edit or Delete Your Event

Unfortunately, at this time, it does not look as though events will be automatically removed from Google Maps after their end time has passed. That means you’ll have to go back to edit and delete the event when it’s finished.

You’ll go back to the Contribute tab, then back to the Events tab. You’ll choose the event you want to edit or delete, then tap “Edit this Event.”  To edit, just change the details and information as desired. If you want to delete the event, look for the “Delete this event” option on the editing screen. Follow the on-screen steps to delete the event.

I’ll post more, or come back to update this post with additional details once things are announced and/or fully rolled out. These developments are not only giving marketers and business owners additional tools for reaching their customers, but are giving Google users a richer experience.

The 2019 I/O Conference is coming up next month – from May 7th to May 9th. I can’t see what they’re coming up with next!

If you’re an Android user, check to see if the ability to add events to Google Maps is available to you yet. If so, comment and tell me your region, and whether or not you’ve achieved local guide status. A colleague of mine who lives in South Carolina who is a Level 5 Local Guide does not have the ability yet, and has updated the Maps app through Google Play. She’ll keep an eye out and let me know if it changes soon, but so far, I’ve not been able to identify any kind of rhyme or reason to who has the ability and who doesn’t.

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SMG News

Sachs Marketing Group Named an SEO Leader on Clutch!

We’re thrilled and excited to announce the news: Sachs Marketing Group Named an SEO Leader on Clutch!

 

 

The way that businesses compete with each other has fundamentally changed; from billboards, magazine ads, and commercial jingles to duking it out in search results, on social media, and ads on leading digital platforms. Companies that recognize these changes increase their chances of succeeding, but the firms who leverage them to reach their audiences and test new waters are the ones destined for greatness. And we are more than happy to help them achieve that greatness.

Although we help our clients be greater, we have recently been recognized for a bit of greatness ourselves. We are proud to share that Clutch has named Sachs Marketing Group an industry leader among the top SEO services in Los Angeles. Clutch is a leading research firm that provides in depth research and verified client reviews for vendors of B2B services. After being the subject of in depth research with nearly 600 of the top SEO agencies in LA, we are proud to be listed as one of the top ten overall.

Clutch’s research methodology includes considerations for marketing presence, company portfolios, social media efforts, and most importantly, verified client reviews. With a total of 15 reviews, we are proud to maintain a rating of five stars on the platform, with our clients saying things like,

“They’re not trying to take advantage of a budget. They’re true, genuine partners. I don’t feel like we’re a client that simply generates revenue for them. We’re treated more like family.”

We are thankful to have the opportunity to hear from our clients, and we have been thrilled with what they have to say. We cannot wait to see what else our clients have to say, and to use it to improve ourselves and our services.

 

 

In addition to our presence on Clutch, we are featured on their sister-site, The Manifest. The Manifest serves as a resource to firms of all shapes and sizes, offering industry insights and how-to guides to help address any number of industry challenges. We were included on their list of the top SEO companies in Los Angeles, acknowledging the quality of our work and the value of our services. We are grateful for our inclusion on these lists of top notch service providers, and we believe that it speaks to the quality of our services. And to further demonstrate the quality of those services, we have created a profile on Visual objects, a space for digital marketing agencies and other creatives to share their work with prospective clients.

Upon being made aware of our recognition, our founder Eric Sachs remarked, “Being acknowledged by Clutch as a Los Angeles Leader in the digital marketing space is an extreme honor for my agency.  To me personally, the award is a validation of the client-focused culture we’ve developed over the past 9 years.  I remain humbled and grateful for the continued opportunity to be of service to our clients.”

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Digital Marketing

10 Reasons Local Businesses Need Great Websites

As a local business owner, you may think your storefront, word-of-mouth, and local advertising is all you need to succeed. This is incredibly short-sighted; your business’s online presence is just as important.

In the past, people doing a Google search for a product would be presented with a 10-pack listing of local businesses offering what they were looking for. Now, those packs are smaller and harder for local businesses to lock down in the listings. What was once a bit of friendly competition is now more like a triathlon…with no shoes on.

Plainly put, it’s hard as heck.

Without a great website, your odds of being seen online are almost zero – and it isn’t just because of visibility, either. Attracting new customers, increasing brand presence, and even establishing credibility are all important factors.

Let’s learn about this important topic together, shall we?

Your Customers are Watching

Even if you don’t sell online, it’s almost expected that your business will have an online presence. More than 50 percent of consumers will look online to see if you have a website or something that represents your brand before visiting your store. We live in a fast-paced society; people want to know you have the products or services they’re looking for before they make a trip out of the house.

Brand Credibility

Your potential customers aren’t just looking to learn about what you have to offer. They want to know they can trust you, too.

Where do they look first?

To see if you have a website.

Today’s digital world basically demands an online presence. In the past, businesses that didn’t have a storefront weren’t taken seriously. Now it’s hard to imagine a business without a website. Is it real? Is it a scam? Your website helps lend legitimacy to your overall brand.

You Tell Your Own Story

Having a website allows you to position your business however you’d like online. You’re responsible for your image, personality, and back story. Building a website gives you complete control over what people know about your business, how it was formed, why you do what you do, and your overall mission. Add in a few share links so others can share your story on social and your brand’s name is bound to spread.

Social Proof

There are tons of websites where customers can leave reviews of your business: Yelp, Google My Business, FourSquare, Yellow Pages…

And that isn’t even counting the smaller outlets and social media reviews!

With your own website, you can pull social reviews into a feed and add your own iterations gathered from your customers. This allows people to see online reviews without even leaving the page, killing two birds with one stone.

Bonus points? It’s also a great way to showcase the positive and limit the negative, especially if you’ve had a rough ride along the way. Real customer testimonials are an impressive feature your potential buyers will really appreciate.

Expanding Your Target Audience

Local businesses tend to have limited target audiences, usually within a certain geographic area surrounding their brick-and-mortar store. Having a website makes you accessible to people further out, whether they end up doing business with you by phone, via email, or on your website itself.

Again, you don’t necessarily have to have an online store to attract a broader audience. Simply making yourself accessible will make it easier for people to find you, get to know you, and make a solid buying decision.

Lead Generation

It doesn’t matter if you’re offering a sales portal on your website or not.; your website is an incredibly valuable tool for lead generation. Any well-developed business website should offer (at a minimum) an email capture form. Your goal is to capture email addresses and send out newsletters with key updates (like sales).

Regular communication keeps your brand visible to potential consumers. This is true whether they need you now or in a few months.

Offering Educational Materials

A website is a great place to offer educational materials about your products and services, like product demonstrations. Think about it this way: if you don’t do it, someone else likely will – and they just might be better at it.

Whether it’s in the form of a blog post or YouTube video, your job is to be useful and engaging. Publish instructions on how to set-up or install your products, use them, and maintain them. You may even come up with out-of-the-box DIY tutorials, projects, or recipes that incorporate your products and others. Make your website the top resource for information on how to use your products and services.

Improved Communication

Your website should offer customers and potential leads options for getting in touch with you. Start by creating a clear and comprehensive FAQ page with all of your most common questions and answers. People love being able to find answers 24/7 without having to bother with a customer service line or email.

Make all of your contact information easy to find. Your phone number should be clear on every page of your website. Incorporate an easy-to-use contact form instead of just listing an email address. You may even want to add a chat-form if you’re willing and able to host live chats right on your site. The easier it is for people to get in touch with you, the happier they’ll be.

Enhanced Marketing

You should definitely be putting your specials and announcements on your social platforms. They should be on your website, too, though.

Contrary to popular belief, a consumer is more likely to do a Google search for your business than they are to look for a social page.

Website first, social second.

Having your specials, events, and important announcements on your website is important for enhanced communication and generating overall interest in what you’re doing. Granted, this doesn’t mean you should ignore social – just that you shouldn’t neglect your site in favor of social media marketing instead.

Adaptability

Want to make a change to your business model?

You can do that.

Simply want an online presence to may add an ecommerce store later?

No problem.

Want to add a blog page sometime in the future?

Hey, great – that’s easy, too.

Your website and its functionality can grow with your business – it will never hold you back. Redesign it, add new forms of content, update your images, or make whatever change to functionality you desire at any point in time.

