Renting online traffic by purchasing ads is one way to acquire new customers. However, the cost of ads in the online bidding used by digital ad markets is being influenced by something you can control --  your website. Your website plays a major role in how much you will have to spend in order to bring in the right flow of reliable, quality leads. In most cases, websites aren't doing their job to keep ad costs down, and usually do the opposite by driving up your ad budget. It's a much better investment to use low cost website data and update strategies, than to continue being dependent upon ads.

We seem to be back in the soup again. Different states and cities are experiencing different levels of restriction. It's exhausting for everyone, and those who came through the first wave of COVID-19 successfully are now looking at renewed restrictions square in the eye. Here are some tips to avoid allowing the ongoing COVID saga from creating long-term damage to your brand story.

We're hearing about story selling, why stories, and story-based marketing. A brand story is more than the application of story telling to your brand. Here's the difference. The use of stories is a technique or an approach in sales, marketing and communication that is certainly effective. But without a careful process, it won't ever rise to a brand defining level.

Story branding is a shared adventure between you and the people that you serve. Your story brand will always be found in the place where your passions and values overlap with the passions and values of your audience. This alignment is what takes a simple brand offering a product or service, and elevates it into the status of a brand story. Instead of a commodity to be price-shopped, your offering is celebrated, shared and recommended. As a result, your cost of reaching customers goes down, your sales cycles become shorter and customer retention goes up.

With all the pressures on health care, to which COVID-19 added, it seems like piling on to raise the issue of cyber security. But in part because of COVID, it's on the rise in a significant way. Health care is a primary target because of the amount of patient data and the financial value of operational records. 

It's always a shock to see yourself on public display, especially on the cover (here's the magazine so you can be shocked too).  It raises obvious and immediate self-doubt about needing better photos and the ongoing battle for the receding hairline. While it's much better than being put up on the post office wall, it's still a pretty humbling experience. But if you're working to build a company, a little boost always helps. Here are some lessons about being on a magazine cover: 

It's a famous story- George Parker used to sell NYC landmarks from a fake office. He sold the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden and reportedly the Brooklyn Bridge (about twice a week). The buyers would then discover that for some reason the police wouldn't let them set up a toll booth in the middle of the bridge! It all ended after his third conviction for running these cons in 1928.

Your home care website is an essential part of your marketing. It's the place that seniors and their families first experience the difference that you offer. Like a salesperson that's available 24/7, your website is the hub around which you should be building both marketing and caregiver recruiting. If that critical online resource becomes a risk for seniors, it threatens their security and your business.

The massive number of details that you're managing to launch a new service line or office location can crowd out one important area - marketing. Great healthcare offerings need great patients. Starting the marketing process early and ensuring that you cover the essential elements will make the investment in clinic space, and time pay off earlier.

Attracting the right number of caregivers to meet client demand is challenging. Your growth is limited by not having great caregivers available when the client is ready. And, keeping those caregivers requires that you've got a job they want when they're ready.  Growing agencies are figuring out how to keep the right supply of caregivers to meet client opportunities. An insight from the 2020 Benchmarking Study points out a critical way to boost your effectiveness.