I am RETIRING at the end of this year from my Surrogacy Consulting career, and I am happy to recommend Simplify Surrogacy to anyone needing a consultant to assist them through their surrogacy journey. Read more about Amber Deming and her surrogacy consulting business here: https://simplifysurrogacyconsulting.com I believe you will be very happy with the prices and services Amber has to offer!

Re-Energize Your Business; Re-Think Your Marketing

It's 2021 and what are your new year plans?? Don't you think it's time that you finally reach out and make some changes in your marketing plan like most of your competitors are doing? Read below and be re-energized for the upcoming months!

http://lamotheservices.com/

Entrepreneur's Journal: How to Sell When No One is Buying

What to do? Here's a look at some strategies to get the business of long-term frugal customers (Especially in the Infertility field):

Rethink Marketing: While social media has been hyped up, it is still critically important. Let's face it, customers typically first go to the Net before making a purchase. And, if you're company does not show up, you're certainly in trouble.

To this end, you need to get savvy with search engine marketing, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter and so on. They will not only engage potential customers but also build a growing digital footprint.

Some excellent books on the topic include The Social Media Bible and The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff.

Value Message: Who doesn't like a bargain, especially for a good product or service? Even those who are looking at luxury goods are trying to get a good deal.

But, when crafting your value offer, you need to put much thought in the message. Just look at Stuart Frankel. He operates several Subway shops in southern Florida. Desperate to drum up business, he came up with a simple idea to sell $5 footlongs on Saturday and Sunday.

Interestingly enough, the result was stunning, as sales spiked. At the same time, profit margins remained stable.

Customer Feedback: During tough times, your customers may be looking for alternatives. This means you need to communicate more and perhaps even provide enhanced offerings. In fact, this may help increase "word of mouth," which could result in getting more customers.

Also, ask your customers some questions, such as: What do you value the most? What else would you want?

This can be extremely valuable in terms of targeting new customers, as well as fine-tuning your marketing.

Be Upbeat: In light of the negative media, it's not easy to be positive. But you need to. It's critical for motivating your employees and building confidence with vendors and potential customers.

Tom Taulli provides a variety of financial services to business owners, such as business plans, cash flow management, and taxes. You can reach him at taulli.com.

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 13- What Else Should You Consider?

I started out in Part 1 talking about customer service and I am sure you know by now that when your customer service fails then no matter what you do to gain new clients or appease current ones you are not going to be in business for long.



I also posted about the following ways to help your client or patients find you:

●        Using the Internet

–        Social Networking

–        Pinterest

–        YouTube

–        Blogging

–        E-Newsletters

–        Webinars

        What’s Left?

●        Pod Casts

●        Radio shows

●        TV interviews

●        Seminars and exhibiting

●        Community specific marketing

●        Out-reach education

All of these can be used interactively with your social networks, websites and blogs

 Although all of these external marketing techniques are ways to reach new patients and educate current clients, great customer service along with a warm, compassionate attitude from you and your entire staff can never be replaced.

Obviously I have not elaborated nearly enough throughout this 13 part series on reaching and supporting your patient or client,  however that is because each  company is run differently and addresses issues in a very unique way. This is because we all have a different reasons why we are in the Third Party Reproductive field and have different ideas regarding  how to actually achieve our business goals.  This is where a knowledgeable consultant like LaMothe Services, LLC can come in and assist you in redefining your business plan and helping you implement a few of the ideas I have outlined in this blog. Feel free to contact me via e-mail at Sharon@LaMotheServices.com or call 727-458-8333 to set up a free consultation!

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 12- Mobile Phone Marketing

What Do People Use Their SMARTPHONE’s For?

• Time on mobile is mostly app time: People are spending an average of 3:23 per day in apps, and only 50 minutes on the mobile web.
• Nearly 75 percent of US adults will use a smartphone in 2017, as market penetration continues to increase
• Smartphone users spend approximately 10 percent of their time — over 20 minutes per day — on mobile social media.

SMS= Short Message Service MMS=Multimedia Messaging Service (You Tube, Webinair) ipad, iphone, android …Smart Phones ….How about just plain texting? All ways to get the all important client/patient attention! Again, if you have Facebook or Twitter your clients can access your updates and tweets via their mobile phone.