Your only limits are your skill levels and time, and there are plenty of web developers who can help you get past those issues.

The long and short of the situation is that all businesses, regardless of size, should have an online presence. You can even start with a free website option if your budget is a limitation.

There’s no reason to not be online, and your absence is very likely doing you more harm than good. Start small and grow your website with your business. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes!

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Outreach

Fall In Love With These Valentine’s Day Campaign Ideas

There are several Valentine’s Day campaign ideas that might work for your business. Effective Valentine’s Day campaigns involve creating themed promotions, romantic gift guides, or special discounts. Leveraging social media for love-themed contests and user-generated content can boost engagement. Email marketing with personalized offers and targeted ads to those searching for gifts enhances reach. Collaborations with influencers for Valentine’s content can also increase campaign visibility and impact.

Updated 2023

The holiday season goes like this: December Holidays, New Year, football playoffs through to the SuperBowl, and then Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is a bit weird in that even though it is already on store shelves, it isn’t as prevalent in advertisements until February 1st.  That means you have about a week or so to make sure your Valentine’s Day campaigns, if not already started, are ready to be heavy hitters for this super-short and fast-paced greeting card holiday. Here’s a few useful suggestions to help you get ready faster.

BOGO Deals for Couples

Tis the season for couples, right? Offering some sort of BOGO (buy one, get one free) deal appeals to couples of all ages, no matter how long they’ve been together. You don’t necessarily have to make your BOGO a “buy one, get one free” deal if you don’t have the budget. You can do a “buy one, get one 50 percent off” or some other special; the key is to ensure it’s financially appealing to your potential clients.

Polish Your Email Campaigns

Make sure your email campaigns are on-point. The subject lines need to be especially clear, and they need to tease at the inside content, too. Do your best to make it clear that you have amazing Valentine’s Day specials inside.

The inside content needs to be visually appealing, too; this is especially important for Valentine’s Day. Tweak your backgrounds and imagery to match the holiday – you don’t have to be all about the red and pink, but you should try and get creative. Hearts, different colored roses, great photos of couples together with your products, and other visual mixes will appeal to the eyes and earn you clicks through to your website.

Related: 10 Simple Email Marketing Tips to Attract Local Customers

Greeting Cards

You have an existing client database, we’re sure. Put your graphic designers to work designing a special Valentine’s Day ecard you can send to your existing list. It can be a simple greeting, or you can include a special, limited-time coupon code just for them.

People who have purchased from a company in the past love feeling like they’re getting something special or exclusive in return.

Promote Matching Products

Sometimes, one gift doesn’t seem like quite enough, but choosing a second gift seems daunting. Run some sort of “matching” campaign that suggests complimentary items to go with base purchases. For example, if someone purchases a necklace, you should be featuring matching earrings or bracelets as separate items and/or as bundles. If someone is buying a pair of running shoes, you should show running socks or cute themed running tanks. The idea is to increase the value of each order while offering great suggestions or add-on deals.

FREE Shipping

Valentine’s Day is a great time to show your customers how much you love them with free shipping deals. Offer free shipping on any purchase or on purchases over a certain dollar amount. This works out well for two reasons. Some people will buy because not having to pay for shipping is a major motivator. Others will be happy that they don’t have to pay for shipping and will use it as an excuse to buy more product!

Engage Your Fans

Valentine’s Day is a great time for simple brand awareness campaigns. The makers of Sour Patch Kids ran a really cute campaign a few years ago. They used Wattpad to connect with their younger teen fans by having writers come up with some cool “sweet than sour” romance stories and celebrated not Valentine’s Day, but “Singles Awareness Day.” They then opened it up as a contest so their fans could submit their own themed stories, complete with a branded hashtag, of course.

User-Generated Content

Create a special hashtag and ask your audience to share something special about their relationships. Don’t specify that they have to be romantic relationships, though; they can be, but it’s okay if they’re about friendships or families, too. Ask your fans to submit their stories and a photo (with a photo release) via a specific email address or via a contest platform where they can also earn entries for a special prize.

You’ll end up with tons of great stories to share and you’ll be able to collect additional email leads for the future. You may even want to consider offering a small discount code to all participants who provide an email address.

Brand Your Social Accounts

No matter what type of campaign you are running, you should make some updates to your social media platforms. Make sure all of your artwork, including thumbnails and cover images, matches the rest of the strategy. Your overall brand should still be easy to recognize, but with an in-your-face reminder that you have something special going on.

Social media development can require a lot of time and energy. If you need help for your business, consider working with a team of professional digital marketers.

Don’t Forget the Single Ladies (and Gentlemen)

Remember that “Singles Awareness Day” campaign we mentioned? You don’t necessarily have to go that route (and probably shouldn’t), but you should definitely make sure the single people in your demographic don’t feel left out. Either tailor your campaigns so that a single person can still make a purchase or offer something special, just for them. Everyone deserves to feel loved on Valentine’s Day!

Utilize Polls

Just about every social media channel allows you to run a poll on a business page, and some even allow you to add images. Use this space to run a series of polls running up until Valentine’s Day. Bars should show competing themed cocktails or holiday-inspired dishes. Clothing retailers should ask audiences to choose date-night outfits for the big night out. All of these are great way to drive engagement around the holiday theme.

Last Minute Gift Ideas

This one won’t work as well if it will take a ton of time to ship, but local businesses with an online presence should definitely take advantage of last-minute gift ideas. Include products, services, pre-made gift baskets, and whatever else might appeal to those who usually put off shopping until the last possible second. Take some super-appealing photos and consider running some geo-targeted campaigns in the days leading up to the 14th.

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to have a little fun with both awareness and sales campaigns. Just remember to be sensitive of those who may not be in romantic relationships. We can’t wait to hear what tricks you have up your sleeve for February!

Categories
Digital Marketing

6 Special Digital Marketing Challenges for Healthcare Facilities

Several digital marketing challenges for healthcare facilities need addressing. Healthcare facilities face unique digital marketing challenges, including compliance with HIPAA and other privacy regulations, communicating complex medical information clearly, and maintaining a balance between professionalism and approachability. Building trust through patient testimonials and educational content, while ensuring data security and privacy, is crucial. Adapting to the sensitive nature of healthcare topics in online marketing is also essential.

The world of healthcare is constantly evolving, and marketing is more challenging than ever. In an increasingly digital-focused world, there so much the average provider needs to consider and pay attention to: privacy, online reviews, your ability to create a strong brand presence, SEO, and yes, even competing with other providers, too. It’s certainly possible to succeed if you can achieve the right balance.

But trying to find that precarious balance between adhering to healthcare rules and reaching your audience in a way that converts? That isn’t always easy. Special considerations for confidentiality significantly hamper options, as do legal limitations on what you can do or say. Success might begin to feel like an impossibility.

Now, here’s the good news: succeeding in advertising your facility or service online isn’t just possible; it can also be relatively easy. You just have to anticipate challenges like these and ensure you have contingency plans!

Audience Segmentation

Determining your audience segment is much more challenging in healthcare than it is in other more traditional markets (like construction or real estate). Healthcare facilities need to consider ages, genders, geographic locations, patient medical conditions, and specialist needs, too. This factor significantly restricts options and may even make certain marketing techniques inappropriate (like the use of messenger bots on Facebook or SMS texting).

Unfortunately, healthcare marketing challenges can be elusive and difficult to spot, and in many cases, facilities break the rules without even realizing it. Everything seems to be going fine, so they assume it is – until they wind up sued or fined.

This isn’t designed to frighten you off of digital marketing; rather, it’s a cautionary note to go into it with your eyes open. Special challenges around privacy, location, and regulations are always present.

Think about it this way: it’s often easy to create a digital ad for individuals seeking a primary care provider in your local hometown, city, or even state. Fine-tuning the target audience for cardiology or cancer care? That ramps up the difficulty significantly because targeting patients with certain conditions is considered a form of discrimination.

Add to this the lack of ability to pry into someone’s personal history (HIPAA laws always come first) and most healthcare facilities are forced to cast a wider net. Insurance network limitations further limit conversions.

