Careful analysis of the digital architecture of many dentists, IVF, fertility doctors, plastic surgeons and other innovative technologies gives a clear vision to the future trends in marketing services and solutions.

The visions of marketing tomorrow have a high probability of being very different than today related to a term you will hear more of called Social Influence Marketing (SIM) first developed by Razorfish.

What is social influence marketing?  Social Influence Marketing (SIM):  a strategy in marketing which has become known by a number of modern marketing practices and case studies.  SIM facilitates a strategy where the target is placed on specific key decision makers and influencers instead of the general marketplace as from traditional marketing methods.

For example, social influence marketing (SIM) analyzes and creates strategy around influencers of potential patients, clients, and purchasers of a product or service and organizes a marketing strategy around these influencers in an effort to create strong advocates of your services, products and solutions.

In our modern digital world we have access to many social tools and cornerstones such as (Weblogs, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to name a few) which allow a business to concentrate their efforts and begin building out the architecture to allow social influence marketing to thrive.  The proper executed strategy can create a recipe for success by targeting key decision makers and influencers of your services and solutions.

A clear illustration of power of social influence can be seen in the quote below:

“These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that.” ~ Steve Jobs

Herbert Kelman, a Harvard psychologist in 1958 distinguished three variables of social influence which are defined below which should be considered in creating digital strategy.
1.  Compliance – when people seem to agree with others, but actually keep their contradictions of opinions to themselves
2.  Identification – when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected (ie) famous celebrity, publisher, and influencer
3.  Internalization – Accepting this belief or behavior people agree both publicly and privately ~ Key in creating advocates of your services and solutions

Social Influence Marketing (SIM) is changing company budgets, marketing strategies and business processes creating new demand for unique skill sets.

Social Influence Marketing (SIM) consists of four elements:

• Identifying and analyzing influencers ~ ranking them in order of importance
• Marketing to influencers ~ goal:  increase brand awareness of the company within the influencer community
• Marketing via influencers ~ goal: create a strategy to use influencers to increase brand awareness of the business to highly targeted markets
• Marketing with influencers ~ goal:  turn influencers into strong advocates of your services, product or solution

Social Influence Marketing (SIM) is improved by consistent analysis and increased activity of the four main elements above with the overall goal of turning key decision makers into acquaintances, acquaintances into patients, clients and consumers into strong evangelists of your services products and solutions.

SIM although not synonymous with word of mouth (WOM) marketing, social influence marketing may be carried, passed and transmitted in this way.  Hence, word of mouth mouth (WOM) is a key element of social influence marketing.

Social influence marketing has led to innovation and revolutionary review powers of organizations like Klout, PeerIndex, social scoring and influence marketing.

It is quite apparent that social influence marketing is here to stay and will become part of many budgets with job titles and descriptions like Social Media Strategist, Digital Strategist, Digital Influencer and Marketing Influencer.

Thank you for taking the time to read my publishing.  Truly appreciate your ideas, comments or suggestions.

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A special thanks to all my loyal readers including many innovative businesses and doctors in the following specialties; IVF, fertility, dentists and plastic surgeons all trying to make the world a better place.

This publishing includes some unique content and ideas as well as a recently created quote related to business development in today’s digital world.

Quote:  Through the Visible Doors

“Through the visible doors I see, the digital needs looking back at me.  Dig, ask, analyze and find, see the needs begin to unwind.  Uncover truth and you will find, a client who is soon to mind”  – ©Paul Bradley Smith  

Marketing and business development has changed significantly due to a fast paced digital world which will forever change the way businesses generate and create business.  Like it or not, this is here to stay.  Adapt or be left behind.

Gone are the days of push marketing where business push their products and services on the consumer through traditional forms.  These methods are very costly and have very little return on your investment.  Have you checked the prices of a billboard ad recently?

New tools allow you to listen and adapt to your patients, consumers or clients needs allowing you to adapt to their needs versus pushing something you think they need.

Our world is now flat from social media tools and cornerstones such as (Blogs, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Skype and many known useful tools).

With the proper strategy you can create a marketing and business development plan which will uncover opportunities which are pulled to you by a well educated consumer searching for your services and products online.

In fact, if properly executed the strategy can produce a greater number of cases, more patients and demand for your services and you can concentrate your efforts in more profitable areas of your business creating efficiency.

Pull marketing is where a well educated consumer searching for your product or services finds you from the strategy and plan you create.

