Four Creative Dental Marketing Ideas

Building connections with patients at a dental practice can be a challenge. After all, no matter how excellent your service is, many potential patients are held back by a deeply rooted anxiety about visits to the dentist. You may be aware that your practice is a safe and comfortable place for patients, but you need to communicate that. With some creative dental marketing ideas, you can connect with with potential patients and strengthen your connection with current clients. All it takes is the willingness to try new things! Check out these four creative strategies from the marketing team at Farotech.

1. Go Live!

When potential patients begin searching for a new dentist, one of the things they are looking for is a personal connection. They want to know that they have found a practice where they will be heard and cared for. The personal touch that can come from a strong doctor-patient relationship can go a long way to relieve anxiety about any trip to the dentist, whether a basic cleaning or a more in-depth procedure. A video introducing your doctors and staff is much more effective than text when it comes to demonstrating your friendly and compassionate nature. Have a little fun with your video, too, and allow patients to see the fun side of your practice!

2. Collaborate with Current Patients

No matter how much creativity you put into your own marketing campaign, nothing can beat the value of strong patient testimonials. No doubt your patients, especially those you’ve worked with for many years, are saying good things about the practice. Now is the time to tap into that resource. Surveys, interviews, and even short video testimonials can provide excellent material for any aspect of your other dental marketing ideas. To get patients excited about participation, offer fun prizes in a drawing for survey or interview participants. After all, who wouldn’t want to answer a few questions for a chance at a gift card to the local coffee shop?

3. Stay Connected

Because your current patients are one of your best resources when it comes to building or expanding a marketing campaign, make sure that you are maintaining a strong relationship with them. After each procedure, make sure that your practice is calling to check in the next day to make sure everything still feels okay. Send birthday cards. And most importantly, make sure you have a strong program in place to thank patients for referrals!

Want More Dental Marketing Ideas?

For more creative dental marketing ideas, contact the team at Farotech today! We are excited to help you put these and other strategies into action for your practice.

The post Four Creative Dental Marketing Ideas appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/four-creative-dental-marketing-ideas/

Effective Marketing and the Key to Building a Successful Sales Funnel, Part 1: Brand Extension

Learn about the role of brand extension in establishing a successful sales funnel.

Are you familiar with the concept of a sales funnel? The sales funnel represents the buying process that companies lead customers through. It begins by addressing a general clientele with general information–a step often called the awareness stage–in each step the focus is narrowed and users are drawn closer into the buying process. The sales funnel stages may vary depending on the particular sales model.

A sales funnel template can help us to visualize the continuous sales process and how the different steps flow into each other. If the process is not smooth and continuous–if there are gaps or bottlenecks in the process–then the funnel will not function optimally. This is the key to building a successful sales funnel–to create continuous, synergetic growth throughout the whole system.

When done properly each employee and each step of the process works like an assembly line creating, expanding, and passing on. Each part of the marketing process comes full circle to feed other parts of the system. Let’s take a look at the first of four parts of your marketing process that need to work together effectively to create a successful sales funnel.

Brand Extension as a Key Element of a Successful Sales Funnel

Every company, every business has a brand. And that doesn’t just mean your logo; a brand is much more than just a logo.

Let’s take a look at what your brand is so we understand its importance in creating an effective sales funnel. Your brand is:

• The identity of your company.
• The look and feel of the company.
• How and to whom you communicate.
• Your unique selling position.
• How your product or services establish value to your client.

For your marketing to be effective you must be very clear on each of these areas and consistently demonstrate it in these five ways:

1. How you segment your leads: You must get the right message to the right client at the right time.
2. Through usability and appearances: You need to make sure that your website is as user friendly and appealing as possible. You need to be consistently putting your best foot forward on your website and other forms of e-marketing
3. In how you communicate in your content strategy: You need to communicate creatively and effectively with your users and make the content your users are looking for readily available.
4. In social media use: Be purposeful in who you engage with and why on social media.
5. Effective retargeting and remarketing: Utilize retargeting and remarketing strategies to re-engage users.

Successful marketing requires a smoothly flowing, interdependent system. If you want to establish an effective sales funnel, then be sure to pay attention to your company’s branding and whether you are supporting all of the important functions beneath that umbrella. To learn more about improving your company’s marketing system or more effective sales funnel management, reach out to the marketing experts here at Farotech by calling us at 267-387-6620 or email us at info@farotech.com today.

The post Effective Marketing and the Key to Building a Successful Sales Funnel, Part 1: Brand Extension appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/how-to-build-a-sales-funnel/

The Inbound Marketing Strategy: Converting Strangers Into Promoters

Who doesn’t want a foolproof inbound marketing strategy that is sure to convert strangers into your company’s best promoters? The good news is that inbound marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re not talking rocket science here…just some simple steps that, when executed properly and consistently, can lead to exponential growth for your business. Sound good? If so, then listen in…

4 Steps to an Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy

1.) Attract!

Be careful that you’re not just attracting any and every stranger out there- they won’t all turn into promoters, no matter how hard you try. Create content and aim to attract only specific buyer personas for your company. Once those personas are established, you can go about getting their attention by way of these means: blogging, keyword optimization on site pages, and social media. Depending on your buyer personas, certain ones of these tools will prove to be even more effective than the others, but all of them are essential.

2.) Convert

Once the attracting has taken place and your specific, targeted clientele become familiar with your website and decide that they like what they see, it is time to start getting them to convert from strangers into customers and ultimately, into promoters for your business. After all, that is the goal of this inbound marketing strategy! In order to convert visitors into friends, you will need to utilize this set of tools: landing pages, calls to action, forms and contacts. Give the visitors a variety of places to get involved and interact with your site.

3.) Close

Now it is time for the turning point of this inbound marketing strategy; turning your accumulated leads into customers. This can be done with the help of these tools: email marketing automation, lead nurturing, and closed-loop reporting. Depending on the type of leads you wish to generate and keep, certain ones of these tools can be given greater priority than the others. Keeping track of not only the ways you choose to use these inbound marketing strategies, but also the results they are producing is crucial to your long term success.

