Tag Archives: Rehab Marketing

How to Bring a New Addiction Rehab to Market Right the First Time

This entry was posted on by .

How to Bring a New Addiction Rehab to Market Right the First Time

In this post you’ll learn how to market a new addiction rehab- the right way.

Drug and alcohol addiction all too often come with relapse. In the interest of helping those overcome chemical dependency, the businesses meant to support these endeavors are better served with a relapse-free approach to engage successful rehab businesses. For the most well-intended investors and would-be owners, we wanted to share our thoughts on how to bring a new addiction rehab to market right the first time, before you invest hard earned (or borrowed) dollars, time and heartache. Yes, it is a labor of love.

Even if you’ve already vested in a drug or alcohol detox, inpatient residential, PHP, outpatient or sober living facility, the information noted below will offer an opportunity to compare your current practices with what could be improved upon. In addition, this can be the backbone of growth initiatives and potential industry partnerships.

When Marketing a Rehab Know What’s Feasible, Then Find What’s Missing

Every business begins with a single perception about what the specific industry will bear. Meaning, someone has an idea about what type of business is needed and, in turn, what will succeed. While success can be measured in a myriad of ways, the only one that matters from the get-go is what will bring in the money.

Whether you are the owner of a potential treatment recovery enterprise or a silent partner, your thoughts on what will be a success are to some extent, subjective, opinion. Making a financial decision on ego alone (opinion) is risky. Coupling opinion with measurable fact is golden. How do you get to this sweet spot?

It begins by doing a feasibility study, or two or three. This practice isn’t exclusive to the drug rehab industry. It’s used by global advertising agencies before launching new products or services on behalf of their clients. These can be conducted on a localized level as well by small businesses that intend to serve specific geographic areas.

Feasability Study

Discovering what addiction treatment needs are specific to an area of town are vital to determining:

  • Placement of facility
  • Size of facility
  • Specific focus of treatment offerings
  • Specific target audience (demo- and psychographics)
  • Pricing of services
  • Duration of service offerings
  • Ratio of direct competitors within the area

Feasibility studies involve a Q&A from people who live within the area of interest. These people may be a cross-section of consumers who have either been to treatment before, who have a family member who has been to treatment, or knows of someone who should go to treatment.

With the rates of addiction in the U.S. ($35 billion industry) and the corresponding rates of relapse (50% – 90%, depending on the drug and length of stay in rehab) more people can fulfill the criteria for feasibility study participants than before.

Results tabulated from study participants may not provide you the justification needed in going forward with what you had in mind for your rehab business, but they will offer the low-hanging fruit of opportunity you would otherwise have missed. Perhaps you wanted to focus on alcohol detox and providing medication-assisted treatment such as Suboxone or Gabapentin but through the research, realize that finding detox facilities in the area isn’t the shortfall but adequate sober living facilities is the current need. Perhaps then, a shift in how you start up would be in order.

Under Funding a New Rehabs’ Marketing Budget Can Kill the Best Idea

Under Funding Rehab Marketing Can Kill the Best Ideas

Once you know the area(s) you will focus the rehab business on, now it’s time to assess the financial needs to fulfill the obligation. If you are not self-funded or the recent recipient of a winning lottery ticket, chances are you’ll be seeking the assistance of investors.

It is best to use the services of an addiction treatment consultant who has vast experience in this space and can provide a knowledgeable overview of what will be needed in capital to get things off the ground and running smoothly for the first three years.

Much of what will attract an investor to your business will be the projected rate of return, net operating income, operating expenses and the total cost of the investment. While these numbers will fluctuate to some degree and the business model becomes more refined over time, investors will be the life blood that keeps your addiction treatment company dream alive.

Emotions Are for Patients, Not Profit

Here is a quick mention about getting into business with friends. Emotions and unspoken expectations will get in the way of effective business planning and successful execution. Profitability is everything in having the ability to provide the best patient care. Sometimes, friendships on the backside of business can put a dent in the process. As long as the financials make sense, doing business with friends and family can work though it is more often than not, inadvisable.

Plan for Scalability

There is beauty in not biting off more than you can chew. Dream big but start small. If you want to have multiple service offerings, scale up. Start with outpatient, then, add a 6-10 bed inpatient residential facility. Then add another one once the others are showing consistent intakes and minimal vacancy time. Down the road, if you want to rework your offerings or add detox while removing outpatient, for example, you only have to worry about downtime in one or two buildings rather than having to go ‘offline’ completely. Options are good and they happen through healthy, sustainable expansion.

Choose Treatment Staff As If They Are Your Trusted Advocates

Choose Treatment Staff As If They Are Your Trusted Advocates

Though every business takes time to consider their overall mission and vision for existence, bringing the right people to the table may not always be given the thought it deserves. After all, the people who comprise of your clinical, holistic and administrative staff are the face of your business, literally.

Clients, patients, residents, however you refer to the people who receive treatment from your facility, have heightened sensitivity – it’s a byproduct of addiction. As such, those who are their designated caregivers will be the purveyors of your products, brand messengers and creators of your reputation. How they intertwine builds your company culture. It’s best to get a handle on who you are early on so that the tone and manner of the employees mirror how you’d like others to perceive your business. This is important because the addiction treatment industry is a small network of operators and vendors. Any ill-talk about your business will travel fast and will affect your intakes, marketing abilities, staffing, referral business and investment opportunities.

Fixed Vs. Fluid Business and Marketing Plans for Your Treatment Center

The drug and alcohol treatment business casts a wide net of potential: both in prospects and pitfalls. To create or facilitate tight business and marketing plans takes facts, figures, industry know-how and a dash of flexibility. Why? Because the more things stay the same, the more they change.

For example, current government administrators can change the way they allow for drug treatment, alter the classification or what insurance companies will provide. In addition, new laws can affect the likelihood of one drug being the next epidemic versus another. Even the state-to-state definition of what is legal marijuana use continues to change, bringing the potential for shifts in drug use trends and corresponding overuse and addiction.

New regulations will change the way an addiction rehab business will identify opportunities. Staying on top of industry news is a necessity to keeping the market position your rehab has and finding new angles to own more.

Top 10 Considerations Before Starting or Investing in Drug Rehab

The day you open your doors isn’t the end game in starting a new drug or alcohol rehab treatment center. There is no end game. Just like addiction, it’s a never-ending cycle that has its ups, downs and moments of triumph. To get through it all and feel good about what you’re doing, refer to the following checklist during each facet of your rehab business build out.