As someone marketing in the healthcare industry, you also need to take customer loyalty into consideration. Educated consumers usually seek out the very best care from top providers in well-known facilities. Your digital marketing techniques need to speak to this segment in the right way; they‘re more likely to stay loyal to your brand as long as you provide quality service. This audience segment is also the most willing to wait for an appointment or even drive a bit further than the average patient.

Healthcare Wants and Needs

There’s no doubt about it: patients rate healthcare facilities on everything from the end result of patient care to the quality of customer service. Even hospital accommodations play a role in how patients rate you. Uncomfortable beds? That’ll end up on Yelp. Nurse took too long? Expect a complaint about that, too.

We’re seeing hospitals, for example, remodel themselves so that almost every patient has a private room and isn’t forced to share. Outpatient facilities must be clean, calm and welcoming, with a quiet, comfortable ambiance and plenty of amenities (like coffee, televisions, and other waiting room perks). These benefits might not have anything to do with saving a life, but they still matter to patients.

In digital advertising, success comes from focusing on patient care and what the facility itself offers that puts it a step above the rest. Patients need to see your facility will connect them with the best doctors in the field (needs) while providing access to the most comfortable, high-tech, and spacious facilities (wants) in the area.

Transparency in Operations

Now, here‘s another problematic side of the coin. Healthcare consumers don’t want to scour the web for reviews of healthcare facilities. What they appreciate more than anything is the ability to visit a facility’s website and see ratings on page — even if they aren’t all 5-star comments. Larger hospital systems get their digital teams to either scrape review feeds from other sites; others incorporate honest patient feedback submission options right on-site. Either approach has its own merits.

Consumers also hate having to wait on hold for an hour just to find out they can’t get book an appointment with a specialist or provider in the near future. This is an evolving caveat that isn’t always easy to overcome, but the slow and steady improvement and accessibility of online booking systems can and will reduce this pain point.

Unfortunately, there are concerns with digital booking systems. There’s the risk of intrusion, hijacking, or even hacking attempts. Cost is also a factor; in fact, it’s so impactful that it’s the number one issue holding facilities back from getting on board with digital booking in the first place. As these systems continue to evolve, costs will come down and they’ll better serve both facilities and patients.

Online Reviews

While transparency is an issue for facilities, especially with regard to reviews, managing online reviews has always been challenging. Dozens of websites allow patients and even their families or friends to read and leave reviews —  good or bad. It isn’t always possible to identify who saw the patient or even who treated them. In some cases, it may even be impossible to identify who the patient even was.

The dangers associated are clear: you can gain a bad reputation or find yourself in a PR nightmare. Disgruntled consumers may review facilities or individual doctors causing confusion for potential visitors who decide to go elsewhere.

Then there is the issue of diversity in marketing channels. Most facilities are present on multiple platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, business website, app, you name it). Marketers need to monitor, cultivate, and handle all of these facets at once, and that can suck up hours or even days of time every week.

Furthermore, some platforms aren’t facility-operated. Doctors may find themselves reviewed on Healthgrades, Vitals, Yelp, Google, RateMDs, and a myriad of other large and lesser-known sites. So, too, can facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. It takes a lot of planning and implementing a strong review monitoring platform to stay on top of and respond to online reviews constructively.

HIPAA Limitations

America passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996. The goal was to protect patients from fraud and abuse, protect the integrity of medicine, and make patient information more accessible to healthcare providers without risking patient privacy. HIPAA is excellent and so incredibly important, but it does make it difficult to segment campaigns targeted toward specific consumer groups. These regulations also make it exceptionally difficult to interact with patients online without doing a frenzied tap dance around the rules.

Take, for example, re-targeting — the practice in which a website owner shows ads to people who have visited their pages at some point in the past. Healthcare providers can’t use re-targeting because it invariably ends up violating privacy laws (usually by targeting a health condition within future advertisements). Instead, healthcare facilities have to rely on unique impressions and repeat ad views.

Money, Money, Money

Let’s face it: one of the biggest digital marketing challenges in healthcare is a lack of funds. Marketing teams and CEOs rely on old-school marketing methods and are reluctant to expand their online advertising strategies. There’s something to be said about not overspending on digital marketing, but to ignore the digital sphere is a big mistake.

Here‘s the thing; digital marketing doesn’t need to be your only form of marketing, nor should it eat up your entire budget, either. Facilities who enter the online sphere carefully and cautiously could see a huge increase in advertising ROI if they were only willing to expand into new markets with safer, more reliable long-term strategies. Brand awareness is just as important as disease or service-specific marketing. The reluctance to invest often leaves the digital marketing team creating online assets and simply putting them out there, hoping for organic traction. The end result is a campaign that just doesn’t convert as well as you might think.

Healthcare is growing in leaps and bounds. As our population ages, new walk-in clinics, offices, and hospital facilities are popping up regularly to serve patients in newer and more reliable ways. Without a strong digital marketing strategy, most facilities just become static in the online “noise” their competitors create. Success comes from sitting down to create a strong plan with specific goals. The biggest hurdle you’ll ever face is convincing doctors and administrative staff to see the bigger picture.

 

Categories
Digital Marketing

10 Digital Marketing Myths You Need to Forget

Common digital marketing myths to discard include the notions that email is outdated, social media suits only certain businesses, content must go viral to be effective, and SEO is a one-time task. Other misconceptions include the irrelevance of websites in the social media era, the necessity of a large budget for effective marketing, and the idea that all traffic converts.

The world of digital marketing is vast and, well, a bit confusing if you’re a newcomer or startup. Millions of tools claim they’re just the ticket to help you win subscribers, grow your sales, and boost your strategies, but do they all really do what they claim? Not even close. In fact, some of the information you read on your journey to becoming a guru is questionable as heck — including these myths.

You Need Multiple Martech Tools

Ok, you need marketing technology tools. You need not use dozens to get the job done, at least if you choose the right tool.

According to Forbes, there were over 5,000 Martech tools available to digital marketers in 2017; that number continues to grow. You’re likely spending more time playing with the tools and their functions than you are coming up with a strong digital marketing strategy. The strategy should come first. Only once you’re settled on the strategy should you choose supplemental tech tools.

You Only Need to Be Online if You’re a Big Business

Nope! Digital marketing is for business of all sizes, whether they’re small, large, local, national, or global. A web presence allows for better communication, more opportunity for sale, and a whole new level of insight in analyzing customer buying habits and preferences. Even better? Your internal marketing team can gather and analyze this data without hiring a research firm to help you out.

You Need a Mobile App

Not really. Your customers don’t need you to have one, either. Apps work best when they fulfill actual needs. Can a customer buy and receive a service through your app? Receive 24/7 customer service? Place a fast-food order? Access medical records or  other data? If there’s no serviceable value, don’t jump to apps immediately.

Apps are marketing tools, not an extension of your brand. Don’t waste your money developing one unless you are certain you are offering something useful and actionable. Being perceived as bloatware isn’t a good look.

You Need More Website Traffic

Everyone wants more website traffic. In reality, quality over quantity is important in digital marketing. What if you could make more sales with less traffic? It’s possible if you’re narrowing your audiences and targeting the right people. Spend more time reviewing your customer persona and figuring out where your target demographic hangs out online. Targeting your efforts will improve the quality of your leads.

SEO is Insignificant

People have been saying search engine optimization (SEO) doesn’t matter for years, and they have also been incorrect for the same number of years. Or, at least they’re terribly misinformed. SEO may evolve, but it sure as heck isn’t dead!

Are you still using SEO techniques that worked well a couple of years ago? If so, they may not be working as effectively for you. That doesn’t mean SEO is dead. It means your strategy needs an overhaul, which is just part and parcel of being involved in marketing in 2019.

You Have to Redesign Your Website Regularly

Not exactly. Can you design your site and forget about it? No. Can you test your landing pages and layouts to see which are giving you the best results? Absolutely. This doesn’t mean your entire website needs a full makeover every other month. It means you need to make regular updates to images and text while testing minor tweaks here and there.

Maybe the homepage needs a little bit of an uplift. Maybe your internal link structure needs work. And yes, maybe your entire website needs to be re-created, but that’s rarer than just needing a few tweaks here and there.