4.) Retain

Keeping customers is just as important as getting them in the first place. Delighting customers and making sure they are always satisfied will your products and services will build your business’ reputation as one that actually cares about the people they are in contact with and provides their customers with helpful content and great service. The tool set to use here include: continued automated marketing, great thank you pages and social media.

The post The Inbound Marketing Strategy: Converting Strangers Into Promoters appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/the-inbound-marketing-strategy-converting-strangers-into-promoters/

Three Creative Physical Therapy Marketing Strategies You Should Try Today

When it comes to physical therapy marketing strategies, typical advice includes developing your social media presence or focusing on branding. While these are both important aspects of any marketing campaign, they can become tedious or tired if they are the only strategies you use. Every once in a while, it is important to add a creative flair to your marketing which will help you to reach new potential patients. At Farotech, we know what it takes to make those key connections; just take a look at our latest ideas!

1. Take Time to Teach

As physical therapists, you have access to a whole realm of knowledge that most people never consider until they need it. Yet, you are probably well aware that prevention is one of the most important aspects of an individual’s wellness. Contact a local community center about offering a seminar for the public. You can even select a target audience, such as seniors or parents of young athletes. Bringing your knowledge to them is one of the best physical therapy marketing strategies, because it demonstrates your concern for their well being while providing a familiar face for when they do need orthopaedic help down the road.

2. Develop Your Personality

When a potential patient is in need of physical therapy, they are most likely not interested in spending hours comparing similar credentials when what they are really interested in is whether or not they will feel comfortable in your office. Take some time to consider the personality of your practice. How can you show patients that you are more than a clinical expert; you are on their team, and will provide the encouragement or compassion necessary to help them achieve their rehabilitative goals.

3. Promote Patient Success Stories

Sometimes, one of the best physical therapy marketing strategies is to let someone else do the work for you! In this case, ask patients to share their stories of recovery. Whether you film them telling the story or post a written review on your website, the personal touch that these testimonials add to your campaign is invaluable. To add an element of fun as you gather the stories, you may even consider doing a promotional drawing for those who participate!

For More Physical Therapy Marketing Strategies

Whether you try one or all of these marketing strategies, your physical therapy practice is sure to see new and strengthened connections as a result. The key, then, is to continue building on this momentum. So, for more physical therapy marketing strategies or help with your online campaign, contact Farotech today. For over a decade, we have been helping practices like yours make the important connections both you and your clients need.

The post Three Creative Physical Therapy Marketing Strategies You Should Try Today appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/three-creative-physical-therapy-marketing-strategies-try-today/

Understanding the Importance of Content Development

As more and more people begin to use the web everyday, the percentage of people who use the web for product and service research is continually increasing. This means that a company’s website will typically be the first thing about that company that a potential customer interacts with. Quality content development ensures, along with other key factors (such as design), that potential clients have a positive first experience with your company. In this case, first impressions are, indeed, everything.

Understanding Why Content Development is Vital

If users do not immediately like what they see on your company’s website, there is a good chance they will just move right along to the next site offering the same or similar services and products. In addition, it is the quality content on your site that is going to draw a potential customer there to begin with and it is your position as a helpful, authoritative source in your industry that is going to build trust with those potential customers. Ultimately, we are talking about conversion rates, sales, profits. Content development is a powerful tool when utilized correctly and can help companies succeed in the big world of online marketing.

What Does Quality Content Development Look Like?

From the most basic information on your “contact us” page to detailed, educational content in your blog articles, quality content is professional, well thought out, properly spelled and formatted and flows beautifully.

• Spelling and grammar errors point to careless, lazy writers. When users encounter sloppy content, the entire company loses credibility.

• How written content will appear on any given page is also a huge factor in content development. Visitors to your site want to be quickly and clearly informed about who you are and what you offer. They do not need an in depth look into the everyday operations on your company.

• You also should be careful about offering too little information, as this can confuse users and leave them guessing as to what it is your company is all about. If you are passionate about what you do, developing the right amount of informative content for your web pages will not be difficult.

Taking it a Step Further

Blogs are becoming more and more important for those companies that want to distinguish themselves amongst their competitors. In order for a blog to accomplish the goals it is created for, it needs to be full of well written, edited material. Blogs should also be updated frequently to ensure a continual flow of information from your site to your current and potential customers. This task can sometimes become too overwhelming for a company owner or employees to keep up with themselves. Web development companies, like Farotech, exist to provide assistance to clients who wish to make use of a dedicated writer team that can generate great content on your behalf.

For more tips on how to successfully market your company online check out our blog! For more information about our services, contact us today or download the free resource below to learn more.

The post Understanding the Importance of Content Development appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/understanding-importance-content-development/

Implement Powerful Strategies For Your Business To Business Internet Marketing

Don’t exhaust yourself with all the little details – just look at the big picture and let Farotech fill in the rest.

Are you looking to expand your business and increase your company’s visibility on the internet? Farotech has developed some great strategies on increasing your visibility by utilizing business to business internet marketing.

In the industry of small businesses, you have to work twice as hard as the big guys to get yourself noticed. Fortunately, the internet has become a super-highway for businesses to market themselves and increase visibility, revenue and reputation. With so many options to choose from when it comes to business to business internet marketing, Farotech provides you with a full menu of options.

Key Strategies For Business To Business Internet Marketing

Start Blogging.

According to Mike Lieberman, Chief Marketing Scientist and President of Square 2 Marketing, the more you blog, the more traffic you will generate from Google because of the frequency of fresh, quality content.

But hold the phone – don’t you already have to run your business, cast vision, implement strategy and oversee every detail of the functionality of your company? Don’t worry. Here at Farotech, we have a team of writers who create effective and informative blogs that don’t only offer creative writing techniques with little effort from you, but you suddenly become a reputable expert in your industry.

