JR:
Thank you everybody for joining in. I have a very special guest, Daffnee Cohen. She and her team all work with me. And to be able to work with me says something because I’m always on the go. Over the last six months her and her team have had the challenge of trying to reign me in as I’m traveling to get me to produce content. I’m finally, getting on a roll, maybe trying to do a little too much at once, but I have the help of the team at Daffnee Cohen Marketing who brainstorm, create, and execute meaningful and effective digital marketing strategies primarily for clients in the functional and integrative space. Over the past 10 years, Daffnee and her team have worked diligently to grow the firm, learning and developing best practices for all of her clients. That’s what she’s coming on here to share with our clients, our teams, our doctors; how to navigate content, how to not get banned, how to truly separate yourself and be a leader in your community right now.
Her clientele includes doctors, chiropractors, culinary experts, nutritionists, medical device companies, and more. Daffnee, just like myself and many of her clients, lives by example. She’s a CrossFitter, Zumba instructor, a wife, a dog mom and mom to an eight month old baby. So thank you for taking your time and coming on here today. It’s an honor that you would bless us with your time. Please take it away and tell us what we need to know about being protected and being a leader right now with social media.
Daffnee Cohen:
Thank you for that. It’s really my honor to be here, and I feel like what’s happening right now in the world is really so new for all of us. If I can help find some clarity in any of this, then I’m doing my part to help a little bit. I believe we will be taking some questions at the end if anybody has something they would like to ask. Other than that, I’m going to just jump right in. I was thinking about how I wanted to kind of get the ball rolling with this whole topic and I think something I need to say up front is that I don’t have all the right answers. I really do try hard to stay current, to research, to read, to stay up to date. Luckily, I have a lot of Instagram accounts, Facebook accounts, and newsletters that I’m managing, so I have access to a lot of data. But I don’t have all the right answers. And really as a business owner and for each of you being the owner of your business, your practice, whatever it is that that looks like, you have to trust your gut and listen to what you think is right for your business. Especially during this really hectic time. The next thing I want to say is that there is no right or wrong answer for a lot of this, and it’s changing all the time. So literally from yesterday morning to this morning, I had a meeting with my team and things are changing again on Facebook. They’re censoring more things.
Right now more than ever, whether you’re at home, whether you’re still in the office, whatever happens over the next few weeks, these are just a few things that I want you guys to keep in mind that are going to help guide this very unique and strange time for all of us. The first thing that I want to remind everybody is just that if you are on this webinar, if you’re listening to this webinar, it’s because you care about your brand and your business. You worked hard or are currently working hard to get yourself out there, to get your name heard, to fill your practice, to sell your courses, to sell your supplements or whatever your business looks like, you worked really hard to get to this place. Now is not the time to go quiet. People are looking to find more information regardless of what that looks like from people that they trust. So one thing that I want to offer you guys and something to keep in mind is that now, more than ever people are looking for your recommendations. They are looking for your advice, they want to know your perspective. Some feedback that I’ve heard from my clients is just that it feels a little bit overwhelming in the world. There’s so much information being thrown out there on the internet right now and it’s like, is there even room for me? Do I have a voice here? I’m not really sure what to say. I want everybody to take that thought and throw it out the window and don’t let it back in.
It’s easy for it to creep back in, especially if you’re a smaller business or maybe your audience isn’t quite as big as you want it to be yet. What I want to remind you is that there is room for everybody here. No one blogger and no one news outlet is going to reach absolutely everybody who’s searching for information right now. So the answer is absolutely yes, there’s room for you. And nobody, and I know this sounds cheesy, but your power is that nobody else is you. Nobody else is going to have the same perspective, the same advice, the same tips, the same habits, the same anything. So really your best option right now is to continue to be authentic to yourself and continue to be active and vocal online.
Some of you might be thinking, well, I’m not as active as I want to be, or I’ve been working on trying to do more videos on Instagram or be on Facebook Live. Now’s the time to start. More and more people are staying home, and many are working from home. But even if you are working from home, you’re also probably on Facebook more, on Instagram more. So take advantage of this time to connect with your audiences. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how people react to it. The other thing that I want to bring up is when we think about the work that we do, Coronavirus aside, we’re all working hard to get ourselves out there, whether it’s through videos or articles or both, or recipes or being on Instagram or doing online summits and speaking in real time.
We’re all doing so much to try and move our business forward, to try and move our names forward, to get ourselves out there. The thing that I like to remind people is that there’s no end game here. You have goals, and you might achieve those goals. And then you’re going to set new goals, and then you’re going to keep going. But no one ever just makes it, and I feel like that’s important to bring up. Just because there’s this really crazy stuff going on in the world right now, it doesn’t mean that you’re done, it doesn’t mean that it’s time to do nothing.
You have to take care of yourself first, that probably goes without saying. But this isn’t like, “Oh, well, I did my job and sent out a newsletter. We closed the clinic and we’re moving on.” I want you to get into the mindset of “people are looking to me for what I offer.” However you want to package that and put it out there is okay and great, but just do it. So this isn’t the time to be silent. I bring that up because a lot of people have approached me asking, “Is it okay if I just stay quiet because I don’t really know what to say?” It’s okay to not be overwhelming, to be a little more reserved. You don’t have to post all day every day, you don’t have to constantly be on your phone or on Facebook, for example.
