by Chris Currington | Jan 22, 2020 | Blog
The first rule of real estate is “location, location, location.” Anyone who’s ever been in the market to buy or sell a home has been told this by a family member, friend or agent. But when you’re buying a house where exactly is the best location? The answer: It depends.
Truth told, there are many variables when you decide to buy a home, most notably price and cost. You may want to live in a certain location, but the price of the houses there may not fit your monthly mortgage budget. So you have to look for a different location.
Another example: let’s say you want to buy a house in a historical part of a city. The prices may be cheaper for the houses, but there may be a lot more maintenance and cost that goes into it.
In marketing, the question often arises, “how often should I be reaching out to my prospects so I can close a sale?” The answer here is the same as buying a house: It depends.
Some of the factors determining your approach to outreach are sales goals, clearing the shelves, price of the product and the length of the sale. The following are some points to keep in mind when determining how often you want to reach out to potential buyers based on your approach to the sales process.
The Hunting Approach to Sales and Frequency of Contact
In this approach to the sales process, the service or good could be a one-time acquisition or it could be purchased several times. When gaining leads, the company looks at the population of prospects, and then answers the question, “who am I going to go after?”
Next, they determine the outreach approach based on the “target’s” buying journey and how they gain information. And then they hunt.
With this approach, what one hopes to achieve is an initial buy and then the possibility of repeat customers. Because of this, they need to determine how often to reach out and provide prospects with pertinent information to get them to buy. This approach may be applicable to both business-to-business (think Dunder-Mifflin) and business-to-consumer relationships.
Groupon is a good example. If you’ve ever given your personal email address to Groupon, you’ll soon find that emails show up as frequently as daily. And there’s a reason. It’s because the sales and buying opportunities change daily, and the buyer has to act fast or could miss out on the deal.
Another example is if you have an Amazon Prime account. Emails show up almost daily, because the discounts and shipping options change daily as well.
But what about other sales and discounts that don’t change as frequently? In this instance, too many emails can sometimes be annoying because the offering isn’t necessarily changing that often.
In these instances, it’s important to assess when the amount of outreach becomes an annoyance. What you want to avoid is prospects hitting the “unsubscribe” button and losing their business or never getting it in the first place.
Examples of companies that may reach out too often are online meal kit delivery services, movie theaters and car rental companies. The questions to answer here are: is the meal kit option changing in the next month, do I need to rent a car this week, and are the movies switching out today? If the answer is, “probably not” then it’s important to watch how often emails are sent.
The Gathering Approach to Sales and Frequency of Contact
In this approach, the company is trying to build a relationship for the long-term. They start with some of the same steps as the hunting approach determining the appropriate population, looking at their “options” to start a relationship with and how they gain information. And then they date.
In the gathering instance, the cost of the good or service is usually (but not always) much more expensive than the hunting approach. As such, the language used in these company’s messages is also different, focusing more on the benefits of the product (a new HVAC unit), the return on cost (a car) and a tie to an emotional state (a diamond ring).
For B2C relationships using the gathering approach, outreach is common but usually not as frequent as the hunting approach. Sure, there may be a sale on a certain model of new car, but chances are that sale isn’t ending tomorrow. And, a bachelor looking for an engagement ring is probably going to take his time to find the right one; not because he got an email every day for a week.
When gathering customers, the time it takes to sell the good or service, or close a deal, can take a lot longer than the hunting method as well. So, determining the cadence of outreach to prospects is also important for the company to note. For example, if a company knows that a buyer isn’t going to make a decision in the near future, then daily emails are probably not a good idea.
Determining cadence of outreach is particularly important when developing B2B relationships, because these deals can cost millions of dollars and take m onths to close, and when that money is on the line, the buyer values a long-term relationship and is gauging what can be expected.
Something to consider here is the level of the individual that the outreach is being sent to and how often messages are being sent. For example, overwhelmed by the amount of email in his or her inbox, if sent too often, a message has a good chance a C-level executive will delete it. Or, these people may have a separate email box for those messages and they end up eternally ignored.
If you have a good email address for someone at this level, then don’t bother them too much with your messages. Consider who’s making the buying decision and dating you in return probably an influencer at a lower level in the organization who’s more likely to read and receive your invitation to engage. So perhaps more of your energy and messaging should be focused at this level.
Conclusion
Where have we gotten with the answer when determining how often to reach out to your prospects? It depends.
When buying a house, once you get past location, logic and good advice tell you to look at what you can afford, the most (and best) house you can get for your money, and the community amenities around it.