Bad Reviews Will Crush Your Business

The occasional negative review isn’t going to kill your business. Most people looking at online reviews find businesses with a lot of positive reviews but nothing negative or below five stars to be somewhat questionable. They can also smell irrational negative reviews from a mile away.

What does matter? The way you reply to your reviews. Politely commenting with an invitation to talk or to find out how you can resolve an issue will show you are paying attention and are engaged. Ignoring negative reviews completely will make potential customers wonder if you’re paying attention. Responding emotionally will make you look unprofessional.

But the reviews themselves? They’re not going to hurt you nearly as much as you’ve been led to believe. If you get a bad review, don’t panic. Do your best to resolve it. If you get 20 in a row, something bigger may be wrong.

Mobile Doesn’t Matter

Okay, it’s not that it doesn’t matter. You need to understand what type of conversions happen on mobile. People are more likely to click on a coupon they can show in a store or sign up for information when they’re on a smaller mobile screen. They are slightly less likely to click on a product (or several products), fill out all of their billing and shipping info on a tiny screen, and then enter payment information. You need to know what result to aim for to ensure your mobile port works with your goals.

People Hate Retargeting

Okay, again…this is a more complex truth than just saying people hate retargeting. It’s an undeniably creepy feeling to search for socks on Google and then suddenly see Facebook advertisers want to sell you socks.

The problem is that most people don’t understand retargeting and they don’t like feeling like their right to privacy is being violated. They do respond to this marketing method when marketers use it in the right way. Make sure you are following best practices when retargeting. Cap your impressions, offer an opt-out feature, and make sure your website is user-friendly.

Additionally, consider the message and medium. If someone searches for at-home STI testing on Google, advertising them at-home tests on Facebook via retargeting may be an insensitive choice. The reality is that personal issues like these are often stigmatized, and if they don’t understand that others can’t see the ad, they may feel anxious and unwilling to interact out of fear others will see it like a regular share. Worse yet, they may even report it.

You Don’t Need to Be On Social

Lies – all lies. Mostly. Most brands should be on social media with the exception of sensitive brands and those that are prohibited by law. For example, people who are looking for hemorrhoid cream aren’t talking about it online, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have a presence. You just won’t get the type of on-site engagement you’d hoped for and will have to be more creative about sending people directly to your website.

You need to be on as many social media platforms as your team can efficiently handle. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram — they’re all major players and you are missing out on huge opportunities for engagement and growth.

That said, no two channels are alike. Your strategies need to be different and should evolve as the platforms change and update.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make, small or large, is listening to too many digital marketing “gurus.” They end up lost in a sea of misinformation and conflicting opinions — and there sure are a lot of them out there. Choose a couple of strategies to implement and move on to the next as you become more comfortable with how each ebbs and flows.

Categories
SEO

8 Outdated SEO Techniques You Need to Stop Using — Now

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is evolving at a fast and constant pace. You’d be surprised at the number of techniques “experts” used just a couple of years ago that are completely ineffective now! Advances in artificial intelligence (and Google’s algorithms) make it easier than ever for bots to identify genuinely valuable information as opposed to content developed to cater to the search engines. You must change your strategies to keep up.

Gaining new knowledge is one of the best ways to stay ahead, but sometimes it’s what you’re still doing that’s the real problem. Avoid these old-school hacks at all costs. If you haven’t stopped using them, they could be leading you down a very risky path.

Article Directories

Remember back in the day when you could submit to article directories? You included a short bio with a backlink, so that anyone who picked up your article to republish it would have to include the same bio and link on their site, too. (Most of those articles never got picked up, and those that did were stolen without the bios anyway.)

After a while, Google started to recognize article directories as the stuffed-with-low-quality content link farms they really were. By the time the Panda update rolled out, the algorithms were able to stop valuing this type of backlink altogether. Don’t waste your time with them.

Article Spinning

What is “spinning,” exactly? It’s a black-hat technique that takes articles and replaces random words to create “unique” content. The spinner then redistributes the plagiarized content to different platforms. The results are at best not well-written, and at worst completely unreadable. A general rule of thumb is to avoid using software to create content. Content created by humans is by far the best.

Low Level Guest Blogging

In the past, guest blogging was about finding well-ranked websites with a high domain authority (DA) and page rank (PR). Bloggers would do anything to get a link, even if it meant writing a home improvement article so they could have a link in the bio pointing back to their health website. Site owners loved it because they didn’t have to pay for content. The strategy didn’t make any sense.

There is value in guest blogging, though. The key is to put in the work to find a related niche website where you can provide high-quality content the readers will find valuable. It’s still OK to write killer content to post on other people’s sites. You need to make sure the site’s topic is somewhat related to yours and that the content is as valuable as anything you’d publish on your own domain.

Keyword-Based Domains

Instead of finding a domain that reflected a business brand, people used to choose a keyword and then attempt to find a domain based on an exact match. We see people doing this not only on the web, but also on Facebook pages and other social platforms.

Exact-match keyword domains are considered spammy. Google will not give you any extra link juice for this uncreative method. As a matter of fact, Facebook’s terms of service specifically ban the use of keywords to name pages. Branding is more important than shoving long or short-tail keywords into someone’s face.

Optimized Anchor Text

We know you want to rank for certain keywords. That doesn’t mean you need to over-optimize your linking strategy to stuff exact-match keywords into your text. It’s considered unnatural and it is — again — a technique Google now limits.

It’s fine to include keywords in your text, but only if you can fit them in naturally. If you can’t, it’s better to create your backlinks from more natural phrases like the one we just highlighted in this sentence. Use your keywords as tools to help you plan your content, not to force overused words or awkward phrases into your writing.

Creating Too Many Pages for Your Site

Let’s say you’re a plumber. An old-school SEO expert may have told you that you need a whole bunch of different pages on your website so that you can rank for each keyword separately. You ended up with a page each for plumbing, plumbing repair, plumbing problems, plumbing upgrades, and other keywords that seem different but are all closely related. The content ends up being weak because it’s not geared towards the consumer, but for the keyword itself.

Why is this bad?

Well, words aren’t going to convert and buy your services.

Okay, that was a little tongue-in-cheek, but what we mean is that it’s people who convert, not the words you write. You should always focus on serving people first.

As for spamming pages? Google can detect it and will penalize you if they do. The RankBrain intelligence system and Google’s Knowledge Graph made it easy for the bots to detect pages created to game the SEO system. Skip it and focus on what matters.

Weak Metadata

Although it’s now considered outdated, SEO experts used to recommend stuffing your keywords into your meta tags and descriptions. The thought was that the bots would crawl the descriptions, and rank pages based on these small chunks of information. As a result, the description previews people saw in the search results were keyword-stuffed garble that made little sense.

Google’s official stance now is that meta descriptions don’t impact page rankings, but that’s not 100 percent true, either. While your rankings may not be affected by the actual text of the meta descriptions, Google does consider how many people click through to your page. If the description is what causes a person to click your link, it is indirectly supporting your SEO efforts and overall rankings.

Quantity Over Quality

Quality content is key these days. Stop churning out page after page, blog post after blog post – unless you have something meaningful to say with each article. Your readers want to dig deep and gain value from the blogs you offer.

Want to know the number one secret? Shake up your content types. Offer long-form text, video, infographics, and other visuals. Stop writing nothing but short, 300-word missives that summarize an idea but give no real, actionable information.

Now that you know what not to do, how will you change your strategies for 2019? Are you planning to create new content or more of what’s already working? Have some new hot leads for guest blogging and relationship building? Let us know what SEO plans you have and what strategies you are going to ditch and leave behind. We can’t wait to hear your ideas, see your tips, and watch you grow into the New Year!

Categories
Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing & Time Management: Staying in Control

Staying in control while balancing both digital marketing & time management is a challenge. Effective time management in digital marketing involves prioritizing tasks based on goals, using automation tools for repetitive tasks, and scheduling content in advance. Regularly assessing and adjusting strategies based on analytics saves time. Setting realistic deadlines and breaking projects into smaller tasks helps maintain focus and efficiency, crucial in the fast-paced digital marketing environment.

