Physicians, more than most professionals, need to be aware of how they are perceived by the public.  A person’s health is his or her most valuable asset, and to most there is nothing more important than picking the right healthcare practitioner.  No one wants to put their health in the hands of someone they don’t trust.   This is one reason why (in the health and medical world) although advertising and direct mail promotions can be successful, they can also backfire.  A prospective patient does not chose a physician,  healthcare provider, or a hospital, the same way he or she chooses a new Smartphone or a new set of tires.

Marketing a medical practice via a print ad or TV commercial has inherent risks.  A physician does not want to be viewed as though he or she is actively selling; no prospective patient wants to be sold.  Patients want to see someone they trust, someone they feel is the best in the field, and that’s why a well planned public relations campaign is so very important to building a medical practice.

The healthcare field is learning how to utilize public relations and social media as ways to connect with and communicate to the public.  In over two decades working in the healthcare PR field, I’ve seen firsthand how important media coverage is to physicians and hospitals.  We’ve placed physicians and healthcare practitioners in a wide range of media outlets including Time, Newsweek, Oprah, the Today Show, the Wall Street journal, the New York Times, the BBC, and hundreds of other local and national media outlets.  Those placements have helped build practices and establish medical experts.

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You might have a great story, but if you don’t know how to present it, you’re not going to grab the media’s attention. Remember what seems like a great story for you might not seem that way to the media. Building a great pitch for a TV segment or magazine article takes some time, thought and creativity. Have fun with this process. Give it some time and you just might uncover some hidden gems that will launch your PR campaign.

Before you approach the media, study and review the press release or pitch you’re going to be using. Again, simply because it looks good to you doesn’t mean it will resonate with the media. Keep working on and refining your pitch with the focus on how it will meet the media’s needs.

1. Debunking a myth:

If there are certain preconceived ideas in your industry, or surrounding the topic you’ll be pitching, focus on those and pitch a story around how those myths or preconceived ideas are wrong. For example, if you’re in the fitness industry, come up with some points that debunk some commonly held misconceptions about working out or losing weight. Present yourself as the expert who can set the record straight and educate the public.

2. Comment on a national issue:

If there is a story being covered in the media, or if there is a particular topic that is being discussed that you can comment on, do so. For example, if you are an attorney and there is a particular legal case that is in the news, or if there is an issue or topic that is being discussed that you can address, pitch yourself as an expert in the field who can clarify and explain the topic. Perhaps take a side and explain why the other side is wrong. Make sure to explain why you are the expert to address this topic.

3. Seasonal Stories:

The media always covers season stories. It has to.

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Selling to high-level decision makers is challenging at the best of times. However, it can be easier if you understand a few business principles.

C-level decision makers are paid to improve their business results. Regardless of how the media portrays these executives, their primary concern is to improve their business. This includes increasing sales, market share, customer loyalty; reducing costs, errors, or employee turnover; improving productivity, employee engagement, customer service, etc.

How does your product, service or solution address one of these issues?

C-level decision makers deal with changing priorities. Improving customer engagement may be a top priority today but tomorrow that executive may be faced with cutting $250,000 in expenses. That means they sometimes go cold after expressing initial interest in your solution.

Do you have a strategy in place to keep your solution current?

C-level decision makers are extremely busy. The average executive arrives early in the morning and stays late into the evening. They get dozens of calls every day, receive too many emails, and attend too many meetings. This means that you need to maximize every minute you have when you connect with them. This applies to telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings.

Do you know EXACTLY what to say when you connect with these individuals?

C-level decision makers rely on others. Contrary to popular belief, these high-ranking big-wigs seldom make decisions on their own. They often defer to other people on their team and ask for feedback from peers and/or subordinates. This means you need to involve these people in your conversations and include them in the decision making process.

Do you have the ability to finesse this?

C-level decision makers don’t like to make mistakes.

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Many small business owners envision “more revenue” as the key to a higher selling price.  But, is that really true?  Is it really more revenue that the owner needs, or just better, more profitable revenue?

It can be an enlightening experience to understand what tasks create value in your company and which ones simply keep you busy.  It can also be devastating if you’ve spent years focused on the wrong activities.

