Archive for the ‘Computer & Internet Technology’ Category

How Electronic Deposits Help the Home Care Agency

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Home Care Business Tips

Remote Deposit Capture is an increasingly popular service that allows small business owners to streamline their check deposit and reconciliation operations and receive faster access to funds by electronically depositing checks from the convenience of their office for same-day processing.

RDC works by scanning checks individually or by feeding several checks at a time into a scanner installed at your office. The scanner captures check images and electronically submits those images for deposit to your bank account via a web-based connection. If the deposits meet your financial institution’s electronic check deposit deadline, you may also receive same-day ledger credit for the deposits.

RDC benefits include:

  • Increased efficiency. Remote deposit can help increase efficiency by eliminating trips to the bank, simplifying deposit preparation, consolidating deposits from each of your business locations, eliminating the endorsement of checks and reducing check handling costs.
  • Increased security. The electronic transmittal of checks can reduce the possibility of checks being lost or stolen in transit.
  • Faster access to funds. Your business can accelerate deposits with same-day processing of your checks if the deposits are made before your financial institution’s electronic check deposit deadline.
  • Added convenience. RDC enables businesses to deposit checks quickly and conveniently 24 hours a day. You can scan and deposit checks from your desk at any location, at your convenience and you will no longer have to incur the expense of a courier.
  • Better customer service. RDC provides small businesses the ability to quickly respond to customer payment inquiries.
  • Streamlined processing. The service simplifies processing, posting and reconciliation of checks.
  • Reduced errors. The service provides automated balancing, thereby reducing errors.
  • Enhanced record-keeping. RDC services may provide online access to your check images after your deposit and enable you to archive the check images on your computer.
  • Environmentally friendly. Using RDC can help reduce paper usage and reduce gas consumption on trips to the bank.

Posted by: David Goodman, President Companion Connection Senior Care, the leading “no royalty” membership organization serving the non medical home care & licensed home health business communities. The need for home based senior care is soaring! We will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Earn an excellent income while helping others with their activities of daily living. Contact us today for your FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Collections, Computer & Internet Technology, Home Care Agency Operations, Home Care Business Planning, Home Care Business Tips, Senior Business | 2 Comments »

Small Business Blogging & Social Media Marketing

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Your home care agency’s blog is more important than your Facebook page

You want to take advantage of the latest in social media, but aren’t sure how to prioritize.  Here are reasons why including a blog should take precedence over starting a Facebook page:

Branding: Facebook doesn’t allow you to brand the entire Fan Page experience to the extent that you can and should brand your agency’s blog. While you can customize up to 10 Facebook tabs (using the Static FBML application), that doesn’t compare to the unlimited branding options on your own blog using company colors, messaging, logos, and more.

Blog entries are better than Facebook Notes: Blogs allow you to categorize posts, thread comments, optimize content for search engine optimization, and so much more. Facebook Notes, aside from barely being read, fail to stack up against even your run-of-the-mill blog post from the most basic of blogging platforms.

You can run third-party analytic tools on your blog: You need to know what’s working and what’s not, where website visitors are coming from, what they view, how long they stay, and why some wander off. You need to know which campaigns are driving the most traffic to your content and how effective you are in converting that traffic into targeted behaviors. Facebook offers you only limited visibility into these and other key areas, whereas the vast array of web analytics software and services available for your blog provide a deep view into the types of metrics that actually matter to you and your homecare agency.

Here are some other things to consider:

  • Business-to-business decision makers (i.e. referral sources) aren’t likely to look for and connect with your business on Facebook.
  • While Facebook Fan Pages are available to the public, registration is required to fully participate. (You can make registration optional on your own agency blog).
  • On your agency blog, you can turn commenting on or off or have comments moderated on a post-by-post basis. Not so on Facebook.
  • Your blog is far less distracting than Facebook, which means no one else’s advertisements, applications, pages, notes, videos, photos, etc. can pull focus away from your content.
  • Plug-ins and widgets allow you to scale your blog based on your business goals. Facebook doesn’t offer the same type of scalability.

