Attracting Local Clients

Blogging to Tempt the Local Media

March 15, 2016 By Linda Dessau

© flucas - Fotolia.com — © flucas – Fotolia.com

There are many benefits to being featured in local media outlets like cable television shows, community newspapers, or larger print outlets like your city’s main paper or magazine. This kind of exposure can help your clinic to:

Attract local clients for your services and events
Connect with local partners, vendors and referral sources
Increase your credibility with both local and global audiences

Local media professionals are just like anyone else – they do business with people they know, like and trust. And in this case, their business is to write about the key topics in the health and wellness industry, and to feature knowledgeable and trustworthy people in their stories.

One of the first things a media professional will do to vet you as a source is check out your clinic online, including your blog. If they see that it’s consistently updated with new posts about your area of expertise, it shows them that you and your team are just who they’re looking for.

There are many other ways to build relationships with local media professionals. Here are five to get you started:

Respond quickly to all media inquiries even when they’re not an exact fit. Do your best to connect them with someone else, and then record their contact information so you can keep in touch!
Build on this list by adding the names of any journalists whose work you admire, or who have covered wellness or health stories. Tip: Create a private or public Twitter list for local media (see #7 on this list of ways to use Twitter lists).
Contact these folks directly if you have an idea that might interest them. See PR and marketing specialist Janet Falk’s sample letter for a byline article.
Monitor social media hashtags, your own Twitter lists, and email services like Help a Reporter Out for specific requests from journalists.
Practice the four networking basics (be visible, be positive, help out, and educate). You never know when one of your colleagues will get a call from the media that isn’t right for them, but is perfect for you!

So you’ve been blogging regularly, you reached out to a reporter, and found yourself featured in an article or show – congratulations! Now make the most of that priceless exposure by telling the world.

You can distribute printed copies of a newsletter or magazine article, and share links to online posts and video clips. Add these to your email signature, social media profiles, and website. Looking for more ideas? Janet Falk has an abundance of creative ways to promote your celebrity status.

How could being a local celebrity attract new clients to your wellness clinic?

This is an updated version of a previous post: https://www.contentmasteryguide.com/2009/08/how-to-use-article-marketing-to-tempt-local-media.html.

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Wellness Blogging on LinkedIn – 5 Costly Mistakes to Avoid

February 24, 2016 By Linda Dessau

Aside from checking out your wellness clinic website and blog, prospective clients will also likely look up you and your practitioners on LinkedIn.

Though they may be on LinkedIn for business and career purposes, people still bring their whole selves, including their health concerns and personal goals like choosing a wellness practitioner.

Whether you’re already publishing LinkedIn blog posts or just wondering how it all works, here are five costly mistakes you’ll want to avoid:

1. Mistaking posts for updates

Most LinkedIn users are familiar with posting updates, which are similar to tweets or Facebook posts.

Then there are LinkedIn blog posts, also known as long-form posts or LinkedIn Publisher.

Updates move lower on the page as newer messages appear. That means your connections may or may not see each update, unless they click on the “View recent activity” link available from the top of your profile.

A post, on the other hand, becomes a permanent entry in your LinkedIn blog, which has a prominent home at the top of your profile. Viewers see your three most recent posts, and a link to your full LinkedIn blog.

How this will cost you: Mistaking posts for updates can look unprofessional. It also wastes the opportunity to use your LinkedIn blog as a platform to spotlight your knowledge and show people why they can trust you and your services.

2. Stopping posting, once you start

As soon as you publish your first LinkedIn post, these will always remain at the top of your profile. While you can hide or remove dates from your own blog (though I don’t recommend it), you cannot do this with your LinkedIn blog.

How this will cost you: A long gap between blog posts can make people wonder if you ran out of things to say, or if you gave up on your blogging or even your business. When I stopped posting to LinkedIn for awhile last year, I cringed every time I reviewed my own profile!

3. Forgetting to proofread

The mind plays tricks on us when we’re reading our own work. We see what we meant to type, rather than what we actually typed.

We can also be far too focused on ourselves and how smart we sound, instead of on helping our readers understand the information.

Always assume a blog post will be a reader’s first impression of you. Read the post out loud and notice whether it sounds natural, like what you would say in a conversation. Listen for missing words, duplicates, or awkward sentences.

How this will cost you: No one is perfect and the occasional typo or spelling error happens, but sloppy writing looks unprofessional and will undermine your credibility and authority.

4. Writing about anything and everything

Your LinkedIn blogging plan should include a core set of topics you will write about. These topics should be aligned with both your ideal clients’ needs and questions, and your own areas of expertise.

How this will cost you: If your LinkedIn blog includes several unrelated topics, it works against the goal of establishing yourself as a go-to expert for a specific health issue.