There’s a tremendous difference between bringing money into your company and putting money in your pocket (adding value).  You’re not in business to be a conduit for money.  You want to either keep it for yourself, use it to pay down debt, or use it to finance your company’s growth.  If the revenue is merely passing through your fingers, what’s the point?

It’s time to take a closer look at your business; not as a whole, but by each individual product or service line.  Calculate revenues for each product or service, then take a look at the costs that you incur in order to generate those revenues.  Subtract the cost to produce that product / service from the revenues as well your cost to deliver it to the customer.  Are all your product / service lines profitable?  There’s more…

Don’t forget to allocate your overhead!!  There are certain functions in your business that you can’t reasonably allocate to just one product or service, such as accounting, rent, and utilities.  For these expenses allocate them to your product or service lines based on the same percentage split as your revenue.

For example, if service A accounts for 30% of your company’s revenue, assign 30% of your rent, 30% of your utilities, and 30% of your accounting expense as a cost needed to generate this revenue.  Now, are all your product / service lines still profitable?

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Collecting sufficient capital for small business can be a laborious task for new owners. The banks usually turn down the loan application of new entrepreneurs as they avoid taking risk of lending money to companies without an established financial record. But do not worry as there are options that you can rely on to finance your business.

Here are some other ways that you can employ to finance your business:

1. You need to have a proper business plan as it will help you to operate your business strategically. It should contain details of the principal owner along with the information on the operations of the initial years. The plan should also deal with the analysis of the business opportunity along with the niceties of financial projections. Your business plan will be incomplete without the inclusion of the estimated expenses and revenue. The facts that are incorporated in the plan needs a meticulous research that will benefit your future business prospects. Setting a proper plan can prevent the business from getting into debt.

2. According to the community reinvestment act you can seek for grants, funds or any other similar program. You can look for available local, state or federal funds. Disadvantage of a grant is that you need to be a part of a challenge in order to get your grant application approved. The reason behind this contest is that, the grants for profit enterprises might be limited. You can browse through Grants.gov website to locate grants for your business.

3. Angel investors can be helpful if you are looking for finance for a business loan at this moment. Usually a family member or friend is considered to be an angel investor who trusts in your plan for investment.

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Are you tired of hiring new sales people that never seem to quite work out?

Since 1980, we have been helping our clients improve sales results by assessing and developing their people. We’ve learned one or two things along the way.

1. Take a second look at the big picture. What are your goals for the year? Understood. Increase sales. Do you know where those increases will come from? Will you sell more of the same to current accounts? New products to current accounts? Or will the increases come from new accounts? And what will you sell them? Current products or new products? “All of the above” is not the right answer. The essence of strategy is denial.
2. Put the right people in the right roles.  The Publisher of a large newspaper once said to me that he wanted his sales managers to question everything, including the structure of their teams. He did not want them to uncritically accept the structure and the people that came with the promotion. If the goal is to open new accounts do you have the sales people who like to prospect? If the goal is to get more money from existing accounts do you have the sales people who can sell strategically? That team that helped make you a winner last year might not be the same team you need to accomplish this year’s goals.
3. Determine the profile of the ideal rep for each sales goal. I know you have done that exercise before. Do it again. You must be absolutely crystal clear about the competencies required to be successful. The competencies are determined by your sales goals. The attitudes and skills required to excel at prospecting are not the same as those required to excel at account development. If you are not sure about what you need, take a look at some of the sales assessment tools that are available in the marketplace.
4. Do a thorough assessment of each sales person. There are two major dimensions you should look at. Skill and Will.

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Typical managers spend nearly 40% of their work hours in meetings, not to mention the time spent preparing (and recuperating). A survey of business leaders showed:

• 33% of time spent in meetings is unproductive
• 75% of the respondents said it is “almost essential” to have an agenda, yet they use them only 50% of the time
• Only 64% of meetings achieve their intended outcome
A disciplined approach to making the most of meeting time will help to maximize team effectiveness.