Submitted by: David Goodman, President Companion Connection Senior Care, the leading “no royalty” membership organization serving the non medical home care & licensed home health business communities. The need for home based senior care is soaring! We will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Earn an excellent income while helping others with their activities of daily living. Contact us today for your FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Business Opportunity, Computer & Internet Technology, Free Advertising & Marketing, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Business Tips, Public Relations, Senior Business, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

Benefits of Email for a Home Care Agency

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Home Care Agency Operations Management

Email can play a role in making your home care agency business more immediate, more accessible and, in many cases, more profitable.  Here are some things to consider:

  • Email creates a quiet, dedicated moment with your home care customers. Consumers are pickier about which email lists they subscribe to. When your customer opens your email, you have their attention for one precious moment. In internet time, that moment is priceless.
  • The Direct Marketing Association recently reported that “commercial e-mail” returned a whopping $43.62 for every dollar spent in 2009.” That’s because e-mail enables you to inexpensively and effectively create a quality over quantity mailing list of loyal customers and qualified prospects.
  • Email is the primary form of professional business communication. Business people use e-mail to communicate with each other, not Tweets or Facebook wall posts. Email is personal and professional.
  • Your email newsletter is a solid piece of quality content that you can archive on your website. You can boost your agency’s image and credibility by publishing and archiving a body of expertise through e-mail newsletter articles, and inviting reader participation. Ask customers for input in your e-mail communications. Create a dialogue and relationships.
  • According to a recent Nielsen report, frequent users of Facebook and Twitter use e-mail more than casual users. That means your audience is probably in multiple places – using e-mail and visiting social networking websites. Quality content trumps frequency of postings. Your e-mail newsletter should remain the centerpiece of your online communications, offering practical advice and meaningful insights that resonate with your audience. Social media is used to spot customer trends, mine ideas for future newsletter articles, respond to customer concerns, and find new mailing list subscribers.

Posted by: David Goodman, President of Companion Connection Senior Care, the premier No Royalty Membership Organization serving the non medical home care and licensed home health business communities. Demand for home based elder care is soaring! CCSC will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Contact us today for a FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Client Retention, Computer & Internet Technology, Free Advertising & Marketing, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Agency Operations, Home Care Business Planning, Home Care Business Tips, Non Medical Home Care Business, Senior Business, home health care business | No Comments »

Home Care Business Branding – 5 Tips

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Home Care Agency Business Tips

You’ve started a home care business, but how do you brand it properly?  Here are some things to consider:

  • The design of your logo really doesn’t matter. Having a nice professional logo is great, but it very rarely increases sales. You don’t need to spend a fortune on it. It’s more important to have a consistent look and include it on every piece of communication. Put it on business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, yellow page ads, building signage, newsletters, etc…
  • Have a professional website. It’s not just good enough to have a website, it must reflect your brand image. If you are known as a top notch photographer, the last thing you want is a website that looks like it was designed 10 years ago. That won’t reflect well on you. Everyone uses the web today to check references. If someone recommends your homecare agency, you can almost guarantee that they will go online to look for you. Your website design should be updated at least every two years to stay current.
  • Blogs help your business on multiple levels. Valuable content on a consistent basis will make you look like an expert, which is what consumers want. The software that powers blogs has multiple advantages. It’s very easy to publish. It’s a database-driven environment where style is separate from content so you will not need to go back to your web design agency for every little change. And use of tags and sitemaps make basic search engine optimization easy. But the real reason blogs are great is that they enable conversation. Two-way dialog is much more valuable than a company that just dumps messaging and collateral on their customers.
  • A blog should not be your sole marketing strategy. You should have a comprehensive multi-touch marketing plan to get your value proposition in front of your target audience. You can launch a direct mail campaign, email campaign, host a webinar, sponsor a local event, attend a trade show, attend networking events, cold call prospects, win awards, etc. There are a thousand different ways for you to be noticed.
  • Participate in local business events. Just showing up at events is great, but you are just a face in the crowd. Ask to be on one of the committees. Believe it or not, it’s as simple as just asking most of time. Groups are looking for volunteer help and it’s a great way to elevate your status and visibility among the entire organization.