Become A Social Media Fanatic.

Who wouldn’t want to sit around on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all day? Alright – we know you have other stuff to do, which is what gives us an opportunity to serve you. With various social platforms – there are endless possibilities when marketing your company via social media.

According to Kipp Bodnar of HubSpot, LinkedIn should be the focus of any business to business internet marketing because companies that traffic through LinkedIn are highly qualified potentials in comparison to Twitter or Facebook.

Create Incentives and Opportunity With Free Offers & Email Marketing

When utilizing free offers through your company (eBooks, Questionnaires, eBrochures, etc) you create an opportunity to gather a potentials information, whether as a client or strictly networking. Here at Farotech our team provides everything from offer ideas to email marketing without giving potentials that ‘pushy’ feeling.

You can also utilize a call to action in each one of your blogs to attract traffic to your offers and create a steady inbox of potentials.
So what are you waiting for? Do you have questions about our marketing approach and how we can work for you? Jump on board with our team at Farotech and discover what business to business internet marketing can do for your company.

The post Implement Powerful Strategies For Your Business To Business Internet Marketing appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/implement-powerful-strategies-for-your-business-to-business-internet-marketing/

Find Out What Patients Want With These Inbound Marketing Tips for Physical Therapists

One of the goals of inbound marketing for physical therapy offices is to create quality content that will help potential patients find them more easily online. However, obtaining new and effective inbound marketing tips for physical therapists on a frequent basis is also an important task. The Web is constantly changing, new trends are always emerging and the best way to go about inbound marketing is evolving.

What Patients Want to Know: Inbound Marketing Tips for Physical Therapists

The following few inbound marketing tips for physical therapists focus on identifying what is important to patients. When searching for care providers on the web, patients are looking for three distinct things. By incorporating these messages into your website and backing up your claims with action, you will be doing your practice a great favor. Above and beyond the basic information you should be providing, as well as general claims about being a great practice, be sure to emphasize the following three ideas in your inbound marketing efforts.

Great Atmosphere

Patients want to know that when they visit your office they can expect to feel welcome and genuinely cared for by every member of your staff. Several aspects play into this reality including general decor/design of your space, available equipment, cleanliness and other physical surroundings. What matters most is the atmosphere created by your staff. This means friendly, encouraging dispositions, respectful listening, and genuinely helpful service.

Extensive Coverage

Be sure to clearly advertise which insurance plans you work with on your website and any other areas you may be discovered online. Patients often choose providers based on whether or not their insurance is going to be accepted at the practice. Don’t leave them guessing or having to call to figure it out.

Expertise

This inbound marketing tip for physical therapists may seem like a no-brainer but sadly many practices fail to emphasize this area online enough. Prove through staff bios, certifications, training descriptions, patient testimonials and educational resources how well rounded and knowledgeable you are. Physical therapy patients want to know that you will be able to provide them with a clear diagnosis and have the answer and procedures to make it better.

Inbound Marketing Tip for Physical Therapists: Hire Professionals

Creating content that will clearly market the above three ideas can be time-consuming and sometimes difficult. No matter what form you choose to use in portraying these ideas to potential patients, it is important that everything on your website is top notch. Hiring a professional marketing company, like Farotech, is a great way to ensure that these inbound marketing tips for physical therapists are being put to use in the best ways possible.

Quality writing, video production, design, social media interaction and blog population are just a few of the many inbound marketing services Farotech provides for Physical Therapy Practices. To learn more or get started on a project, contact us now!

 

The post Find Out What Patients Want With These Inbound Marketing Tips for Physical Therapists appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/find-patients-want-inbound-marketing-tips-physical-therapists/

How to Overcome the 3 Main Challenges Facing Online Marketing

Marketing is simple, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy.

It is essential to identify growth areas and challenges that will inhibit growth. In order to move forward and grow, often times it is essential to take a step back and identify what is preventing your company’s marketing growth.

I started Farotech in 2001, so I have been around the block a few times.

In all of that time, it was my #1 goal to grow as quickly as possible. However, it wasn’t until the last 3 years, when I looked at my company of 52 people and 150+ clients that I realized that the speed of my growth is directly correlated with how effective our company grows.

It’s what experts call “Controlled Growth”. Controlled Growth is the mark of a mature business. I am going to share with you 3 main challenges companies face with their online marketing and how to overcome them.

I wish it was simple enough to say there are only 3 challenges to digital marketing, but if I did, I would be lying. So it is my goal to cover just 3.

Digital Marketing Strategy: How to Hit a Moving Target

Marketing is moving extremely fast. In just the last 3 years we have seen major game changing technology transform how we communicate to our potential sales targets and existing clientele.

While you’re busy strategizing, the digital landscape is continuing to evolve and change very quickly.

However, even though marketing is moving at a rapid pace, the foundations of marketing have not changed. So let’s look at them together.

Challenge 1: Buyer Persona Development.

Do you know who your buyer is, what makes them tick and how to communicate in a way that helps them choose your company over your competition?

Understanding who your ideal buyer persona is would probably be the #1 thing that most average companies focus too little time on. However it is the #1 thing that great companies focus on. They spend billions trying to get the right message to the right potential client at the right time.

The #1 thing that is required to understand who your ideal persona is comes down to one thing and one thing alone… Sweat equity.

It has very little to do with art and science. It comes down to setting aside the time early and often to analyze who your potential buyers are.

When Farotech takes on a new client we spend a tremendous amount of time taking a deep dive into who the ideal potential client is for our customer.

We call it the war room. We have specifically designed our office so that you can write on as many walls as possible. And where you can’t write, there is a projector or a TV so that we are surrounded by the data we need to understand who this ideal buyer is.

We spend a minimum of 3 days speaking with our clients C-level employees, sales people, marketing people, operations and existing clients to order to figure out what are the key drivers that make potential clients buy from you and nobody els

After 3 days we have a document that is set up as follows:

• Column 1: All of the critical questions that help us understand who your buyer is.
• Columns 2-10: At the top of these columns are the name of each buyer persona. It is our goal to understand how the critical questions outlined in column 1 change for each buyer persona.