The world of digital marketing is fast-paced. It’s easy to start your day with a plan and then get lost in a sea of changes, social conversations, and sometimes, even a little drama. Yes, you do need to stay on top of what’s happening in the digital world. But you also need to create boundaries and manage your time so that you can get your work done and move on with your life. No one should be stuck online 24/7 — even digital marketers (especially digital marketers).

If you’ve been struggling under the weight of your campaigns lately, take heart: help is available. Start with these easy de-stress strategies to make the most of your day.

Multi-tasking Isn’t Always Best

We’re sure that’s not what you wanted to hear, especially since so many people who work in the online world are proud of this ability. The harsh reality is that staying focused on a single task is more efficient. With multi-tasking, you may feel like you’re getting several things done at once. The truth is that you will get each one done faster (and at a higher quality, too) if you give each task individual focus.

Be Clear on Deadlines

Don’t let a client or boss give you a project without a clear deadline. Ask for something specific versus a vague time schedule. This will help you to avoid surprises when someone changes their mind about when a project should be finished – or suddenly decides it was due yesterday, leading to chaos. Deadlines also make it easier to organize your more time-sensitive tasks over those you can work on bit-by-bit at a slower pace.

Incorporate Breaks into Your Day

Your body needs breaks and so does your mind. People working in the digital world know their eyes need a break from the screen, too. Make sure you are taking your lunch or dinner break – and no, that doesn’t mean playing solitaire for five minutes. Get up and move away from the computer! Take a walk every hour or so for 10 minutes or do some stretches. Do not spend your day working non-stop. You’ll exhaust yourself and the quality of your work will suffer, which can lead to big losses.

Categorize and Delegate

Believe it or not, you’re probably doing far more work than you should. As a digital marketing manager, you need to categorize your work. Figure out what tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant (VA) or to a fellow member of your marketing team.

Tasks that you consider urgent either need to get done right away, or they need to receive an immediate time slot on your calendar, so you can finish them faster. Tasks that aren’t as important should either be set off or delegated to another team member. Stop wasting time on tasks that aren’t moving your goals forward!

Pick Up the Phone

Look, it has nothing to do with being an introvert versus an extrovert. Digital marketers can be either, and both are just as good at what they do. It is sometimes far faster and more efficient to pick up the phone and have a quick conversation than it is to play email tag over the course of an entire day.

Need something that isn’t important to your day or that will take time for the other person to put together? Shoot an email. Need a quick piece of information, like the login for your organization’s Facebook Ads account? Pick up the phone and get the answer you need.

Work in Time Blocks

Working in digital marketing means we’re always connected to our phones, email inboxes, and social feeds. These are all important, but they are also distractions. Set aside a 25-30 minute chunk of time where you will stay 100 percent focused on the task at hand. Do not, under any circumstances, check your phone or email during this time. Set a timer and focus on finishing as much of the task as possible during this time slot. Take a break and then start again.

Thinking this sounds like Pomodoro? You’re right! It’s a slightly-modified version of this and other time management strategies. Use the Tomato Timer if needed.

Set Meeting-Free Times

Meetings happen. Long, boring, wasteful meetings happen, too. Make sure you put some time on your calendar, especially on Mondays and Fridays, where meetings cannot be scheduled. Make it clear to your team that meetings can’t be scheduled during these time blocks – and don’t be afraid to tell them why, either. You just might find they’re happy to get on board.

When you do meet, keep it focused, short, and sweet. Thirty minutes is a meeting; four hours is a collaborative work session.

Try to have your meetings in small standing spaces or while taking a short walk outside (this still works if you are a contractor; that’s what headphones are for). If you do need to meet indoors, have an agenda and ensure the session has specific, defined purposes. You do not need a weekly “team meeting” if there is nothing new to discuss. It eats up time and frustrates people.

Password Management Tools

How often do you find yourself digging through emails, looking for your password book, or sorting through Post-It notes searching for a password you need? Those minutes add up. What starts as five minutes per day becomes 25 minutes a week…or nearly two hours each month.

Use a password storage solution like LastPass or 1Password – this will save all your passwords and keep them secure from hackers, too. Apps like these will let you auto-fill any password you need, at the click of a button. Remember to password-protect the app (the only password you’ll need to remember!), so that no one who randomly sits at your computer can access it.

Look for (the Right) Automated Tools

The digital marketing world is inundated with tools…tools for SEO, tools for finding topics, heck there is a tool for just about any task. You can now automate content curation, social media posting, and even PPC management. Tools are fantastic, until setting all those settings becomes a job in and of itself.

So, here’s how to do it right: Before you adopt a new plugin or program, judge it carefully to ensure you don’t sink more time into it than you would by doing the task by yourself. When you do find the right tool(s) for the job, it can significantly cut back on the amount of time you spend on mundane tasks.

Don’t Micromanage Every Task

In the online world, getting the job done is often more important than making sure it’s perfect. Of course, you want to put out the best work possible, but you shouldn’t spend a week having a dozen sets of eyes look over the same work. Trust your content creation teams (or yourself) to come up with the best digital content possible. Have a realistic number of internal checkpoints and then let the work go.

Yes, you will miss the mark from time to time. There will always be someone who thinks an ad or blog could have been written in a different way. Let go and move on.

While the digital world is a busy one, you still have control over your time and how it is spent. The more organized and focused you are, the less time it will take you to do everything that needs to get done. No one likes to work at the computer all day and night. If all else fails, and you’ve cut back as much as you can, yet still need help, it may be time to hire a digital marketing agency to give you a hand. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help – it’s part of running a stable and successful business!

Categories
Digital Marketing

How to Use Google Forms to Grow Your Business

In the world of running an online business, you don’t get much more relevant than Google. In fact, most businesses would find themselves completely lost if the company up and disappeared tomorrow. This includes SEO analysts, social media experts, and even web designers.

The simple fact is that nearly all of us rely on Google to help us create websites and distribute effective messages for our audiences.

If you’re in the startup phase, you’re probably trying your best to find ways to minimize costs and access the right functionalities for growth. Today, we’re introducing you to a tool that will help with those and more: Google Forms. Whether you’re setting appointments or channeling workflows, this handy online app can help you get it done — and best of all, it’s free.

What is Google Forms?

Google Forms is a tool that lets you build custom forms which are then hosted on a Google URL page. This is an easy and effective way to collect information of any kind without putting the form itself on your website.

Business owners often use Forms to gather statistical data about customers and clients. It’s also a popular tool for colleges and universities, where teachers use it in classroom projects and experiments. You can even use Forms to collect information from family members or friends when planning a trip.

Forms is comprised of two individual components: a main survey “form” and a synced spreadsheet Google uses to automatically list and format the data you collect. By auto-shifting data out of the form and into a spreadsheet, the risk of clerical errors is reduced. Previously, the only way to transfer answers from survey forms to your final reporting platform was via data export, usually involving human staff at some point.

Google Forms is almost fully automated. Answers automatically transfer to the spreadsheet upon submission. You can even take this a step further and set up email notifications, so you receive an email when new responses roll in. Simple, fast, and intuitive!

Reasons to Use Google Forms

Collecting data from your customers is an absolute must. Without it, you are essentially flying blind when you try to restructure your digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Data can be useful for your internal business practices, too. With the right statistical knowledge, it becomes much easier to streamline company workflows and figure out where bottlenecks exist.

Here’s a few of our favorite reasons to use Forms:

  • Customer Feedback: Whether your customers shop in person or online, their feedback can provide valuable information on improving. Send a link to the survey form to anyone willing to give you an email address during their time with you. Use the data you gather to improve your customer service and sales processes.
  • Customer Surveys: Not sure if your customer personas are still working? Or if your demographics are shifting? Use surveys to dig deep and find out critical data points: how, when, and where your customers shop or how they feel about your products or services.
  • Sales Forms: Want to give customers an easier option for setting up sales carts? Maybe you sell wholesale, and using a cart interface doesn’t make sense. Forms are ideal for businesses that create customizable, difficult-to-price packages and lengthy orders with hundreds of items. Make an intake document or checklist with Forms and customize it to collect only the data you need most.
  • Time-Off Requests: Need a fast and easy way to collect time-off requests without them becoming lost in an endless sea of emails? Have your employees use an internal form to put in their requests for vacation time or paid time off. Include as many or as few fields as possible to get the right information, like dates, employee numbers, or seniority ranking.
  • Work Requests: Can someone from finance come down with the monthly report? Use Forms to send a work order to the relevant department. Or, streamline workflows by issuing help and support tickets for your IT department the same way.

