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Healthy Options — Do Your Patients Know Everything Your Medical Practice Does?

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To the average patient, medical information and healthcare can be a strange place. It seems locked behind an arcane door of unpronounceable medications, conditions with Latin or Greek names, and baffling procedures. It doesn’t help that the only time most people interact with their doctor is when they’re sick.

We know that’s a problem — Marketing your practice isn’t easy. However, we’ve never shied away from a challenge (except for that pumpkin pie eating competition that one time), so we’ve got some pretty good ideas. It all comes down to a few things:

  • Making your patients aware of everything you do.
  • Keeping them healthy in addition to curing illnesses.
  • Giving them more options in their healthcare and medical choices.

How does that look in (medical) practice? Sharing your full range of services[/x_custom_headline][cs_text]It’s important to move people’s perceptions away from your practice just being somewhere they can go when they’re sick, and instead focus on how it can help them stay well. That starts by giving your patients an easy-to-understand list of services and how they can benefit their health. For example:

  • Nutrition advice — Tips on eating well to live a healthier life and feel better.
  • Exercise and fitness — Advice on recommended classes, programs, and routines for people of all abilities and age groups.
  • Smoking cessation — Services you provide to help people quit smoking.
  • Pre- and post-natal services — Helping mothers-to-be through pregnancy and after
  • Screenings and prevention — Details of the various diagnostic and screenings tests you can do to reassure patients or detect early signs of a problem.
  • Any other services — Referrals to alternative holistic options such as life coaching to focus on mindfulness, therapy, acupuncture and more.

Once you’ve collected together all of the great things you do, you need to do two things:

  1. Centralize all the information in one place — We’d recommend your website, and in various leaflets you can hand out at the practice.
  2. Tell your patients about the services — This could be through posters in your practice, via email, through a letter to their home address, or other personal channels.

The main purpose of this is to wow your patients and create trust with them — And that’s vital when it comes to healthcare. What specialized treatments do you provide? Another area to think about is any specialties your practice has, Review the skills, background, and experience of your staff and check you’re representing the various treatments you offer. Examples include:

  • Addiction treatment — Helping people get over alcohol, drug, or other types of addictions.
  • Counselling — Recommendations on good psychotherapists and counselors for helping people deal with mental and emotional issues.
  • Options for medium- and long-term treatments — Providing choices and options for longer-term care of persistent conditions.

With these types of services, it’s best to take a case-by-case approach.

Ultimately, it’s about putting choice and information in the hands of your patients. Once they’re properly informed, they can make better choices about their health and discuss them with you. This all helps to build better relationships with your patients that you can use to enhance their lives and the services you provide.

Healthy Options — Do Your Patients Know Everything Your Medical Practice Does? Read More »

Insurance Providers + LinkedIn = New Customers

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It’s time to learn to love LinkedIn (again). We know it might have been a while — You signed up once because you thought it’d be a good idea. Occasionally you get an email people are looking at your profile. Perhaps you’re subscribed to a few groups. You get notified about new insurance jobs or industry people who want to connect with you.

But you never sign back in — Who has the time? You need to service the insurance customers you\’ve got now, right? Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean you should dismiss LinkedIn out of hand. Here’s the thing — Used well, it’s an incredible way to get new customers, grow your insurance business, and get noticed. And who doesn’t want that? Certainly not you, and certainly not us.

So, deep breath, head over to LinkedIn, and learn how it can help your business thrive.

Connecting with potential customers on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the largest network of professionals and business people in the world. And you know what all professionals and business people need? Yep. Insurance. Whether it’s business and professional liability, property, product, or personal coverage, they are your marketplace. You can use this to your advantage. It’s really not that hard – Trust us – Here’s how it works:

  • Update your LinkedIn profile — The five-year-old picture of you with the cheesy grin probably isn’t going to cut it. Go professional, and create a compelling profile to match. Tell your story, don’t just list your resume highlights. Why should someone buy their insurance from you? What’s your Secret Sauce?
  • Look at your Prospect List — Are you connected with any of them? Probably not, and that’s ok – We will get there! Now, see if any of your connections are connected with any of your prospects. Ask for introductions.
  • Make new connections within your tribe — Connect with other insurance professionals, people you used to work with, and other LinkedIn members. Stay on top of industry news and see what other folks are doing.
  • Join relevant groups — Where are your prospects hanging out?
  • Once you’re connected, develop relationships — Don’t try to push the sale – Build relationships, offer advice, have conversations. Wait for opportunistic moments to talk about your expertise
  • Move towards a sale — When the time is right, offer your guidance and ask prospects to view their insurance portfolio. The sale will happen if you’ve built up some trust.