Graphic of Chart

Note: Download our Buyer Persona Worksheet

For example if you run an orthopaedic practice and you are marketing to someone who has a torn ACL, do you think that they will want to get newsletters from your practice that talks about the fact that you are the best Spine Center in America?

I wouldn’t. Because I don’t care about your Spine Center. I care about my knee!

The reality is that so many companies market to all of their clients with just one single message and then are shocked when are conversion numbers are shockingly low.

However if the same marketing practice would segment their list and send a newsletter about “the 5 essential things you need to know about ACL surgery” there is a very good chance that I would open up that email.

Because I care about my knee pain.

Therefore, it is the goal of your buyer persona exercises to figure out exactly who your buyer is so that you can develop a system that gets the right message to the right potential client at the right time.

STAT

Establishing a Buyer Persona when you are pressed for time.

Lets face it, you might be reading this blog and thinking: I know that I have to start a marketing campaign as soon as possible but I don’t have the time to go through the long and exhaustive process you outlined in the buyer persona exercises above.

Well let me say as a disclaimer: you will get out of buyer persona exercises what you put into it. But if you are really pressed for time but want to at least make an effort to outline who you buyers are then fill out this sheet.

Challenge #2: Knowing what to do in house and what to delegate to an agency.

As we discussed, marketing is moving extremely fast. What used to be luxuries in marketing are now client expectations:

• They expect you communicate clearly and effectively.
• They expect you to be on the first page of Google, Yahoo and Bing.
• They expect you to have a social presence.
• They expect you to be a thought leader in your industry and be ahead of the curve and communicate that through your blogs and newsletters.

The list goes on and on, and if you think it is going to slow down, you are kidding yourself.

Therefore it is essential that you tackle the art of knowing what to do in house and what to hire an agency for.

If you are a CMO, you are probably looking at a wishlist of a 1000 things that you would do if you only had the time. So in order to succeed you need to prioritize what is going to get the fastest and most consistent results possible.

You are probably aware of the advantages of system-based marketing and the inbound marketing revolution. But all of that stuff is beyond what you have time for.

The good news is that if you have the budget and the willpower to do so you can accomplish a whole lot more than you ever thought possible. If you are using an agency properly, you should be the quarterback of the plan while the agency’s team represents the “time that you don’t have”.

A decent marketing company should come with a system that generates leads, nurtures leads into clients, and turns client into brand ambassadors. However, your agency should be driving the bus. That is where the CMO comes in.

If you are using an agency properly they should be utilizing a team based approach. This team should include:

• A Project Manager (Your main point of contact)
• 2-3 Writers
• 1 Graphic Designer
• 1 SEO Specialist
• 1 Social Media Specialist
• 1 Web Designer / Developer

Financially, when you use a team based model you should have the full fire power of a marketing team for the price of a mid-to-entry level employee.

So in the most ideal sense you should be spending your time on the parts of marketing that are your unique gifting. The rest of your time should be used as the quarterback for your agency on your inbound and digital marketing efforts. To do this, you’ll need to learn and understand Google Analytics, Adwords and Usability Analytics (like heat- and scroll-mapping.)

The goal of your days, weeks and months is to make sure that your team is firing on all cylinders and that they are constantly refining your message to get to the right message to the right client at the same time.

Challenge #3: Knowing if your marketing efforts are working.

The #1 problem that we see with companies that we consult with is that they think Rome was built in a day. If you don’t already have a firm marketing foundation, and you are not running your marketing like a system, then you have to realize that it takes time to build the marketing “machine” properly.

If you are looking for a silver bullet marketing approach that is going to get amazing results with 30 to 60 days then you most likely are not thinking realistically.

Mature companies realize that establishing a foundation not only takes time, but it also take persistence.

The concept that we use is that the first year of inbound marketing is like pushing the ball to the top of the hill. It is heavy, it’s brutal, and there will be moments of doubt. But if done correctly, the marketing system that you are building will be unstoppable once you the get the ball up and over the hill.

Don’t Be A Sisy

So how do you know if you are on the right track? Pushing the ball up the hill is one thing. But how do you know that you are not Sisyphus. (Yep, Sisyphus, you know from Greek Mythology?… ok, maybe you need a refresher course. Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (Corinth). He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it come back to hit him, repeating this action for eternity.)

So how do you know if your marketing efforts are really working?

The easy answer is Sales. But that is not always correct. Because sales are lagging indicator, especially if you have a long sales cycle.

Which means that you have to look beyond sales as the gauge of your marketing. I know that sounds like a true marketer that says that he cares more about marketing stats then actual business acquired. However many times, it is true.

Here are some formulas that help you understand if your marketing is working.

• Be sure you have clearly defined goals WRITTEN down. And put in a place where you are forced to see them often.
• How many visitors are coming to your website?
• How many quality leads have originated from your website visitors?
• Is your email / contact database consistently growing?
• Is your marketing seamlessly integrated with your sales efforts?
• Have you established micro-goals?
• What is your cost per visitor?
• What is your cost per lead?
• What is your cost per customer?
• How long is my sales cycle?
  • Have your efforts reduced the length of time of the sales cycle?
• What content is required to keep potential sales targets on the hook for your sales team to close?
• Does my marketing system:
  • Generate leads?
  • Nurture leads into clients?
  • Turn clients into brand ambassadors?

When you start asking yourself the right questions, and you are doing it consistently enough your marketing numbers will jump out at you. It is unavoidable.

The difficult part is that getting the information above takes time to collect. But if you don’t take the time you will never know what is working and what is not. And therefore you have lost by default.

