Archives for 2017

Right Start Children’s Services Seeks Digital Marketing Support from DaBrian Marketing

October 25, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Reading, PA – October 25, 2017 – Right Start Children’s Services has enlisted the help of DaBrian Marketing Group to help parents and families find information about early intervention and pediatric therapy services available in Pennsylvania.

Many parents find their family therapists through a doctor’s recommendation. In a rush to secure help for their child, parents often accept the first recommendation they receive, sometimes traveling to a nearby county. While immediate care is always beneficial, finding the right therapist in the right location is essential for the health and development of a child.

Right Start Services came to DaBrian Marketing in search of a website redesign to provide easy access to relevant information and resources to help parents make informed decisions. The experts at DaBrian Marketing responded with a search engine optimization (SEO), local SEO, and content marketing strategy to help parents find appropriate services in their area.

DaBrian Marketing performed extensive content optimization to help build awareness of Right Start’s brand, services, and service areas. They also gave the website a modern look and feel, with features like a sticky header, which is a common feature that allows the user to navigate the site without scrolling to the top to choose a different page or option. Other features, such as a Google map with polygons that indicate service areas, improve user accessibility by clearly displaying the appropriate information. The new Right Start Children’s Services site is mobile and tablet friendly so it fits correctly on screens of all sizes.

About Right Start Children’s Services

As an Early Intervention and Pediatric Therapy provider agency established in 2005, Right Start Children’s Services is a therapist owned and operated provider agency offering pediatric therapy services in a child’s home, school, daycare, or community setting. Services include behavioral therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special instruction, and speech and language therapy. Right Start serves Berks County, Chester County, Lebanon County, Lehigh County, Montgomery County, and Schuylkill County Pennsylvania. Right Start Children’s Services is located at 204 Cameron Drive in Douglassville, PA. For more information, call 1 (888) 532-4671 or visit rightstartservices.com.

How To Keep Your Gmail Organized

October 23, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Looking for every opportunity to automate our workflow is a big help, even the smallest changes can have a major effect. One way is by taming our inboxes! I use Gmail specifically, and I love it. But no matter what you use for emails, they tend to run a mock. Between keeping up with new emails and finding older ones when you need to reference them, it can be a headache when you are trying to accomplish much larger tasks efficiently.

Cleaning House

The idea of cleaning out your inbox and archived emails probably falls at the end of your to-do list and understandably so. However, you do not want to have to do it out of necessity when your storage space is completely filled up.

Then, you have to decide between paying for extra storage or cleaning out your storage at the most inconvenient times. Instead of deleting emails one by one, utilize the filters in the search bar. Type in the email address or date range to filter out dated emails and delete it! Once you’ve whittled down your old emails (and freed up some storage space), you can focus on keeping new emails organized as they come in.

Gmail creates several labels and categories by default but you can add/edit more by going to your setting, then “labels”. By building in a few extra labels such as “Accounting”, “HR”, “Travel”, etc, I can more easily navigate to an email I’m looking for in the future.

Gmail Extensions

There are some pretty great extensions out there. One add-on I really like is called Mail Merge for Gmail. I find it very useful because it allows us to send personalized emails to a larger group of people without much work on my part – can even merge attachments if needed. This add-on- starts in Google Sheets were you can input the info you want in a template. From there, you can open your Gmail and compose the email with the special fields. You can set the emails to send at scheduled times or right away It will all come from your personal Gmail account. I have found this useful for things such as emailing job candidates or sending updates to clients.

Stop composing emails that are sent into the abyss. With the help of Boomerang for Gmail, you can set a reminder for when the recipient hasn’t responded to you within a certain amount of time. This way, you don’t have to keep notes on when to follow up. Boomerang’s Respondable also gives a helping hand in writing your email to increase your chances of getting a response in real-time as you write your email. Boomerang also has a few other neat tricks: being able to schedule your email to send at a scheduled time or even tracking whether the recipient opened your email.

Gmail Labs

Don’t forget to check out Gmail Labs for some added help (in your settings > under the “Labs” tab). You can enable/disable different experimental settings. One small, but effective setting is the Preview Pane. This will assist you in reading emails quicker without having to actually go in and out of each one.

By keeping your email organized and up to date, your overall workday can go a lot smoother. Google also provides some helpful tips and tricks to get your Gmail setup the way you like.

What are your favorite email tricks to staying organized? Share them with us in the comments or on our social channels!

Healthy SEO Leads to Effective Healthcare Marketing

October 11, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Healthcare marketing can be very challenging. In fact, many healthcare facilities share the notion that new patient acquisition should mainly stem from referrals. While this certainly can be an effective method, it’s not a sustainable or very trackable method to gage success. To truly grow and expand your facility or practice, you’ll need to invest in additional marketing tactics, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Attract New Patients With Optimized Content

So your healthcare facility has a website. That’s enough, right? Wrong! A non-optimized website is about as good as outdated or broken medical equipment. Sure, you have it, but it’s not really helping.