Top 10 Must Dos Before You Open a New Drug Rehab

  1. Identify your market niche
  2. Confirm source of funding
  3. Target geographic area with numbers that justify location and amount of beds
  4. Comprise business plan (1, 3 and 5 year forecasts)
  5. Comprise marketing plan and budgets (launch, 1 and 3 year plans)
  6. Obtain necessary licensure(s) and be HIPAA compliant
  7. Partner with local industry leaders
  8. Bring the best in staff
  9. Stay on top of news/industry trends
  10. Remain vigilant and flexible

Marketing Addiction Rehab Businesses Is Different than an Online Retail Store

Marketing Addiction Rehab Businesses

With the recent onslaught of ‘bad actors’ in the drug addiction treatment and recovery industry, marketing guidelines have taken a harsher turn in what is acceptable and allowable. Google, Facebook and other social outlets have come down hard on facilities, demanding a more thoughtful and accountable approach to the search-and-discover of reliable treatment facilities.

While this presents additional hoops and added costs to advertising platforms within the industry, it also resets the bar on best practices which rehab owners and patients can benefit from. With third party LegitScript certifications required by Google and Facebook, for example, call centers and lead aggregators can’t simply buy ads. Now, if anyone wants to buy Google or even Facebook ads, they must undergo this full certification process… and call centers don’t even qualify.

 

Before You Start a New Drug Rehab, Open Our Door First

 

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

This entry was posted in Addiction Treatment Marketing and tagged .

When Drug Rehab Marketing and Sales Fail: Why Tracking Keeps Them Aligned

This entry was posted on by .

Drug Rehab Fail: Got Tracking

There’s an all too common phenomenon in companies across America that lives in marketing departments. In fact, it’s the last place we’d think would have this problem, but it’s not just evident; it’s a cesspool of inefficiency rooted in a lack of communication. Really? In the marketing department comprised of so-called experts in the field of communication? Yes.

And it’s no different with drug rehab marketing and sales. In actuality, this conundrum makes the addiction treatment business more challenging. We thought we’d provide some relief by sharing why tracking your efforts keeps your business better aligned.

Visual Cues Show Evidence of Addiction Treatment Marketing Mismatches

Let’s start with a simple illustration to represent ad marketing misalignment. First, hold up your right and left hands in front of you. The left hand represents your sales; your right hand represents marketing strategy and execution. Now, instead of your hands facing each other, they look in opposite directions. How can they work together when they are having separate conversations?

In order for sales and marketing to work cohesively, they must be agile and fluid, yet able to shake hands. If you haven’t taken a look at what your website is ranking for on a monthly basis, it holds the key in what you’re hitting and what you’re missing in client retention and prospect reach. It starts with a plan.

Not two plans — a single plan that encompasses sales and marketing in a way that champions both modalities and sets up a success matrix that is only achievable if they work together. Yeah, I know, good luck with that.

Sales and Marketing – Getting Past the Egos

Since the advent of advertising, sales was the evil stepchild of creative that spun into marketing as well. According to sales, marketing doesn’t know their head from their … well, you know what I mean. It could be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious fatal flaw to most companies. In truth, sales needs marketing to help them reach a large audience. In turn, marketing needs sales to better understand their customers, their industry and the need that brings them all together. Sales and marketing are best utilized as a collective funnel, not segmented silos that never touch.

In a recent article in Forbes magazine, research helps build a case for this business model: “When sales and marketing get on the same page, companies see, on average, a 67 percent improvement in closing sales and a 36 percent increase in customer retention.”

When you lead with your product or service, it creates a shared goal between sales and marketing that is much easier to accept and deliver on.

Organize Your Goals by Monitoring Inbounds and Outbounds

You could be spending more money than your competition, but if you’re not doing anything to track it, you’re throwing money and time down the drain. And unless you’ve just won the billion-dollar lottery, your drug rehab probably isn’t looking for a business loss to offset gains.

If you’ve got any broad scope marketing plan in place (and if you’re a new addiction treatment facility or service, pay attention) watch where your admits are coming from. Inbound marketing, which includes web content, social media and search engine optimization (SEO), is useful in getting your company brand and associated stories out into the world. Just because it’s award-winning creative doesn’t mean it’s getting results.

Make sure you have a person within your organization or external agency keeping a watchful eye on the responsiveness and overall engagement of each. See how often specific webpages, blogs, videos and other social content are viewed. From there, you’ll know what’s getting the most interest and where you need to make adjustments.

Outbound marketing is a different animal and not for the thin-skinned. It’s found in:

  • Event marketing
  • Telemarketing
  • Radio and TV spots
  • Press releases
  • Billboards
  • Direct mail
  • Email
  • The use of swag

To put it simply, outbound marketing casts the widest net of reach to consumers or B2B, with less desirable results because there is less of a niche to the audience.

Make sure to take an accounting of what inbound and outbound efforts rein in as far as ROI, and then alter the percentages where needed to get the desired results.

Lead Generation Results Are Multi-Layered, with Value in Each

Difference between Hot, Medium, and Cold Leads

Everyone wants the hot leads, the ones that respond to exactly what you have to offer and are ready to convert, now. Striking while the iron is hot is great for sales, though many forget the value of warm and even cold leads, especially in the addiction treatment and recovery space. Here’s why:

  • Often, it takes a prospect multiple media impressions before they go “hot.”
  • Cold leads may provide touchpoints for outbound marketing:
    • Wider net of outreach.
    • Most people know someone with a drug or alcohol problem.
    • Can help build referral base.

With any lead generation program, be sure to segment your leads and respond in the best manner possible to generate the most appeal for hot, warm and cold leads.

Web Chat Delivers in an Instant

To enhance the ability to capture leads as soon as they come to your website, consider using a web chat service. With it, you never miss an opportunity to engage with a prospect because the system does it for you.

The benefits to web chat are numerous and include:

  • Immediate engagement
  • Segments leads (hot, warm, cold)
  • HIPAA-compliant marketing tool
  • Secure and password protected
  • Delivers each lead to your email, mobile device or both
  • Increases leads, on average, from 35% to 40%

Understanding your cost per lead (per method used) may rule out some of what you’re already doing to bring in prospects and conversions. If your beds aren’t full, maybe it’s time to be open to suggestions.

Tracking Drug Rehab Sales and Marketing Is Only as Good as the Analysis

No one’s expecting you to be a solid expert on Google Analytics and other pertinent SEO integration. Whether you decide to take on those skills yourself or hire an expert who eats, drinks and sleeps that business, what these numbers tell you should dictate what you do in marketing and how sales should support the initiatives.

Results Are Learning Tools that Need to Be Applied for Growth

If your best idea received a cool reception from your lead gen campaigns or social media, dive deep into the numbers and responsiveness (or lack of) to look for silver lining. It’s always there even if the numbers aren’t. Perhaps your messaging was great but the timing was off. Whatever you do, don’t table it into the forever furnace. Archive it, as you could repurpose some or all of it in the future.