You have to also keep in mind that you’ve built up this platform so far because people trust you, because they follow you and they respect your advice and your opinion. And so they’re looking for that. So I guess to reiterate, and not to beat the dead horse here, but now’s not the time to be silent. Really the best thing that you can do is continue to put your content out there. We’ll get further into the do’s and don’ts, which is really the bulk of, at least right now, what people are asking me. I’m getting tons of messages on Instagram, I’m getting a lot of emails and texts, is it okay to say this? Is it okay to talk about that? Is it okay to post about my supplement?
So we’ll get into all of those details because I know that it’s a little bit of a tricky time. But I do want you to keep in mind once this all blows over, because eventually it will, is what is it that I want to continue to work on? What is my goal again for this year? I don’t want you to lose sight of that. We’re in a time where we’re still just establishing trust right now. We’re engaging with our audiences, we’re communicating with our audiences. Whether you have a patient base, whether you have a newsletter list of subscribers, you have to continue engaging with them. So I know I’ve said it a hundred times, I’ll probably say it a few more times before this is over, but do what you can. Write it out, make a plan, communicate with your list. Sending out one communication is simply not enough.
I would encourage you to think about what you want that to look like. When this is all said and done, how do you want the people who have followed you to remember the role that you played in this time? Because this is a really crazy time. We haven’t experienced this, and so people are going to remember stuff. Not to sound scary, but focus on what you want to be remembered for in this time, especially as a healthcare provider. Think about how you can add value for people. That’s really what this all comes down to, you’re not expected to treat people, maybe you are via telemedicine, which is great, but you’re not expected to cure people. You’re not expected to take away somebody’s stress. But if you can provide some sort of context or shed some sort of light on how somebody is feeling and make somebody laugh or give them a great recipe to try with all the pantry items they have, that’s value for people. So just keep that in the back of your mind as you’re navigating through this and trust your gut.
JR:
Absolutely. I think one of the most important factors people need to remember is that you’re just ahead of the person below you, meaning they don’t know what you don’t know. Your audience doesn’t know what you don’t know. There is a lot of information coming out, so if you can share any value, that is a positive. Sam Horn, who will be on here next week, calls it INFObesity. There is just so much info out there. If you’re looking to separate and differentiate yourself, learn how to tell stories. Get on and engage with your audience so they can use their senses, they can put themselves in a story of just, “Hey, do you remember a time earlier in your life? When I was five-years-old, this happened. I was embarrassed and I picked myself up and I got back to life.” So how do you use what you did in the past, and how do you overcome it now? If you want to know what to say, share those types of stories.
Share the ability to overcome, to inspire, especially if you’re a personal trainer, you’re a health coach, coach right now and inspire. Tell people how to pick up and take action. You don’t have to get into deep science or controversy or any of that. Just step up and show up for your people through stories, through how you’ve overcome, and turn it back to them, ask what their plan is. Be engaged, be in a conversation with people right now. I like to say this is the time to overcome limiting beliefs. Everybody can be an expert today, everyone seems to be trying to position themselves as an expert. So why not you? There’s somebody in your community that’s going to get it from somebody else if it’s not you right now because there are more people online than ever before.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. That was very well said. That’s really what this all comes down to is that it is your time. Maybe it was your time before, if so, we continue working forward. So it’s the time now to keep getting your stuff out there. Something else that I like to point out is if you have 100 Instagram followers or if you have 10,000 Instagram followers, it doesn’t matter. People are going to see your content, and they want to engage with it, they’re looking for it. What JR said is so great because it really comes back to the fact that no one is going to have the exact same experiences that you’ve had. There’s something to be learned from that, that’s the value, that’s how you stand out, and that’s how you make yourself unique.
What I’d like to go into is just some of these things, because I’ve given this talk before, but not in the context of everything that’s going on. So you guys have to bear with me here because what I’ve been doing over the last three or four days is just listening to all the questions and comments and concerns that the people that I work with have brought to me. I tried to compile those into something that makes sense. Studying what’s been going on and putting together my professional opinion about what I think makes sense for you. First and foremost, this might sound obvious and I hope it doesn’t sound offensive, but think before you speak (or write). Have an idea of what it is that you want to share and what your point is. So we’re not out here just flinging Instagram stories around because we want to get content out. There needs to be some sort of plan, there needs to be some sort of context and background. You don’t have to write out your script, but you need to have a plan, an outline. Think about it this way, and this is my model for everyone: What’s the problem and what’s the solution? So what are you addressing and what are you offering? The problem doesn’t have to be a very serious problem. It could be like, man, did you run out of Netflix shows to watch? Why don’t you meditate for a few minutes instead and step away from the TV? It can be as simple as that. Think about what you want to share, write it down. Maybe have an ideas list.
JR and I have a little tab in our spreadsheet where we keep a bunch of ideas for things that we can talk about. So I would put some strategy behind it, even if this all feels a little bit more casual because we’re not “going to work” right now. The second thing that is so, so, so, so important, and I preach this regardless of what’s going on. I keep calling it in “normal life”, I mean, we’re in normal life right now, but not really. But the second thing is to always lead with compassion and empathy. People are just going to respond to that better. You know your brand better than anybody else, 99% of the people that I’ve experienced that work in this space or that I work with directly, we take this approach because this is a touchy subject.