Look at what has happened in the music industry recently.  Media and digital music innovators have recently seen significant changes in the music industry with many more to come.  The innovation in social media and vast networks have created a flat world creating more opportunity worldwide.  This is transforming the music industry before our eyes shifting from a push to pull strategy.

Recently signed up for Spotify to give my readers a more enjoyable experience where you can share music using social media and other social tools.  A close friend “Ford” part of my social networks who knows music very well turned me on.  Instantly saw the value of this solution and it became evident that it was to become part of my blog.  This solution gave me the inspiration to publish this content.

In the past a push strategy consists of marketing campaign with control of the message being sent out.  A pull strategy has created a shift in power from advertisers to consumers where consumers become your marketing advocates and control your message, reputation and ideas for future products and or services pulling the consumer of your services to you as a result of your online reputation.

The following are key elements in creating a solid digital pull and business development strategy where your patients, consumers and clients become advocates and promote your products and services.

As Nelson De La Nuez portrays in his image above titled:  “My Life Saver”.  Here are a few refreshing facts which will help create a better digital architecture in our modern world.

Key elements of a sound digital architecture:

• Blog – Your blog is the main engine generating business by offering non sales related content value and creating online credibility increasing the value of your brand – Considered the central hub in your social media strategy and a key element many over look
• Facebook Page – Branded business Facebook page with (likes) by people or entities which have a high probability of doing business with you
• Google+ – Although Google+ is not as widely used as Facebook it most certainly has it’s advantages when dealing with SEO and SEM
• Twitter – Branded Twitter account properly using proper tweeting techniques to properly brand your business
• Youtube Channel – Very effective in introducing your practice and services
• Adding a video website/webstory introducing your practice and treatment center
• Creative social media campaigns
• Being creative and producing a consistent message

It is a fact the proper digital strategy and business development plan will generate a larger patient base, increased treatment conversions and a larger number of various targeted procedures for a number of specialties leading to profitability.

Thank you for taking the time to read my publishing’s.  Truly value your comments and suggestions.  To learn more feel free to contact me by filling out the contact form below.

Warmest of regards to my loyal readers.

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Evaluating digital strategies of IVF doctors, dentists, plastic surgeons and other businesses in a number of different industries allows one to see some complex challenges businesses are facings in our dynamic and rapidly changing online world.

Online reputation management can be a tedious and timely task, yet few businesses allocate the proper resources to build out an online architecture which will help combat negative commentary on their products or services.  It is obvious who has spent the resources to proactively combat these challenges.

Below are a few quotes from some of the most influential poets and writers throughout history on the power of words.

• “One lie has the power to tarnish a thousand truths.” - Al David
• “Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.” – Confucius
• “There is music in words, and it can be heard you know, by thinking.” E.L. Doctorow
• “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.” – Emily Dickinson
• “Of all the weapons of destruction that man could invent, the most terrible-and the most powerful-was the word. Daggers and spears left traces of blood; arrows could be seen at a distance. Poisons were detected in the end and avoided. But the word managed to destroy without leaving clues.” – Paulo Coelho

It is a statistical fact in our digital world we are surrounded by words.  For example, the initial search to begin looking for a product or service all begins with a series of words.

As you build out your online architecture it is important to be found under key terms as well as reviewed and commented on by people who have used your product or service and there is one key element and it begins with a “word”.

The following are the keys to begin developing a great online reputation.

• A a large number of LinkedIn recommendations from your professional network (partners, colleagues, projects and employers)
• Building solid social media communities with common interests who support your products and services who will become advocates
• Gaining Facebook, Google+ (likes) and Twitter followers by valid sources of influence
• Guest blogging from credible sources in your industry
• Actively publishing to your blog with proper ratios of non-sales and sales related value content
• Selling your products or services all the time becomes a turn off and can isolate and turn off your communities damaging your online reputation

Proper management begins dealing with these challenges directly and timely.  The longer it stays out on Yelp, Google and other online reviewing sources the greater impact his is having on your organization.

Here are some suggestions to help combat any negative commentary and help fix your online reputation.