How to Set Up Google Forms

Setting up your first Google Form takes a bit of time and patience, but it isn’t difficult. The more you use Forms, the easier it becomes to find new and interesting ways to streamline tasks and save time.

Start here:

  • Log into your Google account and head to https://docs.google.com/forms. Follow the easy instructions to generate a new custom form and automatically create a linked spreadsheet.
  • (If you already have a spreadsheet, start there instead. Open the spreadsheet and navigate to File >> New >> Form)
  • Choose a template from the gallery under “Start a new form,” or choose the blank template to work from scratch.
  • Edit the existing questions in the template or add new sections to create different answers. You can add short answer fields, paragraphs, multiple-choice questions, check-box responses, and drop-down menu options.
  • Want images or diagrams? Upload them to the form straight from your computer – you can even add in YouTube video links.

The old Google Forms system required you to create your own separate spreadsheet to store your answers. The newest version handles this entire process for you and stores received answers in the “Responses” tab at the top. You can review your answers there, or you also have the option to populate charts and reports to gain a clearer picture.

Want to copy your data and custom-format it into a worksheet? While in the “Responses” tab, click the small Google Sheets icon at the top right corner to pull the information out into a new, ready-to-format spreadsheet. Then, sort and review.

Once you create your Form, you should take a few minutes to review its settings. Use the “Share” button at the top right side of the page to sort out document permissions or send the form and spreadsheet to another administrator. This is where you can copy a link to the form, too.

To control how the public views your Form, go to the Form Sharing Settings by clicking the gear icon. Decide whether you want entrants to log into Google before they complete your form (limiting them to only one response form per person) or if you want to allow multiple entries. Then, choose if you want to limit sharing to ‘within your organization’ or with anyone who the link is shared with/copied to (or has permission to view).

Other Google Products to Consider

Most businesses rely on Google’s products in one way or another. From Drive to Hangouts, Google does a great job of maximizing functionality on its Google Business platform.

Here are a few other options to explore:

  • Google Drive — Use it to share and store files from anywhere with internet access. Drive is integrated with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps, the company’s alternative to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Google Voice — This app is ideal for entrepreneurs who need a business line but can’t justify a business telephone account yet. Register for your free U.S. number to make and receive calls.
  • Google My Business — Use this to control your online Google Business listing. The newest version lets you customize profile information, website info, photos, video, and posts. It also makes it easy to manage reviews.
  • Google Calendar — Map out your days, weeks, and months so you never lose track. Share it with your colleagues and use it to schedule tasks (for yourself, your employees, etc.). It syncs flawlessly.
  • Google Hangouts — Chat and message with your team to cut down on email clutter. Great for short n’ sweet conversations!

Google has so much to offer businesses at every level. The Forms app is one tiny facet of a long list of useful integrations, but it’s an incredible place to start. Whether you’re doing market research or trying to nail down demographics for email promos, it can help you improve and smooth out those rough edges. Need more help? At Sachs Marketing Group, we’re always available to give you a hand.

Categories
Digital Marketing

Omnichannel vs. Multichannel Marketing: What’s the Difference?

What is omnichannel vs. multichannel marketing? Omnichannel marketing offers a seamless customer experience across all channels, integrating interactions from online to offline. Multichannel marketing, in contrast, uses multiple channels for outreach but operates them independently, without integration. Omnichannel focuses on a cohesive, consistent user experience, whereas multichannel prioritizes presence across various platforms without necessarily linking the experiences.

The New Year is right around the corner. Hopefully, you’ve already mapped out your 2019 marketing plan, but if you haven’t, there’s no time like the present. Either way, we have an important question: will you take an omnichannel or multichannel approach?

Say what?

No, it’s not a trick question – it’s really important, but far too few marketers ever consider it on a yearly basis as they grow. Are you sending a consistent message to your customers, no matter what platforms they’re watching you on? Or are you planning separate messages and strategies for each platform, creating confusion? Let’s figure it out together in this omnichannel vs. multichannel primer.

What is Multichannel Marketing?

Multichannel marketing is the process of using a wide variety of marketing platforms to get a message out to a customer. These may include the company website, print ads, television ads, social media channels, and even email. The goal isn’t as much about building client relationships as it is about casting a wide net and gaining the attention of as many people as humanly possible.

Companies that use multichannel marketing techniques are doing their best to cater to the idea that their customers have a ton of choices when it comes to consuming information. Yes, they still see television commercials and hear radio ads, but now they’re exposed to new media channels, too. Brands need to figure out how to cater to the people who prefer older marketing styles, as well as others caught up in today’s fast-moving social world.

Now, here’s the drawback: companies focusing on multi-channel marketing often place more emphasis on ensuring multichannel messaging exists than they do on the customer experience. The messages may each ultimately direct a potential customer to the same place, but they’re so different in terms of content that they leave customers who are exposed to multiple platforms feeling a bit confused about the conflicting messages they’re seeing. That’s where omnichannel concepts step in.

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

Omnichannel marketing doesn’t disregard the idea that different customer demographics exist on different platforms. As a concept, its marketing plans are personalized to the platforms but also cater to each unique audience. Customers who view branded content on different platforms perceive omnichannel marketing attempts as a continuation of content, versus something totally different.

It may be surprising, but contrary to popular belief, omnichannel marketing doesn’t aim to cast a wide net. Instead, marketers are challenged to put themselves in consumer’s shoes when they decide how to create a consistent experience. Yes, the end goal is still making a sale (that’s the basis of marketing). But the message the customer sees as they move from an email to a social platform, and then to the website, builds upon the same message and the same core concepts. Each step in the process adds a unique piece of information, but it’s all geared towards marketing the same goal or service. Each piece of the puzzle complements the rest.

Which is Really Better?

If we had to choose, we’d say omnichannel marketing is the way to go. That said, omnichannel and multichannel marketing can (and should) be used together. Think of omnichannel marketing as a method of elevating the multichannel approach from an impersonal strategy to an interpersonal relationship with the customer. Multichannel marketing is a technique; omnichannel marketing is a strategy.

As an example, let’s look at consistency and engagement. The omnichannel approach towards engagement with customers makes them feel heard, appreciated, and understood. The multichannel approach of consistency in posting gives customers a platform for that engagement to take place. The trick is to make sure the marketing team is sending the same message to all platforms so that the PR or social media teams are all on the same page when they’re crafting replies.

Omnichannel marketing strategies incorporate multichannel principles, but they’re often research-driven. Marketers tend to spend more time testing their ads and ordering options, especially across different channels, to make sure customers have seamless experiences. This means their internal and external testers are placing website orders and Facebook platform orders to ensure they’re easy to follow through with from beginning to end. Their goal? To create a process and flow that’s easy to follow.

Omnichannel marketing data and research is also very different from multichannel research. Yes, it’s still important to measure how well each campaign did as a whole. It’s also important to take a close look at how the customers themselves reacted. Did they purchase more in the store or on the web? Were the messages relevant and targeted properly? How can you better segment your audiences in the future while still sending a consistent overall message?

Brands utilizing omnichannel strategies are more conscious of how people use multiple platforms. For example, you might visit a brand’s website on your mobile phone and place an item in your cart. You get distracted or haven’t made up your mind, so you navigate away. Later, you visit that same brand’s website from your desktop computer, but you don’t touch the cart or make a purchase.

Two days later, you get an email with an urgent subject line letting you know the item you were eyeballing is selling out quickly. Being conscious of the platform and device changes along the way allowed the brand to better monitor your shopping habits and create a sense of urgency to nudge your purchase along.

Summing it Up

To sum it up, multichannel strategies aren’t always omnichannel, but all omnichannel strategies are multichannel. The difference is that omnichannel approaches are customer-oriented, taking special care to understand their habits, wants, and needs.

Brands incorporating omnichannel strategies tend to be more receptive and excel at making sure all their marketing platforms are sending the same message, loud and clear. They bend over backwards to make sure the customer experience is almost effortless, and it shows in their sales.