Set an objective
Answer these three questions. What, ultimately, do I want to achieve by this meeting? What, specifically, has to be accomplished by the end of this meeting? When the meeting is over, how will I know whether the meeting was a success? Use your answers to define your meeting’s objective. Then make participants aware of the objective up front.

Make sure the key people attend
Key people are the ones with the knowledge and experience needed to accomplish the meeting’s objective.Arrange for the proper facility: Little things (how the room is arranged, the room temperature, or whether there’s coffee or not) can make a tremendous difference in the success of a meeting.

Write an agenda
There are numerous ways to accomplish this task. Have a planning committee set the agenda, or send out a pre-meeting survey asking people to list one to three topics they want to discuss. When writing an agenda, put the most important items at the beginning.
The agenda should be distributed far enough in advance so participants can adequately prepare for the meeting. The agenda should state the date, location, start and finish time, topics to be covered, the expected outcome (information only, discussion, or decision), and time allotted to each topic.

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“There must be alternatives. You must have some technology that could solve our problem.” – Professor Barnhardt, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008

Even though a few companies have sold 10M +/- tablets and phones in the US and are slowly, painfully rolling them out in other wealthy consumer markets (Japan, North America, Europe), that’s only a drop in the proverbial consumer population bucket.

There’s are 300 million potential consumers in the US and a whopping six billion plus around the globe.

Today, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the wealthy countries is modest (at best), and the outlook for the next 10 years isn’t overly aggressive.

The “buy low, sell high” approach – buying components, manufacturing “somewhere” at the lowest possible price and selling them for optimum profit to folks in the wealthy areas is becoming more challenging.

That’s why businesses are becoming more serious about reaching, influencing emerging economy consumers.

Almost any senior executive worth his/her huge paycheck knows it’s “the place to be,” but according to McKinsey & Company research, less than one-third of the firms have taken any steps to get involved.

Some have taken the “bold move” of developing new, lower-cost products or services for the fast-growing, middle-income consumers in countries such as China and India.  These organizations identify themselves as global firms, but aren’t quite certain how to leverage their opportunities in the economic activities between and within regions.

Brave New World
The solution?

A completely new strategy is needed that specifically targets sales in the emerging countries where there are more potential customers.

Some will hear Mr.

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When you are trying to build your company brand online authenticity is important. We have seen many poor practices promoting businesses in the social sphere which actually have a negative effect on the brand. Social media is not social advertising. Yes, of course you can advertise on sites like Facebook and Linkedin, but as a web user its well identified. This usually happens when businesses are trying to drive web traffic to their corporate site using key word spamming. There are many reasons why you should promote your business on the web but the other edge of the sword is that folks are watching … and they will out you, if you don’t play by the social media rules. The key strategy when using social media to promote your business is to provide information that is relevant to your target audiences. At its core we recommend education based marketing, the principle of which is to teach and provide content. This builds credibility for your brand without being to overt with your goal of selling more stuff.

The success formula is to be visible on the social networks that are relevant, be credible by providing great content and information and be available to interact with your audiences. Once you do this, prospects may contact you to do business. After all, in marketing the key word is top of mind. Social Media keeps you top of mind and if you do a good job, people want to do business with people who are credible.

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Social media is the fastest growing medium to market your product and communicate with your audience.  And when it comes to branding your product it just might be the simplest and cheapest way to create awareness to potential clients.  Marketing is changing and it’s not always about selling something, at the end of the day it’s about creating and working on relationships.  But if you’re new to trendy online media activities, the following is sure to help you get on the right track to take advantage of what is right at your fingertips and a click away to branding success!

Types of social media and what they can do for your company:
Blogs and forums
Used to gain new/returning business by participating in discussion forums and blogs. Become a source of information by sharing knowledge and answering questions.  Demonstrate your value for clients and potential clients.

Facebook
Creating Facebook groups attract interest and develop loyalty.

Online press releases
Make your website easy to find in search engines.

Online video
Posting videos on YouTube and on your company’s website can bring people onto the site and engage existing visitors.

Twitter
Using Twitter regularly to create and reinforce connections and to spread word of mouth about your business.