Becoming an expert in your field. Something else LinkedIn allows you to do? Demonstrate your expertise. No, we’re not thinking about your talent at creating origami swans, or that time you replaced a carburetor without a manual, we’re talking about your insurance business acumen. There are several ways to share your expertise and build authority.

Writing on LinkedIn Pulse. LinkedIn Pulse is LinkedIn’s blog platform. Think of it as a place to create and write insightful, interesting articles and publish them to a wide audience. There are dozens of questions people have about insurance, but don’t know who to ask. You can create posts about those subjects, answer questions, and provide awesome advice.

If these posts do well, they’ll show up in other people’s LinkedIn feeds, LinkedIn search, and maybe even on Google. As the author of these pearls of wisdom, people will look at your profile, see where you work and… Well, you fill in the rest.

Participating in LinkedIn groups. While it’s true that many LinkedIn groups are nothing more than awful, awful spam factories, there are still some good ones out there. Once you’ve found a good group you can respond to questions about insurance and help people out with their insurance issues. Again, this builds your authority as an expert. The next time those people are looking to renew their policy, guess where they’ll turn? Right.

So, you can see, LinkedIn can be a great way to expand your reach and find new customers. Don’t consign LinkedIn to be somewhere you’ll visit “when you have the time.” Rekindle your LinkedIn relationship today, and turn it into a beautiful friendship.

Insurance Providers + LinkedIn = New Customers Read More »

Healthy Technology — How It Helps Healthcare Providers and Customers Thrive

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The pace of technological change can leave you breathless, and not because you need to go to the doctor. In fact, as technology makes our lives easier, it’s expanding into every industry — One where it’s having a profound impact is in healthcare.

It’s easy to see why. Faster, better access to medical information, apps that make it easier for a physician to do their job, and giving the patient complete insight into their health is good for everyone. In fact, it’s vital for health providers to start adopting this new technology so they don’t get left behind.

The thing is, it’s all about how technology makes your patients’ lives easier. If you understand and support their healthcare journey through technology, it builds trust with your patients and gives you an edge against your competition.

Getting the skinny on your patients.

It’s vital to have all the latest info on your patients — Medications, lifestyle changes, symptoms, medical history — You name it. Unfortunately, something most of us hate is form filling. That’s why being able to get and record information from your clients electronically makes things much easier.

How the technology helps your patients

  • It’s less frustrating for the customer to provide the information, so they’re happier
  • It’s easy to transfer information between health providers, meaning a complete picture of care.
  • Software can automatically prompt for follow-up questions, so you build a complete picture.
  • You can tend to all your patient’s medical needs, with a holistic approach.

Having healthcare information at your fingertips. Diagnostic tools and information are getting even more portable and user-friendly.

From patient charts and details on a tablet, to wearable diagnostic devices providing real-time data, doctors and patients have access to a wealth of information.

How the technology helps your patients

  • Real time diagnostics means doctors have access to the latest information and can tailor treatment accordingly.
  • Easy access to test results, charts, and treatment plans ensures a complete understanding of patient needs and conditions.
  • This provides a more flexible, reactive, and caring approach to meeting your individual patient’s medical needs.

Sharing all the medical details that matter. It used to be that if you referred someone for an x-ray or other diagnostic test, you’d need to wait for the results to be posted or couriered back to you. With high-speed internet access and software designed to handle the huge amounts of data that medical imaging produces, those waits are becoming a thing of the past.

How the technology helps your patients

  • Find out what’s wrong with your patient much more quickly, resulting in faster, more focused treatments.
  • Easier to share results with other experts so you can get a specialist consult to ensure you’re recommending the right course of action.
  • More confidence from your patient that you have all the details you need to make the right choice for their treatment.

