Author Archives: admin

Hiring Addiction Treatment Counselors – Link Building SEO

Here is an idea for link building from a different perspective. If you are hiring Certified Mental Health Professional’s i.e.CMHP’s you want to make sure that they are open to writing, are good at it and if writing is not their thing make sure they will allow themselves to be video taped.

In my experience in working with drug addiction treatment centers one of the best ways to generate new business is through the internet. What the Internet requires is content. The users want quality content. The families seeking addiction treatment do research, a lot of it. The more high quality information that you can put on your website the more likely it will be found.

The problem for many addiction treatment centers is that their Certified Mental Health Professional’s or addiction treatment counselors find themselves too busy too either write or talk about their craft. The treatment centers that have C.M.H.P.’s who write and are willing to be in videos can have a significant advantage with their marketing if they are willing to publish this information on their websites. As a matter of fact if I owned a treatment center I would make it mandatory for every CMHP or addiction treatment counselor to write at least 1 article per week and publish at least 1 video per week for the website.

If you customers are passionate about your content they will share it. If they share it you get links. If you get other websites and social media sites linking to you, Google likes this. If Google likes this then they will push up your SEO rankings. If this happens you will see more traffic on your website. If you see more traffic on your website you will get more phone calls. If you get more phone calls you will see more business in your addiction treatment center. If this happens you don’t have to pay as much money to addiction treatment marketing consultants to help you with your SEO and lead generation.

Once you get a system down for publishing this type of content it is like brushing your teeth once per day, it is no big deal. Not only will Google like this but your customers will like it even more. I often hear that customers say “you’re that guy in the videos!” And when you say “yes” it is like an instant creditably connection, which is TRUST, which is what brings in customers in every business. You already know what their problems are but they don’t know you, unless they have met you on the website videos.

Chris Rene – X-Factor 2011 Clean and sober for 70 days

Every now and again we see some really heart warming addiction treatment stories. We all have our stories. While this is a feel good story that connects way deeper than just addiction alone, it connects with life. Here is a young man, Chris Rene who has recently beat his alcohol and drug addiction and is a trash hauler for a living. Chris auditions for X-Factor and scores big time. Obviously he is a talented singer, song writer and composer. But what I think will capture most people is his authenticity. Everything about him is real. I think Simon nailed it when he said I think we need you. Simon, what the world needs right now is the truth. Chris Rene is 100% real, this is why he should go far.

Drug Rehab Websites – it’s about traffic and conversions

If you are a drug addiction treatment center especially in North America you know how competitive the landscape is for business. These days almost every drug rehab that wants to stay in business has to take some form of insurance. Cash pay clients are extremely hard to come by. Google is working on an “over optimization penalty.”

What does this mean for drug rehabs with huge sites that are “over optimized?” It means that they could be endangered. It is critical that you do have websites that are structured well and optimized well. It is “my” (Jim Peake’s) belief that treatment centers need a “family of websites” that each bring their own niche focus to the table. Think of it like the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod. You want several “homes” in the same neighborhood so that when folks come by they are sure to stop in.

In doing this, many drug addiction treatment centers find it difficult to build let alone manage a half dozen or a dozen websites. My team at Addiction-Rep has come out with a customized packaged website development service strictly for the drug rehab centers. This new service/product is called Recovery Websites. We can crank these sites out in less than 30 days and amke them look beautiful at very competitive rates. We can also port over your existing addiction treatment center website to our platform, which is a managed WordPress platform. We can also fill them with meaningful and relevant content that does get noticed in the social media world.

These new websites are set up for running Pay Per Click Advertising as well as Search Engine Optimization for businesses seeking alcoholics and drug addicts. The overarching key is the tracking will be set up for you so that you know where you are spending your money and you know what is working and not working so your results will be optimal.

Brand Marketing for Treatment Centers

Brand Marketing for Treatment Centers

Trust is king. Trust is the single biggest converting factor for any business seeking to gain new clients. There are many components that go into establishing and developing trust. Some of these components are tangible like testimonials and client lists along with industry accreditations and awards. Some of the components are “intangible” such as branding and identity.

Branding and Identity for Treatment Centers

As far as branding is concerned it often takes a back seat not only for treatment centers but for other businesses as well. Probably the reason is it is very hard to measure and quantify. However it is the type of thing that if the brand is well done you know it and it emanates trust. You can tell there is a lot of thought and energy behind it. The quality brand logo and identity has consistency across multiple media such as a computer screen or a billboard.