Revisit Addiction Treatment Marketing Spends Often

Consumers are fickle. Challenging as that is, it also provides an easy ability to reset a wrong and make it right.

Through reporting and client surveys, as well as ongoing interaction with your staff, you can reconfigure where your marketing dollars are better spent and devise a mix that reaches:

  1. Untreated clients/new prospects
  2. Family or friends of No. 1 above
  3. Alumni of your program/service
    • Success stories/testimonials
    • Former clients who have relapsed

Formulate an annual addiction treatment marketing budget and keep some dollars available for golden opportunities that may come about throughout the year, such as an industry co-sponsorship (special event or nonprofit organization), public relations opportunities and more. We recommend a multi-channel or cross-channel marketing approach.

Social Media Needs an Active Voice

Working Together to reach your goals
The whole point of social media is to create an active forum for people to receive information, develop a personal voice (applies to businesses, too) and share them on an ongoing basis. It’s all about engagement with your followers and enticing more people to join your group and become something greater than themselves. It’s what we all want.

Now, let’s dial this in to drug rehab sales and marketing. Social media is all about stories. In fact, Facebook recently added another engagement tool to their platform and called it “The Story.” Twitter may be removing its “like” button in the hopes that its users engage through more commentary instead of a feeble click of an icon.

Salespeople are full of stories and often use them to engage prospects, which ultimately lead to conversions. It’s how sales connects with their clients. Marketing creates stories to connect with prospects, existing clients and their referrals. If only sales and marketing could be on the same page with their stories….

They can.

Bring More Admits by Pulling Drug Rehab Marketing and Sales Together

Explore Organic Marketing Solutions

Avatar for Melanie Stern

Melanie Stern

Looking at the world through word-colored glasses, I am continuously in awe of how we evolve as people in business. We strive to communicate in a direct approach and, when we see fit, through subliminal channels. As a content strategist, I look forward to sharing all perspectives to help entertain, enlighten and engage more in others.

More Posts

Follow Me:

Vol 81: Google’s ‘Medic’ Algo Update Threw Us All for a Loop. Now What?

This entry was posted on by .

Eminent SEO Newsletter Vol 81 August 2018 Google Medic Update

Google Medic Update Proves User Experience Is King

A Google algorithm update that rolled out at the beginning of this month delivered a major shake-up to websites belonging to health care organizations. Many are calling it the “Medic Update.”

Health care sites began seeing big fluctuations in their rankings at the beginning of the month, and in many cases, the changes were not positive.

Although the algo update affected the health care industry the most, it appeared to affect a few other industries, according to Search Engine Roundtable, such as:

  • eCommerce
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Entertainment

Google claimed it was simply a routine “broad core algorithm update,” the same as it releases several times each year. But to us, we know this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill algo update, especially since we have various types of health care clients.

How Do Health Websites Respond?

The best response to Google’s de facto new guidelines for health care sites is to stay the course, meaning keep trying to improve on the quality of your content and user experience (UX). Don’t give up on organic SEO!

Also, if your website is offering medical advice, make sure it’s coming from a medical expert. Or, at the very least, make sure it’s signed off by and attributed to a medical professional. This will help with search engine trust and a little Google concept called “authorship.”

See How Drug Rehabs Can Get Around PPC Obstacles:

Ethical Addiction Treatment Marketing Alternatives

Medic Update Message from Our CEO

“Worried about the ‘medic update’? There is no fix – nothing quick and easy, anyway. The algorithm change didn’t target health sites exclusively; many websites in other categories were negatively impacted, as well. Why? The truth is, people are making better websites these days and Google expects more. If you want to rank with Google, there’s no secret: Continue to work on improving your website, make better content and create a better overall user experience. That’s what it takes.”
– Jenny Stradling, CEO of Eminent SEO

Featured Resources

Creating better content and UX is always recommended, and that’s what we do (for resellers also)! Here are a couple of articles that illustrate what we mean:

Keep Content Marketing Strategy Fresh For 2018 - Eminent SEO

Beware Boredom: Keeping Your Content Marketing Strategy Fresh in 2018

See the Full Article

How News Websites Can Deliver Better User Experience - Eminent SEO

4 Ways News Websites Fail to Deliver the Optimal User Experience

See the Full Article

Avatar for Team Eminent SEO

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO provides strategic SEO campaigns with measurable results along with expert website design, development, pay per click, content and social media and organic website marketing. 800.871.4130.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

This entry was posted in Newsletter and tagged , , .

Can Rehabs Survive Big Changes to the Addiction Treatment Industry?

This entry was posted on by .

Big Changes To The Addiction Treatment Industry - Eminent SEO

We work with several addiction treatment centers, speak with new prospects weekly and work with other consultants, and across the board, we are definitely seeing a trend. Despite increasing demand, treatment centers are finding it harder and harder to get new patients leaving many to wonder, can rehabs survive the big changes to the addiction treatment industry?

Even after growing a new client’s website traffic more than 40 percent month over month…

Rehab Client Monthly Traffic Screenshot - ESEO…they are still reporting a rough month for admissions and voicing concerns about how the insurance companies are not paying out like they once did.

All Treatment Centers Are Struggling, Even the Big Guys

It’s not just the “ma and pa” centers who are feeling the pain. Big, well-known treatment centers are not paying their employees, closing facilities and filing for bankruptcy.

Elements Behavioral Health, the rehab center that operates the very well-known Promises Malibu that treated actress Lindsay Lohan and singer Britney Spears, filed for filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.

In the spring of 2016, Solid Landings didn’t have the resources to keep fighting the city of Costa Mesa, California. So, in a settlement agreement, Solid Landings agreed to shut down 33 sober living homes. Fifteen closed immediately. Just last month, they filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

The FBI raided Sovereign Health last year over patient allegations of insurance fraud. This year, employees are speaking out and even filing claims against the company, saying they are not receiving their paychecks and that no one is being forthright about why.

Why the Addiction Treatment Industry Is Hurting

If you are in the rehab business, you probably saw this video. If not, this might bring some quick clarity:

Despite its intentional focus on poking fun at the treatment space, this video actually hits home in a lot of ways for people familiar with the industry. And… it’s sad.

John Oliver may have not gotten all of the points right, but he touched on many issues that really reveal why the rehab industry is in the state it’s in now. For example:

  • Shady practices
  • Lack of regulation in the industry
  • Insurance fraud
  • Misguided ownership

But, that’s not all…

Google has made rehab advertising and marketing harder than ever.