Healthcare in general is a touchy subject. We haven’t walked in everybody’s shoes. We don’t know how they’re feeling, we don’t know their circumstances, and we never will know everybody’s. So the best option is to lead with compassion and just be kind. There’s a lot of craziness going on right now and the last thing people want is to feel judged. They don’t want to feel diminished. They don’t want any of those feelings. They want to feel empowered, they want to feel motivated and that’s exactly what JR was saying earlier. How can your stories uplift people? People are still going out and going to the beaches and going to the bars. I think what you have to decide is, again, how do you want to come off? Right now people just need positivity.
JR:
Can I give an example on that one?
Daffnee Cohen:
Please do.
JR:
What basically kicked off my campaign was a simple grocery trip on a Sunday evening. As I was in the store I was surprised because this is the time to boost our immunity and instead I saw all these parents, some even with kids putting so much into their shopping cart that simply wasn’t healthy. Mac and Cheese, yogurt, stockpiling so many unhealthy items with no positive impact on immunity. And I found myself judging these folks for a second, and then realized “hey man, there was a time that you had your own addictions to food.” At that time, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and that was likely the case for these folks, that they simply might not know how to take care of their health. So instead of shaming them or making them feel bad or posting derogatory memes, I realized that these people need to be educated right now.
Have you ever had a time in your life where you didn’t know something and somebody teased you or made you feel bad about that? This is what spurred my whole action of reframing how I experienced this type of addiction at times. If I was depressed or scared, I would turn to an ice cream jug or peanut M&M’s because they were my favorite. But now that I do know better, it’s important that I share that message. I was able to take a story about me and position it so that I could educate and inform my audience with empathy and compassion. That led to, how do I do what I do now? And that had a decent response with a lot of people saying, “That was nicely said.” There wasn’t any science, it was just a we’re here to help people, not judge them moment. It really doesn’t take anything more than that. Just a personal story, how you relate to a situation, and making it relevant to your audience.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. Perfectly said. If we were to all stop right now and think about a situation like that, we probably all have at least one story. As a personal anecdote, every single day with my child, who is my first child, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I was so naive, I had no idea.” There were always things before I was a mother where I was like, “I wonder why they don’t do it this way?” I was just so naive. So there are so many instances like that, and I think that’s really what’s going to bring people together right now, especially online. Again, just taking the path of being empathetic and having compassion and being understanding in the way that you lead into your posts, in the way that you’re answering comments, things like that. That’s where this will really shine through.
Also somewhat relevant to this is that you do have to decide if you are going to tap into the conversation that is more controversial or that is more political. For some people, that’s their brand, and that makes sense. Most of the people that I work with choose not to, it’s not really relevant. So again, just think about the fact that people are watching, and they’re waiting, and they’re ready to jump. So you have to also remember how the things that you say can trigger people especially in a time of high stress like this. Right now that would be Coronavirus yes, but whatever’s going on in a particular moment, it is a constant that you need to consider.
So on to the next topic. We covered this a little bit, but what I am seeing is this gray area or maybe some lack of clarity around what to talk about, what to put out there, what to share. This comes back to the idea of, well, I should just push a bunch of Coronavirus stuff out there because that’s what everybody is looking for. Or I’m just not going to acknowledge it at all because I don’t really feel like I have anything to offer in terms of that situation right now. Or I’m going to do nothing because I feel like it’s insensitive to not talk about the Coronavirus.
These are all pieces of feedback that I’ve heard pretty heavily over the last couple of days. I think there are a couple of things to remember. One is that quality still matters more than quantity. So if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t post everyday like you were before, but maybe you can post a few times a week, that’s okay. We can’t beat ourselves up for that. It matters more that what you’re offering is high value content. I did have a client who I felt was like, “I need to get all these things out”, Coronavirus 10 times a day and it just wasn’t the best content because it was a little forced. I think that was the pressure that they were feeling.
So don’t sacrifice who you are and what you want to say and what you want to talk about in order to be part of this bigger conversation, unless it’s really impactful. Again, it’s got to be good quality. Basically we want you to just continue being authentic. Who are you? What are you about? What is it that makes you unique from other people? What is it that you’re passionate about? Tie it in, do some research and tie it in. I have a client who’s a mold expert, and she is going deep into how mold exposures can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible. So find your thing, or maybe you already know your thing. If so, tie it in in a way that makes sense and that you feel comfortable with.
Even just working out from home right now is insane. I have never in my life seen so many free videos and pre-workouts. It’s amazing though, talk about community. I’m hoping that everybody comes out of this super fit, sitting at home and having nothing else to do.
JR:
Absolutely. That is such an important point. If you’re in the healthcare space and you’re listening to this, what are the things that you say in the exam room every single day? So even if you don’t want to get into the controversy, if you’re a thought leader, I feel it’s important to put out a stance one way or another. But be open, don’t set yourself in a fixed place. Just share it in a way that conveys “This is what I’m hearing, and what I’ve gathered to this point.” Look at the foundations of health. Areas such as nutrition, hydration or family and kid friendly recipes (probably in your favorites right now). As Daffnee said, issues related to movement and workout options. Body weight and fitness is incredibly relevant right now because not everyone has a gym or home fitness equipment. So body weight is going to be really relevant right now.