Common Concerns:
Lacking time to learn and use social media tools
The best strategy is to pick one or two types of social media and focus on doing those well.  Have several employees share the updating duties on the company blog or contract a company outside to help with updating.

Question the ROI?
Do you wonder if you will ever make any real business from using these social media tools?  Remember, it’s about making valuable connections and relationships with other credible business people and clients.

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If you search for information on Case Studies on the Internet you will find quite an array of different types, from academic proofs of concept to legal case studies. For the purposes of Media Relations we will define it this way: “A short (500 word) description of the application of your product or service with an actual client”.

Case studies can be used as you would any company collateral, except that it is infinitely more powerful than your other documents. Whereas other documents are in your “voice”, a good case study is in the customer’s “voice”, which always has more credibility with media and other customers.

In fact many times when you send out a Press Release or conduct a Media Pitch the media will want a case study to learn more about how the client is using your product or service. They will also want to know if the customer is willing to be interviewed, so when you are gathering information on the case study make sure you have the express permission of the customer.

Finally, ensure that your case study solves a general business problem (makes money or saves money, saves time, etc.) and use a consistent format for your case studies. It makes them easier to grasp -and also easier to write.

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Trade shows are a wonderful opportunity to enhance your brand. Every chance you get to be in front of your target audience and/or the media is a great opportunity.

Trade shows help level the playing field for smaller firms – even small companies can usually afford attractive displays. With creative marketing and booth design, small businesses can actually appear as substantial as larger corporations.

Most companies choose trade shows as a marketing vehicle for a number of reasons including generating sales leads, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, establishing a presence in the marketplace, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts, personally meeting your customers, competitors, and suppliers and prospecting for new customers.

It is a wonderful way to introduce new products and services, demonstrate your product in ways not possible with other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers and educating your target audience. Trade shows also offer an opportunity to share your expert status by taking advantage of speaking opportunities.

If prospects or suppliers feel good about interactions with your staff – they will tell others – creating a buzz about your company. Usually, your sales and/or technical staff will man your booth and meet prospects. Delegate someone to manage the lead tracking system. Your sales and technical team need to focus on the visitors to the booth.

An executive should be in attendance, just in case media opportunities arise. Often, the media visit the booth and want a quick word with a representative of the company. You do not want an untrained employee speaking to the media – it can be a disaster. Booth staff should know what to say if media want information and should offer to contact the person best qualified to answer questions.

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If you have not considered a PR plan as part of your business strategy we have included a few key benefits for your consideration.

Make a commitment that this year will be a growth year. Pick one or two important goals and execute. Spend at least one hour per week working ON your business not IN your business. You will not believe the difference it makes!

The Benefits Of A Good PR Program
A well run Public Relations program has multiple benefits and can have a far greater impact than other marketing methods because it carries a message of implied endorsement by the media. When stakeholders read, see, or hear the editorial or news coverage it creates a credibility factor unmatched by any other promotional strategy.

Here are few benefits to consider:

Higher Valuation
When you gain visibility – you gain credibility – This credibility creates a good will for your brand. This brand value is reflected in a higher valuation in private markets and in the public circles with shareholders for both private and institutional investors.

Access To Capital
As institutions are always searching for investment opportunities, when you “rise above the noise” you will get more interest in your business.

Shareholder Visibility
Many organizations go through peaks and valleys in their business over time and when the publicity machine is working well, you gain the attention of past, current and future shareholders.

Attract New Customers
Wouldn’t it be great to have clients knocking on your door for a change? The visibility you gain to this target audience has a direct correlation to revenue – if more doors are opened by your PR program – more business will be gained.

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Do you often watch your favorite news program and think, “I have a great idea for a news story – but I have no idea how to reach the media or get it covered in the news?” Have you tried to send email or telephone pitches and media releases, but think they might be ignoring you? Don’t get discouraged! Keep trying – and think about some of the tips we’ve listed below. Television coverage might be a bit more challenging to achieve – but when you do, it pays off 100 fold! As a matter of fact, one of our PR Mentor clients saw an increase of 500% of visitor traffic after her appearance on TV!

