Need a topic for your wellness blog or email? Today we’ve got 10 strong topics for you! They’ll work equally well for healthcare pros and coaches, too. Put your spin on these themes and you’ll serve both your clients AND your business.
Generating fresh topics can be a chore at the best of times. Right now it may seem even tougher. Some businesses are unsure about how to communicate with their clients and patients. They flip between concern that they’ll be perceived as hijacking disaster for their own benefit, and fear of losing precious momentum as the days slip by.
The greater risk for you and, by extension, for your clients, right now is losing momentum. Remember, if your business fails, you can’t help them later!
Deliver topics that will be of value to your clients (10 topic ideas below). And avoid negative perception by being both pure in your motive, and caring in your delivery. I’m assuming if you’re reading this your motives are good. So I’ll just share 3 helpful tips for delivery tone:
Be human. Be present. Be of value.
It sounds corny, but you build a bond by sharing your caring.
Be human: Show your human side by writing to them as a person, sharing your individual thoughts, not just business speak. Your outreach is an inclusive gesture, and that alone can be comforting and positive.
Be present: Acknowledge where we are, the range of how they may be feeling, and how you and/or your team are feeling. That’s how you connect, but you don’t have to dwell on it. Instead…
Be of value: Use this moment to help lift them from the low parts of the current situation, remind them of the future, help share new information, insights, tips, reflections, stories.
10 topic ideas ripe for your unique style or “Twist”
This situation is likely to be with us for some time, so I’m starting you off with 10 topics. If you like time blocking (and I hope you do) you can develop them in a batch.
They’ll be distinct from other providers’ content because of your unique angle, or what Ann Handley of MarketingProfs.com calls your Twist (I love that, and them!).
Special request! If you put any of these out to your audience, please add me to your list so I can share my kudos to you publicly! (And if you want help writing it, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d contact me for that.)
1. Share a resource, such as the name and your takeaways from a book, magazine or article, blog or podcast you love and recommend, along with why.
2. Share a strategy, for how YOU handle work or personal stress — what is your go-to strategy? Or what are your top 5, 7 or 10 tips? (Yes, numbered articles or “listicles” are very popular.)
3. Bust a myth that you’ve discovered or know that patients have (pandemic-related or not, but ideally related to your speciality).
4. Arrange for a special “thank you” an offer, bundle or other special arranged in partnership with another provider(s). This is particularly helpful if your business or practice has had to shut down. Partnering could be your saving grace for the future.
5. Tips for health and safety related to your discipline — not necessarily from this particular virus, but perhaps related to the situation: What not-so-hot things might people be doing (or not doing) right now? How can you inform, remind, encourage them for better outcomes?
6. Special services or products you offer — is there something new you’ve developed, acquired or are sharing? A “shelter-at-home” short term option?
7. Judiciously share your guidance and/or reflections on topics of interest to your target patients, but outside your specific practice area. Of course you won’t want to mislead or overstep your knowledge, but as a health professional you may have insight they don’t have. Are there questions you’d ask if you were them, or ways you could point them in the right direction for more information?
8. Offer suggestions for when to speak with you about helpful products or services you offer that are not as well known — you might segment you list for this one, or ask for their help in spreading the word (people are more eager than ever to help support their local businesses and providers now!)
9. Reveal a little something about yourself: why did you choose this specific work in which to help and care for people? Yes, people love a good story, especially about those with generous hearts and motives.
10. Share something about why you chose them: why did you choose this target audience to help and care for? Even more than a good story about you, they’ll love a good story about someone like them.
Still have doubts about reaching out in tough times?
Let me share a little story. When my sister was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014, I had been working at a new job for just 6 weeks. I went to New York for a week to be with her as she underwent brain surgery, and (as you can imagine) over the following weeks I rode waves of optimism and despair while juggling my new work world.
As the weeks passed I could count on one hand the number of people who brought the subject up. A few months later, just after Christmas, I returned from a 2nd trip (to her funeral), and it was the same.
Were people uncaring? No, they were fearful — and uncomfortable!
I didn’t blame those who were reserved, yet the few who put our shared humanity first, over business or discomfort (even with something as small as a supportive email), earned a little more of my trust and support. Caring contact adds up like sweet little notes tucked away into a jar. These co-workers chose to make contributions to our relationship jar simply by:
- remembering we were in a human relationship,
- choosing to be present to the situation,
- and offering value in ways that were appropriate to our setting.
You can help grow the relationship with your clients or patients through regularly adding value, being appropriately present in their lives, and doing so in a way that’s completely human-to-human. I’d love to hear the ways you reach out to make a difference, and the results you get — please share!
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