Breathing, meditation, relationships, purpose, those are the things that really are foundational no matter if they’re coming into your clinic for regenerative or functional medicine. If done right, you could record this and have a library of different topics that now become a mini course or a product. There’s so much more time right now than what we typically have, so now is the time to be strategic. But to Daffnee’s point, don’t wing it, have a few bullet points, have a plan. Where are you going to use this down the road, and what is your intention? This way you’re getting the most of your time and you’ll continue to see progress as long as you’re putting things out there and taking action.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. You make such a great point. Something to think about and obviously the situation is different right now, but think about the things that you normally talk about. I was talking with a client yesterday, and they were like, “I don’t know what to say.” My response was, “You always have so much to say, how can you not have anything to say?” And it was because of Coronavirus. But we have to continue on. If you’re a personal trainer, start doing Instagram live videos. Just an idea for everybody who’s going to hear this that is a personal trainer or is in the fitness industry, the body weight thing, that is real. It’s one of the top searches right now because people don’t have equipment at home, especially if they have gym memberships, they don’t have stuff at home.
But the other thing is that they don’t know how to do a lot of these things they are hearing about. So they’re Googling what does that look like? What does this mean? There are so many nuances to all of this that you could really just take it and run with it and own it and be really proud of it. This is who you are, and we’re just repurposing and repackaging it to look a little bit different right now, and that’s okay. I feel like there’s this feeling of, well, I’m just doing this for now, and then what happens after? And it’s like, well, none of us know when this is going to be over. We don’t know what it’s going to look like in two weeks or two months.
I’m a really positive person, I’m staying positive that we’re all going to get our stuff together and stay at home and be good in a few weeks. However, think about all this time as an opportunity to keep building up your platform. Content never goes to waste ever, ever, ever. So even if it happens to focus on body workouts because we can’t leave the house right now, you’re attracting people who are going to follow you afterwards as well, and they are going to be part of your audience. So none of this goes to waste. So I want to make sure everybody has this mindset of abundance. There’s room for me, there’s room for my message, and none of this is a waste of my time. I think that’s huge. You always emphasize that, which I think is really great.
JR:
To that point Daffnee, you know and have been working with me for nine months now, I’ve done more in these last five days than I did in nine months previously. Not that we didn’t have the daily post and stuff that was relevant, but it wasn’t my voice. I was too busy being in operations of what I’m doing. So now truly is that time to put it all out there or begin to build so when you get back into the flow of things, you don’t get in that rut. Because just as we said, she gave me so many tips to grow my Instagram. She’s like, JR, we’re getting growth. But unless they see you, they get to know, like, love, and trust you, it doesn’t grow the same as somebody that is getting out there connecting, hearing their clients’ problems, hearing their fears and addressing that. Providing, just as you said, not just a story to tell a story, but a solution. Just like today, we want you to know how to have the mindset to proceed forward in action, to have generated some ideas. Then ultimately at the end here, we will talk about what not to say to keep yourself out of trouble.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. Perfectly said. A couple of other things and when I read this list that I wrote out, I’m like, “this applies all the time.” Maybe a little bit more so now because of the circumstances, but this advice applies all the time. Partner up. I love all of this that you’re doing JR with all of your webinars. Lean on your colleagues, they are also sitting at home. Text your friends, text your colleagues, say, “Hey, will you hop on Instagram live with me? Will you do a Facebook live with me? Will you record a Zoom webinar with me?” Start talking, this is content. What we’re doing right now, this is content, and this is valuable. And you can use this in so many ways afterwards.
So don’t be afraid or hesitant to message people. Maybe there’s somebody that you’re connected to but haven’t even been able to connect with in a way that would be beneficial for your businesses. Take the chance and do it, ask for it. Somebody reached out to one of my clients, and she’s not necessarily super into Instagram, and asked “will you do an Instagram live with me tomorrow morning?” And my client asked me, “Do I do it? Help me.” Yes, do it. It was so great. People loved it. So I think that’s another option too. Maybe you don’t have to do everything by yourself, maybe there are other people that you can do it with. People absolutely just love this. So don’t be afraid, send those messages out, get them planned out. We’re all at home, we’re not going anywhere.
JR:
That’s a great point. I always say that to doctors. Some of them one-to-one on camera, their tendency is to go into science and information. But the minute you do an interview or a Zoom like this, now it becomes a conversation. And now you get to play back and hear one thing that sparks another. So if you’re not used to video-based contenting, a lot of the doctors that I work with, they find more comfort in the interviews or the conversations as opposed to a subject matter interview. If you are new and wondering what to say, it is still the time to get out there. Reach out to me if you’re a doctor on this list, I would love to show you and work with you to make something valuable for your audience because I have this new found time. It’s exciting to be able to spend time now doing what I like to do best. Communicating, connecting, educating, teaching as opposed to running, running, running, going, flying which is exhausting. Now I finally have the time to do it, and so do all of us.
Daffnee Cohen:
Yep, absolutely. I love it. So another tip here, and this applies again, whatever you’re doing, whether you’re interviewing with somebody or doing it on your own, stay current. Stuff is changing every hour, every hour there are new updates, whether it’s from the government, whether it’s from the CDC. And again, choosing what you want to get involved with. Be sure that what you’re sharing is current and that you’ve done your research. This comes back to being a little bit strategic and planning out what you want to talk about. So if you heard something a few days ago and you were like, “That might be something I want to share.” Do the Google search, find a few studies, find something that’s current, that’s relevant.