• Find a professional who is equipped and skilled to help combat your reputation
• Contact the people or entities – ask them if there is anything you can do to change their opinion – Some people have bad days and their actions were directed at your product/service due to a very bad day unrelated to your company and they decided to take it out on you
• Proactively publish new content addressing these issues if their seems to be a consistent message of negative commentary directed towards a specific product or service
• Turn a negative comment into a positive by becoming a better company and addressing these challenges
• The more positive publishing’s you have the more they outweigh any negative feedback
• Positive information -  Fight negative comments with very positive – Have a satisfied client respond if they are unwilling to remove their negative comment
• Combating negative with negative leads to bigger challenges and increased expenses such as (legal, strategy and brand damage)

As the image in this publishing portrays by Nelson De La Nuez Titled:  Martini Pomme de Magritte there is a proper serving of fruit and cocktail needed to proactively build a solid online reputation managing both health and toxin.

Thank you for taking the time to read my publishing.  Your comments are greatly appreciated.  To learn more fill out the contact form below with your name, website and any challenges you are facing in relation to this topic.

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While consulting doctors, technology professionals and executives of many different industries and verticals it has become apparent there are many different opinions as to how to calculate the ROI of Social Media.

There are many factors which are being overlooked aside from the actual accounting calculation of a cost per lead from a return on investment financial perspective.

Quantifying the ROI of social media can be a difficult due to the ambiguous intersection from social media engagement and the outcome of buying behavior, brand loyalty, number of recommendations and online reputation.

It is very important for brands to create a strategy using social media which will have an impact on their target market creating a highly concentrated community of qualified prospects, clients and or customers for their products or services.

With proper community engagement ratios of (sales) to (non sales) related value content, creative messages and of course responses so brands can improve their image, value of the brand and the probability that they will have a solid impact on their sales numbers.

Businesses must quantify their progress to make certain they are improving their position by properly growing their communities, deriving value in terms of their brand image leading to increased profits.  This of course can lead to more monies spent on social media given the amount of time it takes to create a sound architecture, creative a competitive campaign and execute a successful strategy.

What they will find in the long run is that creating a sound architecture and proper community engagement will lower future marketing costs for increasing the value of their brand giving them a significant return on their investment.

Quantifying social media is now a key component of the social media marketing process.  Social media marketers and strategists must measure the proper elements by delivering the overall objective as explained by increasing the value of the brand.

This is done by using a sound strategy catered to each specific business, industry and sector of influencers, individuals and consumers across the proper social media cornerstone (s) (ie) LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Flickr and many other valuable social media tools such as Yelp for online reputation management.

This is precisely why the proper strategy combined with a creative campaign works well as  illustrated by a publishing on Gerber social media strategy.  CLICK HERE

The media community engagement architecture explains the quantified structure and increased probability that monetary value is transferred to the business brand.

Media engagement architecture has a number of key elements:

• Influencer funnel – Proper content and media distributed across multiple channels creating a single message
• Community engagement – Listen. learn and speak to your community – Your customers always know best
• Target audience – Community of qualified prospects, clients and potential customers/clients
• Competitive set – Separating your brand from your competition – Reason to purchase
• Image of the brand – Clearly defined and synonymous across all URLs, content, media and images
• Purchase funnel – How you monazite your media efforts – Community referred to a purchasing cart, Paypal account, sales team and monetized process

From an executives wide angle view it is critical to see that media engagement architecture is a competitive set which a social media marketer must understand.

These competitive sets consist of:

• Time – Takes time and effort to build the proper architecture
• Proper Branding techniques – Creation of creative campaigns which offer qualified prospects a reason to join the community
• Endorsements of your product/service – Community endorsement of your product/service (generate likes, followers and sharing actions)

Simple examples of invisible ROI returns:
If you are doctor what is the value of having your patients talking about your services which increase the probability of more word of mouth referrals.  This will  lead to more of your favorite procedures and increase practice revenue.

For the technology professionals by properly creating the proper social media architecture, strategy and creative campaign you can gather intelligence from your clients on possible improvements and ideas from your clients/customers which could lead to increased profit potential.

As a key executive making decisions on where to take your company you can listen and engage with your community to see what they are saying about you giving you accurate intelligence on where to focus your efforts and lead your company.

In conclusion, the ROI of social media is much greater than the financial accounting definition of a cost per lead generated by new tools which allow you to build a powerful brand over time.

Your comments and suggestions are very important to me.  Please feel free to comment or contact me regarding this publishing.

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Everyone these days is in the process planning or building out their social media and digital architecture, yet very few take the time or allocate the proper resources to create a sound strategy.

In our rapidly changing dynamic digital world we have a tremendous amount of tools available to gain business advocates, increase revenue via word of mouth and increase the size of our online communities.

The proper strategy allows a business to build a strong brand leveraging what others have to say about their products and services.