When determining your email and outreach campaigns, use logic and good advice to determine the type of relationship you want to develop with your prospect,
their journey to making a decision, and then how often you need to reach out.
There’s really no right answer for the question about frequency just a better answer depending on your good or service and the relationship you hope to make. But whatever you decide, keep in mind what it will take to keep your buyer(s) engaged and avoid hitting the unsubscribe button.
by Linda Healan | Jan 15, 2020 | Blog
We’ve all seen articles in the press about overuse of social media and technology by our kids and teens. It’s absolutely pervasive in school, during classes, and in many homes.
I’ve had numerous conversations with my high school sophomore about her generation’s overuse of technology as a communications tool and how it’s leading to shortfalls in interpersonal skills. These kids don’t really know how to interact with each other without their phones. In fact, they don’t even use their phones for actual phone calls. I could go on, but I won’t. If you have a teenager, I bet you can relate.
Technology can be a great thing for business. We use email universally and texts are even becoming more common. But perhaps like our kids we are overusing it a bit. Maybe we should take a step back and remember the importance of “conversations” either over the phone or ideally face-to-face.
Back in the day in high tech PR, we used to conduct press tours and analyst tours so our clients could have face-to-face meetings with key influencers. It was a great opportunity to educate them about new products or services. And more importantly, it was an opportunity to build or cultivate key relationships.
Through the use of technology, press tours are no longer needed not that the media have a ton of bandwidth for meetings these days. Nor are they concentrated in a few media hubs like they used to be.
We have learned to rely on email pitches, phone interviews and if it’s really something special, maybe a video conference call so we can screenshare and provide a product demo. Again, a great use of technology that saves time and travel budgets, but what about the relationship building?
In healthcare IT, we have conferences and tradeshows such as HIMSS, HLTH, AHIMA, and so on, where we try to schedule a few minutes with very busy journalists and analysts to get some “face time” for our clients and their customers. But these are rushed meetings where we hope to communicate the news ““ fingers crossed that the editor or analyst retains what we talked about along with their 20 other meetings that day. They don’t call it #HIMSSanity for nothing.
We are in public relations, but do we take time to actually build and nurture the relationships anymore?
I’m lucky that I have a local client here in Atlanta who I get to have face-to-face meetings with occasionally. We could certainly conduct our check-ins over the phone and quite often we do. However, when I get the chance to go meet with them and brainstorm in person, plan strategy, discuss new ways of talking about their solutions, and even talk about the weather and learn about their families, it builds bonds. And quite often we end our meetings with hugs not handshakes maybe that’s a Southern thing.
This is a topic that I have been thinking about a lot lately and I’ve tried to incorporate it into my daily work. When I’m planning to send a colleague a complicated, wordy email that would be better discussed live, I choose to pick-up the phone and have a conversation instead. There is no lost nuance that can often result in an email or text communication, and I leave the conversation knowing my colleague a little bit better. And we begin to develop a bond. And hopefully that bond, that communication, delivers a better outcome for our clients.
As entrepreneur Paul J. Meyer said, “Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.”
How can you spend more meaningful time communicating and building business relationships? Let’s not be like our kids.
by Brandon Glenn | Jan 8, 2020 | Blog
The more corporate blogs change, the more they stay the same.
A 2016 post on Amendola’s blog lists the primary benefits a corporate blog can deliver, which all ring true three-and-a-half years later. Those advantages include: building SEO and attracting visitors to your site, providing a platform to exchange ideas with prospects and customers, strengthening your brand, serving as the
hub of your content marketing efforts, and establishing you as thought leaders in the industry.
Likewise, the author’s assessment of the most likely factor to derail a corporate blog remains spot-on: “The number one barrier I have encountered to establishing thought leadership through a corporate blog is a lack of commitment. A blog will die a slow (or sometimes not-so-slow) death when an organization fails to develop a culture committed to establishing thought leadership through content marketing.”
This observation matches up with my own experience. Too often, corporate blogs are launched without a detailed plan and content calendar that organize and map out the content the blog is planned to cover.
There is one piece of advice from the author, however, that I believe doesn’t fully capture the idea of how to maintain a sustainable blog: “The executive team must lead the way.” Certainly, that is true in regard to the need for executives to champion the blog internally to generate interest within the company.
However, this advice ignores the role the marketing and communications teams must play in developing potential content for the blog. While an organization’s top executives are certainly its most prominent thought leaders, they generally are reluctant to spend time sitting in front of a blank Word document brainstorming ideas for corporate blog posts. That’s why the organization’s marketing and communications professionals must first take the lead in establishing a content plan for a blog.