  • It decided to make SAMHSA No. 1 organically for literally every single addiction treatment-related keyword. Although, just today, we are noticing other sites like Rehabs.com are now coming up in the No. 1 position for some terms again.Google Search Results Addiction Rehab Centers - ESEO

How to Survive Big Changes to the Addiction Treatment Industry

Stay strong, treatment providers. To keep your addiction rehab center afloat during these rough waters, pay closer attention to these five areas:

Evaluate Costs

Knowing how much to spend on operations, overhead and marketing is key to any successful business. However, in the addiction treatment space, there are specific operational pitfalls you can easily avoid by carefully reviewing your internal processes for lead follow-up, staff retention, ground marketing and other non-clinical-related costs.

Align Sales and Marketing Goals

Too many addiction treatment centers rely on the marketing team to provide results. However, marketing is only part of the sales funnel. And if a business expects marketing to perform, the sales team must work hand-in-hand with the marketing team.

Learn more: How to Build an Aligned Sales and Marketing Strategy

Diversify Marketing Efforts

Having been in digital marketing for more than 13 years now, we have seen how unpredictable the internet can be. Because of its volatility, we have always been a strong advocate of multi-channel marketing. What works today can, quite literally, be gone tomorrow, so you should NEVER rely on one source of marketing.

Invest in Branding

So many forms of advertising are built to force the buyer to continue to pay for ads indefinitely. Some platforms wait until you are dependent on their ability to direct clients to you to then jack up the price and force you to pay to get the same leads you once got for a fraction of the price. However, with branding, you are investing in yourself – and this always pays off in big ways long term.

Track Everything

The beautiful part about digital marketing is everything is trackable. The data can tell you where your audience is, what content they engage with, what questions they have, what their likes and dislikes are and so much more.

With the right tracking metrics in place, the data can also tell you which marketing channels are producing leads. And, when the admit team gets involved and provides admission data, we can even report back on which marketing channel produced the admits – and develop strategies that focus on the campaigns that convert the best.

Eminent SEO - Marketing ROI Report

Is the Face of the Addiction Treatment Industry Changing?

With so much bad press, it’s no wonder individuals who are struggling with addiction are hesitant to go into treatment. After watching that John Oliver video, any family member would be right to question the clinical services, price and ethics of any rehab they are evaluating. Who wants to spend tens of thousands of dollars on treatment that might not even work? Tough sale.

The treatment center space is going to have to undergo a complete overhaul – including YOUR brand. You might offer a world-class treatment program, but if you continue to market it as you always have, you may be left in the dust.

The old methods of addiction recovery are already getting replaced by new concepts. Now is the time to evolve with the times. Here are a few of the innovative business models and ideas we think you’re going to start to see a lot more of:

Medically Assisted Treatment

Although medication-assisted treatment isn’t necessarily new, how treatment centers look at it and consider using it is evolving with the opioid epidemic. MAT is no longer simply the model for methadone and Suboxone clinics who supply a daily dose of the medication indefinitely.

Instead, with prescription drug addiction, there is a whole new set of pain medications that one must taper down from in order to be prescribed a different drug for pain management. Because of this, treatment centers should consider offering an MAT program and marketing it to EAPs.

Read more: Why Your Treatment Center Needs to Offer MAT

The Bridge Device

After working with Jim Peake of Addiction-Rep on messaging for The Bridge Device, we are convinced that medication isn’t the only way to change the way our brains work. The Bridge Device is a gentle neuro-stimulation system (NSS) device that attaches to specific points on the earlobe.

The Bridge is generally worn for four to five days while the patient undergoes detox. The device is reportedly reduces the pain of withdrawal and detox. Patients also say the process is comfortable and goes by quickly.

Telemedicine Rehab Service

One of the obvious problems regarding addiction treatment is providing an affordable option to meet the growing demands of lower-income residents in urban and rural areas. Patients may have a hard time finding transportation to their treatment provider. Additionally, trained health care professionals may be hard to find in certain areas.

Because of this, we predict a rise in telemedicine in the addiction treatment space. Counselors can communicate with patients via video calls and other digital communications. Even if you don’t offer “digital rehab,” you may end up considering remote patient monitoring and alumni follow-ups.

Rehab Community Sites and Pages

Online addiction recovery communities have sometimes earned a bad rep. In fact, The Verge recently put out this huge exposé on Facebook Addiction Support Groups and how the predatory behavior runs rampant there. Although I agree, and have seen the scams with my own two eyes, I still found myself defending the concept to the Addiction Treatment Ethics Group I am in on Facebook.

“The thing is,” I said, “there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything”. I then went on to explain that a group, page or website is not in the wrong as long as what they offer is not misleading.

It’s not unethical to offer community support or even refer to your own treatment center, as long as you don’t trick or lie to the individuals seeking help. And, it’s not illegal unless you SELL the leads. Community sites and pages provide a unique value to the web, and I think we will be seeing even more of them.

Cannabis for Addiction Treatment

Harm reduction is a known strategy for treating addiction, and it begins with acceptance. This philosophy aims to help those that would otherwise be unwilling or unable to simply quit. The intent is to progress into a less and less negative situation.

Some addiction treatment centers are now using medicinal cannabis in detox and as a maintenance protocol for severe addictions. Not all treatment centers will embrace the use of cannabis in harm reduction. But for those that do, there will be a market for those that want to maintain sobriety from a drug by using a less harsh drug, such as cannabis.

In Closing

If you work in the addiction treatment space, it’s time you took a close look at the direction this industry and going and how your brand will fit into the future of treatment. Are you ready to evolve with the changes, or, will your treatment center end up as just another rehab closing its doors?

As one of my favorite business authors, Tom Peters, says, “Evolve or die.”

Thomas Peters Quote Improvement Constant Change - ESEO

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Vol. 77: Nonprofit Project Launch and Bad SEO Habits in 2018

This entry was posted on by .

Eminent SEO Newsletter Vol 77 Nonprofit Project Launch 2018

Partnership in Recovery

Eminent SEO has proudly served the addiction treatment care community for more than a decade. With the opioid epidemic sweeping the country, the death toll continues to climb. What can be done?

The truth is, there is a big void that needs to be filled. The government and private insurance providers only cover so much. There’s a gap when it comes to funding the vast ongoing needs of those in addiction recovery. Insurance may cover treatment, for example, but not housing, food and other necessities. Some have been out of work, and not everyone can afford even the most basic necessities.

That’s where The ECHO Foundation comes in. Longtime recovery professional, Jim Haggerty, founded this nonprofit in 2014 and dedicated the organization to educating, mentoring and providing tools and resources to individuals seeking addiction treatment. Eminent SEO joined the effort by offering to create the branding, develop the website and manage the marketing. Together, we know we can make a difference.
ECHO Recovery New Website Launch On iPhone - Eminent SEOView the beautiful new site and, if you feel inspired, please consider donating. Every penny counts.

Thanks for your support, fam.