It is clear many of these practices and companies are focusing on their digital architecture which is very important, however many of them lack the most important aspect in their plan called strategy.  Strategy defined: CLICK HERE

After analyzing many types of businesses and digital architectures of Dentists, Plastic Surgeons, IVF Doctors and other companies in a variety of industries it is quite evident who the market leaders are in their specific market place by searching various terms online.

The commonalities of these market leaders are very clear and illustrate how important strategy is by implementing it with your digital architecture.

The following bullet points illustrate what it takes to be competitive in our increasingly competitive world.

• Excellent digital architecture including a performing website which includes a creative blog
• Regularly adding original unique content to your blog with the proper sales/non-sales ratios leaving a consistent message to dominate the search engines under targeted key words
• Using the proper social media cornerstones to enhance your businesses services or products
• Properly displayed social media icons linking properly to each specific online community which are visible and easily found on your website/blog
• Properly using social media cornerstones to gain advocates (Customized Facebook Page, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube channel, Yelp, Flickr and other available online social tools)
• A simple brand message consisting of the same business name, website domain and social media URLs with no variations creating congruency
• Sound online reputation management combating any negative publications
• A strong campaign giving your patients, clients and potential business prospects a reason to join your community

As Nelson De La Nuez portrays in the image in this posting titled: Monopoly Juggler Icons there are a lot of moving pieces in our digital age.  Do you have the proper digital strategy to win the game?

The recipe for success to a happier and healthier practice, business and or entity is having the proper strategy and implementing it, while allowing room for change given the fact there are so many moving parts.

To learn more about digital strategy and how it can help your practice, business and or entity gain business advocates, increase revenue via word of mouth referrals and create a better online reputation please fill out the contact form below.

Please include your website, social media URLs and any other important information which can be analyzed.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you for taking the time to read my publication.

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Title:  Doctors:  The value of a word of mouth referral by Paul Bradley Smith

Is there vacancy in your plan to increase practice revenue by leveraging word of mouth referrals from your existing patient base under your current strategy and plan?  Word of mouth referrals are the lifeline of any private medical practice.

Analyzing many Dentists, Plastic Surgeons and IVF practices from around the country here are some common shortfalls and challenges doctors have when when it comes to increasing practice revenue using their existing patient base.

• Doctors often put temporary employees or junior staff members on important tasks related to marketing the practice and generating practice revenue
• Being creative with your existing patient base and how to properly ask for word of mouth referrals
• Getting online references and reviews from happy patients who are willing to write a review
• Offering those who give you referrals something in return for their efforts
• No clear strategy or plan to harness the potential of your patient base for generating more word of mouth referral
• Rely on many traditional ways of generating word of mouth referrals (vs) focusing on creative efficient ways which work in a competitive modern world
• Miscommunication between the doctor and the staff
• Asking for referrals without offering your patient something in return
• Bombarding your patients with sales material
• Using the correct ratios for sales and non-sales related value content

Finding the proper consultant or agency which focuses combating these shortfalls can significantly improve your online reputation and increase practice revenue.

The real value of a word of mouth referral is seen when there is no vacancy on the schedule for months and the doctor is doing more of their preferred procedures.

Learn how you can turn your patients into strong evangelists of your services creating more word of mouth referrals filling up your practice vacancy.

To schedule a marketing analysis please fill out the following contact form below.

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SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST

Everyone these days is a social media expert when in fact there are a tremendous amount of moving pieces which need to be evaluated in order to compete in a highly competitive world.

Below are some common characteristics of what makes an excellent social media strategist.

A social media strategist must analyze and sort through a tremendous amount of information and offer a sound solution for the businesses online needs to maximize revenue potential for your product or service.

This includes developing, implementing and executing strategies for the following:

• Online Reputation Management
• Patient, customer and client online reviews
• Proper blogging techniques to generate more visibility
• Understand the proper mix of sales and non sales related value content
• Maximizing word of mouth referrals

Many businesses fail to see that social media is a tremendous tool which if strategically implemented with the proper cornerstones can produce results which work their way to the bottom line.  Basically they fail to execute their plan without a sound strategy.

For example, depending on your industry, specialization, product and or service would determine which social media cornerstone will benefit your marketing strategy.

The strategy comes from where to concentrate your efforts to maximize revenue opportunities.

Below are some common shortfalls I see after evaluating a vast number of online marketing efforts by many medical practices.

