Do your patients and potential patients see you or
Dr. Google as the health expert in your community?

Do we really want any jerk giving advice to a
14-year-old. No, of course not. But guess what? It’s
happening.

From Aisle7

That is the exact question we asked ourselves before
we decided to put together our hugely successful
Content Explorer with over 9200 well researched
and referenced articles you can use for your blog,
Facebook and newsletter to brand you as the health
leader in your community and in your local space on
the internet.

Up until now we focused on telling you how easy it
is to take any of these great articles and get them out
to your database and the social networks in just 30
minutes a week while getting ranked in the search
engines and building relationships on sites like
Facebook.

And don’t forget whether Google Places has been
replaced with Google+ Local or not, it is great content
that will get you ranked.  In fact, ask any of the top
marketers that have great programs you may be using
how important great content is.

Nothing is more important and unless you plan to
write everything yourself or hire someone that you
have to first find on the internet, there is no better
content than what we give you.

There are other reasons you need this great content
The problem is there is just so much BAD (and
dangerous) information available. And it is way too
easy to access.

Or, how about the patient that comes in who have
Googled their symptoms and have come away convinced
they should tell you how to treat them.

Nothing is more annoying or dangerous then having
to deal with a patient that thinks they know more than
you because they did a Google search.

As Health and Wellness content providers, this should
scare us.  Bad information leads to bad decisions, which
leads to unhappy patients or worse lost patients because
they look some place else other than you for information.

Timing and Context
But, here’s the good news: You can override bad
decisions formed from questionable sources by
providing top-notch, unbiased content in your blog,
your website, your newsletter and the Social Media
networks.  And, trust us, information placed in
context of a person deciding if they want to trust
you for their care will beat Dr. Google every time.

For  Non-SYSTEM Clients Only – This is the last
month to lock-in to our over 9200 articles and all the
new articles we write for you each month at the old
price.  We have held our prices down for 5 years now
and we can no longer do that.  If your plan is to be
relative in the health world we suggest you contact us
to schedule a one on one call to find out which of our
packages fit in with your marketing goals.*

Dr. Steve and Dr. Alan
healthnews@healthnewspodcast.com

P.S. If you missed the quick videos I made on how
simple all this content is to use,  click on any of the
links below.

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/video-marketing-tip-of-the-week-facebook-from-fan-to-patient

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/video-marketing-tip-of-the-week-facebook-content

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/video-marketing-tip-of-the-week-seo-for-blogs

*Please do not email us just to ask the price.  Email us
to set up a one on one call.  Every business has special
needs and unlike most other marketers in the profession
that try to sell everyone the same thing, we want to
develop clients that succeed because they have a
SYSTEM that matches their needs.

Do you want the profession to always be catching up to trends
in healthcare, or are you ready to take a leadership role?  Playing
catch up in the health care business is never a good thing.  In fact,
playing catch up in any business is never a good thing.

Let me give you a few examples.

Sony owned the personal music market with the Walkman until
Apple came in and set a new trend with the iPod.  Now Sony is
not even in the game.

Kodak owned the film and camera market but didn’t see the trend
for digital cameras.  Now Kodak has lost all market share and
their stock price is in the dumper.

Blockbuster’s megastores were all the rage and they were
everywhere.  Unfortunately, they didn’t see the trend that Netflix
did and now Blockbuster is belly up.  Who wants to have to
return a DVD when you can either mail it back and even better
stream it right to your TV from the convenience of your living
room.

Even the Postal System, if you can even call it a system, is now
called snail mail.  Who would want to send a letter that will take
days or even weeks to get there if it gets there at all, when you
can use email and get it there in seconds?  As a result, the postal
system has one foot in the grave and will most likely be bankrupt.

In our high tech society what is new gets old very quickly, and
social media has become the new way to communicate.
Although the battle is far from over, the latest research shows
that younger people, those first to adopt, think email has seen
it’s day.

With over 700 million Facebook users, and everyone’s email
inbox filled with spam the ability to get your message out to
your audience is a great challenge.  In fact, if your business
depends mainly on email marketing, like newsletters or drip
type marketing, you may find you may be missing the trend
altogether, and a business that is missing the trend may be
out of business.

That’s why we built the The VIP App.  We want our
SYSTEM clients to set the trends not die with them.