Medical convenience through smartphone apps

It’s not just in person doctor and patient interactions where big changes are happening. There’s a whole host of smartphone apps designed to do everything from reminding a patient to take their meds, to allowing people to remotely consult with a doctor or specialist (telemedicine). These apps are an incredible way to help patients make better decisions and take charge of their health.

How the technology helps your patients

  • They can get an update or text message if a doctor is running late.
  • The convenience of reminders and updates to help them take care of their health needs.
  • Greater access to a wider range of health and medical services.

Stepping into the health portal

Finally, the idea of the patient portal is becoming ever more popular. It’s an online, one stop “body shop” where patients can ask their doctors questions, review test results, book appointments, and get other vital information. It’s the way all practices seem to be going nowadays, and it’s the type of convenience patients love.

How the technology helps your patients

  • They can log in and get updates on their diagnostic tests, treatment and medications.
  • They can easily look up doctor availability and schedule appointments.
  • They can easily ask questions of a doctor.

Of course, with all these technological changes, it’s vital to maintain the human touch. A good bedside manner, a deep understanding of a patient’s needs, and helping them make the best health decisions are vital. A website that shares all your services, gives details on each doctor, and puts your patient’s needs front and center is a great way to show that you care.

Fortunately, with the right technology, that gets even easier.

Healthy Technology — How It Helps Healthcare Providers and Customers Thrive Read More »

Reducing Risk and a Well-Rounded Book — Expanding Your Insurance business

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As an insurance provider or broker, you might have decided to specialize in a particular type of insurance. On one hand, that makes good sense, right? You’ve got expertise in a particular area, so you can give top-notch service and advice to your customers. But, by sticking to just one or two types of insurance and customer, you could be severely limiting your business growth, and no-one wants that. You don’t want all your eggs in one basket.

Diversification is smart.

Reducing your risk and liability, because no-one thrives on too much adrenaline. Insurance is all about managing risk, both for the carrier, and for you as an agent.

If you break into new specialties or areas you’re spreading the risk that something bad will happen in a particular area or for a certain type of insurance. For example, if you’re just insuring residential property in coastal Florida, and a hurricane hits — That’s a massive impact to your business. You can diversify via location, types of industry, or lines of insurance.

Expanding your business base, because you want to turn your revenue stream into a river. Selling insurance in more areas means more sales, which means more profit. There are probably only a handful of people who need insurance for their art collection, so it’s great to be an expert in this field – but make sure you are insuring all their lines of business! Their auto, home, workers’ comp, business insurance. Diversify, Diversify, Diversify.

It gives you lots of new marketing opportunities, especially with existing customers, which brings us neatly onto our next point.

Cross-selling and upselling, because just getting new customers is hard… One of the best things about having a variety of insurance lines is the ability to cross-sell and upsell them to existing customers. For Personal Lines – ensure you have home, auto and umbrella for all clients where applicable. For your commercial clients – do you have all lines of business and have you offered them life insurance and benefits?

The more you expand your book, the better these cross-selling opportunities become — It’s like a virtuous circle of insurance joy.

Better for your customers, because what’s good for them is good for you. Finally, having a more rounded book is better for your customers. They can buy all their insurance in one place, and have a single point of contact for all their insurance needs. That reinforces your brand, builds trust with your customer, and helps you stand out from your competitors. Well-rounded books have a much higher retention rate. And that’s pretty great.

Reducing Risk and a Well-Rounded Book — Expanding Your Insurance business Read More »

What You Need to Know About Facebook Advertising

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Since 2010, Advertising on Facebook has grown more than 680%. More than a million advertisers have spent more than $8 billion.

Every day, more businesses are pouring advertising dollars into the social network. Currently, it’s one of the most powerful avenues for paid marketing.

If you’ve ever used Google’s AdWords, you know that program shows ads to users based on their searches. If they search “Chinese food Omaha,” anyone who bought that term will show up first. Those types of ads are effective because the searcher is already looking for that solution.

Interruption ads, like billboards and TV commercials, are usually just noise. They get in your way and often provide no value.

Interruption Marketing

Facebook ads are interruptive (because the user didn’t request them), but they are powerful because they’re powered by Facebook’s tremendous data sourcing machine. Facebook keeps data on everything you or I do on the social network. It builds profiles for each user that catalogs everything they can.