• Spend their resources building out their architecture expecting immediate performance yet have no strategy, campaign and or plan
• Fail to understand that it is not just about how many people are part of your social network but the message you are delivering for revenue conversion
• Not using the proper combination of social media cornerstones converting your online community into word of mouth referrals
• Place temporary staff members or even full time employees with very little online experience in charge of something so important to the future of the practice

When hiring a social media strategist:

• Does your social media strategist start with a plan?
• Do they recognize the importance of incorporating the proper social media cornerstones for your business and or industry?
• Do they understand the components of what makes a successful campaign and strategy?
• Are they suggesting a specific mixture of sales and non sales related value content?

Be happy you found this content, the reason you are able to read this publishing is a result of a strategy.

To learn more about social media strategy, creative marketing techniques and how to create a great reputation online please fill out the contact form below.

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In our competitive, innovative and rapidly changing world there are many tools available which can create confusion for marketing agencies, marketing teams and temporary staff members who often are called upon to implement a marketing plan.  Doing a complete marketing analysis by a professional third party specializing in analyzing and strategy could be a wise investment.

What is a marketing analysis?

• Detailed blue print of your online architecture and how this could be improved to facilitate more revenue
• Evaluating areas of your marketing plan which could be more efficient
• Evaluating the proper social media cornerstones needed to increase practice revenue and generate more word of mouth referrals
• Give you highly detailed information of the most effective use of marketing dollars
• Create new practice revenue opportunities
• Evaluating effective blogging strategies to increase new patients and business

A complete and detailed marketing analysis and proper strategy create revenue opportunities and lower future marketing costs.

The Social Doctor focuses on leveraging social media to generate more word of mouth referrals from patiences and business.  We believe success begins with the proper analysis and plan.

The Social Doctor recognizes that with the proper analysis and strategy can lead to a happier and healthier practice.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” by Benjamin Franklin

To learn more about how to get a detailed marketing analysis please fill out the contact form below.  Please include your website and social media URL’s.

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Image by © Nelson De La Nuez - www.kingofpopart.com - Title: Get Out of Jail

After analyzing many companies in a variety of industries here are the most common social media marketing shortfalls when it comes to having a marketing strategy to compete in our  competitive marketplace.

Below are the 10 most common social media marketing mistakes made by businesses

• Businesses fail to see the enormous opportunity to create evangelists and promoters of your products and or services
• Businesses have yet to develop a social media strategy or plan
• Businesses often put people like temporary employees or junior staff members in charge of their social media campaigns
• Businesses use social media to bombard their clients with in your face sales related content and information when in fact there are very specific ratios in your strategy and plan for sales and non sales related value content
• Businesses fail to produce new, original and unique content
• Turn their marketing strategy into a popularity contest
• Fail to devote an adequate resources to a sound strategy
• Failure to cut budgets and streamline traditional marketing avenues which are less effective in our current innovative world
• Fail to offer prospects and clients a reason to join your social media network
• Hire the wrong marketing agency which focuses on more traditional forms of marketing

Your goal with social media should be to become a trusted resource and communicate effectively with your clients and prospective clients by using a combination of sales and non-sales related value content.

A quote simplifying your overall objective, “Turn people into acquaintances, acquaintances into clients and clients into strong evangelists” by Paul Bradley Smith.

Social media is a very powerful tool if used properly.  Failing to construct a sound social media strategy and plan is like trying to use a dull tool on an important project.  Don’t get left behind by your competition.  Develop a plan and strategy which gets results.

To learn more about how social media can make your business generate a greater number of healthier leads I am available for a Skype conference, interview, speaking engagement, consulting and other social media related services.

Please fill out the following contact form for more information.

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What is Social Doctor LLC?  The Social Doctor is a new kind of marketing agency that blends the following:  Website design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Social Media allowing you to leverage your existing patient base and generate more word of mouth and referrals.

The Social Doctor Belief:  Founded by people who where raised by doctors.  The Social Doctor believes that doctors are not commodities and their marketing should truly represent what makes them exciting and different from their competition.

The Social Doctor creates comprehensive strategies for:

• Custom social websites
• Mobile Applications
• Facebook Applications
• Social Media (Your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn and other social media cornerstones)
• Online reputation management

The Social Doctor works with private practices including, Dentists, Plastic Surgeons, Ophthalmologists, IVF, Corporate Health Care, Non-profits and Medical Products

To schedule a marketing analysis with Social Doctor LLC please fill out the following contact form.  Please include your name, contact information, practice website (if possible) and a brief note of your expectations.

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