To market their services and create brand awareness, home care agencies deliver numerous giveaways to referral sources. Giveaways create awareness of the home care agency, and especially when giveaways offer health information of use to referral sources and their patients, help to brand that agency as a health care community resource and viable partner in the care of the patient.
Home care agencies have a tremendous array of products at their fingertips from which to choose. Giveaways may range from disease-specific brochures, care plan oversight literature, and posters to health logs, tablet mousepads, and newsletters. However, one of the most popular giveaways for agencies is the calendar.
There are forces at play that make calendars the most timeless and functional giveaway: a holiday to celebrate, an observance to remember, an appointment to schedule...in essence, a life to move forward.
When calendars contain useful information for the referral source, they become an even hotter marketing commodity. Calendars may be personalized with the agency's logo and contact information to encourage positive awareness of the agency. Its yearlong use within the office adds to the calendar's reputation as a low-cost giveaway with a high return on investment. What other giveaway commands center stage of a referral source's attention all year long, branding the home care agency as a health care partner with every flip of the page.
"We are always looking for new and innovative ways to stay ahead of our competition and market to our existing and prospective referral sources, says Judy Bishop, chairman of Guardian Home Care Holdings, Inc., which oversees nearly 70 home health, private duty and hospice offices throughout Texas, Tennessee and Georgia. "As far as return on investment, the calendar has been the best promotional giveaway we've done yet."
Calendars allow for flexibility as they come in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit each agency's budget and tastes. One agency may want to deliver wall calendars with themed imagery and customization on every page; another may opt for a monthly planner or a notebook- or pocket-sized planner. Another bonus to the calendar giveaway is the ease in putting it all together. Agencies have at their disposal marketing companies that do the work for them. In essence, the agency chooses a theme from an array of themes provided (e.g., flowers, national monuments, exotic destinations, butterflies, nostalgia, etc.), sends in their logo and contact information, and voila! Ready-made calendars are ready to go to the referral source.
Adam D. Bishop is recognized as one of the influential gurus of Home Care marketing. Be sure to check out Home Care's perfect giveaway, NEW 2010 Home Care Calendars only at homecarecalendars.com homecarecalendars.com.
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