Facebook knows your religion, political party, favorite soft drink, preferred book genre, and where you live. From basic pieces of data, they can extrapolate bigger things, like how much money you make, where you work and in what field, and your opinions on Donald Trump.

With all that data available, marketers buy ads that carefully target their ideal customers. You can have your ad shown to people based on their location, hobbies, interests, behaviors, and several other factors.
So even though I’m not requesting anything through Facebook, the ads that are shown to me are highly relevant. Since I’m interested in that content, I’m likely to click.

Growing Your Brand

The benefit over AdWords, is that you aren’t bound to a certain demand. Through Google, ads can only be shown when a similar phrase is searched. If customers aren’t searching it, the ads won’t display.

On Facebook, however, you can put your ads in front of people who may not know a solution or product like yours exists. This ad format is a great way to expand your brand.

It’s also good for promotion products or services that people ordinarily wouldn’t buy off the Internet. You may sell an extraordinary line of premium jam and jellies, but most people get those at the grocery store. You have to interrupt a user to market to them.

Buying Facebook Ads

Since 2014, Facebook has been using an ad buying structure that’s suited for serious testing and experimentation. Their goal is to give users all the tools they need to create powerful ads with solid ROI.

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If you use this structure properly, you can adjust audience segments and run different ads against one another to determine the most effective.

When you buy ads, you’ll first establish a budget. This prevents Facebook from charging you more than you expect (which would be very easy if you didn’t understand how to use the interface properly).
When an ad is to be shown, Facebook holds an auction. The auction considers three factors before displaying an ad:

  1. The advertiser bid – You can let Facebook choose this (recommended) or set the bids manually (for advanced users only).
  2. Ad quality and relevance – How much Facebook thinks people will like your ad.
  3. Estimated auction rates – How likely a person is to take your ad’s action.

Evaluating Your Campaigns

Once you set your ads, don’t forget about them! Even though they can be set to finish at any time, you’ll want to check back into the Ads Manager to see their performance. Facebook is great about showing you the data you need at a glance.

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Evaluate the results of your ad, the cost, and the reach. Does anything seem out of place? Can you do anything better? How can you tweak your ads to get better results?

The answers to those questions are an entire industry of advertisers, but that doesn’t mean Facebook’s ad program is beyond you. With some careful study and data-minded thinking, you can use Facebook to sell products, build subscriber lists, and grow your business.

Have you seen some really cool Facebooks ads recently? We\’d love to hear about them.

What You Need to Know About Facebook Advertising Read More »

Why You Need Red Barn Consulting to Get Your Banking Website ADA Compliant

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You know, when it comes to ADA compliance, you can’t afford to take any chances. If you’re in the banking world, you know how important it is to dot the i’s, cross the t’s, and make sure everything is in order. What you might not know is there’s something big coming down the pipe — Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.

Put simply, it means your banking website and online presence needs to be fully accessible for people with visual and hearing difficulties. That means it has to be easy to use, and be compatible with all the various software and hardware they use to access the internet — Think screen readers, braille interfaces, specialized keyboards, speech recognition, and the like.

The ADA compliance issue is pretty serious too — The Department of Justice is insisting all banking organizations meet their guidelines by 2018, with the threat of large fines if they’re not. We definitely don’t want that to happen to you.

It’s why our leisure reading includes such gems as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 so we understand exactly what guidelines your website has to meet.

We admit it, here at RBC, we’re a little bit geeky (and a little bit cheeky). It’s why we’ve read through all of the new specifications and requirements in detail — There are over 70 of them! And it’s why we’ve got a solid, proven action plan to get your banking website to be fully compliant, fast.

When it comes to the guidelines, we find headings like “Perceivable,” “Operable,” “Understandable,” and “Robust” delicious. In face, we savor them, and more importantly, we know what they mean to keeping your banking business out of trouble.

