ReeHart – Blogging from the Heart

Posts Tagged ‘sales’

Social networking sites have really hit big. Everyone knows Facebook and it has over a hundred million members. That is a huge member base even if half of them are inactive. And to Internet marketers that means a new marketing opporunity. The opportunity is really big, however to take advantage of it we need to overcome many obstacles.

The big websites like Facebook have strict rules about advertising to their members and their advertising services are too primitive to take full advantage of them. It’s very difficult to target these members without being called a spammer. As a marketer, you do not want to put a bad name on your brand, so spamming is not an option.

The new web software called Niche Socializer has proposed a different solution. “Let’s build our own social networks”, the authors of Niche Socializer say. If you can create your community in your niche, you would have all of the members at your disposal, and you could market to them without breaking any rules any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The idea of this software is to effectively and at little cost create social networking websites in any niche, promote it and monetize it. Four monetization methods are proposed to start with – paid subscriptions, classified ad listings, business directory listings, and ecommerce to sell your products. The old marketing methods are also not rejected, you can do the affiliate marketing or email marketing, and virtually any other marketing if you want.

To successfully build a community, a initial niche research is concieved in a way that you can get easy targeted traffic for it. This is done to cut expenses and avoid failures – setting up a site costs money, yet the research is free.

This model sounds plausible in theory, so it only has to be proven in practice. If Niche Socialize succeeds, we will see many social networks appearing on the Internet (more than usual). The good thing about that is that these networks will be targeted to very specific niches and sub-niches and will add more value than the general social networks do.

Patient testimonials, third-party reviews and endorsements, media coverage these can all differentiate your medical spa, plastic surgery, or cosmetic dermatology practice and convince potential patients to give your clinic a shot.

While search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (ppc) and direct mail can put your practice in front of potential patients, third party patient testimonials can provide the needed level of ‘trust building’ to initiate a first contact.

Medical spas, plastic surgeons, and cosmetic dermatologists usually utilize one of three types of third party validation:

Existing Real Patient Testimonials: (You’ve seen this if you’re not already doing it.) Prominent display of your patients saying nice things about you. Most of these are either not real, or they’re anonymous, diminishing their effectiveness.

Trust Through Association: The reason that you’ll put your FACS, ASAPS, AAD, or ASDS logo on your site is to build patient trust. It works. Of course, these associations are completely restricted and very protective of their turf, leading to less restrictive medical associations who want to gain credibility. The reason MAPA was formed was to add some legitimacy to a group of non-core physicians. These associations are always pay to play.

Third Party Endorsements & Validations: The Botox ‘diamond level injector is an example of third party endorsement as are others that are run by medical service companies to try to help their customers. (If Medical Spa MD links to your site it’s also a third party endorsement.) Interestingly, third party endorsements actually have a more favorable impact on the web than association endorsements since the third party is often more ‘relevant’ to the information that a potential patient is interested in.

When you receive these kinds of accolades or promotions from prominent third-party players, it validates what you’re doing and provides the potential patient you’re marketing to a level of instant comfort that you’ve already been checked out and are the ‘real deal’.

Small changes in the way you’re handling your patient testimonials and third party endorsements can produce dramatic effects for your medical spa or cosmetic practice, especially online, where the vast majority of patients are now searching for information before first contact.

Medical Spa MDs quick strategies for piling up and using patient endorsements:

Target the places your patients already are: First and most importantly is your existing medical spa or cosmetic practice but you’ll be able to reach far out into the community and gain the endorsements of other prominent businesses and individuals.

Identify third-party recognition programs from sites like MedicalSpaMD.com: These are most often paid inclusion but there are ways to get these types of third party endorsements for free, or at reduced cost.

Create good write-ups to be used at any time: Uncover the ways you need to build these kinds of marketing materials so that you can use them on your own site and turn them into patient traffic.

Create ready-made strong cosmetic medical and human interest content with strong visuals: Everyone loves photos. If your Thermage or breast augmentation before and after pictures look amateurish, you’re losing both traffic and potential paying patients. Learn how to upgrade your photos and make them consistent and attractive.

Make sure patient testimonials receive prominent placement: Have your patients smiling photo, real name, and a stellar testimonial. Beg, borrow or steal to get these. (Many patients won’t want to be identified but some won’t care. These are NOT in the before and after section.) Learn how to get patient testimonials that are truthful, candid, and impressive.

Look for latent patient traffic, not spikes, from these techniques: The effective use of third party endorsements and patient testimonials work and drive patient flow, but it’s not a technique that provides an instant boost. It’s begins a trend and compounds over time.

If you’re not using patient testimonials and third party endorsements to drive patient flow, start now, your medial spa, cosmetic dermatology clinic, or plastic surgery practice will benefit far into the future.

The advantages of quality promo leisurewear over garments of lesser quality are many. That quality is important is true for all promotional products to be successful, but moreso for promotional leisurewear. A benefit for you is when the wearer considers your brand in higher regard because the garment is of quality. And that is often the determining factor when they choose to don the clothing. The best quality promotional items will also stretch the length of time of your brand promotion, due to their durability.

Promotional clothing has to catch the attention of the audience or it will not do its job. And this is where appearance comes in. Some may say that is the most important factor. The attractiveness and fit of the garment should not only be eye catching, but should look and feel good enough to make the audience wear them in everyday outings. Of course for this to happen, the clothing should be trendy and innovative in style and colours.

Comfortability is important and shall not be overridden by appearance. It must be sized correctly and designed with innovative cuts as to make the user not think twice before wearing it again and again. The more comfortable the garment is, the more exposure it will get.

Promotional leisurewear offers generally larger, wider surfaces than other types of promotional items, and thus is more likely to attract attention. When the logo or marketing message is printed on both the front and the back of the garment, the chances of someone passing by without noticing are greatly reduced. Because of this additional walking billboard on the additional side, one shouldn’t overlook the importance of a high quality logo when designing your message.

The above discussion would definitely act as a guideline for you the next time while selecting quality promotional leisurewear. To seek detailed information on printed promotional leisurewear and other promotional merchandise, visit the leading purveyor at www.ideasbynet.com