June 2015 - BHM Media Healthcare Communications

Would you like us to be your marketing department for £250 / month?

We thought we’d be a bit more overt this week in our weekly blog post!

We specialise in working with healthcare professionals and clinics to help them manage their private client business. If you’re trying to increase business in a private practice then marketing and sales is one of the most crucial element of making that growth happen. Employing someone to do it for you full time is expensive and doing it yourself isn’t easy because you can’t always find the time. We provide a valuable regular monthly service and you can bolt on web design, video, PR, print design as and when you need it. It’s a bit like having a marketing department without all the associated costs.

This is a taster of what we do

– website management and updating

– content writing

– attract publicity

– provide advice on advertising and promotion

– try and demystify the frustrating conundrum that is Google

We don’t have long contracts which tie you down. Our work speaks for itself and our clients keep working with us because we provide value. Our team is experienced in web development, copywriting, PR and design and if it’s a marketing related issue we’re on hand to help you deal with it.

If you’re under pressure and you need some help then drop me a line on 07768 571 493 or KG@BHMmedia.com. I hope we can be of service.

Katharine Griffiths, BHM Media

June 12, 2015/by admin

Blog

5 things you need to know about online marketing on a local level

Unless you possess a totally unique skill or service most of your clients will be local to you. Here are 5 tips that will help you to get a grip of your online marketing on a local level.

1. Understand how Google searches locally.

Google will deliver the nearest service under the local section with pointers to a map – here is my search in Stratford-upon-Avon for a ‘Cosmetic Surgeon’. Mr Matthews wins by dint of being nearest and having the best optimised site. Do the same exercise yourself and see who your competitors are and… copy them.

2. Make sure you’re mobile friendly.

Fifty-six per cent of searches are now on a mobile or tablet. If you’re not mobile optimised you won’t appear on the Google listings when people search on a mobile device. Or in other words half your potential clients cant see you on a mobile phone if your site isn’t mobile friendly.

3. Get your local Google listing sorted.

I’m actually amazed that people haven’t done this because it’s free and it works. If you have 5 minutes spare follow this link and just do it (no excuses ): www.Google.co.uk/business

4. It’s not just about Google.

Make sure you get all your local listings set up. Not only are most of these free but you will you also get enquiries from them. The added benefit is that the ever watchful (and slightly sinister) Google will also view those with lots of local listings as a bona fide player in the local market and they will rank you higher for participating. To get you started here is a list of 34 places you can register your website for free.

5. Do local targeted Google AdWords campaigns.

You can start these on a very low budget and test how it works for you. Take your time and learn. Do a course if necessary (there are lots of these online or locally) and once you’ve found the right way of doing it you can slowly start to scale it up.

All of this can be done yourself by dedicating a few hours a week, but if you need any help with your website or getting yourself set up for local marketing then drop us a line – contact Katharine on 07768 571 493 or KG@bhmMedia.com.

June 11, 2015/by admin

Uncategorized

How Google Works (and why I hate them)

I was with a client last week and they asked me “how does Google work anyway?”

Google has been part of our lives for so long that many of us just take it for granted without ever really thinking what’s going on behind the scenes. Need a cinema, got it, need to find your nearest motorbike dealer, no probs. And as I sit here writing about it, it dawns on me how much I hate them. Sure, I admire them for doing what they’ve done, but how have two geeks from California so completely dominated the way we attract our clients? Huge sections of my working life seem to be about nothing else but talking about how to appeal to Google. How to rank, how others rank, what you’ve got to improve or how you can pay through the nose to make it work for you. The world has shifted and not only do you have to get qualified, do a good job, set up your business but you also need to understand how to get your business seen on the only search engine that really matters. Everyone has to become an expert on internet marketing. And the killer is everyone else is trying to do exactly the same. So if you want to know how Google works read on:

Google is valued at $368 billion. Not bad for a company started from a garage in 1998. It is anticipated that by 2020 it will be the first company in the world to hit a trillion dollar valuation. It handles 89% of all UK search enquiries and, in my opinion, is dangerously close to a monopoly. Despite all the driverless cars, sinister spectacles and new ways of heating your home the primary revenue driver by a country mile is ‘search’ – or what I like to call, putting themselves in between your prospective clients and you.

And search is a curiosity. Because the actual bit that most people use, the organic search result, is free. Google don’t actually make a penny out of this. But the truth is that this free part of Google is actually a bear bit. Getting ranked on page one, the only place that matters, is a time consuming, troublesome and costly business that most company’s give up on instead opting to get out their checkbooks and pay to get noticed. And here lies the issue – it’s the word “most” that’s key here. Competition to appear in the paid sections (at the top and on the right) is intense, to many it may be the lifeblood of their business, and so companies bid against each other to get to the top, each eroding their margin to win market share and praying that the can’t afford to top it. In many cases Google can rapidly become one of the biggest elements of your budget.

So how does Google rank you.