A strong omnichannel approach starts with the product and includes the marketing team, sales department, client service group, and customer success and retention teams. Ensuring everyone is on the same page strengthens your brand and, in turn, increases your bottom line. Remember – always put the customer first. Doing so will ensure the rest falls into place.

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SEO

SEO and Healthcare: What You Need to Know

It doesn’t matter if you work in a small doctor’s office or lab or for a large hospital chain; all healthcare professionals need to have an online presence. Healthcare and medical providers face a growing set of unique challenges in the SEO world because of the intense need for privacy and sensitivity they face. HIPAA compliance rules make it difficult to directly address some online concerns, but patients are demanding higher levels of satisfaction. They’re voicing their opinions and concerns online — loudly.

If you happen to be operating in the healthcare industry, this is an important topic. A single negative review on sites like RateMD can sink a private clinic lightning-fast, leading to a loss of patients or even eventual lawsuits.

Your job is to balance the need for privacy, respect, and sensitivity with the need to market your brand and business. Here’s how to achieve that goal and what you need to know in order to avoid a PR disaster.

Organic SEO Results in Healthcare

Let’s be realistic – just about everyone with internet access tries to look up some sort of healthcare information now and again. Don’t even pretend you haven’t tried to play Dr. Google at least once; we all do it. Healthcare providers often show up in those searches, especially if they use the right keywords and content.

How can you make the most of that? The key is to make sure you are using the right keywords and strategies as they relate to your practice or specialties. This can take a little bit of finesse and skill.

In terms of keywords, a primary care physician may want to use search terms that relate to their geographic area, to their areas of specific interest, or even to the specific age groups they treat (e.g., geriatrics or pediatrics). Some choose to focus on the type of insurance plans they accept instead, because searchers often look for what their insurance will cover first.

A specialist, on the other hand, may be able to take a broader approach regarding geographic area since people are often willing to travel further for a well-known, highly-skilled specialist. Other keywords would have to be more specific to their areas of expertise; e.g., cardiology, endocrinology, orthopedics, and related terms.

Once you have a specific list of healthcare related keywords, the practice’s website will need to be properly optimized. The site’s title descriptions, meta tags, and of course content should all reflect your chosen terms. Unique on-site content needs to be created around these terms, and  not just within service and information pages, but on informative blog and article pages, too.

Healthcare providers are not exempt when it comes to creating high-quality content for SEO purposes. In fact, because most are classified as industry experts, visitors often expect an even higher level of content than they might from, say, a department store, restaurant, or hair salon. Keep this in mind at all times.

SEO and HIPAA

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was designed to create guidelines healthcare facilities must follow in order to keep patient information safe and secure. While this generally applies mostly to patient files and how they are shared among different offices and other providers, there are some things you need to keep in mind for SEO and marketing purposes.

  • Your website should be using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to prevent unauthorized access to private information. This is especially important if your website has an online portal your patients can use to connect with the office, send messages, and view records. Having SSL will help boost your rankings.
  • HIPAA requires that all websites have a Notice of Privacy Practices in order to remain compliant. The notice must specifically disclose how information is collected and how it will be used.
  • HIPAA guidelines require medical websites to change their passwords on a regular basis. It also dictates that only certain people in your organization should have online access to PHI (personal health information).
  • In terms of website content, you must have a patient’s express, written permission to share details of their treatment or story on your website or social media platforms. This includes anecdotes, even if you switch out a few details to try and mask the possible connection of identity.

In short, everything you do must comply with HIPAA guidelines. The actual bill is almost 140 pages long, though, and most of us here aren’t lawyers. If you are ever in doubt, have your practice attorney take a look at the regulations and your plan. This is one instance in which it’s best to be safe, rather than sorry (or even sued).

HIPAA and Review Management

Review and reputation management is a huge part of search engine optimization. Every business entity should be paying attention to what people are saying about them online, but healthcare providers need to be especially conscious of this feedback. Patients can leave reviews just about anywhere, including the standards like Google, Facebook, and Yelp, as well as other narrow-themed sites like Vitals, HealthGrades, ZocDoc, and RateMD.

Some patients will leave reviews on third-party sites and write their own Facebook posts or blogs about what happened during their office visits. They may or may not call you out by name. The important thing to remember is that you simply can’t engage with these people or reply with specific details. Not only is it a HIPAA violation, but it’s also extremely ethically questionable, too.

We’ve seen business owners react emotionally to reviews time and time again, but you simply can’t do that in the healthcare industry. In most instances, best practice would be to leave a comment inviting the person to contact your office so that you can go over their issues. There is very little else, even if they disclose personal details, you can say online without violating HIPAA.

HIPAA and Social Media

Having a social media presence is obviously important to SEO, but your profiles can be a ticking HIPAA time bomb if they are not handled properly. The first problem is that too many healthcare organizations allow employees who seem social media savvy to handle their accounts without any true knowledge of social media management. They get over excited, post pictures, and share details they simply shouldn’t.

That snapshot of Carol laughing with your patient last week you posted to Facebook? If you don’t have a waiver signed for it, it just might get you in trouble.

The biggest thing to remember when it comes to social media is that nothing you share should include anything at all that could tie the post back to a specific person – directly or indirectly. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t use a name if you did use a full-face photo. HIPAA guidelines specifically forbids you to use any PHI in your marketing or social campaigns, paid or organic. Just don’t do it.

You also need to make sure your staff are trained to not discuss the details of their jobs on their personal social media accounts. VeryWell shared an article detailing some chilling examples of privacy violations gone wrong, including an EMT that posted enough details about an assault victim that the media was able to figure out where the victim lived. This can lead to real, serious harm – physical and emotional – especially in situations where a crime has been committed.

The key to good healthcare SEO is to make sure the information you distribute, whether posted on your website or on social channels, sticks to your area of expertise without using real-life examples or personal details. You can be friendly, informative, and engaging without violating someone’s privacy.

If you do want to share something about a patient, do the right thing – ask them for permission. Have them sign a waiver giving you permission to share that inspiring story or successful treatment picture. They’ll appreciate it, and so will your lawyers.

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SMG News

Clutch Spotlights CEO Eric Sachs

Clutch, a leading reviewer of professional services firms, took the time to sit down with our CEO and Director of Business Development, Eric Sachs, to discuss how Sachs Marketing Group began, what differentiates us, and what is in store for the coming years. Five key questions that Eric answers in the dialogue include:

  • Can you describe the history and evolution of Sachs Marketing?
  • When you sit down with a potential client, how do you define goals in a reasonable way, without overpromising, but also establishing benchmarks?
  • Do you have any specific requirements for a potential client? Are you looking for any kind of time commitment, or minimum budget?
  • What makes Sachs Marketing stand out?
  • What will Sachs Marketing look like in 2020?

Interested in hearing the answers and learning more on what Sachs Marketing Group is all about? You can read the full interview here. We are grateful to the Clutch team for taking the time to spotlight Eric and what we do here at SMG. Thanks, Clutch!

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SEO

SEO In 2016

The digital marketing and SEO landscapes are ones that constantly fluctuate, and it is for this reason that marketers and SEOs must keep up-to-date on the current trends and changes within the industry. As SEO has continued to evolve over the past few years, we’ve seen the algorithms move toward “white hat” methods and reward sites that do good work – work that is relevant for the search queries and that can provide the most pertinent and appropriate content to the person searching.