5. Trying to crack the code

LinkedIn Pulse is the official network of channels where LinkedIn compiles its best content into topic areas like healthcare, human resources, careers, and social media. If your post is selected, it will be seen by a much wider audience than just your own network of connections.

For example, I was thrilled when my recent post “How to Write a Curated Post For Your Wellness Blog” was picked up by the Healthcare channel. So why wasn’t the one about blogging to keep readers healthy?

I’m not sure, but let’s not spend time worrying about that. Let’s focus on writing quality posts about topics our audience cares about.

How this will cost you: If you’re too concerned about getting your post featured on LinkedIn Pulse, you may paralyze your writing process by second-guessing yourself. And while other people’s successful posts can be inspiring, if you try to copy someone else you’ll fail to attract clients who resonate with your unique viewpoint and approach.

Does all this mean you have to write double the blog posts?

Absolutely not! Instead, let your blog posts do double duty by posting them on your clinic blog as well as your LinkedIn blog.

While experts have proven that there is absolutely no “duplicate content” penalty for reusing your blog posts on LinkedIn, Denise Wakeman recommends you do tweak them slightly. She suggests writing a new title, using a different photo, or targeting a slightly different audience.

Blogging on LinkedIn can help new people discover you, your services, and your wellness clinic. Avoid these costly mistakes and enjoy the rewards of sharing your knowledge online.

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How to Write a Personal Post For Your Nutrition Blog

January 12, 2016 By Linda Dessau

nutrition-blog-writer-kitchen-text — © taka – Fotolia.com

In a series of posts over at the International Organization of Nutritional Consultants (IONC), I’ve been writing about how nutritionists can use blogging to attract new clients.

First I showed you how to get started, and now we’re looking at four different types of blog posts you can use to keep writing week after week.

A weekly post? That sounds way too hard! I understand. That’s why I suggest you aim to write just ONE feature-length post every month, where you teach your reader how to do something.

In the other three weeks, experiment with other types of posts that may be quicker and easier for you to put together. Let’s start with the personal post.

There are a lot of other holistic nutritionists out there, but that doesn’t make you competitors. You each have ideal clients who will be drawn to your particular set of life experiences and personality.

Blogging is the perfect place to let your unique style shine through. Personal posts are the ones only you can write, as opposed to the generic topics you might find on dozens of nutrition blogs.

There is nothing wrong with sharing a personal story on a business blog. It’s important to show potential clients your human side, since we all do business with those we know, like and trust. This is especially true for intimate services like nutrition counselling.

Use your own stories of failure and success to form a deeper connection with your audience, and reinforce the principles you teach in your business. I once wrote about a mishap in the kitchen to remind readers to keep a pad of paper handy for new blogging ideas.

A personal post may incorporate elements of a how-to post, like this one where I featured my own beloved greyhound Patch in a post about blogging consistently. Or it could be purely personal, like how Joy McCarthy and her team share their personal resolutions in this New Year’s post.

If you missed the first post in this series, visit IONC to read How to Write a How-To Post For Your Nutrition Blog. Stay tuned to learn about two other types of posts, including one that lets you lean on other people to feed your own blog.

When you put them all together, you’ll have everything you need for an interesting variety of blog posts all month long.

P.S. If you want to receive my newest blogging tips by email, including the next two posts in this series about nutrition blogging, sign up here for the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox!

5 Things I Like About These 5 Nutrition Blogs

December 9, 2015 By Linda Dessau

© Artur Marciniec - Fotolia.com — © Artur Marciniec – Fotolia.com

In How to Start a Blog For Your Nutrition Business, my recent guest post for the International Organization of Nutritional Consultants, I included five sample nutrition blogs for inspiration. Let’s take a closer look at what these nutritionists are doing well when it comes to blogging for business.

The five blogs are:

1. Joyous Health by Joy McCarthy and team

I discovered this blog awhile back and have since seen Joy’s books pop up on the shelves of my favourite health food stores (Nutrition Plus and Goodness Me). I love her positive, joyful approach to healthy eating and living.

2. Simple Balance by Wendy McCallum and Katie Gillingham

The Canadian School for Natural Nutrition (CSNN) has a page spotlighting their members who’ve written books. That is where I found a link to Wendy and Katie’s website and blog and I saw it as a good example of business blogging for nutritionists.

3. Nutrition for Real Life by Allison Tannis

I also found Allison’s blog via the CSNN site and thought she was doing a great job as well. Since then, we’ve connected directly (via Twitter, of course!) and she agreed to an interview about her blogging experience.

4. JulieDaniluk.com by Julie Daniluk

Julie’s book, Meals That Heal Inflammation, was helpful in my own recovery from many years of digestive difficulties. I always enjoy catching her appearances on The Marilyn Denis show, and her lessons about the health benefits of specific foods.