That includes:

  • Reviewing every aspect of your website to ensure it’s accessible to everyone.
  • Prioritizing, recommending, and making changes to keep you compliant.
  • Ensuring all your images, media, and other visual elements have text descriptions to help the visually impaired.
  • Amending your media player so users can pause, rewind, and fast forward video and audio content easily.
  • Your text and background have a good contrast to each other to make everything easy to read.
  • Reviewing your media to make sure it’s compliant (e.g. checking your audio content has text substitutes, captions, and sign language).
  • Checking your website is completely usable with just a keyboard (Mice are a no-no).
  • Making sure your navigation, menus, and other interactive elements make sense and area easy for everyone to use.
  • Testing out your website in a variety of different browsers so it’s usable by every member of your audience.

I mean, just look at this stuff… Do you really have time to go through everything in detail and make sure your banking website meets every single requirement? Probably not — But we do. Plus, we actually find it kind of enjoyable. We’re strange like that.

We’ve already helped banks like Litchfield Bancorp and Collinsville Savings Society, and we’re here to help you.

Get in touch today and we’ll explain exactly how we’ll make your bank website ADA compliant. Get yourself some peace-of-mind.

Why You Need Red Barn Consulting to Get Your Banking Website ADA Compliant Read More »

Ready to be an entrepreneur? Only if you can answer these questions

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You’re a wide-eyed entrepreneur, dreaming of the next big idea and how it’s going to change the world. And you could be right — Perhaps you’ve got the genesis of the next Facebook, Apple, or Tesla in the back of your mind. Don’t be fooled though, being an entrepreneur is tough — It’s not just about the ideas, it’s about the flawless execution, the product, the hustle, the market, and more than just a little bit of luck.

It’s also about asking, and answering the right questions. So much of being an entrepreneur is about making the right decisions, and that comes from asking deep, penetrating questions of yourself, your business, your industry, and your customers.

Here are some of those questions you should be asking — Think about each of these deeply, see how they spin off into other questions, and answer them as best you can. These questions will help you validate your ideas, understand if your products can survive in the market, and see if you’ve got the resilience to succeed.

Questions about your products and services, or “What is it that my business does best?”

A great business starts with products and services that meet a genuine need and offers them to your customers in the best possible way. These are the questions you’ll need to answer.

  • Do I understand who my ideal customer is, and what they need from my business?
  • Have I validated our products and services to check that they solve a genuine problem?
  • Have I tested, tweaked and refined our products and services so that they are as good as they can be?
  • Do I have a consistent brand and visual identity that builds trust?
  • Do I know the best channels to make my customers aware of what we offer?
  • Have I built a community of early users?

If you can answer these questions confidently, you will create products, services, and brands that meet a genuine need, create trust, and add value for your customers.

Questions on your knowledge and expertise, or “I don’t need to make every decision myself.”

As a startup, you will want to have access to knowledge, and experience from several different sources. Use this expertise to guide you when you’re making decisions.

  • Do I have investors that I can speak to that can share insight and knowledge?
  • What are my co-founders and employees good at and how can I best use that expertise?
  • Do I understand the results of my decisions and the impact they have on the business?
  • How should I react when growth slows or stalls?
  • What is the best way for me to delegate tasks to others?
  • Am I collecting the right metrics and feedback and using them to help decision making?

Remember that there are people that can help you, and they want to see your business succeed as much as you do.

Questions about the culture, tools and processes to let you scale, or “We’re doubling business every quarter, and we’re on top of it.”

If you want to be successful and grow rapidly, you need to put the right culture, tools, and processes in place now to help you scale up.

  • Do I have a simple business structure that can be easily expanded as needed?
  • Am I communicating regularly with my people to let them know what’s happening?
  • Have I built a culture of trust and am I listening to my employees?
  • Are our business processes and tools as simple as possible?
  • Am I tracking progress and do I have realistic targets in place?
  • Do I have the best employees, freelancers, or outside experts in the right roles, with the right amount of accountability and ownership.

Good hiring and communications practices, combined with a simple organizational structure, active feedback and the right processes and tools will help your business thrive.

This is only a taster of what you want to think about, and starting to answer these questions will help you firm up the right ideas and approaches in your own mind.

One of the first things you’ll need to think about is “How do I share my business, ideas, products, and services with the world? How do I get my message out there?” That’s something we just might be able to help with.