* This chart is from 2017 so note that these statistics have changed

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 11-A Note About E-Newsletters or

You can reach potential outside your immediate geographic area with a E-Newsletter. An e-newsletter may open new business channels for you as you gain greater exposure.

How an E-zine can Help Your Business Grow
(E-mail Marketing)

●        E-zines connect you with people who’ve expressed a positive interest in your product or service.

●        Your e-newsletter establishes you as an expert in the field if you publish high-value information.

●        E-zines are far less expensive to produce than direct mail, are read by a far higher percentage of recipients, and are completely trackable.

●        You can take the same content you create for your e-newsletter and re-purpose it for print. (website, social net)

●        Accepted wisdom is to publish no fewer than four times a year. (once a month would be ideal)

●        Constant Contact is one of many affordable ways to reach your customers with Email marketing

You can have people sign up on your website, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube or in your office to receive your E-newsletter. Remember Email marketing continues to be a an affordable as well as "green" way to share information or a special promotion with your customers and target audience. 

Extra TIP**You can also use your blog posts in your newsletter or vice versa.

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 10- The Webinar

A Webinar (web + seminar) provides a convenient opportunity to learn from experts without having to travel. Webinars combine three means of communication: phone, online presentation, and a chat window for typing questions.

Webinar's can be either live – great for audience participation – or pre-recorded. They work incredibly well as a marketing tool because they can bring together powerful elements with a high engagement level such as audio, images, video, music and live action. Webinars can help you to stay connected with your target audience, get in-depth insight on their motivations, needs and desires, and use this information to figure out how YOUR business can serve them best.

Tips for Putting Together a Successful Online Presentation

●         Choose a topic that will resonate with your target audience.

●        Promote the webinar (Here is where your social media will come in handy!)

●        Practice your presentation

●        You can use free webinar sites (up to a certain number of attendees) such as AnyMeeting or paid services like GoToWebinar

●        Learn the software

Some ideas are better suited to the webinar format than others. For example, the following would be a good fit for a webinar:

• A detailed examination of a niche topic from a fresh angle
• A panel discussion of a timely, news-based issue in your industry
• A thorough, example-driven “how-to” tutorial
• An adaptation of a presentation from a conference speaking engagement
• An interview with an industry thought leader

On the other hand, the following probably wouldn’t make for a particularly compelling webinar:

• A minor product release or update
• A news-based webinar with little or no new information/opinion
• A broad, “content thin” webinar on a general topic
• A webinar focusing on a tired idea or concept (e.g. “content is king”)
• A straight-up sales deck/product pitch

*Source: Word Stream

Again this is where your social networking will come into play with the promotion of your webinar and then later posting it on You Tube.

Have you ever put together a webinar? What tips would you like to share? What questions would you like to ask? Please comment here!

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 9- Pinterest

• There are over 75 billion ideas on Pinterest.
• 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest.
• 72% of Pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy offline.
• 67% of Pinners are under 40-years-old.
• Over 5% of all referral traffic to websites comes from Pinterest.
• Pinterest said 80% of its users access Pinterest through a mobile device.
• 93% of active pinners said they use Pinterest to plan for purchases and 87% said they’ve purchased something because of Pinterest.
• Two-thirds of pins represent brands and products.
• Food & Drink & Technology are the most popular categories for men.
• An average Pins made by an Active Female User is 158.
• Recipes: There are more than 1.7 billion recipe Pins.
• Shopping: Every day nearly 2M people Pin product rich Pins.
• Articles: More than 14 million articles are Pinned each day.
• Average time spent on Pinterest per visit is 14.2 minutes.

*Source: Omnicore

Why am I telling you about Pinterest? Because a lot of people in the reproductive field have yet to think of this as a great marketing tool!  Below are some thoughts on who you might be able to reach via advertizing on Pinterest:

●        Women interested in becoming Egg Donors

●        Women interested in freezing their eggs

●        Women interested in Surrogacy

●        Women who may need IUI or IVF

●        Women who need sperm donors

●        Women interested in taking place in clinical trials/studies

●        Women who are already experiencing infertility and need support and guidance

Remember!! The Pinterest annual household income of $100,000 or more, almost 73 percent are female…..This is the reason I am giving Pinterest a separate plug….it is a great marketing avenue.