According to Google, 1 in 20 searches in Google are for health-related information. To ensure your website is capturing this audience, you need to have the appropriate content. Your content needs to:

Contain relevant, high-traffic driving, and trending keywords.

– The medical terminology you use, might not be the terms your patients are using. Do your research!

Answer popular questions

– When people search for healthcare related information, a lot of their searches are question based. Whether they are trying to find where you are, or what medical condition they have, you want to have that information on your site.

Discuss relevant and popular procedures/conditions

– Give users the background information they need so that they don’t have to look elsewhere.

Be The First Found When an Emergency Happens

When people have a medical emergency or issue they’ll often look for immediate help within their area online. If you’re not listed locally and your site isn’t locally optimized, you’re allowing you competitors to capture patients in need. To combat this, you’ll need to ensure the following:

NAP Consistency On Your Website

– Your business name, address, and phone number need to be listed accurately and consistently throughout your website on every page.

Your Local Listings are optimized

– Along with your website, your healthcare facility needs to be listed across the top local listings. Similarly to your website, the contact information needs to be consistent and accurate, too. However, just being listed isn’t quite enough. You’ll need to:

– Select relevant categories

– Add images

– Fill out descriptions

– Encourage Reviews

– Aside from the fact that 90% of users read online reviews before visiting a business, reviews have also been discussed as a ranking factor. Although it has not been announced officially by Google, there have been studies (like the one done by Darren Shaw) that show a direct correlation amongst reviews and rankings. Reviews will also help to build trust before the first encounter.

Make It Easy To Schedule an Appointment or Contact You

According to KoMarketing, 51% of people think “thorough contact information” is the most important element missing from many company websites. To ensure your healthcare facility is providing the best user experience, your website should include:

– Your phone number, prominently placed towards both the top of the page, and within the footer. If you can make this number click-to-call, even better.

– A simple schedule an appointment and/or a contact form that asks for the least amount of information needed. According to Accenture, 66% of US health systems will offer digital self-scheduling by the end of 2019. Don’t get left behind!

– Your hours of operation/availability.

Connect Through Various Forms of Media

It’s 2017, people aren’t just reading text anymore. Most users want to see images and videos. It provides a good user experience and reaches users who are searching on other platforms such as Youtube. These images and videos allow you to show off your office, show your personality, and put a face to your practice. Often times, many people are hesitant or just downright scared to go to a healthcare facility. These will help create a relationship before it really begins.

In fact, users are becoming so comfortable with video that 64% of Americans would be willing to have a video visit with a doctor.

Final Diagnosis:

There’s a huge opportunity for your practice or office to grow and expand with healthcare marketing tactics such as SEO. With search interest and competition continuing to rise, you need to make sure your healthcare facility is out-in-front.

What marketing challenges has your Healthcare facility faced? Let us know in the comments below!

By: David McDowell

DaBrian Marketing Has Been Renewed As a Minority Business Enterprise

October 2, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC is pleased to announce that they have been renewed as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

In order to receive this certification, 51% of the ownership of an enterprise must be operated or controlled by minorities. Regardless of the physical size of the company, minority individuals must be U.S. citizens who are Native American, Hispanic, Black, or Asian.

“We are very excited to be MBE certified with the National Minority Supplier Development Council,” said Daniel B. Laws Jr., President & CEO of DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC. “It’s another certification that helps to differentiate us from other digital marketing agencies, opening doors to new projects. As a minority-owned and operated digital marketing agency, new projects allow us to contribute to community initiatives and increase jobs in downtown Reading, PA.”

Having this certification allows DaBrian Marketing Group to benefit from various activities and become part of an entirely new community with other MBE members. Joint ventures and partnering opportunities allow MBE businesses to grow and further the success of their companies. Opportunity fairs are arranged where minority entrepreneurs can sell their services to hundreds of prospective buyers in a single setting. DaBrian Marketing Group will also have access to customized executive education lessons where leadership tools will be discussed for minority-owned firms. Many other perks come with this certification and the DaBrian Marketing staff is thankful for another opportunity.

The certification lasts one year and is renewed yearly to ensure its standards are maintained. Learn more about the Minority Supplier Development Council.

About DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC

Founded in 2008, DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC is a minority-owned and operated full-service digital marketing agency. Focused on providing original and strategic digital marketing solutions for businesses, DaBrian Marketing Group offers a number of essential services, such as include content marketing, social media consulting, web hosting, local SEO, email marketing, digital branding, search engine optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising, web design, web analytics, social media marketing, and more. For more information about DaBrian Marketing Group, located at 500 Penn Street, Suite 201 in Reading, Pennsylvania, visit dabrianmarketing.com or call 610.743.5602.