Posted by: David Goodman, President of Companion Connection Senior Care, the premier No Royalty Membership Organization serving the non medical home care and licensed home health business communities. Demand for home based elder care is soaring! CCSC will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Contact us today for a FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Computer & Internet Technology, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Business Planning, Home Care Business Tips, Public Relations, Senior Business, Start Up Business | No Comments »

4 Critical Rules For Advertising Your Home Care Agency

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Home Care Agency Marketing Tips

Leads are more important than branding. No matter what the media or ad agency experts tell you, generating leads for a home care business is more important than building a brand at this point, especially if you recently opened your homecare business.

A strong identity can help, and a simple logo can accomplish that less expensively than ever before. But don’t waste your dollars buying weeks of ads.  Building your brand starts at delivering outstanding services under your home care agency’s name to happy customers.

So it’s important that your ads generate a response by including a call to action. Prospects should feel compelled to do something, be it calling in on an offer or visiting a website. This will enable you to track the effectiveness of your ads. Remember the formula: target, offer, copy.

The most critical component of your campaign will be drilling down to find media that deliver your message to people actively looking to buy your product or service, as well as those looking for a new, lower-cost or better service provider. To truly build your brand, you need to be that provider.

Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Since it is a buyer’s market right now, you’re in a good position to push for as much value as possible. In TV, this may mean additional mentions into or out of commercial breaks. For radio, it may mean more frequency or co-sponsorship of a local promotion or event. And for print, it may mean a bigger ad or additional placements, or even space for an advertorial.

You won’t get what you don’t ask for, so, consider any packages you are presented and see how you can leverage that package to get as many leads as possible.

Remember PR. Use your own story to your advantage by incorporating it into your pitch to local business publications or TV/radio morning shows. You will have a better chance of being mentioned if you make your home care business sound unique.  Make sure your press releases are not overly self serving, or the media outlet won’t run it.

E-mail is a necessity, but don’t forget direct mail. E-mail marketing has taken off in the past few years, but there are limitations. Double opt-ins – where people have to confirm twice that they want to receive your email – are the norm these days. Even so, click-through rates average less than half of 1 percent.

That means there is opportunity to leverage your budget the old-fashioned way: through direct mail. You may consider this counterintuitive, but there are some definite advantages to a highly targeted direct-mail program right now: Due to higher paper and postage rates, a good deal of direct-mail competition has fallen by the wayside. That means a compelling letter or postcard has a better chance than ever of getting your prospect’s attention.

Direct mail can also yield one of the best returns on investment if you have a great offer and a good list, the latter being most important. That said, take care in building your list. If done correctly, over time your list/database will be your homecare business’s most valuable asset.

Posted by: David Goodman, President of Companion Connection Senior Care, the premier No Royalty Membership Organization serving the non medical home care and licensed home health business communities. Demand for home based elder care is soaring! CCSC will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Contact us today for a FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Computer & Internet Technology, Free Advertising & Marketing, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Business Planning, Home Care Business Tips, Non Medical Home Care Business, Public Relations, Radio Advertising, Senior Business, Start Up Business, home health care business | No Comments »

Use Technology to Grow Your Home Care Business

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Five opportunities for the home care  entrepreneur to grow  business in the technology age

Conducting business is different in today’s technology age, and entrepreneurs have to be able to explore those opportunities that exist during a time when an ad in the Yellow Pages or direct mail may not be the best way to reach their prospects.