* This chart is from 2017 so note that these statistics have changed

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 8- What About Blogs?

Now I don't want to insult anybody's intelligence but I am going to start out with the blog basics and move on from there so please bare with me!

If you don't already have a business blog then the following tips will help you set one up:

•       An interesting, creative title to draw attention

•       All of your contact information

•       A short biography of you and your business

•       A picture of you and your office

•       Introduction to your staff

•       Useful resource links

•       Links to your Social Network page(s)

•       Include fresh content at least once or twice per week

*There are many Blogging tools and sites including Blogger.com, Typepad.com and Wordpress.com~ All have a do-it- yourself approach. Your website may also provide a component for your business blog

I have several business and surrogacy related blogs out there plus I write for other people's blogs. I love reposting from other bloggers too. All of this can help your brand and business grow.

* This chart is from 2017 so note that these statistics have changed

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 7-More Ways to Use You Tube

●        Create “how to” videos to help your patients (How to give yourself an injection for example)

●        Post solutions to common problems or issues

●        Embed videos on your web site on appropriate pages, including customer support and product tours.

●        Post a blog entry discussing a problem and include a video for visual support.

●        Go the extra mile by adding closed-captions or subtitles to your videos. Remember that not everyone can watch or hear videos in the same way

As you can see You Tube is a valuable tool for your marketing tool box. It can take some time to get a polished product up and running but it will be well worth it in the end.  Other how to video's can include what to expect in an egg retrieval, an embryo transfer, what does a 3 day embryo look like, a tour of your offices or lab, or meet a satisfied client. The sky is the limit!

Modernizing the Patient Experience in Reproductive Medicine: Part 6-Making You Tube Work for You and Your Clients/Patients

Let's start off with a You Tube Hot Fact:  Social media-related YouTube stats are impressive. 

YouTube Statistics 

• The very first YouTube video was uploaded on 23 April 2005.
• The total number of people who use YouTube – 1,300,000,000.
• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!
• Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.
• YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day
• In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube.
• By 2025, half of the viewers under 32 will not subscribe to a pay-TV service.
• 6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV
• The total number of hours of video watched on YouTube each month – 3.25 billion.
• 10,113 Youtube videos generated over 1 billion views.
• 80% of YouTube’s views are from outside of the U.S.
• The average number of mobile YouTube video views per day is 1,000,000,000
• The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes. This is up with more than 50% year-over-year.
• Female users are 38% and male users are 62%.
• User Percentage by Age 18-24 – 11%, 25-34 – 23%, 35-44 – 26%, 45-54 – 16%, 50-64 – 8%, 65+ – 3%, unknown age – 14%.
• More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.
• YouTube’s mobile revenue is up to 2x y/y.
• YouTube overall and even YouTube on mobile alone reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.
• The number of hours people spend watching videos (aka watch time) on YouTube is up 60% year-over-year, the fastest growth we’ve seen in 2 years.
• You can navigate YouTube in a total of 76 different languages (covering 95% of the Internet population).
• YouTube has launched local versions in more than 88 countries.
• 9% of U.S small businesses use Youtube
• Approximately 20% of the people who start your video will leave after the first 10 seconds. Create a damn good intro.

*Credit to Fortunelords 

Let You Tube help you brand YOU!



Now that you have let that sink in, below are some tips for making You Tube work for you and your patients/clients:

●        Set up a channel to reflect your brand and engage with others.

●        Create short videos of valuable tips of interest to your clients and prospects to show off your expertise.

●        Share slides from presentations that weren’t recorded. (which, by the way, is exactly what I am doing here!!)

●        Put together a creative video explaining your services.

●        Promote your events using recordings of previous events.

●        Introduce your staff to add authenticity.

●        Post links to your videos on various social networks.

●        Display company information in every video including name, URL, phone number and email address.

More You Tube tips on the next post!

* This information is from 2017 so note that these numbers have changed