Visit ECHO Recovery

Inspirational Quote

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.

– Coretta Scott King

Our Website Highlights

New Addiction Treatment Certification Allows Rehabs to Bid on AdWords AgainSeveral of our addiction treatment center clients here at Eminent SEO have asked us about this news: “Exclusive: Google unveils vetting process for drug rehab ads.” So, we took to our blog to answer the most pressing questions stemming from this recent Google development.

Read More

Examples Of Neuromarketing Marketing Strategy - Eminent SEOThere’s an intuitiveness to digital marketing that if your campaigns aren’t geared toward each platform uniquely, your advertising and social spends may miss your proposed target audience. Why? See our latest neuromarketing blog post.

Read More

Customer Survey on Bad SEO Habits in 2018

SEO changes so often that even last year’s techniques can be outdated. As we progress into 2018, our team took a moment to reflect on some of the outdated SEO tactics of yesteryear to develop a list of our top five.

Bad SEO Habits In 2018 - Eminent SEOOut of the choices below, what do you think is THE WORST habit you can have as an SEO specialist in 2018?

1. Creating one page for EACH keyword variation.

SEO isn’t about tricking Google into serving up your site. Writing content that is valuable to your users should always be rule No. 1. Google rewards websites that provide a great user experience. No user wants to read 100 pages on the same subject. Sure, that used to work. Today, it will only hurt your rankings with Google.

2. Mass purchasing links from poor directories.

Look, links matter; if we are guessing right, they always will. It’s a world wide WEB. How else will Google connect the dots? Links help search engines find useful content, too. However, not all links are created equal. A huge increase in low-quality links will definitely raise a red flag with Google. Instead, focus on quality over quantity.

3. Not conducting backlink audits EVER.

Even if you don’t buy links and work on “white-hat SEO” link-earning techniques only, that doesn’t prevent other sites from linking to you. Spammy sites that rely on scraped content, for example, can show up in your backlink index in huge numbers. Google holds you responsible for your backlinks, purchased or not. Monitoring them is key to avoiding a bigger issue.

4. Spending time looking at and studying tracked keywords ONLY.

We stopped reporting on keyword rankings as a primary organic marketing key performance deliverable years ago. Why? The data lies. Search results are now personalized, localized and even limited, depending on the device you search from. Rankings don’t tell the full story. Instead, use the amount of traffic, user engagement and quality of the leads to measure organic success.

5. Practicing SEO as if the industry NEVER changes.

If you follow SEO at all, chances are you know how fast this industry changes. As a team, we listen to podcasts, read articles, conduct studies and share new ideas on SEO daily. If you’re not making a regular effort to educate yourself on the latest news and best practices, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Education is power and, in this case, your key to success with SEO today.

Take the Poll

Get Social with Eminent SEO

A post shared by Eminent SEO (@eminentseo) on

A post shared by Eminent SEO (@eminentseo) on

A post shared by Eminent SEO (@eminentseo) on

A post shared by Eminent SEO (@eminentseo) on

Find Us on Instagram

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

This entry was posted in Newsletter and tagged , , , .

New Addiction Treatment Certification Allows Rehabs to Bid on AdWords Again

This entry was posted on by .

Several of our addiction treatment center clients here at Eminent SEO, and those of our partner Addiction-Rep.com, have asked us about this news: “Exclusive: Google unveils vetting process for drug rehab ads.”

So far, there have been several direct questions that stem from this article, so here I will attempt to answer all of these questions. In addition, I will give some suggestions and professional insight, being that Eminent SEO is an agency that works with several addiction treatment centers and behavioral health care consultants.

Question 1: Does this mean we can bid on Google AdWords again?

Yes, kind of. Google did announce it will allow treatment centers to run ads after they have been vetted by Portland, Oregon firm LegitScript.

However, don’t expect this to happen overnight. In a new article posted this week, “LegitScript’s New Certification Program for Addiction Treatment Providers Will Help Those Most Vulnerable,” LegitScript included an important note:

“During the first three months, we’re going to intentionally take it slow. Irrespective of how many applications we receive, we’ll probably only certify about 20 to 30, simply so that we can make sure and get the process right. After that, we’ll ramp up the speed. (This goes into the “lessons learned” bucket from our existing healthcare merchant certification program.) This also works well with Google’s timeline, since they have indicated they will actually begin allowing these advertisers in July.”

Question 2: What does it take to get the addiction treatment certification?

The LegitScript website says the company is now accepting applications and that the evaluation includes criminal background checks as well as license and insurance verification. Rehabs will also have to provide “written policies and procedures demonstrating a commitment to best practices, effective recovery and continuous improvement.”

They will charge $995 up front and then $1,995 annually for the vetting.

You can see the full LegitScript Addiction Treatment Provider Certification Standards here. They are not messing around. If you want to get approved, better read this first.

Question 3: What does this change for rehabs?

Up until recently, treatment centers could buy Google ads without a certification. However, over the last few years, Google has been rolling out a new vetting process for certain industries that will only allow entities to bid once they get the certification.

Before this announcement, the certification process only applied to garage-door repair techs, locksmiths, pharmacies and prescription drug providers. Now you can add addiction treatment centers to that list. From the LegitScript article, it sounds like Google will also be asking for more documentation from political advertisers soon this year as well (thank God).

Question 4: Does this LegitScript company manage the ads?

No. This is a qualification process, but the company will not be managing the ads. What LegitScript does is verify you meet the criteria and then provide a legal certificate to Google as proof. You would still need to have a professional Google PPC expert run your ads.

So, this cost is in addition to the ad management, and apparently required if you want to do Google ads in the future.

Question 5: How much will Google ads cost now?

This is still yet to be determined. Before the Google rehab keyword crackdown, the ad rates were out of control. Keywords were going for $50 to $150 a click sometimes. It was crazy!

Since the rollout doesn’t come until July, all we can do is speculate. And since LegitScript is only certifying up to 30 applicants, I can’t imagine there will be a bunch of competition driving up the bid rates.

Anyone care to speculate? Please add your thoughts to the comments.

Question 6: Can my treatment center get certified?

If you are a treatment facility with a valid company website, physical address, qualified staff and think can meet all of their certification qualifications, you can definitely apply!

However, it looks like the early bird gets the worm in this case. With only 30 applicants being accepted for a trial run and more than 14,500 specialized drug treatment facilities in the U.S., it may be tough to become one of the first.

You can start the process here if you’re interested and ready to begin AdWords as soon as Google permits: LegitScript’s Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Certification Application.

Maybe the bigger question here is really: Should I get certified?