Action Items:

Here are some action items that we recommend that you do to get started:

• Take a hard look at your company and try to figure out if you are scalable for increased sales growth. Just because you can grow doesn’t always mean you should.
• Get a clear understanding what controlled growth looks like for your company. And tie your sales goals to those numbers.
• Download the Buyer Persona Worksheet here:
• Create a marketing goals list and match it with your current time tracking tools. Try to figure out what goals you have time and expertise for and what items you need to outsource.
• If you consider outsourcing, make sure that you are looking for a company / agency that is using a team based approach. Using multiple vendors one marketing campaign is often a recipe for failure.
• Create a list of marketing goals and work backwards on how to reach them.
• Make sure to establish KPIs.
• Remember that sales numbers and cashflow can often times be lagging indicators. So trust your KPIs more than you trust your bank account.

The post How to Overcome the 3 Main Challenges Facing Online Marketing appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/overcome-3-main-challenges-facing-online-marketing/

Utilizing Effective Software for the Workplace

3 Types of Easy to Use Software for the Workplace

Today, so much of business is happening on computers and on the Internet. Software for the workplace is, in and of itself, a huge industry and finding the right products to keep your business moving in the right directions can sometimes be overwhelming. Depending on what it is your company is doing, what types of data you are dealing with and how much of your business is happening with computers, the types of software you choose to use in your workplace will differ from what another company head may choose.

Finding what products are most effective for you and your team is a great way to spend some time as it will ultimately immensely increase efficiency. Below are short descriptions of three products that Farotech uses on a daily basis. This is just a quick highlight of the kinds of software for the workplace that are available.

Basecamp

Basecamp is an extremely useful tool that gives users access to a wide range of features and helps them better manage their work. This efficient software for the workplace is designed to make keeping track of all things having to do with your business easier. From calendars to file storage, unique project folders, client conversations, email and text documents, Basecamp is really a one stop shop for seamlessly managing, storing, tracking and sharing. Different packages at various price points offer users the ability to choose what they need.

Recently, Basecamp incorporated easy use of Google Docs. This is good news for many people.

Google Docs

Google Docs are easy to use and free! For any Google users a google drive is easily attainable and can be organized in such a way that will greatly benefit both work and personal life. Creating, storing and sharing files with Google Docs is simple. Set up in a similar fashion as Microsoft Office products, Google offers the ability to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings. While the ability to manipulate text and images is less comprehensive than with Office products, Google Docs provide a simplified platform that offers what many business men and women need.

Join Me

Join Me is a software for the workplace that is specifically designed for holding online meetings. This product allows users to speak with one another via the Internet, similar to Skype, but makes sharing screens amongst multiple participants more seamless and provides a host of other features. Some of these features include:

• Meeting schedulers
• Meeting recording options
• Multiple users
• Chat

In the same way that Basecamp offers a variety of packages, Join Me allows users to choose between free, trial versions and more complete priced options.

Don’t just stop at these three tool. Spend some time doing research to discover which set of software will allow for your team to become the most efficient!

The post Utilizing Effective Software for the Workplace appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/utilizing-effective-software-workplace/

Top 5 Successful Sports Medicine Marketing Ideas

In any niche industry likes sports medicine, you have to be able to set your company or services apart by highlighting your authority or unique methodology. Marketing sports medicine can be challenging because you can follow the basic rules of business marketing, but need to specifically customize your efforts to benefit your brand. We’ve discovered 5 different sports medicine marketing ideas that really work. There are lots of marketing ideas out there, but you have to decide what represents your company best. These sports medicine marketing ideas may be outside of the box, but they get your name out into the community. Ultimately, your reputation is the most important asset to your business.

Top 5 Sports Medicine Marketing Ideas

#1 Public Lectures

Our first sports medicine marketing idea is public lectures. You can travel to local sports clubs or gyms and offer your expert advice on a variety of topics. Give a presentation on how to take care of injuries, eat healthy and work out smart. You can tailor your lecture based on the group that will be there. Even though you may not gain patients immediately from the lecture, this is a long term solution to sharing your knowledge and building your reputation in the community.

#2 Get Involved with Local Sports

A great way to marketing your sports medicine practice is to get involved with local sports in your area. Take time to visit preseason team/parent meetings. You can offer your expertise at a later date to interested parties. Give a short presentation on injury prevention, what injuries need to be treated right away, and how to stay safe while playing sports. This will cause people to remember your name during the regular season when an athlete may need your help. You can also volunteer to be a team physician for a local sports team. You’ll be able to assess and treat their injuries quickly and efficiently. If the athlete likes your work, they’ll recommend your services to their teammates. Being available on the sidelines goes a long way.

# 3 Make It Affordable

Some sports medicine clinics offer free or discounted pre season physicals to athletes. You can benefit the community by making a mandatory requirement affordable to families. Young athletes can have a chance to talk with surgeons, dentists, and other medical professionals that will examine them and clear them for their sport of choice. The fee you charge could be donated back to the school to continue benefiting their sports teams.

# 4 Invest in a Sports Training Facility

Preventative care is gaining a lot of ground in the world of sports. Young athletes may not understand how important preventative care is until they get injured. Opening a sports training facility can help you get the word out to the community. Though the training center itself won’t produce a lot of income, it will do all your marketing for you. You’ll have a steady stream of athletes coming through your office.

# 5 Market Instead of Advertise

The most important of all sports medicine marketing ideas it to always market instead of advertise. The key is to build trust within your local community, not just advertise all your services. This will help differentiate your practice from others in the surrounding areas. You should post educational material on your website to encourage athletes to learn more. You can attract younger or older patients based on the type of marketing you do – online, in magazines or newspapers, or even on the radio. If you want to focus your practice on a specific age group, do some market research to find out what works.

For all your sports medicine marketing needs, contact Farotech for more information and ideas.

The post Top 5 Successful Sports Medicine Marketing Ideas appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/top-5-successful-sports-medicine-marketing-ideas/

How to Use Email Marketing & Your Blog: Tying it all Together

How to Use Email Marketing to Promote a Blog

Email marketing is a powerful tool in your box of inbound marketing strategies. Being in contact with leads is an important part of turning leads into clients. Perhaps you’ve been using email marketing in a number of ways but have never thought of the potential of how to use email marketing to promote your website’s blog. If being in contact with leads is important (which it is!), then getting leads to subscribe to your blog is also smart.