Having been on both sides of the camera, the one true thing that applies no matter who you are or what your company sells – the media needs good stories. Most stories are pitched poorly, they aren’t visual enough for the person reading it to see why it should be on TV – and, because they don’t grab the reader’s attention – are often lost in the blizzard of faxes and emails that bombard newsrooms everyday.

So, here are five steps to increase your chances of getting covered that even some public relations professionals don’t know.

1. Be visual. Reporters tell stories with pictures. Television reports are ALL about pictures. If there are no pictures – there is no story.

Even the most non-visual story can be made visual if you’re creative. What about a real estate agent promoting their services and expertise about the booming real estate market – boring right? An “imagine yourself hosting in this home” party in a beautiful house for sale by the agent – with caterers and a four piece band – with interested potential buyers roaming around the house, getting a feel for what it would be like to live there. Now that’s creative – and visual. (A great marketing tool as well!)

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Ah. the story idea, the lifeblood of PR companies. But as PR professionals we are paid (in part) to dig deep for those ideas that the media will find interesting and newsworthy.

What do small businesses do to find those ideas? Here are a few things you can do to find the story idea that is “fit to print”.

Firstly, remember that timing is everything in this game so scan the newspapers every morning to look for ideas that might work for you.

When you find a story of interest, make a note of the writer of the story as well as their contact information. Add this to your database along with a few points about the story.

Scan the papers with a few things in mind and try to come with something we call “a story angle”.

Look for a story angle that might be applicable to the Industry you are in, or a regulatory angle, political, cultural etc :

A potential story line for an on-line back up service might be a regulatory angle – since there are requirements for certain types of businesses to maintain records for a certain period of time. If information is lost then you run up against these regulatory issues.

Use that information to write a letter to the editor or craft a media release or conduct a media pitch.

As you are building these ideas (and it is an ongoing process) think about your target audience. If you are scanning one of the major dailies – you may take that idea and pitch the local paper as it may be challenging for a small business to get the attention of the major newspapers.

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Does every company have a brand? Does every company need a brand? What do you think of when you hear the name of a company? Does it conjure up positive feelings or negative ones? What is a brand? What makes a good brand? How do I get a good brand name when I don’t have the resources of a Tim Hortons or Bell? Let us explore a few of these areas to demystify the world of branding.

Firstly, let’s define a brand. Brand is what people think about when they hear your name – it is the perception of your company in the market. Brand is more than a logo, it is more than a tag line, it is more than a well crafted advertising campaign. A brand is what you stand for and it is how you are perceived in the marketplace. You do not really own your brand. You own the logos, the copyright etc… Your brand is what the market thinks of you based on your brand and related activities. It is ultimately how you are perceived.

Does every company need a brand? Every company is a brand whether you are an auto body shop or a Twenty-Million dollar enterprise. You may never have focused on your brand; you may have spent your time on building a solid reliable business with excellent service and great clients. But now you have to grow. What do you do to get to the world outside your immediate customer base? How do you differentiate your offering? Of course you need great strategies and solid tactical approach to executing on those objectives, but how do you facilitate that effort? This is where your brand becomes extremely valuable. Still not convinced? Think about these three questions:

1. Did you ever lose an account where you had the better value proposition? Maybe you were beaten by a better brand?

2. Do your sales executives tell you “no one knows who we are”? Maybe they spend a lot of time on ineffective prospecting.

3. You rarely get leads “because the prospect has heard of you”.

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When you’re frustrated with marketing and you just need customers fast, here are some simple and quick things you can do to bring new customers in.

1.    Talk to your past clients – Have you kept in touch with your past clients? Maybe they’re looking for your products and services right now. Drop them a line (either by phone, email or post) just to see how they’re getting on. When you’re looking for customers fast, your past clients are often a great source of leads.

2.    Analyse what’s worked in the past – Write down a list of your current and past customers and next to each name, write down where this customer came from. Be specific – if it was a networking event, which one; if it was a referral – who sent it to you? Analysing your marketing in this way should give you a very clear idea of which marketing methods are working for you and which are not. Then you can go out and do more of the methods that are working for you.