A successful Google AdWords campaign now requires a significant financial investment each month:

  • A LegitScript fee of $995 up front, and then $1,995 annually.
  • A professional setup and management fee, which could run you $500 to $5000 per month, depending on who you hire and their level of skill.
  • Expertly written ad messages and optimized landing pages, which could run another few thousand dollars.
  • Google AdWords and Display ad fees, which historically have run companies anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000 per month. That’s right, I said $500 THOUSAND. These people were not messing around. I don’t know what ads will run for these 30 or so accepted applicants, but I am guessing they will need a few thousand dollars, just the same.

What Does That Total?

Conservatively speaking, you’re looking at $5,000 for the setup costs and at least $10,000 per month including ad fees, landing pages and management costs. I guess you could do it for cheaper, but if you think your ads will perform without expert management and optimized landing pages, you’re probably wasting marketing dollars.

Ads need the right strategy to get results. It’s easy to blow tons of money fast if you don’t have your campaigns set up right.

Final Take

My advice? If you’re not prepared to spend thousands of dollars, don’t bother. There are so many other channels of marketing that you can utilize to generate qualified leads without breaking the bank. I would strongly suggest you really think through all of your options and talk with a strategist before making a decision on investing into Google AdWords again. It’s a commitment.

On the other hand, if you DO have the money, this could be an opportunity for your rehab organization to come out ahead of the insanely high pre-ban bid rates.

What do you think? Worth it or naw? Weigh in below.

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Vol. 74: We Will Power Your Brand in 2018

This entry was posted on by .

Eminent SEO Newsletter Power Your Brand in 2018

Time for a Brand Boost

As your business is getting its feet settled in 2018, ask yourself these two questions:

  • How do I know if my current marketing is producing quality leads?
  • What types of additional marketing might I need?

If you don’t have clear answers to these two questions, Eminent SEO can help. We’ll start with a brand audit to let you know what’s already working and where you can make improvements.

If you want to move forward from there, we’ll develop a multi-channel marketing strategy to give your brand a boost on several fronts in 2018. This will help your business in the following areas:

  • Website Traffic and Conversions
  • Organic Search Rankings
  • Paid Ad Conversions
  • Email Blast Opens and Clicks
  • Social Media Interaction
  • Backlink Quality

Explore Our Complete Marketing Services

Good to Know in SEO

There are several pertinent SEO developments that we must share. Net neutrality certainly must be addressed. Keep your SEO knowledge current by perusing these three articles:

Business & Marketing Tips

It may be one of the older digital marketing channels, but it remains one of the most fruitful for businesses. You’ve got to do it right, though. Check out this email marketing tip from our CEO, Jenny Stradling:

Jenny Stradling Email Marketing Quote - Eminent SEO

Highlights from the Eminent SEO Blog

A recent survey revealed just how many businesses are currently trying their hand at content marketing. The number is only going to grow, so here are 3 tips on fine-tuning your strategy and setting it apart from the competition in 2018.

Read more…

Keep Content Marketing Strategy Fresh For 2018 - Eminent SEO

As for one last SEO development, our very own Zach Ankeny wrote about a recent change he noticed in Google’s search engine results pages, specifically pertaining to rich snippets and knowledge graphs. Will these changes affect your website?

Read more…

Google Neon Lights - ESEO

Happy new year from the Eminent team! Until next month’s newsletter, we invite you to visit our blog or stay in touch with us via social media (see the icons below) .

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Did Google Crush Your Addiction Treatment AdWords Campaign?

This entry was posted on by .

Eminent SEO - Google Crushes Addiction Treatment AdWords CampaignsAround September of this year, Google placed new restrictions on advertising keywords related to searches for addiction treatment. This had a tremendous impact on addiction treatment centers around the country that relied on Google AdWords campaigns as their primary digital ad source.

In fact, word on the street is certain centers have been hit so hard they are cutting staff, selling their facilities and even going bankrupt.

Why Did Google Crack Down on Addiction Treatment Ads?

As a long-time addiction treatment marker myself, I have watched the recovery industry evolve over the last 12 years. Over that period of time, I have seen a lot of shady marketing practices in general. I mean, a ton.

However, what has become even more alarming over the last few years has been shady (sometimes even illegal) addiction treatment center business practices. I even recently wrote a blog post directed to addiction treatment centers as an open letter on what NOT to do: Dear Addiction Rehab Owners.

Those of us who preach ethical marketing saw this coming and said it would happen. Overnight, Google decided to stop selling ads for a giant number of “addiction treatment” related search terms, including “rehab near me,” “alcohol treatment” and thousands of others.

Imagine the SHOCK around the country as the $35 billion addiction treatment industry discovered its primary lead generation source was practically shut off overnight.

Google told The Verge in a statement:

“We found a number of misleading experiences among rehabilitation treatment centers that led to our decision, in consultation with experts, to restrict ads in this category. As always, we constantly review our policies to protect our users and provide good experiences for consumers.”

Isn’t This a Loss for Google?

Uh, yes. Some of the top-searched rehab terms were going for $100-plus per click! We know addiction treatment centers that were spending millions of dollars a year on Google ads alone.

But, you know what a bigger loss is? The 570,000 people who die annually from drug and alcohol use every year in the United States. According to National Institutes of Health drug facts, that number breaks down to more than 480,000 deaths related to tobacco, about 31,000 due to alcohol, nearly 22,000 due to overdose on illicit (illegal) drugs, and close to 23,000 due to overdose on prescription pain relievers.

If those deaths don’t shock you, let me give you something to compare that too. This is the list of the top 10 causes of death in the United States every year:

  • Heart issues: about 630,000 people die of heart disease annually
  • Cancer: a source of roughly 596,000 deaths annually
  • Chronic lower respiratory disease (a collection of lung diseases): 147,000 deaths
  • Accidents and unintentional injuries: 136,053 deaths
  • Stroke: 140,323
  • Alzheimer’s disease: 110,561
  • Diabetes: 79,535
  • Influenza and pneumonia: 57,062
  • Nephritis and nephrosis (kidney issues): 49,959
  • Intentional self-harm (suicide): 44,193

If you combine alcohol and drug related deaths, we are talking about 90,000 annually. Doesn’t that place substance abuse and addiction number 7 on the list?

People are dying! And, the saddest part? They are dying because they aren’t getting the help they need.

Although this stat is outdated (real-time stats on this stuff are hard to find!), the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found only 10.9 percent of the individuals who needed professional substance abuse actually received it.

We can do better. We MUST do better.

How Can Addiction Treatment Centers and Marketers Do Better?

Jenny Stradling - Quote on Ethical MarketingUnfortunately, this crackdown wasn’t rolled out based on the legitimacy of the facility or its advertising agency, like the organic rankings have been. This change impacted all treatment centers and their marketing agencies, legitimate or not.

It’s not fair, but Google never claimed to be fair. One bad apple might have not ruined it for the rest of us, but a LOT of bad apples did. And you know what? Good.