Once a lead subscribes to your blog, that person is allowing your company to put even more content in front of his/her face on a more continual basis. If your blog articles are interesting and educational, a lead who subscribes may eventually become a client because of something he or she reads in a blog post.

The Circle

So, what are we really saying here? Using email marketing to promote your blog is a simple way to create a kind of cycle in your marketing process that will help keep your marketers on their toes and your clients and leads receiving information from your business constantly.

Having a great blog is a starting point. Learning how to use email marketing effectively is also a great trait for your company to develop. By tying the two things together you are creating an even more powerful tool.

In order to use email marketing to promote a blog, you first need to have a blog to promote. If your blog posts are going to be consistently sent to subscribers, it is vital that their content is well written, informative and engaging. Consider hiring an on-staff writer who can focus all of their attention on producing great content for your company.

If you have a blog but no way to promote it, you are not allowing that tool to reach its full potential. By using email marketing to increase subscribers to your blog you are enhancing both of these features and allowing them to work for one another.

How to Make it Happen

Promoting a blog through your email marketing campaign can be as simple as adding a checkbox for viewers to be able to subscribe to the blog with one, simple click. This checkbox can be included in an email directly and can also be placed on all of your sites landing pages. Once a lead subscribes to your blog via a marketing email or a page on your site, he or she can be nurtured through the marketing funnel. By adding this check box to your landing pages as well as into your email marketing campaign, you are setting yourself up to not only get new leads but have existing leads move further along in the funnel. Existing leads and even existing clients are most likely to share your blog content, which is always a good thing.

Don’t Forget to Explain

Once a user does subscribe to your blog, it is important for you to explain to that lead what he or she has signed up for. This can happen in the form of an additional email. A quick, explanatory email like this is called a welcome email and simply needs to thank the person for subscribing as well as explain exactly what the person will be receiving and how often they should expect it. Including a way for the user to make his or her own decision about the frequency of the emails/ blog articles he or she will receive is also helpful.

 

The post How to Use Email Marketing & Your Blog: Tying it all Together appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/use-email-marketing-blog-tying-together/

Why Social Media Management Really Shouldn’t be Rocket Science

So much to learn, so much to manage. Is all this social media marketing stuff really worth the effort? Maybe some of us are making it harder than it needs to be. Why should social media management really be quit easy?…Well, because Neil Patel tells us it should be!

You may be thinking, “Great. So just because it’s easy for Neil means it should be easy for me. Not likely!”

Thankfully, Neil always backs up his claims with hard evidence and this time it’s no different. With an emphasis on teaching points and action items, he breaks down the reasons why social media management really shouldn’t be rocket science. Here’s what we learned:

A Few Easy, Helpful Steps for Social Media Management

When it comes to Twitter…

• It’s important to actively start following other people and companies
• Find relevant people to follow by utilizing Twitter’s search tool to look for industry-related keywords
• It’s equally as important to be actively tweeting about news/stats/updates related to your industry
• Remember the 80/20 rule…it shouldn’t be all about you!
• Use a service to determine who is not following you back and gradually begin unfollowing those people
• Your goal should be to keep a healthy ratio between following/followers
• Start to engage! Once you’ve formed some good MUTUAL following relationships, be sure to retweet other people’s stuff and tweet directly at users to begin conversations
• Once this pattern is established and you’re regularly using twitter 4-5 days per week, begin to incorporate a more strategic 20% self-promotion plan

When it comes to Facebook…

• Research reputable “thought leaders” in your industry and make a big list of people to send friend requests to
• A good goal for accepted friend requests is around 10% (don’t be sad when most people don’t accept…the numbers are a little different between Twitter and Facebook when it comes to likelihood of connecting)
• Begin a regular posting schedule that is focused entirely on non-promotional industry news/updates/stats,etc.
• Pay close attention to the types of posts you put up (you want them to be as engaging as possible) and WHEN you post them (try peak FB checking times like around lunch and in the hours right after the work day is over)
• Make a concerted effort to engage with others’ posts…like them, comment on them and share them
• Be open to accepting friend requests from people who don’t know or recognize – they may be someone who has read your website and came looking for you on social media (that’s the goal after all, isn’t it?!)
• Once you are actively engaged in the FB community with mutual conversations, begin a 20% self-promotion strategy with your posts

Ok, so that doesn’t sound so hard after all. But what kind of return should you expect from your efforts? Neil says:

“After you spend a month or so building up your Facebook and Twitter presence it shouldn’t be hard to get at least a few thousand visitors to your website just from these 2 traffic sources.”

Try it out! Best of luck and let us know how it goes for you. As always, if Farotech can help with any of your online marketing needs, please take advantage of our free consultation offer below!

The post Why Social Media Management Really Shouldn’t be Rocket Science appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/why-social-media-management-really-shouldnt-be-rocket-science/

Top 3 Benefits of CRM Implementation for Sales Lead Nurturing

Sales Solutions for the Digital Age

In order to understand how to build successful relationships with your customers or potential customers, we must first understand how to manage a customer relationship effectively through sales lead nurturing.

Thanks to a few brilliant minds and digitally-savvy tech folks, the birth of the “Customer Relationship Management” software, also know as CRM, busted out into mainstream business and attracted a plethora of sales people looking for an organized, analytical based solution.

Thanks to founding CRM father, Tom Siebel, small to large businesses can maximize their customer relationships, and ultimately increase sales, with tools that allow its users to track the movements of potential customers, identify key stages in the sales funnels, and send customized marketing materials to each and every prospect.

If your business relies heavily on generating web-based leads and sales, you may benefit immensely from the structure and organization that a CRM tool can offer. Whether you are looking into the possibility of implementing a new system or you already use a CRM solution, we’d like to offer you a few tips on how to really get the most out of your software so that it will benefit your lead nurturing efforts.