Here are some things to consider:

Business cards: While exchanging business cards remains fairly common, more professionals are choosing to use Web-based card exchange services and digital business cards. Companies like BusinessCard2, DubMeNow, CloudContacts, TwtBizCard, Bump, BeamMe, SnapDat, Retaggr, and Poken offer digital business card options. Do you still use the traditional business card or have you transitioned some or all of your homecare agency’s card exchanges to the digital format?

Reputation: Do you actively monitor your home care agency’s reputation online? If so, what tools do you use to stay on top of what customers and potential customers are saying about you and your homecare business?  Can you create an opportunity for positive testimonials to appear and can you reduce the damage any negative feedback might create?

Search Optimization: For generations, getting good placement in the Yellow Pages was key to exposing one’s company to the public.  Today, that’s changed as more people shop for home care services online.  So, how can you maximize your exposure to online shoppers?  Find out about search optimization tools and how you can improve your placement and reach shoppers when they are in the market for your services.

Social Media: Let’s face it – this is not even your “father’s Internet” any more.  If Facebook members were residents of a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world.  The reality is that more and more companies are getting their messages out by taking advantage of such social media sites as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr.  Learn how they can support your business.

Website Retention: When people come to your website, how can you get them coming back?  To accomplish this, you may want to consider running news, weather or sports; health care information; blogs; or even contests that keep people coming back.

Posted by: David Goodman, President of Companion Connection Senior Care, the premier No Royalty Membership Organization serving the non medical home care and licensed home health business communities. Demand for home based elder care is soaring! CCSC will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Contact us today for a FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Business Opportunity, Computer & Internet Technology, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Business Planning, Home Care Business Tips, Non Medical Home Care Business, Public Relations, Senior Business, Start Up Business, home health care business | No Comments »

Writing Great Ads For Your Home Care Agency

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

Home Care Business Marketing Tips

You have an advertising budget and a media schedule (where you plan to advertise), but you still have one question.  How do you make a great ad that will get the attention of potential clients? Here are some tips to help you develop that ad:

  • Engage Prospects. The more time someone spends with your ad, the more likely he or she is to remember it. Ads that include headlines that contain a benefit and a strong visual focal point, such as a close-up of a person with a warm, friendly smile work the best. A large photo works well in magazines while multiple visuals are good for newspapers.
  • Add color and contrast. High-contrast images in magazines will increase the chances of a potential client seeing and responding to your ad.  Larger ads tend to be more memorable, but a creative ad in a small space can be more memorable than a mediocre one that takes up a full page.  Some colors increase the chances of your ad being seen, which include sky blue, golden yellow and shades of blue-green. Red is a good spot color in newspapers.
  • Communicate frequently and in multiple ways (if you can afford it).  Repetition is important to selling  Studies show that exposure to information in different contexts helps a reader remember it.  When you see a message in different formats, such as a print ad, a billboard and a TV commercial, you associate the different impressions, and that helps you retrieve the information when you need it.
  • Use memorable benefits.  Ads that grab and hold a potential client’s attention are those that immediately relay a benefit that answers the question, How does the home care service benefit me and/or my elderly loved one? Benefits are what a potential client remembers; not features. People will read, remember and clip your ad out of a magazine or newspaper and hold onto it if you have a headline that shows a benefit.
  • Differentiate it.  You need to make sure your ad stands out in the marketplace.  You may be selling the same service and benefits of your competitors, but you need to have a look – a headline, a photo, colors, a logo – that will set it apart from the others.

Posted by: David Goodman, President of Companion Connection Senior Care, the premier No Royalty Membership Organization serving the non medical home care and licensed home health business communities. Demand for home based elder care is soaring! CCSC will help you start your own highly successful Home Care Agency business. Contact us today for a FREE Business Info Kit… 1-800-270-6949

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Posted in Computer & Internet Technology, Home Care Agency Marketing & Promotion, Home Care Business Tips, Non Medical Home Care Business, Senior Business, Start Up Business, home health care business | No Comments »