You heard me.

I’m tired of shady business practices. I am tired of seeing the greed in this industry. I am tired of getting calls for “grey hat” marketing practices from treatment centers who still think they have to trick Google in order to win.

I am tired of finding misinformation on legitimate sites (yes, I see you spammy rehab marketers and your regurgitated, ill-researched content). I am tired of seeing zero value being placed on quality and ethics. I am tired of auditing digital brands only to find crap.

Wake up, addiction treatment providers and marketers! This is not why we do business. We MUST find a way to do better.

Start by putting your clients first. Start by laying out a clear goal and mission. Start by agreeing to do things ethically. Start by working with other industry professionals that care about getting results AND are passionate about making a difference.

The only way your brand stands a chance in the long run is to do things the right way. Otherwise, it will catch up with you. It always does.

What Should You Replace Your Addiction Treatment AdWords Campaign With?

As a multi-channel marketing agency, we have always suggested a custom brand and marketing strategy for our addiction treatment center clients. There is no single marketing channel that will ever supply any business with all of its leads indefinitely, especially when you consider the ever-changing digital landscape.

Typically, our addiction treatment center clients will have a campaign that includes several tactics and digital channels of marketing:

  • Quality Website Design and Images
  • Professional Landing Page Optimization
  • Technical Website SEO
  • Optimized Content and Meta Data
  • Website Blogging
  • Brand Asset Development
  • Organic Search Engine Marketing
  • Local and Geo-targeted Marketing
  • Social Channel Management
  • Paid Social Ad Campaigns
  • Newsletter and Email Marketing
  • Testing, Tracking and Custom Reporting

We may also supplement with Google or Bing paid ads, but we have never relied on them. Why? Too expensive, higher cost per admit and lower conversion rate than the organic channels.

However, if you have recently been hit hard by the Google AdWords “rehab” related keyword restrictions, here are some channels you can explore:

Social Paid Ads

Yes, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat can generate addiction treatment leads when done properly. Facebook and Instagram ads are killing it for our clients right now.

Inbound Marketing

It’s not a quick fix, but utilizing custom landing pages, gated assets and email campaigns with smart, automated workflows can have a big long-term impact on your brand reach.

Geo-targeting

It’s not just “local marketing” anymore. Google gets to decide what search queries are considered local and which ones are not. You must optimize your website and ad strategies for the geo-targets you want to rank for. (Looking for more? Ask us about geo-fencing.)

Video Marketing

We can talk about video for days, but I’ll just say this: videos are valuable assets for your brand. But, not all videos are created equally. A well-researched video strategy can drive the entire marketing campaign. 2018 is the year to invest into video.

Website and Social Chat

A surprising number of treatment centers think online chat won’t work for them. Well, I am here to tell you something: it does work, and I know because I see the conversions from our client chat campaigns. If it isn’t working for you, you’re doing it wrong.

Conclusion

When you are in an industry that is known for false advertising, illegal patient brokering and bidding wars, it’s imperative you take the time to A) put ethical business practices into place, and B) hire a company who can guarantee they are doing the same.

If you need an agency that understands the addiction treatment industry and cares about quality, ethics AND the bottom line, give us a call. Let’s make something special together.

Contact Us to Get Started

Together We Create Graffiti Red Brick Wall - ESEO

Avatar for Jenny Weatherall

Jenny Weatherall

CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist

Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Vol 69: Complacency Kills in the Ever-Changing Digital Marketing Industry

This entry was posted on by .

What’s New at Eminent SEO?

Getting Ready To Launch Max Rocket - Eminent SEOIt’s a time of growth here at Eminent SEO. We’re close to launching our website makeover, and that’s just the start of what we’re cooking up for the rest of 2017.

We’re also expanding our marketing capabilities by bringing on talented new creators, aiming to do even bigger and better things for our clients.

Speaking to our growth, our CEO Jenny Stradling pointed out that:

“Our ability to test, track and make real-time adjustments to our marketing strategies and websites has been the key to our success.

“You have to be flexible. You must have the ability to grow. This may seem simple enough, but plenty of companies miss it. With SEO and PPC, it’s evolve or die.”

With that in mind, this month’s newsletter will touch on business growth topics and how digital marketing can help your company stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital world.

Your Industry News Roundup

The idea of “growth” is a broad concept that can mean very different things to different organizations. For some, growth may mean bringing on more qualified specialists to the team. For others, growth may merely be measured by a change in revenue.

Regardless of your definition of growth, digital marketing is bound to play a major role in the following ways:

  • Expanding your customer base (the right way) is an integral part of business growth. (Search Engine Journal)
  • Aligning SEO data with social media is necessary for brands seeking relevance in the digital age. (Marketing Land)
  • The best way to think about SEO is as a business investment, not a luxury. (Forbes)

Business and Marketing Tips

This may seem like a no-brainer, but the ways that marketers are spending their budgets have changed drastically over the past four decades. The changes reflect considerable shifts in consumer behaviors, particularly the shrinking relevance of television, radio and direct mail.

Want access to more marketing tips and shareable assets? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter by entering your email address directly below.

Related Blog Articles

You’ll find more useful tidbits in these recent blog articles from Eminent SEO. We hope our latest discussions about SEO and digital marketing inspire you to shake up your strategy for business growth:

See You Next Month!

We really appreciate your taking the time to read our newsletter each month. It’s our sincerest hope that these tips and strategies are a big help to you and your organization.

Please reach out to us if you have more questions about optimizing your web presence. You can also keep an eye out for our September newsletter for even more helpful input from Eminent SEO.

Avatar for Team Eminent SEO

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO provides strategic SEO campaigns with measurable results along with expert website design, development, pay per click, content and social media and organic website marketing. 800.871.4130.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Why Going Green in Business Is Good for Your Bottom Line

This entry was posted on by .

Going Green In Business Is Good For Reputation - Eminent SEO

Business mentality has shifted. Profitability remains important. Notoriety is often more important than profitability, as good and bad attention can help drive profitability. (Reputation management can fix the online backlash.) Perhaps now, more than ever before, what you do in business is second to how you do it.

Why the collective enterprise shift? Why is going green in business good?

Millennials. According to the Census Bureau, millennials outnumber baby boomers. In order for businesses to be competitive and stay competitive, their product or service offerings should appeal to the millennial mindset.

Because millennials possess a DIY mentality and appreciate acquiring knowledge, knowing how to save time and financial resources whenever possible will provide you with some clues. Certain business practices will also need to align with cost- and time-effectiveness on a local, national and global scale. After all, the accepted business mantra is “Think Local, Grow Global.”

So how do we do this, attain, maintain and grow financial success without sacrificing human consciousness? Be green.