After all, the entire goal of a CRM program is to build your business and increase your profits through the proper management of your client relationships, right?

Effectively Using Your CRM Software

1. First, Let’s Get Organized!
Regardless of the size or type of your organization, we know that it can be a daunting task to try to track all incoming leads and systematize a plan to properly follow-up. But as tough as it may be to stay organized, the success of your business depends on your sales team’s ability track leads and follow-up with unique marketing collateral.

A quality CRM solution can solve the issue of organization once and for all. If used properly, CRM software will vastly improve the efficiency and productivity of your sales team by tracking incoming leads, following your prospects engagement with your website and/or emails, and reminding your sales team of when to follow-up.

So how do you rate a CRM on its’ ability to keep your sales team organized? Look for the following features:

• The ability to set tasks or reminders on when to follow-up with a prospect.
• The CRM effectively integrates with your website and/or email marketing to track your prospects movements.
• The capability to email or call your prospects directly from the software.
• A function that allows you to manually enter notes about each prospect and any interactions you or your sales team has had.

2. Now, Build A Customer-Centric Sales Process
You know that running a good business really comes down to having good people skills and taking the time to build meaningful relationships.

Your products and services may be the best in the world, but if your clients and potential clients do not feel valued and respected by your company, chances are you’ll lose their business. A good CRM system will allow you to organize particular data about each customer and in doing so, develop a custom plan for communicating with them in a meaningful way. When your team becomes experts at offering clients a truly personalized experience, your sales will go through the roof. But relationship building takes time. A CRM can help make that effort a little easier for you. And the time spent will be well worth it!

The communication you initiate will:

• Work your potentials through the sales process using tailored marketing techniques
• Build trust and rapport with your brand by ensuring each experience is unique and valuable
• Generate increased referrals because the sales process was painless (and isn’t that every customers dream)
• Facilitate constant customer interaction with your company and interactions that are worth your prospect’s time

3. Finally, Evaluate the CRM
As mentioned earlier, the primary goal of any CRM software is ultimately to help you increase sales and build your business. A CRM that is properly used will help you pinpoint exact areas of increased ROI potential because it allows you to determine (with the simple click of a mouse) which specific products or campaigns are most successful.

What better way to boost your overall efficiency and truly concentrate your sales lead nurturing efforts?

Because this systematic process should undoubtedly lead to growth in your business, we recommend looking for CRM software that is built with scalability and flexibility in mind so that the system can accommodate your growing business!

CRM Recommendations from the Pro’s

Below you will find a list of valuable CRM features and CRM’s we recommend:

• Tracking Leads – This should include everything from list management to measuring your prospects’ engagement. We prefer HubSpot’s interface when it comes to contact management and tracking your prospects every interaction. Their features include lead scoring, task creation, email marketing, landing page/form creation and more.
• Sales Automation – This should include everything from sales reminders to automated emails. Your sales team should invest their time where it matters, so having automated emails set-up to easily send to a potential customers, allows your sales people to get on the phone or even grab some much needed face time. HubSpot’s CRM has a fantastic integration called Sidekick that allows users to send automated, canned emails to their prospects and see if the prospect even opened them.
• Deal Forecasting – This should allow your sales people to set up deal stages, track campaigns, forecast deal amounts and monitor where each prospect is in your pipeline. Pipedrive has some great functionality when it comes to tracking your sales pipeline.

Every CRM has different features and functionality and in order to find the one that fits your organization’s needs, you have to do some research. Thankfully, Capterra has done this work for you and also has a list of reviews for you to sort through.

Action Items & Takeaways:

• Do Your Research! There are a ton of CRMs in the marketplace, but finding one that fits ALL of your organization’s needs is just as important as hiring a new sales rep.
• Invest in Training! We see this all the time and it is so frustrating. A business buys CRM software, invests thousands of dollars, and only uses 10% of its capabilities. Most software companies offer some training (for an additional cost or even for free), and the expense is worth the results. At Farotech, we are well-versed in HubSpot’s CRM and have helped several of our clients set up and effectively use their CRM to track and nurture leads. We don’t advertise this, but if you need help in setting up or using your CRM, give us a call!
• Evaluate Your Sales Process! Your CRM is only effective when you fully understand your sales process. What questions are you asking to better understand your customers and the information they need in each stage? For example, what information should an email have versus a downloadable eBook? Fully understanding each stage in the sales process is key to defining what collateral you need and where to support your sales team. We have plenty experience evaluating the sales process. Why? Because it is crucial to developing robust marketing campaigns.

If you have more questions about how to effectively use your CRM or want to learn more, contact us today!

The post Top 3 Benefits of CRM Implementation for Sales Lead Nurturing appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/top-3-benefits-crm-implementation-for-sales-lead-nurturing/

The top 3 Blog Tips You Wish You’d Always Known

Everyone knows that blogging is a powerful tool is this day and age. Modes of communication have drastically changed in the past 10 years and now, people are getting their information from social media and blogs more than ever before. If you run a blog for your business, you’re on the right track. And if you’re looking for some helpful blog tips, you’re in the right place!

Our Top 3 Blog Tips: Making Sure Your Blog is “Useful or Better”

 

1) Rethink Business Blogging

Blogging for the purpose of blogging is fine if you’re in the blog world for fun, but blogging for business is different. As a blogger for a business, it is imperative that your perspective on your task always goes from broader to more specific. If you have been frustrated in the past because you feel like you have run out of things to say, that’s a good indicator that you’ve lost sight of the purpose of your task. Blogs are a huge way of promoting your business and they never stop working for you. With that in mind, blogging can become a useful endeavor rather than a frustrating “to do” on your list. To help keep your perspective, make sure to plan ahead. Schedule blog writing times into your work day so that you don’t accidentally forget or give yourself the chance to lose out on the opportunity. Spend some time up front planning several general categories with several specific topics under each so that when it comes to creating new content for the blog, you won’t be at a loss.