5. Crazy Sexy Wellness by Kris Carr

I first saw Kris Carr in a Marie TV episode with Marie Forleo. She is one of Marie’s students, and I love how she’s combined Marie’s online business model with her own passion for healthy eating and living.

Now that you’ve met these five nutrition bloggers, here are the five things I like most about how they blog for business:

The blogs are all part of the nutritionist’s main website, and each offer ways to get and stay connected. Some offer a newsletter subscription, with some sort of bonus guide or report like Joy McCarthy’s Healthy Breakfast Guide. All include links to social media pages. Note how the social media icons at Simple Balance (top right-hand corner of the page) open in a new window so the reader doesn’t need to leave their site.
The blogs are consistently updated with new posts. The visible publication dates (Allison Tanis has these just below the photos on her blog archives page) show visitors that they can keep coming back (or better yet, subscribe) for more tips. We can see that these experts have a lot of knowledge, and they’re generous about sharing it with their audience.
Readers can choose from lists of categories and/or tags to read about specific topics. Blog categories offer nutrition professionals a way to demonstrate their specific areas of expertise. These lists are mostly found in the sidebar or underneath the title of each post, while Joyous Health includes them in a drop-down list from the main menu, as well as in a clickable list of filters in the middle of the blog archives page.
They support their claims with research and links to other experts. Julie Daniluk does this consistently (such as in this post about the wonder of rainbow carrots), and it speaks volumes about her credibility and professionalism.
They use vibrant photos. Food is a sensory experience, as says the old adage that we “eat with our eyes.” There are plenty of tantalizing food shots like this one of rosemary sweet potato wedges (Joyous Health), while natural beauty Kris Carr often steps into the photos herself, especially when sharing personal information like her morning ritual.

If you have a nutrition business, wellness clinic, or another health-related business, how can you apply these five lessons to your own blog? Haven’t started a blog yet? The seven steps in my IONC article can help – no matter what type of business you have!

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Help, My Boss Started a Blog!

November 24, 2015 By Linda Dessau

© photo pixel - Fotolia.com — © photo pixel – Fotolia.com

Team blogging is a great way for wellness clinics to attract new clients, but what if you’re not the one in charge of the business? Even when blogging wasn’t your idea, you can still be a team player – AND a team blogger!

I was chatting with someone recently who works out of a wellness clinic with several other practitioners. The clinic owner had just asked each of them to start blogging on the clinic’s website, so that something new could go up every week.

“Ack!” She thought, “What am I going to write?”

If you’ve been asked to blog according to someone else’s timeline, here are my five tips for staying on schedule and being part of a blogging team:

1. Wrangle some writing time

In my world, what gets scheduled, gets done! If I leave something for when I get around to it, a task can languish for weeks or even months. This creates mental clutter and distraction, because the unfinished task nags at me from the corners of my mind.

I use a two-pronged time management system. First, tasks and their due dates go into one of several lists in my Wunderlist account. I work backwards from when I need to submit or publish the post, blocking out time for things like research, finding photos, and proofreading.

(For more tips and to see exactly how I use Wunderlist to schedule my blog writing time, see my guest post at SteamFeed.)

2. Evict the editor

When you’re already feeling stressed about getting something done, it is counter-productive to manufacture more pressure about doing it perfectly. Instead, focus on completing a first draft that you can edit later.

To quickly banish any self-critical thoughts, imagine your ideal client sitting across the desk from you. They need this information to improve their life, and they feel a connection with you and your unique way of explaining things. Don’t keep them waiting.

3. Brainstorm with a buddy

There is no reason to blog alone. If you’re stuck for ideas, poll your colleagues, clients, friends or family about their questions or ones they’ve heard from others.

Be open to all ideas (you’ve evicted the editor, remember?) as you bounce things back and forth. It’s amazing the creative places a thought can end up from where it started, especially when you bring together people with different perspectives and experiences.

4. Start with a structure

Before you start writing, decide on a numbered list (e.g., The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Sleep) or a framework such as one main point and three supporting points.

Then simply fill in the blanks, add an introduction and conclusion, and you’re done!

5. Begin at the beginning

It’s easy to assume that everyone knows as much about your area of expertise as you do. Of course that’s not true. Start noticing all the opportunities you have in a day to educate someone about something that is second nature to you. These are all potential blog posts!

Writing an email that answers a frequently asked question you’ll say, “Hey, that could be a blog post!” Overhearing a conversation in line at the grocery store you’ll think, “I wish more people understood that common myth. I could write a blog post about that!”

There are potential blogging topics all around you. Use these five tips to turn those ideas into meaningful contributions to your wellness clinic’s marketing efforts. You’re not just a team player, you’re a team blogger!

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