How is this accomplished? Start by reviewing any recent content your company has produced that is still relevant, which may include white papers, guest editorials, marketing collateral, website copy, interview transcriptions and more. This pre-existing content can be a gold mine of ideas to repurpose for blog posts.
Take your preparation a step further by performing Google and Twitter searches for news items relevant to your company that provide a jumping-off point for other blog posts. For example, if your company works with provider organizations to help address social determinants of health issues in their communities, a simple search of “social determinants of health” may yield information about a trove of articles and studies that can provide engaging content for blog posts.
Use this research to fuel a running list of corporate blog post ideas that you update periodically and share with your thought leaders. By doing this, you’ll likely have saved executives lots of time and even have taken on the appearance of a thought leader a bit yourself.
by Administrator | Dec 18, 2019 | Blog
Building relationships with journalists takes time. Smashing them to pieces takes little time at all.
One terrible, irrelevant pitch and you could end up on a journalist’s blacklist and that isn’t where you want to be. Because as any good media relations guru will tell you, we need journalists more than they need us.
To build strong relationships and maybe fix bad ones there are some basic rules of the road anyone out there sending pitches should follow, lest you end up in the SPAM folder where email goes to die!
Know What they Write and What Who they Write for Writes
Sometimes a good tongue-twister helps you to remember a basic principle such as this one do a little research! You need to know who the person and the publication is before you pitch him/her.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s actually one of the biggest problems editors run into. If they won’t accept company sources for stories and prefer to limit
themselves to end-users and customers, you need to know that. And, more importantly, you need to respect that.
No, you cannot change their mind. Instead, because you failed to know who you’re dealing with and respect their rules, you’ll just end up alienating yourself.
Give publications a call before you pitch them. Or, do what I do, drop a quick email with the subject like “Quick Question” and just ask what it’ll take to get a
story covered. And then take the response as a Commandment. It’s as simple as that.
Use the Medium of their Choice
Media relations people are told all the time “you have to make the calls!” Well, that’s true sometimes. And sometimes, it’s not true at all.
The fact is if it’s a solicitation or a pitch editors prefer email almost universally. That said, a quick phone call to remind them you sent one is probably OK for most editors. Don’t, however, overstay your welcome. Keep calls brief. And if an editor tells you they prefer email, keep to that avenue.
I have been yelled at on the phone once or twice for calling someone I shouldn’t have. My advice to avoid this is to 1) check your PR software, such as Cision, and read the notes to see if a journalist explicitly states that they prefer email; and 2) try to limit your calls to work numbers.
Just because you can get a journalist’s personal cellphone doesn’t mean you should call them on the same line. Like everyone else, they use their phones primarily to like baby photos on Facebook and to swipe left on Tinder mirror selfies. They probably don’t want a call on their personal line so don’t do it.
Don’t sound like Rachel From Cardholder Services during phone calls, and don’t make your emails look like marketing blasts. Talk and write to editors as if they are real people and as if you’re a real person (I failed to develop a good tongue-twister, but I tried).
Keep it Real
Keep it real. If you’re writing an email, keep it brief and just offer a story. Don’t drone on and on about a product and how great it is no one cares. And if you’re calling an editor, don’t jump into a monologue, because no one will listen.
Just try to have a conversation, weave in the most important information, and be yourself. If you don’t fall back on your personality, you shouldn’t be in media
relations.
People skills are a huge part of the job, and good people skills shine most when those people are being themselves.
by admin | Dec 11, 2019 | Blog
Healthcare technology companies spend a lot of time urging providers and payers to become “data-driven.” But what about themselves? The fact is, most healthcare tech companies are sitting on goldmines of data that, given a little exploration, could produce intriguing and meaningful insights. In turn, these insights can become marketing and PR gold.
It’s not just analytics companies that have access to a lot of data. Any company that processes digital information in some fashion for its clients presumably has access to sizeable datasets. They are in a prime position to examine this data for patterns and trends.
A clearinghouse for medical claims, as one example, can spot trends in which claim types payers are more likely to deny, and for which reason. In another example, a company with care coordination technology can detect patterns about which health events and conditions require the most collaborative care. And of course, analytics companies have access to any number of data insights.
Once these insights are in hand, how to package them? Here are a few ideas:
- A graphical representation, such as a chart or infographic
- Industry reports
- Byline articles and blog posts
- Press releases
Or bundle all of the above into a larger campaign, especially for those data insights that are sure to make industry waves.
Start by capturing the main data points into a graphical format, which you can brand with your logo. Flesh out these findings in an industry report, which you can announce is now available via a press release. Further market the industry report with social media posts of your graphics.