2) Set Standards to Measure

Blogging for business can be discouraging if you never have any idea of how much, if at all, this tool is working for you. In order to make the most of your blog, determine how you are going to gauge your blog’s success. The gauge you chose to use needs to be the most relevant to your particular business and blog. The standard measurements can vary greatly among businesses. Some ways to measure success here is by checking up on created leads, search traffic and social media sharing. Based on why you’re writing, who you’re targeting and what results you’d like to see from your blog, your standard of success can be determined. Once you have set standards, you can pursue goals relating to those standards and ultimately utilize the blogging tool for all it’s worth.

3) Incorporate Keywords

Want your blog to get noticed and increase business? Most likely the answers to those questions are yes, in which case incorporating keywords can greatly contribute to your ability to make those goals a reality. Rather than just writing your business blogs about anything and everything, take some time to look into your marketing strategies and find out which keywords are currently the most popular and will give you the most return for your invested time. Choose a few and then get writing! Be sure to use the keywords and words similar to them (variations) throughout the entire blog several times. Also make sure that the keywords you’ve chosen show up in the title and the tags.

The post The top 3 Blog Tips You Wish You’d Always Known appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/the-top-3-blog-tips-you-wish-youd-always-known/

3 Keys to Doing Social Media for Small Business

Learn how to harness the power of social media for your small business!

What comes to mind when you think of ‘small businesses’? What comes to mind when you think of ‘social media’?

Small businesses have long been called the “life blood of America,” and for good reason. In 2014, small businesses brought in 1.4 million new jobs, with companies smaller than 50 employees accounting for 39% of that figure. Investing in small business was key to recovering from the recession of 2008 and 2009.

As a small business owner, you’re probably aware of the integral role you play in the country’s economy. To reach your full potential, and to make the impact you strive to make, you have to utilize the tools in front of you. Social media for small business is one of the most accessible and most powerful marketing tools around, and integration with your marketing strategy is easier than ever.

As your business grows, and as trends come and go, it can be challenging to decipher how to actively use social media to your advantage. At Farotech, we get that: you want to keep growing and improving and perfecting your small business’ social media, and we want to help you as much as we can.

A Social Media Plan for Small Business in 3 Parts

Let’s look at 3 to-dos that make social media for small business the powerful tool that it is:

• Coordinate your cross-platform branding – one of the biggest challenges with small business social media is keeping track of several accounts at once. From Facebook and Twitter, to Instagram and more, it can be difficult to consistently brand yourself. Platform integration is possible with some social media, but nothing beats taking that extra step to keep an eye on each account, making sure you’re staying consistent with your presentation, and the persona to whom you’re presenting.
• Strive for good reviews – going beyond just fishing for good reviews, you should focus on what it means to get a good review. A good review makes customers want to trust your business, and there is as much challenge in achieving that good feedback as there is in sharing it. Through platforms such as Yelp, you can provide a place for good reviews to grow, but don’t forget that you’ll still have to put in the hard work to earn them!
• Strive for balance – in a social media campaign, it can be very easy to get carried away with the “introspective social media,” the kind of social media posts that only focus on your business and your brand. It can be great to share positive information about your company, but you can educate your readers with content beyond your website as well. Sharing informative articles or statistics helps you to become a thought leader in your industry, and is good practice towards cultivating an attractive professional presence online.

For more information on implementing good small business social media tactics, check out Farotech’s marketing blog.

The post 3 Keys to Doing Social Media for Small Business appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/social-media-small-business/

The Most Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Email Marketing Program

Email marketing campaigns can be a great way to contact potential customers as well as reach out to leads already in your sales cycle. They can help you keep current clients interested, increase traffic to your site and ultimately, create new revenue. That being said, you can make a mess of an email marketing program due to basic formatting issues and/or reports of spamming. The good news is that these issues can easily be avoided; you just need to be aware of what the common mistakes are!

3 Formatting Problems that Can Sink your Email Marketing Program

• Not Including an Opt-Out Link – Whether or not this is intentional, it is probably one of the most serious mistakes you can make due to the fact that it is illegal. Ever since the implementation of the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003, email recipients must be able to ask to be taken off your recipient list. Period. Usually, people will look for this link in the footer of your email, so be sure to include it.
• Complex Designs – The template for an email is different than that of a website. Many of the awesome tricks of web design simply won’t work when put into an email and can seriously mess up the layout of your email. The same goes for certain frameworks and languages, like ActiveX and JavaScript, which simply do not cooperate well with email’s HTML format.
• Graphics as Emails – If your email is simply one large image, it will be seen as spam by spam filters. Even if an image is the focal point of the message, you still need to incorporate text in order to have your email pass the filters.

3 of The Wrong Reasons to Add Someone as a Recipient

• Very Old Interest – If someone bought from you once and you send them an email years later, you are asking to be reported as spam. After years of no contact, you no longer have a legitimate reason to send them information. Find a different way to re-engage that person’s interest and then ask them to opt-in to your email list. That way, you’ll avoid getting reported.
• Mutual Membership to an Organization – If you get the email addresses of the members of a group through the organization’s contact list and send them your email campaign without their direct permission, then you are spamming those people. You need their direct opt-in; otherwise, your email will be flagged as spam.
• Indirect Permission – Getting an email address directly is not the same thing as being given permission directly. For example, let’s say you run a promotional contest that requires an email address to participate. Even though the participants have willfully handed over their contact info to you, they have still not given you permission to send them your email campaign. Get direct permission!

A properly set up email marketing program can bring in many new customers for your business, but it can also smear your name if you’re not careful. Being reported as spam or simply sending a malfunctioning email that looks extremely unprofessional are good ways to do damage to your brand. Keep your corporate identity intact and make the most of your email marketing efforts by avoiding these mistakes listed above.

 

 

The post The Most Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Email Marketing Program appeared first on Farotech.

source https://farotech.com/blog/the-most-common-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-email-marketing-program/