You don’t have to go back and delete your other stuff. It’s fine to say, “Hey, here’s an update.” Reference your other content. “Hey, a few days ago I talked about this, this, and this. There have been some updates, and I want to share those with you.” I like to tell people to think about this, social media, and I focus primarily on Facebook and Instagram because they are the most relevant right now, but think about it as a little journal. You’re journaling, whether it’s through video or copy. I mean, you can write out your posts as well. This is what people want to see. So think about it as a journal, and you don’t just write one entry and walk away from it, you have to keep updating it. The other thing I want to go into just briefly is that social media is not the only place for you to voice your message.
And JR, this is something you and I are working on now. So sending out a newsletter to your list, communicating with your email list, again, whether it’s a hundred people or a thousand people or a hundred thousand people, they need to hear from you. There was this really funny joke going around the internet about how if I hear one more update from a Fortune 500 company and how they’re handling the Coronavirus, one that we never interact with or would never have known about, I’m going to lose it. And it’s kind of funny, but they’re not doing the wrong thing. I think in the case of healthcare or medical fitness, in this space, people are looking for you, they really want more.
More is actually better as long as you’re still providing value. I spoke with a client earlier this week, and she was like, “Well, I’m just sending out this update that the office is closed, and I’m seeing patients virtually, and that’s it.” And I’m like, “I don’t think you should do that, I really think you should continue to provide content.” If you don’t have time to write a blog every day, that’s okay. But maybe you have a handful of tips, maybe you break it out and partition it. Maybe one day you focus on good healthy sleep habits, maybe the next is on hydration. So there’s a lot that you can do, but people care more about what you have to say when you are their health care provider or if they’ve just decided that they trust you and like you.
They might see it somewhere else and it might not resonate with them, but if they see it from you, it will. And again, we’re talking about what we are doing when this is all said and done and that is building trust. You’re layering trust, you’re getting your brand out there. It’s brand awareness. At the end of the day, you want to make sure that you’re really communicating via newsletter as well as on social media. Having a plan will make that feel a little bit less overwhelming. But if you’re not working, you should have plenty of time.
JR:
I want to just reign that back in for the doctors listening out there. I want you to think intuitively about what you tell your patients every time they come in for a transformational outcome. Just like we mentioned, the sleep, the hydration. If you did Zoom webinars just like this, you could sequentially line up your 8 or 10 things that you say over and over, and over again. We record it and immediately turn it into a course. Everybody will be shifting online with one component or another. So if you do not have this compared to 9,000 other practitioners out there that will have this now, you’re going to fall behind. So deliver value, but record the webinar. You don’t have to put the Q&A questions at the end as a part of your webinar. But if you record those Zooms, now when they come through you can say, “Hey, here’s my membership site.”
At Rejuv, that was one of the first things that we ever did. We created Rejuv University, which had Dr. Baumgartner’s 20 favorite tips and videos. We gave that as a resource to everybody that walked through the door. And to Daffnee’s point, it also went out in email. And was also part of our grassroots efforts, when we went and spoke to different corporations. These corporations are now going to be looking at health greater than ever, this is the time where people are going to take their health seriously. Yes, this is a rough time. But in these rough times there is opportunity to now go grassroots and say, “I know so many employees, they just don’t know about general health issues. There is so much misinformation, so I’d love to come give a lunch and learn and then give all the employees access to our university.”
That got us so many emails, so many speaking gigs because no other medical facility was giving a mini course that we created with simplicity. That was more than a multimillion dollar idea for us that got us so many speaking gigs, so many lunch and learns. And still, every patient that walks through the door, we say, “Thank you for coming to Rejuv, I know you have knee pain today. Please log on into our university, it has meal plans, cookbooks, and physician education. So it’s going to help you not only get a healthy meal now, it’s going to help you live healthier and longer and hopefully avoid that knee replacement all your life.” That same script we used a million times over. And that alone, if you came on here and are listening or you’re watching this on replay, I can’t stress the importance of how that separated us from every other clinic that I know in Minnesota. And it’s still relevant today.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. Really what this comes down to is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You already know what you’re good at, you know what you see in your practice. I’ve been saying this for so long too, talk about what you see in your practice. Talk about the things that your patients are coming in for, work with that. You don’t have to sit here and try to come up with some crazy new thing. You can do that too, but work with what you have. It saves you time, it saves you effort. And most likely, that’s what you’re really good at. And that’s actually probably what you’re passionate about if that’s what you’re doing. So it’s all really a good thing overall.
JR:
Here’s one more point to remember – don’t worry about what you don’t know. You could go to Men’s Health, Google, Facebook, or to any social media outlet, everybody’s got the same 10 things to say. What your consumers want is a leader, somebody to be inspired by. Meaning they watch you and your stories if you’re relevant. Information has not made our world healthy, it’s the leaders that can inspire, motivate, and spend time with them that get them to take that step when the patient’s ready. A larger percent of the population is going to be more ready than ever, and we want you to come out on top on the other side of this. That’s why I thank Daffnee for the gift of her time to come on here to help create a valuable resource for you to get ahead, for me to use at a different point in time. Or this could be a course, if done strategically and differently.