What is Marketing Automation?

September 25, 2017 by Daniel Laws 1 Comment

Marketing automation is software that helps businesses automate marketing and sales initiatives to generate more leads, close more deals, and measure marketing success better. It gives businesses the power to take action based on the behaviors of prospective customers. On average, 51% of companies are currently using this tactic. With more than half of B2B companies (58%) planning to adopt this technology shortly.

How can marketing automation help your business?

Using a marketing automation software can help your business to improve efficiencies, personalize your marketing messages, connect marketing to closed sales deals, and measure your strategy effectively. To some degree, you can set-up marketing campaigns and leave it on “autopilot” while focusing on other business objectives. When used effectively, it will align your sales and marketing teams towards a common goal.

What are some features of marketing automation tool?

Below are few common features:

Lead Scoring – score prospects based on behavior so you can followup with proactive prospects.

Lead Nurturing – automatically stay in communication with prospective customers through the sales process

Prospect Tracking – identifies activities that prospects have interacted with on your website or marketing

Email Marketing – email design templates to send, test, and measure the effectiveness.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tool Integrations – connecting your leads with marketing activities that closed deals.

Integrated Reporting – see where leads come from, which campaigns are working, and the number of deals closed

This is just a brief list of the options it provides. With technology always improving, there are bound to be many more to come.

Should your company be using it?

If you have a contact database and are proactively marketing your company’s products or services, YES. The saying goes, “80% of sales come from 20% of advertising.” Marketing automation will provide some clarity into specifically which advertising efforts are working. By measuring your funnel, you can identify issues to the process and create strategies to improve conversion rates.

What do you need to know about marketing automation software?

It all starts with a strategy. Without a strategy, you have no chance of success! Marketing automation software can be complex, so start with the fundamentals and grow from there. It’s important to have standards for your contact data and keep it organized. Otherwise, you’ll end up with garbage in your CRM which will cause your marketing automation to be ineffective..

Lastly, you must have or create relevant content in different formats (text, images, gif, video, data sheets, case studies, etc.). Relevant content is king, and without it, you are just a peasant in your industry!

If you want more on marketing automation, drop us a line or comment with your feedback or suggestion.

The Latest Web Design Trends

September 18, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group 7 Comments

Here at DaBrian Marketing Group, we are always staying up-to-date with the latest web design and development news. We incorporate what we learn into our process and share it with the world. In past blogs, we have discussed best practices for website design and for better user experience (UX) for the respective year. Our Creative Director, Mark Mapp, wrote both 5 B2B Web Design Trends to Consider in 2016 and Five New Web Design Trends for 2015. Now it’s time to reflect on the trends of 2017 and what the year has brought to us, along with what has survived over the years.

Surviving Web Design Trends

Some web design trends we have seen in the past are still going strong today and will most likely continue to do so in the foreseen future. Unique fonts, for example, continue to expand across the web. We’re no longer looking at the standard Arial or Helvetica fonts on every website. As Google Fonts continues to bulk up their library, our options online do as well.

Another trend that continues to sticks around is the Card Design style layout. As we continue to head towards a mobile world, I predict this will become even more popular since it creates an easily stackable layout for mobile devices.

One last surviving trend is the one, long scrolling page. This ties right into the mobile-first approach, saving users load time and in turn data when navigating your website.

Upcoming Web Design Trends

With mobile devices taking over as the go-to device to access the internet, all of our web design practices are gearing toward that future. Because of this, the practice of Minimalism is becoming a more relevant trend. Too often sites of the past had crowded, text-filled areas. This presented the user with too much information at once. As things go mobile, we need to reevaluate how we present information. We need to use symbols, images, and keywords to get our message across as clearly and efficiently as possible.

Since one-page websites are taking a front seat in our design process, so are scrolling anchor points. While scrolling saves a user’s load time, you still want them to navigate to the information as quickly as possible. This is where anchors come in. Anchors give you click points that will take users directly to the relevant content on the page they’re looking for instead of scrolling through it all to find what you want.

A surprising twist this year is that imagery is making a comeback in design instead of the illustrations and vectors we’ve seen these past few years. Large, high-quality images are being used; not to convey a specific message but to support the overall focal point or story being told. Keep in mind that whenever possible you want to have original photos to make your website stand out from the crowd. Otherwise, your site may end up looking like everyone else’s in your industry from using the same stock photography.

Looking Forward

In everything that you read about web design trends these days, the overall message is very clear. Design with mobile in mind first by keeping everything simple and as clean you can. Avoid the clutter and cut down the content. These tips can apply to all web design projects.