Ready to be an entrepreneur? Only if you can answer these questions Read More »

The Department of Justice is looking at your website – are you ADA compliant?

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Compliance. It’s a word that finance managers are all too familiar with. We know it might cause a slight sinking feeling, but compliance guidelines exist to protect everyone — You and your customers.

That’s why it’s vital to understand the impact and implications of the new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines issued by the Department of Justice. In short, it’s about making sure your banking website and online presence is easy to access and use for visual and hearing impaired customers (and that’s good for everyone).

It matters for two pretty big reasons:

  1. It shows your commitment to all your customers and making their banking experience as easy as possible.
  2. It protects you from legal action — Businesses with websites that fail to meet ADA / DOJ requirements have been fined or sued (ouch).

The problems visual or hearing impaired people have with using websites.

For most people, using a bank website is easy (especially if they don’t forget their password!) They visit the site, enter their login details, get into the online banking app and pay their bills, check their statement, and manage their finances. If you’re blind or visually impaired, that gets a lot more difficult.

They may need specialist tools like braille or tactile interfaces, screen readers, voice activated navigation, and specialist software. When they arrive at a banking website they may run into more frustrations because the site isn’t coded properly to work with their hardware and software.

If your customers are hearing impaired, they will run into problems with audio content, or if they needed to call a service center to get issues sorted out.

It’s these problems the DOJ\’s guidelines are trying to solve, and they’re serious about it.

How do you know if your website is ADA compliant?

The simple truth is, if you need to ask whether your website is ADA compliant, it probably isn’t. For example, does your website:

  • Allow navigation completely by keyboard (not using a mouse)?
  • Have rich alternative descriptions for any pictures or visual elements on your website?
  • Explain what’s happening in customer service videos, purely through audio?
  • Provide sign language interpretation for audio content?

These are just four examples from the over 70 requirements the DOJ has. Ultimately, it comes down to the question: Is your banking website completely usable by all of your customers, regardless of their ability or disability?

Why your bank website needs to get compliant

Your bank website needs to be compliant by 2018. If it’s not, you’ll run into several big problems:

  • You could get sued or fined by the DOJ for non-compliance.
  • You could fall foul of equal rights laws.
  • You could get negative publicity and a bad brand reputation.

In short, getting compliant isn’t an option if you want to stay in the clear.

Relax, we’ve got this

We understand just what it takes to get your banking website ADA compliant. We also understand you just don’t have the time. That’s why we’re here to help — We’ve already helped banks like Litchfield Bancorp and Collinsville Savings Society, and we’re here to help you.

Get in touch today and we’ll explain exactly how we’ll make your bank website ADA compliant. Get yourself some peace-of-mind.

The Department of Justice is looking at your website – are you ADA compliant? Read More »

4 Ways to Use Social Media to Build Brand Awareness

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You’ve heard that social media is a powerful tool for your brand. You’re ready to make content people love to share, but without those first fans, how do spread your message?

Choose the right social media networks

There are hundreds of social networks, but they aren’t all useful to you. Don’t spend your time putting yourself out there on a dozen networks. Find the ones that provide the best results and focus.

Facebook is the most common, but some brands fine it hard to get their content in front of fans if it’s not “sexy.” Instagram is designed for striking visual content and interaction, but there’s no real way to send traffic to another website. LinkedIn is designed for professionals who want to further their careers or find a job. Pinterest is best for visually pleasing subjects that need to be linked elsewhere, like crafts, recipes, and tutorials. Tumblr is for… Well, Tumblr is Tumblr.

Find influencers and exploit their fan base

When you don’t have much of a brand, you need to get your content front of eyeballs. The best way to do that is to leverage the fan base of someone who has already done the hard work.

First, find popular accounts with similar fan bases. Then, collaborate with those accounts so they share your content. You won’t have much to offer in return, so your content has to be stellar (something their fans would love to see) or pay for the privilege.

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Don’t sell too hard

People aren’t using social media to buy products. As much as the social networks would like that to be an avenue for sales, they just aren’t effective. If you’re looking for a clear ROI from your social media marketing efforts, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Social media is about putting yourself in front of your fans with value. At least 80% of your content should be about the customer, not about you. What are their problems? How can you offer information, links, or images that solve those problems? You don’t have to get fancy here. Sometimes the user just wants to be entertained.