This is a time to leverage it because what every doctor that I’ve ever worked with says is “I don’t have time”. I ask them in their exam rooms, “How often are you repeating the same things over and over, and over again?” This is the time to do the inventory, there are no excuses to ever have to repeat anything, it can now be delivered virtually and online. This is your opportunity not to just put out anything that you want, it’s your opportunity to save yourself thousands of hours, provide valuable resources and be the go-to in your community when thinking a little bit strategically about how to do this.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. Perfectly said. There are two other points that I want to just touch on, one more briefly than the other. And the last one’s not fun, but I bring it up because it actually became kind of a bigger issue today specifically. So one, just remember that whatever it is that you’re doing, sending out a newsletter, posting on Instagram, doing Facebook live, whatever that looks like, always remember to ask questions of your audience. Open the door. Social media should always be a conversation, that’s the point, it is a dialogue. Now more than ever, people want to share what is going on in their life. They want that outlet, they want you to care, they want to engage with you.
So leave your posts open for engagement, ask a question at the end. Say in your video, “Hey, I’d love to hear from you, share where you’re watching from today”. Any and all of that is super important, and it also helps drive your engagement. The last thing on my list here is some of the censoring stuff that’s been going on on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t like to really get caught up in this stuff because again, I’m a really positive person. I can’t control a lot of this stuff that Facebook and Instagram decide to do. But I think we’re at a point now where it is definitely impacting people so I just want to share even though everybody’s kind of aware of it.
Facebook and Instagram are the same company, I don’t know if people know that. They have basically said we don’t want fake news, we don’t want people sharing news that’s not reliable. Which is great. The problem is that they are using robots to do all of this, they are not using people. So what’s happening is that there are certain words and triggers that are going to flag these posts. How that really works, I obviously don’t know, but the result is that they are removing content. Not only are they removing content, but they are actually making it known to your audiences that you have participated in sharing fake news, which is kind of outrageous, right? Because you could actually share something that you think with all good intentions is real or reliable. Or, since many of us are in a space where not all functional or non-traditional medicine is viewed in the same way, the content may get flagged.
JR:
And that’s a big one for us, Daffnee. Meaning you could be talking about a vitamin C IV drip, which we know is effective. If you’re making or saying the wrong words, that alone could get your flagged, banned or even your ads removed. So just be sure not to say cure, solutions, anything similar to that. I know you have more insight into this Daffnee. But it’s tough at this time. So for me, I say to focus on the foundational things like sleep, health, breathing, and nutrition right now. It seems to be a little bit safer. However, be open as opposed to stating facts or again, don’t share other people’s stuff that could be false. Really put your own message out there.
Daffnee Cohen:
Yes. You have to be really, really careful right now. What this comes down to is you just don’t want to tarnish or ruin something on your profiles that could affect you after this is all said and done. Facebook is so strict. I’ve never seen them be as strict about content as they are right now. It could really damage your page. If you share something that they don’t like the way it sounds, they’re going to let your audiences know. People who come to your Facebook page will see that this person has a lower ranking because they’re sharing what Facebook or Instagram has determined is “fake news”. I don’t want to use scare tactics here, but JR said it really well. You have to really filter what you’re putting out there and how you’re saying it.
Most of us know this. If you’re active in this online world, you know a lot of this already. You don’t want to make claims, you don’t want to state things as fact. That’s something to think about. And the other thing that I want to share that I learned today, and I think this is huge, is that one thing that is triggering some of this is the actual source of where you’re sharing it from. So it could, for example, be that the vitamin C IV drip helps build your immune system. But if you posted that from CNN.com, you would be less likely to get flagged than if you posted it from maybe a smaller website that doesn’t have as much credibility. That realization came today, to be sure to stick to “reliable, credible news sources”, and I say that with a little bit of skepticism.
JR:
Such as PubMed based articles, or science-based research articles.
Daffnee Cohen:
Exactly. Like the New England Journal of Medicine. So incorporate that where you can. This is something that I hammered down on all of my clients. We have to bring the science first, so any of those places. And again, are there a lot of studies out around the coronavirus? No. This is where you have to get creative, maybe it is about vitamin C and how it helps boost the immune system. You can write about that and you can share a video about that. Think reliable, and the bigger news outlets are safe. Whatever your preference is for news is fine. Fox is a big one, CNN is a big one, MSNBC is a big one. So the bigger news outlets, my point is not that the information is more or less reliable, but that Facebook is not flagging those the way that they’re flagging some of the smaller health websites.
Just to bring this whole thing full circle. There was a huge change in the Google algorithm last year that impacted so many health websites. I think if you’re watching this, you’ve probably heard of this in some form or another. It’s a similar concept. If you’re sharing content from these websites that Google has decided is really not credible, you’re treading in the danger zone. And it’s just not worth it. To JR’s point, if you re-share content from other people, which is a great thing to do, be aware of what it is that you’re sharing and the way that it’s worded because it really is not worth getting your Instagram shut down over something like this.
Something interesting to see, if any of you want to open up your phone and go to Instagram. If you type in #COVID19 and go to hashtags, what it will actually prompt you to do is to only view posts from the World Health Organization, which is insane. There are two million posts using this hashtag. Of course, you can choose to not do that and then it will take you to the other posts as well. But basically what it wants you to do is to go in that one direction. They’re coming at this from all angles, which we all have our opinions about. But it’s something that you really need to be careful about because again, it’s just not worth it. And if you do get flagged in any of these ways, you will actually also get all of your ad permissions banned permanently.
JR:
That’s the bad one.