Hire Branding Professionals vs. Logo Designers

In my experience I think it is all about “you get what you pay for.” When we start a business we might only plan on opening a single treatment center but over time it could grow to multiple different businesses and it could grow past just the treatment business into a sober living and detox business or maybe all 3 under the same roof but expressed as different products within the master brand. If there is potential for this to happen it would make a lot of sense to hire a treatment center branding and identity team that has experience in building master brand strategies.

Logo designers are a dime a dozen and many designers can provide high quality logo designs but really have little experience in branding and identity as well as brand extension. That said, a really great treatment center branding and identity team will do the detailed research that is exhaustive in coming up with the logo and identity. Often times this can take upwards of 4-6 weeks of research. The beauty of this is that in the long run it will pay off for you, especially as your business expands.

A well thought out brand and identity creates trust. It has been said that if the Coca-Cola Company went out of business tomorrow their brand and identity would still be worth over a billion dollars sitting on someone’s iMac. The idea is they could just resurrect the brand and the company would take off again. The point here is that there is so much trust in “the brand” that people would naturally want to align themselves with it.

If you have any questions on what it takes to build a brand or would like costs call Jim Peake @ 781-990-8844 or click on the button below.

Business Development Marketing for Drug Addiction Treatment Centers

Business Development Marketing for Drug Addiction Treatment Centers

Addiction treatment centers must become as good at business development marketing and lead generation as they are at drug and alcohol addiction treatment. As of March 2012 the competitive landscape has attracted outside investors into the addiction treatment space so much so that gaining qualified leads that have insurance money or cash money is becoming more and more difficult. Business development marketing for treatment centers is mostly some sort of referral marketing. We can get referrals from several different sources but for this brief article let’s just focus on three of them:

1) On ground business development marketers
2) Business development and direct marketing to the trade (other treatment centers)
3) E-mail Business Development Marketing to treatment center alumni and prospects

All three of these business development efforts can be highly successful. The key to all of them is setting up a “system” for each and then tracking each. In a perfect world all three systems will be producing results and admissions for you. The best way to track the different treatment referral or business development systems is to track each inquiry and rank it either 1-10 or good call, admission, has insurance etc. By doing this you will be able get insights on what is working best for you.

On Ground Business Development Marketers

These can be folks who are either independent contractors or employees of your treatment center. You will find that they range in skill and in results. A lot of times treatment centers will take an internal employee and “put them on the road” so to speak. This can be extremely effective if they have already worked for the center and are motivated and outgoing. The good ones are really hard to hang on to because once they become successful it seems that everyone knows about them.

These on ground marketers have relationships with the clergy, hospitals, psychologists, psychiatrists and to other treatment centers. Typically when they refer a client it is already an admission. This is the difference between business development and marketing. The challenge here is managing people as well as the expenses.

Business Development and Direct Marketing to the Trade or other Treatment Centers

If you are already reading this you are probably familiar with the treatment center industry. You already know it is small and tight knit. As time goes on and we change companies we get to know a lot of people. Knowing a lot of people in this space there is a level of trust over time and if someone moves to a treatment center for women and used to work for a center for adolescents chances are there is still a relationship in place where the adolescent center can begin referring women to this “new treatment center” for women.

Over time these relationships can become very fruitful. At the same time there are a lot of networking events in the addiction treatment space and trade shows. These events are great opportunities to forge new and lasting partnerships as well as cement old ones. I think the key to keeping these relationships in tact is to develop a direct marketing system where they are contacted at least once per month by the business development person and possibly an automated e-mail and or personalized postcard program.

E-mail Business Development Marketing to Treatment Center Alumni and Prospects

E-mail marketing is probably the least utilized business development asset available. There are two groups that need to be targeted on a regular basis:

1) Past Customers – Treatment Center Alumni
2) Prospects – People who have visited your site and not bought

The reason why e-mail is so powerful is because you can set it and forget it. It is truly a “system” that if used correctly will pay dividends. Most small business marketing coaches will tell you that developing a list and segmenting that list are one of the two most powerful things any business can do to help grow your business. The other is to do PR really well because it will give you the biggest reach for the least amount of money.

Past addiction treatment clients (alumni) can become referral machines because they used to travel in circles where they probably still know a lot of people who are using. Prospects are another great resource because you have already made a conscious effort to attract them to your business chances are if they don’t need you today they will need you in the future. So a timely e-mail on a monthly basis might be just the reminder for the next call to turn into an admission.

If you have other business development ways that have worked for you please share them with us or feel free to call Jim Peake if you have any questions @ 781-990-8844.