Many tech-enabled companies outside of healthcare already do this and get national news coverage for it.
So, how can marketing and PR departments get these data insights? The answer lies in understanding what kind of data your organization processes, and forging relationships with the stewards of this data. Even one initial project can show the success of these efforts if the findings reap media coverage or increased social media interaction. And success tends to beget more success.
CEOs can also make it part of the data steward job description to share interesting findings on a monthly or quarterly basis.
The point is to remember that data isn’t just an asset for the healthcare tech company’s customer. It’s of value to the healthcare tech company, too; especially for those inevitable times when news is slow. Rather than wait for a big event to promote, shake up the industry with some big findings and make some data-driven news of your own.
by Morgan Lewis | Dec 4, 2019 | Blog
In public relations, we work with most of our clients on thought leadership bylined articles. These articles frequently include the client’s opinions, most often about how healthcare provider organizations or payers can improve productivity, efficiency, patient care and other aspects of running their businesses.
In healthcare business-to-business PR, however, we rarely get the opportunity to work with clients who truly want to take a critical stand on an issue, not necessarily political, but one that some readers may interpret as (gasp!) controversial. This is understandable considering businesses often do not want to alienate any potential clients based on their position.
At the same time, it’s a shame because writing opinion pieces generates credibility when the article is carefully researched, speaks from a place of knowledge and experience and is well-written. Opinion pieces also elicit a stronger emotional response in readers and are more likely to be shared online. One study by a marketing research company analyzed the 10,000 most shared articles across the web and categorized them by feelings, finding that “awe” was the most common emotion among the highly shared articles. “Laughter” and “Amusement” were the other top emotions, but that’s not typically our goal with opinion pieces.
The firm’s analysis echoes an earlier study conducted by The New York Times several years ago which asked readers why they shared a story they found online. Among the top reasons was to “bring valuable and entertaining content to one another” and “get the word out about causes they care about.” A good opinion article accomplishes both those goals and can inspire awe or at least a strong sense of admiration in the reader who may share the piece with key decision makers in the healthcare organization. When writing opinion articles, keep in mind the following:
Think of the reader
Certainly, the CEO or other thought leaders at your company may have an opinion about a healthcare industry problem or regulation, but is it what the reader also cares about? If not, the lack of relevance will make for a forgettable article. Instead, determine one of the most common pain points among your customers (and one that your solution may address) and focus on the opinion piece on that issue.
Do your research
Eliciting emotion is crucial for opinion pieces, but the piece will fall flat without the facts to back them up. Opinion articles, like any sort of persuasive writing, need ample statistics from credible sources to support this position. Don’t go overboard, though. Too many numbers may get confusing or cumbersome and may overshadow the story you’re telling and the personality of the writer, both of which must come through.
Establish credibility
The Duke University Communications Office offers a great, quick content and style guide for writing opinion articles. In their tips, they recommend that the writer “play up your personal connection to the readers” to increase relevance and build credibility. For their guide, Duke is referring to local consumer newspapers and publications. For trade and national business media, it’s helpful if the writer demonstrates their deep healthcare knowledge by sharing a bit about their background in the industry, if they have some.
Readers tend to trust people more who have been in their shoes, so showing you’ve felt their pain firsthand can elicit a stronger sense of admiration and drive action. If the writer lacks personal experience in healthcare, describing an anecdote about a client or several clients can be just as effective.
Ruffle some feathers, respectfully
With facts and credibility established, the writer needs to take an unequivocal position on an issue, even if some or many readers will not agree, or even object to it. Taking a bold stance on an issue that is relevant to readers demonstrates confidence, strength and leadership, all qualities that healthcare leaders are looking for in partners. At the same time, demonstrating humility by explaining why you can understand the other side of the issue or the limitations of your position, is also important to show that this is a well-considered position.
Offer solutions
If an opinion article just criticizes and offers no solutions then it is no help to anybody, including your company. Describe at a high level how this issue could be solved focusing on all aspects. It may be tempting to reference your company’s solution at this point, but refrain from self-promotion as much as possible. Nothing weakens the integrity of an opinion article like an obvious sales pitch. Ideally, the content will drive readers to explore your company and download a deeper dive into your solution through a white paper or eBook. The article is meant to highlight the knowledge, expertise and vision of the people behind the solution, which is just as important as the tech.
Use sparingly
Opinion articles may seem risky to some, but with so much thought leadership content available online, it can be difficult to stand out. A strongly held opinion articulated and argued effectively using credible evidence can differentiate the writer above other thought leaders in B2B healthcare, but also help readers see those leaders as people” – and maybe even inspire “awe.”