Last week we showed you the new trend in content
to educate your patients, the Content Explorer.  Now we are
setting the trend in how to bring that content to your patients,
The VIP App.

All this is only a small part of The SYSTEM.

Want to know more about The VIP App?
Check out this three minute video on why you need The
VIP App by clicking on the link below.

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/video-marketing-tip-of-the-week-get-a-100-percent-open-rate

Then shoot me an email at dralan@healthnewspodcast.com
and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Ready to set the trend in healthcare in your community?

Please leave a comment and join in the conversation.  Also, if
you would like to be notified when our next Video Marketing
Pearl of the Week is available please leave us your name and
email address in the form on the right if you have not already
done so.  Plus, feel free to click our Like button to join us on
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Want to find out the secret of a 100% Open Rate?  Click to Learn More!

Have you been checking your open rates lately?  I used to, and in fact I used to check them all the time.  If you have been checking them over the last few years I bet you notice that they have consistently dropped.

What am I doing wrong?  Why aren’t my subscribers opening more of my emails?  Maybe it’s my subject line. Maybe I need to split test more.  Maybe, the emails are too long.  Maybe too short.  Maybe I’m sending too many emails, Maybe I’m not sending enough. Maybe I’m sending them out the wrong day or the wrong time of day.  So you play around testing and testing and what do you find out?  Nothing really makes that much of a difference.  Sure you sometimes get a percentage pop here and there but nothing you can sink your teeth into.

Did you ever think that maybe open rates are not the metric you should still be using?  The problem is open rates are no longer the valuable metric to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaign.  So what happened to open rates anyway?

Why Are Email Open Rate Metrics Unreliable? from Hubspot (http://www.hubspot.com)

I’ve always considered myself one of those people that can do a bunch of things at once. Listen to music, answer emails, create good copy, tweet, answer the phone, watch the stock market, let the dogs out, and all at the same time. Then I started to read that multi-tasking is not as productive as everyone thinks. In fact, regardless of what multi-taskers think, it may not be productive at all.

Read More

One of the things we talk about in the great “SYSTEM” Webinar, is when your relationship should begin with a patient.  So many people get this wrong.  They think it begins only if they become a patient, but it really begins the first time you meet them. It is just like developing any relationship with anyone you meet.

We even have a short video excerpt you and can watch on the subject:

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/the-relationship-begins

First you have the attraction.  This is where they are attracted to what you said when they heard you at your lecture or presentation. Then you start courting them with regular things of value they want.  Not flowers, but Health and Lifestyle Tips, HealthNews, those kinds of things.  Then you ask them on the first date, by offering them something like a one on one with you to talk about their problems their goals. Just like many first dates, you need some follow up, more dates, more Tips, you need to work it. Not everyone is going to fall in love with you on the first date, and in fact sometimes that isn’t a good thing.

As they get more comfortable with you, and they have some confidence in you, then it is easier to ask them to move in.  Give them the tour of the apartment, tell them what you do.  Please though, don’t show them the bedroom the first time they come over.  Show them the kitchen first, sit down with them in the living room, get to know what they want from the relationship. Most people want to know three things before they commit. Do you who I am and what my needs are? Do you think  this relationship will be good for me? And the last thing, have you been in any other relationships with someone just like me that really worked out well?

Now here is the important part (frankly I think all of it is important). Do not give them a choice of moving in or not moving in because some will say no.  Give them a choice between moving in on a trail basis; like a month or two to see how it works out, or choice 2, moving all their stuff in with the advantage of making the place theirs.  Make sure you explain the difference.  If they go for the trial, sure it is less expensive but it is temporary and then they find they have to keep moving in and moving out.  So that quick solution is probably not the ideal.  But if they choose to move in, then we are talking about doing some decorating.  They can make the move a lifestyle change and although it may appear a little more expensive in time and money, once they are in they can enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Given those choices, they are no longer thinking should I move in or not, they are thinking should I do the trial or should I just move in altogether.

Does the relationship ever end?  Unfortunately, unless you work at it and they are willing to work at it, some relationships do end, but it could go on for years.  Sure you have to do a little retesting now and again, find out if they need to change to keep the relationship going, but in the end it is worth it.  Of course, we don’t live in a perfect world and so relationships can end in divorce. Do you know the most common reason people get divorced?  Money issues. That’s right financial problems.  So how do you avoid that? Get that out of the way when you discuss moving in.

