Diving right into the banking world, and becoming widely known as the “Top Dog”, Kimball
Stadler emerged from the crowd with her position as a Marketing Manager, maintaining relationships with fifty-five grocery stores through a prestigious banking department. This is where she gained her knowledge on verbal skills, the art of conversation, psychological skills, and the basics of marketing. Her love for the marketing industry grew from there, and she asked herself the question, “What else could I do to get back to ‘the conversation’ and ‘art of engagement’?” Kimball founded her Social Media & Marketing company, “Top Dog Performance”, and never looked back. We interviewed Kimball for The Private Practice Startup Podcast where she discussed "Tips for Writing Compelling Blogs and Keynote Content in Private Practice".
Episode 2 of The Private Practice Startup Podcast kicked off by asking Kimball her best advice on building a business and becoming an entrepreneur, and Kimball passionately stated - “stay true to who you are”. Whatever personality you would emit with the client one on one, is exactly what you need to convey electronically, making sure it doesn’t fall flat, and the message easily resonates online. The perfect marketing message to viewers is the same as if you were going to have a conversation with the client in person.
“What Kind of Personality Do You Have Online?”
Kimball is an expert in creating a balance of professional and personal relationships at Top Dog. Being therapists and clinicians, we are constantly taught to maintain professional boundaries, but the world of business requires you to emerge with an engaging personality. As mental health professionals, t’s even more crucial in the social media and blogging realm to create articles that are not packed with ‘academic’ and ‘clinical’ material. The academic or clinical voice is a turn off, because it’s hard to read and lacks an emotional or personal connection.
Common Mistakes Therapists Make When Blogging:
Having a clinical or academic voice: Avoid ‘copying material from a book’. Ask yourself these questions - What do I want my readers to gain from this? Why would it help my ideal clients? Why do I need to explore this? How can my ideal clients apply this to their lives?
Not listening to your ideal client’s needs: Make sure you blog to your specific ideal client. Identify the major emotional pain points your clients struggle with and utilize that as a way to understand what your readers are looking for.
Being stuck on what to name a blog: We want to ask the question, “what would your potential client be typing in Google?” This will be content that they know that you are going to be talking about it, and it is relatable to them. “Google-ize” your titles.
Not paying attention to keywords: Keywords are essential in having good search engine optimization (SEO). Make sure to use keywords that are industry specific and population specific for your ideal clients struggles and goals.
Being timid when coming up with titles: Compelling titles captivate people. Don’t be afraid to speak to the silent populations that are hurting with unique titles such as, “Is it Okay to Not Want to Be Around my Children?”
Guest Blogging
Be forward with other organizations that relate to your practice: Provide services for other companies, as an incentivizing way of building your online clientele. For instance, brainstorm where you would strive to be a Keynote Speaker and reach out. Not only does the company get to know your style and content through the Guest Blogging, but you will become a frontrunner for possible future collaborations with them. Guest Blogging creates a huge opportunity - you create relationships with not only the readers, but the company as well.
Where could I go to become a guest blogger? Go to Facebook and search various Groups. This will show all kinds of groups that are right in your backyard. Explore the possibilities of collaborating with other professionals and organizations who will feature your blog and provide a back link to your website.
Compelling Keyword Content
“Own one keyword and dominate it”: Results come from threading that one keyword into your blog only two to three times.
The value of hiring a professional blogger: Be specific with what you want the message to be and give up control. There are many places to find bloggers and Twitter is one of them. Go to google and search, “Professional Bloggers South Florida”. These will be the experts that know how to get your blogs noticed via keywords and everything in between.
What about the concern of losing your own voice when handing over the blog: Give your professional blogger a way to get your point across. -First paragraph: Create a vision for the professional. Write something short about the validity and relevance of the subject.
-Second paragraph: Write the absolute, clinical statistics.
-Third paragraph: Portray three points you want to make.
-End: Known as the ‘Signature Line’, this section describes who you are, what your practice is, how you help people, and how they can contact you. No matter what you write above, this bottom line defines who you are and what message you want to portray to all your potential clients.
E-Newsletters
Ask yourself the question, “Do YOU want to read a long newsletter?”: Take a snippet from your article as a ‘Teaser Piece’ and drive the traffic to your website. Create a call to action. Keep it simple with text and pictures to reel the clients in.
Neat E-Newsletter tools: -http://www.SubjectLine.com: Use this free resource and confirm if your title is going to be attention grabbing, keyword gripping, or sent to the spam folder. -http://www.Portent.com: Keywords that can create wacky & fun titles for your blog!
We asked Kimball the tough question of what she has had to overcome in order to rise to her place in the business world. As she stated, the “shiny objects” are easily distracting. If you don’t stay on top of your game, it is going to pass you by. Stay focused and have the end goal in mind.
Kimball’s Three Tips:
Develop your persona - who do you want to be as a professional?
Capture online inquiries and have an audience
Don’t be in the office too long - sometimes you just see things one way if you are only sitting in one chair.
Kimball left us with this last piece of advice... Define your “practice personality”. Decide what you want your business to represent and don’t be afraid of it!
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