News Archive
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL MARKETING GOOD FOR ONLINE BUSINESS
Publication: The Miami Herald
Date: Monday, March 29, 2010
Author: Tasha Cunningham
By partnering with other healthcare groups for cross promotions, Roberta Markow can make limited resources go a long way for her company, Geriatric Care Managers of the Florida Keys.
Roberta Markow has had a birds' eye view of the healthcare debate that has been raging on the nationalpolitical stage for the past year. In Washington, while politicians on both sides of the aisle were debating the merits of President Barack Obama's healthcare bill, Markow, a registered nurse and licensed geriatric care manager was on the frontline. She works with elderly patients who want to live on their own as opposed to the confines of an assisted living facility. Markow and other geriatric care managers like her are responsible for all aspects of a clients’ care.
“We’re an elderly client’s GPS through life,” said Markow, an active member of Florida Geriatric Care Managers Association. ”We do just about everything that is required for that patient to be taken care of, including advising them on their care, offering counseling and support and acting as a liaison to a patients’ family members who live at a distance but want to make sure their loved one is taken care of.”
Markow’s services, however, are not covered by most insurance plans. “It’s unfortunate because we can actually save a client and the healthcare system a lot of money,” said Markow, who also owns Geriatric Care Managers of the Florida Keys, a practice dedicated to working with the elderly in Monroe County. “For example, we can come in and monitor a client’s medical treatment to make they are really being given the tests and procedures they need. We are there to make sure that those procedures are absolutely necessary.”
Increasing awareness of what geriatric care managers do has been a struggle for practitioners like Markow and the members of the FGCMA. Markow, who serves on FGCMA's public relations committee, asked BizBytes 101 to give her and FGCMA some tips on how to use their website to increase awareness about what geriatric care managers do.
GROWING GROUP
Founded in 1993, FGCMA’s membership is comprised of more than 200 geriatric care managers in Florida.
“All the members have limited budgets these days, and we don’t sell a product necessarily,” said Markow. “But we do sell a much-needed service and we want to get the word out in Florida about the benefits of having a geriatric team on your or your loved ones’ care team.”
To help Markow and the FGCMA maximize their limited PR and marketing budget, BizBytes called on Jeanmarie Ferrara, vice president of public affairs at Wragg & Casas PR in Miami.
Their budget is limited, so this will have to be a more grass-roots effort for them to get the word out,” Ferrara said.
She recommended three ways to help Markow and FGCMA increase awareness. “First, they’ve got to cross promote,” Ferrara said. “Many hospitals, physicians, allied health professionals and senior housing communities have a ‘resource’ or ‘links’ section on their websites. Perhaps board members could assist with establishing relationships with each of those organizations in each community and have the FGCMA's website accepted as a resource on those sites. In return, FGCMA could list those organizations on their website.”
Organizations like the Alliance for Aging or the Florida Coastal Geriatric Resources and Training Center at Nova Southeastern University are great places for Markow and the FGCMA to start partnering.
That’s mutually beneficial marketing, a strategy that can help two fiscally-challenged businesses maximum their promotional budgets. You can do the same thing with your business. Think about other organizations, websites and businesses with which you mutually market. Send the marketing or PR director at each organization an e-mail asking if you can exchange links or swap content to start. Make sure you include a link back to your website on all content you exchange with the other organizations. This will give you increased exposure and get your message out to a new audience that you may not have connected with otherwise.
Next, Ferrara recommended that Markow and FGCMA use social media — not necessarily to connect with potential clients, but with the younger generation of loved ones who often make decisions about client care. “Many times it falls to the baby boomer children to help coordinate care for older family members. Those baby boomers are on Facebook and other social networking sites,” said Ferrara. “Not to mention more and more senior citizens are participating in social networking to some degree. Setting up a Facebook or Twitter page is a cost effective way of expanding the organization’s reach and directing traffic to their website.'”
OTHER OUTLETS
Offer to exchange content with other organizations on your Facebook or Twitter page in addition to your website. It can be something as simple as posting an article about another organization on your Facebook Wall.
Finally, Ferrara recommended using the media to the association’s advantage by taking a national issue, as the healthcare bill was, and localizing it. “Since resources are limited, they may want to consider a media relations strategy and chime in on the national healthcare debate, but on a local and statewide level,” said Ferrara. “Board members would need to be clear on what the organization’s position is on a particular issue and take that message to local healthcare reporters and editors. They can also submit guest editorials. The exposure in print can help to drive potential clients to the website and the on-line content generated will also help with search engine results.”
You can also employ this PR strategy for your business. Think about the broader national issues that affect your industry. Make a list of the top five. Next to each, write down two ways that these issues are having an impact on what you do. Get another organization to jump on the bandwagon. Send out a joint press release and conduct interviews together. Employing smart, mutually beneficial marketing strategies is a cost-effective way to increase your exposure for little or no money at all.