Like in all relationships, be realistic, sometimes the first dates don’t work out.  Not everyone is a perfect match for you.  Don’t settle, either they are right for you or not. There are plenty of fish in the sea, so look for those that are your type.

Just remember if you stick with a bad relationship you will pay the price. They will tell everyone you were the reason for the break up, they never blame themselves.

http://marketingpearloftheweek.tv/video/the-relationship-begins and at the end click on it so you can register for the February 11th webinar.

As always we appreciate your comments and share this with your friends. Also if you want to get these Marketing Tips regularly feel free to sign up on the form on the right.

I had the opportunity to watch a great video by Dr. Matt Hubbard this morning.  Dr. Matt understands the power of video.  Video gets your message across better than any other format.  Better than audio and certainly better than text.  Of course not everyone has the charisma of Dr. Matt, but that doesn’t matter.  As Dr. Troy Dukowitz says, showing up is half the battle.

Just remember this.  Steve Harrison, marketing expert says:

What’s the fastest way to become well-known
– even famous — on the Internet as an
expert authority in your field?

Two words: ‘ONLINE VIDEO’

52% of Internet traffic is now video …
70% of web surfers watch video online …
and the average YouTube visitor spends 27
minutes a day watching videos.

If you look at my videos, you know that, I’m not that pretty, my voice is far from perfect, but every week I get a video out there into cyberspace.  Not only do I get a video out, but I get something out there you can use right away to build your practice.  They don’t even have to have you in the video.  Just get something of value out there.  Just remember that audio was big when we first did it a couple of years ago.  Although it is certainly better than text, it pales compared to video.

As Dr. Matt said this morning, “More Awesomeness to come in the new decade!”  Starting in 2010, the Twelve Ways Program is once again leading the pack and pushing video in a big way.  In fact, we have a big Webinar coming up on how to get video on your site that doesn’t even require a video camera , and it cost only pennies a day to keep it up and running.

Stay tuned, and feel free to comment.

Video is the new power player in marketing (has been for a while thanks to YouTube).  Think of it yourself.  If you go to a website (forget how hard it is to get people to your website, which we will address in another post in the future), what is the first thing that catches your eye?   Video!  We are simply programmed to watch TV and video is an extension of that.  This is not to say that audio is dead.  Audio still plays a role, but an opening video can really get your message across and direct people to take action.  Action in the form of showing them where your sign-up form is or even to point something out on your website you want them to see.

I always find it interesting that there are marketing gurus telling you how to put audio on your site, but their promotional pieces to get you to their teleseminars and webinars all contain video.  If audio is so great why are they using mostly video?

Of course audio has great value and if you give your audience something they want and need like our Health and Lifestyle Tips, or our great HealthNews Show; delivered to them rather than them having to come to get it, you can still get your name and brand in front of your audience regularly.

How can you tell that video is going to get even bigger?  Try to register a domain name that ends in dot TV.  Even at Go Daddy these domains run close to $40.00 a pop.  Regular domains are around $10.00.

Take a look at what Paul Colligan said about YouTube on his blog recently.  http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KN6vq&m=1dOglgn8it.lN9&b=YTWrHAnDI8.u3puXT6wRSQ .  YouTube is everywhere and going more places and you need to get your videos up there and everywhere else.

Why did we create the Marketing Pearl of the Week TV site?  Simple! There is no better way to get your message out there. It is only a matter of time before your website is going to have to look like this.  It is then that your patients, your clients and your customers are going to want to come to your site to watch what you want them to see.  Just keep them short and to the point and most of all be consistent.

Please feel free to comment.  Oh by the way I’m going to create this same message in a video.  Let’s see which one attracts more people.

We are excited to present our Facebook Fan Page for the world to see.  Simply click the link below and take a look.  Make sure you fill out your first name and email address and then download our Marketing Guide one you are there.  The Guide contains the most up to date information about building your practice.

Click to vist Fan Page

In one of our future Web TV shows we will be talking about using your Facebook Fan Page to attract clients so stay tuned!

Feel free to comment!

Perry Lawrence of www.askmrvideo.com knocks it out of the park this past weekend as he teaches herds of students how to set up their own web TV show.  If you are not already a member of his great site you need to sign up now.

AskMrVideo.com