3.    Offer your customers something special in return for referrals – I’m sure in your business, you’ve had at least one referral in the past and when you need customers fast, referrals are a great quick source. Approach your current customers and past ones and offer them something in return for a referral – it could be a free e-book with quick tips; a bottle of wine; discounts of your future products and services. Try it, you might be surprised.

4.    Go where your customers go – If you’re stuck for marketing ideas and want to find customers fast, one of the best ways is to look at your customers and have a think about where they would naturally congregate i.e. it might be at conferences; at the gym; on Facebook etc. Wherever it is, make sure you’re in these places too – you’ll meet your target customers very quickly and then you can start talking to them about what you do.

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“Life as a priestess to the virgin goddess Hestia isn’t all that hard, the most important rule is to know who you are.” – Leah (Xena Warrior Princess, TV Series)

Thanks to the one billion (each) consumers in China and India, the world economy is bouncing back. Good, but … We tend to overlook the world’s best market influences…the 3.25 billion females.The truth is, we need to understand them a little better.

Why? Well, the “female economy” will drive $5 trillion in incremental global spending during the next several years. More than 1 billion women work worldwide. More than half of college students are women. Women control more than half of the wealth in the US.So maybe we should have them participate a little more in the industry processes. Of the recent Fortune 500 list of CEOs, only 16 were female.

Load Bearers
Only 16 women were the best qualified to run a major corporation when 484 men did such a lousy job of managing their businesses?Man, even these 16 weren’t “worth” as much as their male counterparts!Sure, we have our tokens – Carol Bartz, at Yahoo; Ursula Burns,  at Xerox; and a few others.Referring to Ms Burns as a token is really a disservice.This straight-talking boss became the first black female CEO on the Fortune 500.  In addition to strengthening a company that’s still rebounding from near bankruptcy, she does her own shopping. That’s leadership by example!

It’s difficult to believe that there aren’t more prepared, enabled, willing to be industry forces, market changers. A recent report by Booz & Co recently noted that more than one billion fell into the not prepared/enabled categories.

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You are thinking about selling your business. You may have uncertainty, angst, worries, trepidation, fear, unknowns, and sleeplessness nights.  I believe you are not alone. My approach as a business broker in Florida is from a perspective of a former long term business owner.   I truly feel some of the feelings I experienced as  a business owner are very similar or the same of the business owners I work with as a business broker.  While at this stage of my professional life I am “sitting on the other side of the desk” I feel I do understand the concerns, fears, thoughts of the person on the other side of the desk.  There are many qualified experienced business brokers that are not former business owners and these quality brokers bring various valuable perspectives and experiences that benefit their clients.   My choice to pursue my “2nd career” as a business broker comes from my recognition as a business owner of the value a business broker can bring.

1. If I sell my business do I have enough to retire?
2. What will I do after I sell my business.?
3. What will happen to my employees?
4. What will I sell my business for?  Is it enough?
5. How do I handle all the “little situations” that are part of most any business prior to selling my business?

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Starting your PR Plan
When is the right time to start a PR Plan?

The answer is NOW. It doesn’t matter if you are “Joe’s Bike Shop” or a multi-national conglomerate – almost every business has a story to tell. It is never too early to start a PR Plan.

If you realize that there are things you don’t know about your industry – take the time to learn. Also, once you embark on a PR Plan, make sure you read the newspaper every day. Don’t forget about your industry trade magazines as well.

Many daily newspapers and trade publications have clipping services available that allow you to view the news headlines and stories that only you are interested in. You can sign up on-line for this service at the publication’s web site, as it is important to stay informed. You can also set up search criteria in “Google News”. This is a great way to stay on top of news coverage in your industry as well as what news coverage your competitors are enjoying.

Who do I target with my PR Plan?
First, decide who makes up your target audience. This would include your customers, investors (if you have any) and usually your local community. Now, find out what publications they read and what radio and television stations they prefer. If your target demographic is the stay-at-home mom between the ages of 29-45, you may want to target lifestyle magazines, fashion magazines, parenting magazines, home and lifestyle shows, the Oprah show and parenting sections of the local and national newspaper. The list could be more extensive depending on what you are selling.

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