Being green in business today is far different than it was 10 years ago. Your green initiatives must go beyond a mere positioning statement. It has to literally define your existence. Seriously.

Being Green Before Was the Seed for What’s Blossomed Today

If you were in business within the first decade of the year 2000 or worked for a company back then, having the ability to say you were a “green” corporation was all the rage. There were changes to the way employees experienced the office space, eliminating the use of paper, unnecessary lighting, and low-flush toilets.

This was all a very big deal. Companies wanted to boast about these changes. So they’d do a press release about how green they were. They’d add a tab on their website menu dedicated to their green initiative so that the public would know how important the environment was to them.

Green in Business Is Good and Even Better for Industries

Construction and real estate companies seized the opportunities available in green. Energy efficiency was proving to be big business. Properties, both residential and commercial, that had low-e windows, artificial grass or solar panels seemed more attractive to buyers and tenants who were looking for built-in ways to lower operating costs. But this wasn’t enough – and that’s a good thing.

Public Outcry and Government Support Create a Brighter Hue

“The use of green products generated more than $500 million in energy-efficiency savings and more to come in 2017.” Inc.com

The spiritual floodgates of consciousness have opened up about thinking greener. With government programs now supporting the private sector in selling green products to consumers, the opportunities appear, in a word, limitless. Business, maybe even your business, needs to step it up.

What was good enough before isn’t enough today.

Baby Boomers, Millennials and Generation Z Demand More

Many of today’s baby boomers came from a more holistic approach to living. Remember hippies? For them, in the 1960s and 1970s, life was all about peace, love and harmony. Those desires still live in the hearts and minds of many mid-lifers and young seniors.

Millennials and Gen Zers invoke a deeper consciousness about the products they buy. They don’t take our natural resources for granted. Water is treated like a gift: It is used for washing and rinsing in the sinks and showers of America but turned off during those moments in between. Additionally, if your business, at its core, doesn’t have an environmental social consciousness, your product or service – no matter how good – isn’t even considered.

Green Today Must Translate to a Greener Tomorrow

Consumers want to feel comfortable in the products and services they sign up for, not just for today but how they impact tomorrow. It’s a strange paradox really. Although people don’t want to “own” anything, when they do make a decision, it should make a positive difference to someone else down the road, whether it’s their family, friends or strangers abroad. Doing business green-minded allows this to play out, naturally.

Green Is Good for Business Profitability and Longevity

Studies Show Consumers Buy From Environmentally Conscious Companies - Eminent SEOIf you watch what’s trending (and who doesn’t), people are demanding that feelings matter. Many business success stories are not led by how magnificent their sales are but by how their business connects people. The sales funnel lives in the relationship-nurturing process.

So is there room for sentiments in business? Absolutely, and sharing them through your green philosophy is a great way to communicate them.

Going green in business is good for producing cost and time efficiencies in logistics, production, employee head count, and more. When businesses can minimize operating expenses and increase customer satisfaction, not only do they have a better ability to expand their market share, but grow positive brand awareness and existing customer loyalty, which collectively goes a long way in building longevity.

Incorporating green into your company doesn’t have to be a long-winded, complicated process. For example, allowing employees to work remotely lessens gas consumption and pollution. There are little modifications that can be made to help all of us realize the big picture: Together, we can create a more sustainable way to live and thrive.

Even if your business doesn’t directly fall into the following types of industry, you can certainly think of ways to use them to help your company’s environmental stance.

Sustainability businesses include:

  • Printer Ink Recycling
  • Cleaning Services
  • Solar Installations
  • Energy Auditing
  • Home and Commercial Property Improvement
  • Landscaping
  • Organic Foods
  • Restaurants

These Companies Should Make You Green with Envy

There are three different companies that I’d like to highlight as complete purveyors of green. I believe their missions will serve to inspire and remind us all that it’s never too late to do business better.

Every business that uses water, plastic or fuel, with the right alternative, can strengthen their green. Here are a few examples of how it gets done.

Airespot.com

With its consumer focus on the millennial market, Airespot took a look at urban living and wanted to make it more proficient for professionals and local businesses. They’ve done it with one seamless app. The Airespot app is available for those living in specific high-rise apartments where getting to and from anywhere can be a challenge.

The purpose of the Airespot app is to connect apartment owners or property managers with their tenants and also put them in touch with local service providers who can make their life easier, all at a discount. Dog sitters and walkers, cleaning services and restaurants are part of the mix.

Through app use, residents can get what they want with a swipe, but what makes this even sweeter is that the more people that use the same business service, the deeper their discount. Residential logistics issues are solved.

Dynamic Water Technologies, LLC

Large-scale enterprises like resorts, hotels, industrial and manufacturing plants need expansive water systems to keep their businesses running. Over time, these systems require upgrades to sustain safety and health requirements, costing millions of dollars in new equipment and production delays.

Dynamic Water Technologies in Scottsdale, Arizona, part of Universal Environmental Technology (UET), provides businesses a cost-effective and time sensitive solution. Through best-in class technology and sustainable engineering, chemical additives to water are removed and water consumption is reduced. In fact, Dynamic’s clients experience up to 80 percent in water savings and up to 40 percent in energy savings.

The Plastic Bank

Imagine combining two of the world’s largest problems and solving them with one multifaceted idea: world hunger and oceanic pollution, eradicated. The idea behind The Plastic Bank is for people – in both private and public sectors – to work together to remove the plastic waste in our oceans and prevent it from ever getting there. But who and how?

Some of the worst offenders in oceanic plastic waste come from the most impoverished countries. The Plastic Bank offers the poor a way to generate income and sustain their own livelihood, simply by cleaning up the plastic.

Individuals can bring plastic to designated recycling centers where they have the option of being paid in local currency, or in green-generated goods or services. Sustainability drives The Plastic Bank’s entire business lifecycle.

Is Your Business Green Enough?

Truly green companies use sustainable solutions at every possible opportunity. How green do you think you are? Could your business pass the judgment of your customers on this subject?

If you’re not sure, use the following questions as a guideline:

  1. Does your business give back to the community in every business transaction?
  2. Does your business represent a green mentality in operations?
  3. Does your business represent a green mentality in its culture?
  4. Does your product or service (in its use) support a lower carbon footprint?
  5. Do you partner with other green-minded corporations?

Talk Green to Me, Just Comment Below…

Avatar for Melanie Stern

Melanie Stern

Looking at the world through word-colored glasses, I am continuously in awe of how we evolve as people in business. We strive to communicate in a direct approach and, when we see fit, through subliminal channels. As a content strategist, I look forward to sharing all perspectives to help entertain, enlighten and engage more in others.

More Posts

Follow Me:

This entry was posted in Workplace and tagged , , .