Daffnee Cohen:
Definitely, that’s the bad one.
JR:
That’s what we are afraid of. Especially if you’re in functional or regenerative medicine and listening, seminars are our biggest way to generate revenue and get people through the door. It’s our top strategy. So that would have a dramatic impact in the business, and for what? Just think about Coronavirus. Everybody is going to be sharing that other stuff, don’t be everybody right now. Think about how you are different, from your stories, from your general health, building up the things that will save you time. If you are going to do something about Coronavirus, not saying that that’s dumb, it is not, it is smart. Follow the people that are doing it well, have a conversation, go to Daffnee, go to somebody that knows what they’re doing if you’re going to be doing that, if you’re going to be selling cash services in the future because it’s not worth it to duplicate what they are seeing everywhere else and taking that risk.
Don’t just fall into the duplication of marketing, become you, become that leader, that inspirational source. I think you’re safer to stick to your area of expertise, what you are doing every day. For me, we weren’t spreading a huge amount of information over the last six months when I was too busy to post videos regularly. But the least you could do is quotes from your talks, pull quotes from other people that are more motivational or positive. That’s where Daffnee and her team did a great job of always making us look good and making sure we were producing some sort of content. So if you feel like you’re not being consistent or you have a lot of other priorities right now, then create that consistency with good, meaningful stuff that isn’t going to hurt you.
Daffnee Cohen:
Absolutely. Perfectly said. So that was all my goodies.
JR:
This is great stuff. It’s so important right now to really take this opportunity to be the leader, to take the opportunity to build some sustainable strategic marketing for you and your future beyond this. It’s the opportunity to get practice to get good out there, to have the interviews, to be connected. To your point, all these doctors would have been in practice or busy before, and while there are still some practicing, it isn’t hard to get interviews right now. People that are in the content are happy to do this right now. I’m not saying it’s not work. I’m just saying this is the time right now to take advantage of the availability of thought leaders, to have some people that you’re inspired by, invite them to speak with you, that really have a good message for your community.
It’s a go-giver world right now for the entrepreneurs that are in the value give mindset. They are trying to share and post good messages. So the entrepreneurs think a little bit differently than the general population that are just getting the information. They don’t post when they’re not in that space. So just think about the difference between the entrepreneurs trying to build a health business versus general population. They are consuming, we need to be producing right now.
Daffnee, this was an amazing gift. And I want to tell people how to get to you, but we have some guests on now as well. So if any of you want to send any questions through right now, ask the questions related to you, strategy, worries, fears, limiting beliefs. I like helping people overcome that, that’s one of my skills and passions. So please raise your hand, if you have something. Daffnee, you did a great job covering everything, that was very comprehensive.
Daffnee Cohen:
Thank you.
JR:
It was wonderful. So questions? Joanie, Roseanne, Catherine, those of you watching, anybody have any specific questions you’d like to share? Just share that in the chat. There is a hand raised, I just have to figure out how to make that happen. Okay, Catherine, I’m going to allow you to talk.
Catharine (Viewer / Listener Question):
Hi everyone. Thanks so much. I learned a lot. My question is, you mentioned that we shouldn’t be using the word “cure”. I would love to know if there’s a list that you’re able to share or some examples of other words that we should avoid?
Daffnee Cohen:
I have a couple, and JR you might also actually have a couple. So I definitely stay away from the word cure. I believe that the word that matters more is actually what comes before it. So rather than saying “this cures this”, use something like “studies have shown the potential to treat”, “the potential to aid in recovery”, “the potential to…”, “can possibly…”. Without sounding overly vague and broad, I think that there are those qualifying words that provide a safe space. So there are studies that have implied that this could potentially improve this symptom. That’s always the tone that we go with, again, because even if something was completely proven and it’s black and white, I feel like you still have to be very cautious about what you’re claiming on social media because it’s social media.
If you were to use the word cure, I would just be cautious about what you’re using to qualify that word. For example, President Trump working with the CDC has said that this potential treatment or this treatment could potentially help cure people who have been infected. That choice of words takes this from a statement of fact, to a statement of maybe. And that’s really how I go about approaching that.
JR:
I think that’s good. One of the lessons I learned, and I always follow successful entrepreneurs, successful people, athletes that have paved the way. Jeff Bezos from Amazon says he looks to hire people with weakly held beliefs but strongly held opinions. I personally strongly believe that restorative and regenerative medicine is the future of healthcare. However, I will stay open to new technologies and science, and if something changes, I will be open to that. That’s how you can kind of protect yourself. Being in the functional and regenerative space, we have to watch out for the word cure, solution, guaranteed, promise. We always tell people there are no magic pills, there are no magic elixirs. You have to do your part.
A good doctor does not equal a successful outcome. It’s a compliant patient and a good doctor and continuing to look at the root causes, continuing to inspire, continuing to keep looking and digging. That’s what a great doctor is, but it takes compliance on the patient’s end as well. So we can’t say that any medicine or solution is the cure because we don’t know if they sit at home and still do everything to not get a good outcome. So in the healthcare space, we do that. It’s just like personal training, if you’re an amazing personal trainer but they don’t show up beyond your workouts and eat ice cream cake every day, which I love, no judgment, then it’s going to be hard for you to get a good outcome. It’s about the whole package, so you have to be really good at managing expectations.