Use paid campaigns

Technically, you can build an audience on any social network without investing anything other than time. But who has time? Each social network has their own ad platform. You’ll have to decide which is right for you. In the case of Facebook, for instance, you can pay to have Facebook push your page on other people. On Twitter, you can buy a promoted tweet that forces your content into people’s feeds.

No matter which platform you use, always use their targeting options. Drill down as deep as you can to stretch your money as far as possible. You only want to show your content to people who care.

Post often

At first, it may seem like you’re publishing for no one. Once a few start trickling in, maintain a consistent publishing schedule. Many would-be fans check out your content before committing to make sure you’re worth their interest. If they see you post infrequently or irregularly, they won’t both.

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Be engaging and responsive

Social networks are just that: social. People expect to talk to brands. They want to interact with you because they love your content or product. If you don’t respond, they’ll stop engaging or unfollow from your page/account.

However, if you delight your fans by replying to their comments, liking their content, and making yourself a part of their lives, they’ll reward you by spreading your message to their fans.

Always remember: social media is a tool. And like all tools, it’s only as effective if you use it. Don’t sit around and wait for results. Be active. Be social.

Need some additional guidelines and tips – give us a call!

4 Ways to Use Social Media to Build Brand Awareness Read More »

Getting Your Banking Website ADA Compliant – What Does It Take?

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As we covered in our last article, getting your website ADA compliant by 2018 is critical if you want to avoid problems (read; big, big problems) from the Department of Justice. Here’s a quick refresher.

Essentially, the DOJ wants all banking websites to be fully accessible for visual and hearing impaired people by 2018. If your website isn’t ready, you could run into issues with fines, getting sued, equal rights laws, and bad public perception. You don’t want that to happen, and neither do we (really, we like you).

So, what does the DOJ mean when it says you have to get your website ready? Glad you asked.

Making your website accessible — What the DOJ wants

The DOJ has several requirements under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. That’s a bit of a mouthful so we’ll break it down. This comes in two delicious compliance favors — The changes the DOJ requires, and what that means in terms of getting compliant.

Changes required by the DOJ under the ADA

There are over 70 (really!) specific requirements so we’re just looking at the high-level areas. Here are the direct quotes on what each one involves.

  • Perceivable – Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
  • Operable – User interface components and navigation must be operable.
  • Understandable – Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
  • Robust – Content must be robust enough so it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Now, that list doesn’t look very easy to understand (we know!) so here are some examples of what they mean in practice.

Perceivable — ADA Compliance

  • Provide text alternatives for any non-text content — Having text descriptions of any images or interface components, making sure there’s a good text alternative that can be read by screen-reading software.
  • Captions / sign language for prerecorded content — Videos and other media will need to have captions and / or sign language so hearing impaired people can get the information they need.

Operable — ADA Compliance

  • Keyboard navigation — Your website should be completely usable and navigable using just a keyboard (i.e. There’s no requirement to use a mouse to access any specific part of your banking website.)
  • Accessing media — Users should be able to easily pause, rewind, and interact with all the media (video, audio, and other) on your banking website.

Understandable – ADA Compliance

  • Language of the webpage — The language on a specific webpage can be easily updated according to a user’s needs.
  • Ease of use — A website must have consistent navigation and be easy to read and use.[/cs_text]

Robust – ADA Compliance

  • Make sure all of your website enhancements for ADA work with all client browsers or other ways people access your website.
  • Make sure your enhancements work with the various specialized hardware and software that visual and hearing impaired people use. (e.g. screen readers, braille interfaces, speech recognition etc.)

You probably don’t have the time to do all this (I mean, there are 70 requirements, and they’re not exactly… simple). That’s why we’re here.

Relax, we’ve got this

We understand just what it takes to get your banking website ADA compliant. We also understand you just don’t have the time. That’s why we’re here to help — We’ve already helped banks like Litchfield Bancorp and Collinsville Savings Society, and we’re here to help you.

Get in touch today and we’ll explain exactly how we’ll make your bank website ADA compliant. Get yourself some peace-of-mind.

Getting Your Banking Website ADA Compliant – What Does It Take? Read More »