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Private Duty Today
Welcome to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly electronic newsletter for Private Duty Home Care Leaders from Leading Home Care ...a Tweed Jeffries company. In this issue, we bring you ideas, information, and insights to help you grow your Private Duty Home Care business.
Private Duty Today is a permission-based newsletter. It is only sent to our recent customers and those individuals who have requested it, or who have given permission for their address to be included on our list of subscribers.
I'm Jason Tweed, Director of Business Development for Leading Home Care, and Editor of Private Duty Today.
Private Duty Today is published every other Wednesday, and currently goes to over 6000 subscribers. |
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Potential Faces for Your Business
One of the challenges private duty companies experience is that the "face" of your business is frequently your caregivers. The challenge is that not all of your caregivers represent your business equally.
So how do you bring your business to put your best "face" forward?
Potential faces for your business:
- The CEO face
- The Logo face
- The Customer face
- The Spokesperson face
- The Caregiver face
The idea of putting a face on your business has one element that is more important than which face you choose. Companies, like people, look best with only one face! After you've chosen the face to represent your company, stick with it and market it heavily. |
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The CEO Face
In the 80s it was Lee Iacocca. In the 90s it was Dave Thomas. These two CEOs took personal responsibility for Chrysler and Wendy's. CEOs in the home care business frequently take personal responsibility and very active roles in running their companies, so why not make the owner or CEO the face of the business.
Have your CEO get some studio head shots. Put those pictures everywhere; brochures, websites, customer letters, etc. Everything that your customers, referral sources, or other stakeholder groups see should have a photo or comments from the CEO. If you're using mass media, have your CEO be part of the commercials and make sure the CEO gets a little mentoring from people who know the media industry. |
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The Logo Face Every company should have a logo, corporate fonts, and corporate colors. Use these consistently with everything you do and it starts to become the face of the business. One of the challenges with a "Logo face" is that your logo must mean something to referral sources and clients.
It also must look completely unique from your competitors. There are dozens of home care companies using a heart inside a house, or a house inside a heart. While a little cliché, it's a logo that makes sense. Unfortunately, it's also a logo likely to be used similarly by a great competitor in your market. |
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The Customer Face
This is trickier than it sounds. The idea is to get one individual that is your ideal customer to represent your business. This customer must represent either your referral sources or your clientele. Remember, your best customers aren't necessarily frail elderly Americans. They may be assisted living facilities, social workers, family members, or bank trust officers.
 For example, let's say your ideal customer is the "upper income soccer mom with an elderly parent". Hire an actress to pose for photos, appear in TV spots, and the radio voiceover. Per her face and story on your website and brochures. Have her talk about how, "Busy moms like me want to give their parents the care they need and deserve, that's why I called XYZ Homecare, and my life instantly became better."
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The Spokesperson Face  Michael Jordan is probably the best-known spokesperson in the United States. Whether he's encouraging you to "Just Do It" with Nike or get comfortable in Hanes underwear, his face ends up representing the company.
Honestly, I haven't ever seen a private duty company attempt to use a celebrity spokesperson. But this doesn't mean it can't be done. This would be particularly useful if you served a local celebrity. Have you provided care for the mother of the local TV meteorologist? Ask him or her to do a testimonial video. Have you served a prominent political figure? The basic idea is to find someone that people in your community will recognize, then associate that recognition with your brand.
If you've done this successfully, or even unsuccessfully, give me a call. I'll interview you for a future issue. |
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The Caregiver Face
Your caregivers should be celebrities! In your marketing use caregivers, real caregivers. Take photos of them working, group shots, and conduct interviews. Record their real feelings about working for your company and use that in your marketing. Try to get caregivers that you want representing your brand. If your caregivers come from multicultural backgrounds, show people with different skin tones and dialects. If you have male caregivers, include them in the mix. If you recruit from local schools, find attractive young caregivers.
While you may choose to use one particular caregiver more frequently, don't limit yourself to one individual. Unfortunately, caregivers frequently come to you through a revolving door. You have to be prepared that the individual whom you use for marketing may work for another company down the road. I strongly recommend you get your caregivers to sign a release stating, at the very least, that they agree to allow you to continue using their likeness in marketing even if they no longer work for your company. Additionally, you may want your caregivers to sign non-compete agreements or exclusive marketing agreements if you plan to use them. |
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It's Time to Get on the Web
You've been thinking about it for a while, or perhaps you've already done it... get yourself a website!
Unfortunately, all websites are not created equal, nor are all website designers. Many business owners consider a website like a fax machine... you don't use it much, but you just have to have it.
Good private duty salespeople know, however, that a great website can be their single most valuable marketing asset. You spend tons of money on brochures, ad specialty items, and perhaps even television or radio. Your website, however, has been largely neglected.
Even if it looks good... is it Selling!?
It should be. Your website is the most versatile and customizable part of your marketing portfolio. Your field sales staff should be able to reach out to more people, more efficiently, with better information than ever using your website.
Your website should be attracting new caregivers, nurses and therapists. Your website should make your current staff feel like a more important part of your team.
Finally, your website has the unique capability of putting your best "face" forward!
If you'd like more information about building an extraordinary website that sells... call Jason Tweed today at 1-888-668-9333 and ask about Web-Centric Marketing and Recruiting. | |
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