And guess what? Consumers like that. They don’t want to be promised, they know that’s marketing and sales and hoopla when they are given a guarantee. So be authentic, be real. Tell the stories of your clients that have overcome, what they did, what it took them to get the best outcome. That’s what people are looking at. And when you look at content through sharing stories, it’s how do you handle the main objection through a content story? So for instance, a lot of people come into regenerative medicine and they say, “My surgeon said there’s no evidence in this.” And we say, “I completely understand. I had a lot of doubt at first before I tried it, before I saw numerous patients have a positive outcome.” We call it feel, felt, found. And what we found is 80% of our patients get a good outcome if they do their part. So learning the language, how to overcome through stories.
Other people want to see their fears addressed, their concerns addressed in a transformational story of somebody who’s done it. No guarantees or promises because then they’ll hold it against you if it doesn’t work. This regenerative medicine didn’t work. Well, can I ask if you followed the meal plan? Did you show up for physical therapy? It’s everything combined. So managing expectations is so important to your teams, your trainers, your providers, your secondary staff. And we felt we’ve always done a really, really good job of that. But we have a lot of transformational stories because we talked people through that.
So somebody else had their hand raised, there’s another chat that came through.
Question:
Do you have the exact words that are banned?
JR:
We have some of them. Cures, solutions, guarantees. You can use the term “strongly”. Something like “I have a strong opinion here, but we’ll see, we’ll keep following”. If you end with “we’ll see”, “I don’t know”, “This is just my opinion”. You aren’t pushed into one corner. So that’s how to be careful with the language. But yes, watch out for those words. Great question Catharine. Great for all doctors to know, And a lot of them have feared even going out there and saying that message even though they know it works because they just don’t know the right words to say. So thank you for bringing such an important topic to today’s conversation.
So Daffnee, you’ve been amazing, your team really knows what they are doing. We could have had a whole Instagram or live on Instagram about how you do this. There’s so much out there, and you have content rich knowledge, which allows you to help your clients really be successful at getting their message out through multiple channels and platforms. As we say, and what one of my former mentors, Mike Canning, said is how can you be seen, heard, found, listened to anywhere, on any device, at any time? So that’s what people like. Daffnee and her team ask me for this one message, and then they do their magic saying, “Great, JR, this is going to go out in a newsletter, let me put it to your Instagram, your LinkedIn”. They cover all of these different channels and platforms on my behalf and make sure my presence is felt on social media in a consistent way. I just simply wouldn’t have the time to do that and still serve my clients.
So a lot of doctors end up hiring a marketing person internally, pay them three, four, five, six grand a month, and they don’t even know the strategies. They are well intended. So that’s what was our strategy for grassroots, you can’t get past that for sales and conversion in these clinics, that’s needed. If you’re looking to leverage your time, they have all the software that allows that one message to go out to multiple channels, that is simply a waste of your time to attempt to do that manually. Truly the value and cost if you are starting to produce and push content out there, hiring a team like Daffnee’s, it’s a no brainer once you get past a certain level. So Daffnee, thank you for the gift of your time. How do my followers get in touch with you, where do they go? Where can they learn more?
Daffnee Cohen:
Yeah, absolutely. So my name is spelled a little fun, it’s D-A-F-F-N-E-E. I know, there’s no P-H. But that’s me everywhere. So it’s just Daffnee at outlook, it’s Daffnee on Instagram. Just Daffnee, there’s just one of me. So feel free to shoot me an email, Daffnee Cohen is my website. If you just type in Daffnee in Google, I come up right away at the top because of the spelling. Feel free to reach out to me, find me on Instagram, I’m on Instagram all the time, it’s my job. I do this all the time. If you want to have a 15-minute call, we can talk about what’s going on, if you have a question. I like to give a lot, and so this is super fun for me, I enjoy doing this.
I know that this is a scary time for a lot of people, and people are a little worried about their businesses. I can only do what I can do. But if I can help somebody figure it out, even one piece of it, then I feel like I’ve helped somebody. That’s really important to me. Again, feel free to reach out to me. And JR, you and I can maybe do another one of these in a little bit and we’ll go into some of the other specifics because if it helps somebody, then that’s fun for me too. So I appreciate it.
JR:
Thank you. And I’ll end with this: Strategy is really important in marketing. So even for me, I know what to say from a marketing standpoint, I’m not short on words. So it’s the time, and that’s where Daffnee helps. But secondarily, I take imperfect action. Daffnee looked as I was launching my new website and everything said, “JR, whoa, wait a minute.” This is her space, this is her domain. You can’t be an expert in everything, and I’m certainly not. So that’s where it was like, “Hey, this is going to flow better, ease better.” That one simple email, that one strategy call told me that was well worth the investment and the whole nine months that I’ve worked with you alone.
I’m a producer, so I need the strategic people, the strategic marketers behind me that know the digital space. My weakness is tech. If that is like you, it’s an amazing thing to look at. Maybe now, maybe in the future depending on where you’re at. Don’t just start producing content if you don’t have a strategy. Well, let me rephrase that. Yes, produce content, your people want it. But when you’re starting to pay, run Facebook ads, do all that high level traffic source, then there’s gotta be strategy in place. Right now, just be a go-giver to your community. Go put out your message, leverage it for the future with what you learned on this call today.
So thanks again, Daffnee, and appreciate all of you. Get that message out there.
Daffnee Cohen:
Thank you. Take care.
.