We have seen SEO move toward more content-driven strategies, focused upon providing the client or the customer with interactive and on-topic information. SEO has begun to rely much more on social signals, and social media has become a key part of any strong search-based strategy. Looking forward to the new year, what will 2016 bring for search engine optimization? Read on for a few predictions of what may come into play in 2016:

  • Content-driven, rather than keyword-driven strategy: It’s not all about keywords anymore when it comes to SEO. Content is still king, and users are most interested in blog content, video content, and infographic content that provides valuable information for them. We no longer have to focus solely on keywords to drive the most relevant traffic. As search algorithms have developed, relevant traffic will hit the site if the content is there and optimization is ideal.
  • User experience is key: Along with providing valuable and engaging content, we want to ensure that the experience is strong. Information should be share-worthy and quickly digested by the reader. Google and other search engines want to ensure that the person searching gets the right results within the first few pages. Providing relevant content will get your user the experience they are looking for.
  • Mobile and tablet optimization: Mobile and tablet-based search has been growing exponentially over the past few years. Ensuring your site is optimized for mobile is critical. Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic in 2015, indicating that mobile will be central to 2016’s optimal SEO strategy. Desktop-focused SEO will need to make some room for mobile-focused SEO.
  • Social media: While social media has begun helping SEO efforts and plays an indirect role, social signals will likely play a much larger part in 2016. Search engine algorithms are working to begin integrating social into the equation; for this reason, a strong social media presence will be more necessary than ever in the new year. Social media also provides consumers with information that affects how they make decisions.
  • Local SEO: For local businesses, local SEO will likely become an even bigger deal than it was in 2015. We expect to see more changes to local SEO – as we’ve already seen with the local pack at the top of Google searches and the consumers’ shift toward local purchasing.
  • Voice search: While this has not yet played a huge part in SEO strategy, the rise of voice search may begin to really shake up the best practices of search engine optimization. Voice search is usually based on the questions of “who, what, how, when, and where,” which may need to be taken into account as a part of SEO strategy if voice continues to grow.

What do you think of these predictions? Are there any trends that you are excited about?

 

Categories
SMG News

Entrepreneur Names SMG To Best Entrepreneurial Companies Index

 

We are thrilled to announce that Sachs Marketing Group has been named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur360 – Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America for 2015. Through surveys and data, Entrepreneur took a look at hundreds of small and medium sized businesses, highlighting “six archetypal sets of practices and characteristics that [they] believe are representative of most growth companies operating today.” Entrepreneur calls one of these archetypes the “Best Practicers,” defining this category as the companies that seek to be industry leaders, implementing proven best practices in the workplace.

Sachs Marketing Group has been named to the Best Practicers list as part of the Entrepreneur360. We would like to congratulate the other companies named to the list and  thank Entrepreneur for this honor!

Check out the November issue of Entrepreneur or click here to read up on Entrepreneur’s E360 Index.

 

Categories
SMG News

SMG Founder Eric Sachs Quoted by Forbes

Sachs Marketing Group founder Eric Sachs was recently featured in a Forbes article regarding the difference between legitimate marketing and subtle propaganda. Search Engine Watch dubbed 2015 as “Year of the Consumer,” suggesting that consumers drive marketing demand and will be quick to take business elsewhere if they see shoddy marketing techniques and sneaky propaganda.

To prove legitimacy in the marketing realm, transparency, influence, conscious advertising, and appropriate levels of innuendo are key – both for marketing firms and in-house marketers. Eric highlighted the poor technique of bad-mouthing competitors, explaining that this method only gives competitors free advertising while putting you on a slippery downward slope. Using innuendo to disparage a competitor is traditionally an unsustainable strategy that will not really prove any benefit in the long term.

Eric, who brings ten years of marketing experience to the table, founded Sachs Marketing Group in early 2010. He regularly speaks at SEO and marketing summits and guest lectures at California Lutheran University.

To read the full article from Forbes, click here.

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SMG News

SMG Meetups Continue to Garner Members

Last month, Sachs Marketing Group began hosting roundtable meetups to provide the opportunity for local business owners to get together and talk marketing strategy. Eric Sachs, our CEO and Director of Business Development, has so far discussed the techniques of SEO and social media development, as well as other digital tools for growing a business in the online sphere. The collaborative meetup group gathers in Westlake Village and is open to anyone who practices SEO or is interested in learning more. As our group continues to grow, we invite you to sign up and join us! Our next meetup will take place on Tuesday, June 16.

If you’re interested in attending the meetups (or just learning more), visit our event page. Sign up to become a member of the Sachs Marketing Group Local SEO Westlake Village Meetup to receive more information.

 

Categories
SMG News

Sachs Marketing Group Named Leading SEO Firm

Sachs Marketing Group Named Leading SEO Firm. Sachs Marketing Group being named a leading SEO firm highlights its excellence in delivering effective SEO strategies. This recognition reflects their expertise in optimizing websites, creating high-quality content, and enhancing online visibility. Their success in improving client rankings and driving organic traffic likely contributed to this distinguished acknowledgment in the competitive SEO industry.

Research firm Clutch has identified Sachs Marketing Group as a leading digital marketing firm, specializing in SEO services. Clutch’s research utilizes a proprietary Leaders Matrix methodology, “mapping each firm’s focus on search engine optimization and local search against their proven ability to deliver measurable results for their clients.” SMG was evaluated and named, based on references, client experience, market presence, and focus.

“Both large corporations and mom-and-pops need a strong local search presence to generate leads and sales from surrounding areas and maintain a positive online reputation,” stated Tim Clarke, Research Manager at Clutch. “The firms listed in this report have all demonstrated success with local SEO and PPC campaigns, which have generated overwhelmingly positive returns on investment for clients.”

This is the second time that SMG has been recognized by the DC-based research firm. In February 2015, Clutch idenfied us as a Top SEO Consultant and leader in the national market for search engine optimization services. We offer our congratulations to the other listed agencies and thank Clutch for naming us as a top firm in the country!

Read the news report here.

Categories
SMG News

SMG To Host Monthly Roundtable Meetups for Local Businesses

Are you looking to learn more about growing your business online? SEO and social media development are critical parts of any successful marketing campaign, and we’d love to tell you more about them! Our Director of Business, Eric Sachs, will be hosting a monthly meetup to bring together local small and medium-sized business owners; we’ll talk strategy, discuss new tips and changes in the marketing landscape, and collaborate to bring about new ideas.

The first meetup event will take place on May 15th in Westlake Village. Any local business owners or marketing managers are welcome to attend. Don’t miss out on this awesome chance to link up and learn!

Click here to visit the event page for more information.

Categories
Social Media

The Intersection of Social and Search

In our ever-connected and digitally-based society, it’s become increasingly clear just how important an online presence can be to the success of a business, an organization, or a movement. But if faced with limited resources, time, or budget, many question what the most important aspect of online marketing to focus on really is. We hear these questions all the time: What should I prioritize? What’s the most important thing to do online to help grow my business? If you had to pick SEO or social, which would you choose?

The truth is that it can be difficult to choose just one aspect of digital marketing to focus on. Social networking, SEO, and other aspects of digital marketing are closely linked. To choose one – and inherently have to disregard the others – would be a mistake. That being said, we will break down each of the facets of a digital marketing campaign to better illustrate why each is important and how they work together.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO consists of both on-page and off-page methods that help to best optimize a website for search engines to crawl. The primary purpose of this work is to help the site be found by individuals searching for relevant queries that the website (and the company) have to offer. Building a long-term SEO strategy will be critical to conversions and ROI for your business. SEO is affected not only by the various tactics it includes, but also by social media and web functionality.

Social Media Development: Social media development is key to building up your brand and creating name recognition with your fan base, and your organic search results will be impacted by your social accounts. Engaging with your fanbase and disseminating informative and interesting content will support your brand and reputation. Social signals influence your rankings for organic search results and we must factor in the growth of such mega-social networks as a source of information.

Web Design: Who could be better to build a website than a digital marketing firm? We know exactly what goes into a website to help you get conversions and engage with potential customers. No matter how beautiful a website may be, functionality is key. From purposeful navigation to logos to mobile-friendly site development, Sachs Marketing Group can support your web design needs. A strong website is central to SEO development and conversions.

It’s difficult to choose what aspect is most important to a successful marketing campaign, because all are closely integrated and working together. There is no straight answer as to which aspect will be best for your business, as they work hand-in-hand. It’s nearly impossible to create content and go without sharing it on social; just the same, you would not have anything to share on social without a strong website that can be found in search queries. We at Sachs are happy to help analyze your site and recommend what type of campaigns will most benefit your business.

If you are reading this on any blog other than SachsMarketingGroup.com, it is stolen content without credit.
You can find us on Twitter at @Sachs_Marketing and Facebook via Sachs Marketing Group.
Come and visit our blog at https://sachsmarketinggroup.com/blog/

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