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Laura Mitchell Consulting Selected for Social Media Magic at Local Nonprofit Conference

WEST BEND, WI — Laura Mitchell Consulting (LMC) announced today that their strike team of digital media experts has been selected to provide social media magic to West Bend’s inaugural Nonprofit Conference, coordinated by the Volunteer Center of Washington County and hosted by West Bend Mutual Insurance. This Nonprofit Conference is designed to educate, empower and connect local nonprofits with one another in an unforgettable event on April 28th, 2016 at the West Bend Mutual Prairie Center.

The conference features keynote speaker David Mann, giving a talk entitled “Embracing Change: How High-Performing Achievers Adapt.” The conference also includes multiple breakout sessions on topics such as fundraising, volunteer recruitment, insurance, branding, and business models. Registration is still open. Call the Volunteer Center at (262) 338-8256.

“We wanted to develop a conference that would truly help our not-for-profit community,” said Sue Millin, the Volunteer Center Executive Director. “LMC’s team of digital experts was a natural fit to provide the live stream of content and add that digital energy and expertise to our event.”

LMC will be providing social-based content throughout the day, photo and video interviews on Facebook and Vine, and a stream of real-time conference highlights on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Live feeds will help both local and remote participants be in multiple places at once, enable more productive networking, and remind everyone why this show is an important event for all nonprofits in the area.

“We do tons of social media and conference promotion all over the country, but it feels good to promote a show in our own backyard,” said LMC founder Laura Mitchell. “Our team has strong ties to West Bend and the Volunteer Center. We firmly stand behind their mission and we’re honored to be a part of this inaugural event.”

Laura is a well-known fixture and pioneer in the technology/aging-in-place market. She has been speaking and attending the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit for the past 6 years, and in 2011 was honored with the Flame Award for Innovation. Laura has also been featured in Forbes Magazine for creative online strategies and Guerrilla Marketing. She and her team have coordinated online social evangelism for international conferences such as CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.

About Laura Mitchell Consulting: Laura Mitchell Consulting (LMC) is a strike team of digital experts in connected health, social media, awareness campaigns, brand evangelism, growth hacking, guerrilla marketing and other out of the box marketing solutions. Founder Laura Mitchell is a cofounder of West Bend’s GrandCare Systems and has received accolades from many sources including Forbes, Dealerscope, AARP and the Consumer Electronics Association. Her awards include Top Women of M2M, Top 40 under 40 and Young Turks of CE. Laura keynotes all over the country on a variety of subjects including disruptive non-traditional marketing, technology in aging, and connected healthcare. (www.lmcllc.us)

About the Volunteer Center of West Bend: The Volunteer Center is a 501(c)(3) for-purpose organization that mobilizes volunteers and resources to help improve the quality of life in Washington County. Founded in 1983, the Volunteer Center currently serves more than 60 nonprofit partners and thousands of volunteers each year. (www.volunteernow.net)

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Facebook’s New Emojis – What’s Your Reaction?

In February, Facebook added 5 new symbols to let you react to someone’s post. They’re meant to give you a shorthand way to respond without necessarily having to comment.Why the change? Because sometimes “Like” isn’t what you really feel. I don’t know about you, but when my friends post something about a tragedy, sometimes I don’t know what to say, but I know I don’t want to say nothing. It’s not like you can click the Like button in a situation like that.

“My dog just died.”
Like

I don’t think so.

Of course, the range of human emotions is probably larger than six. A lot larger. But maybe six is better than one. And human emotions are probably a lot subtler than fiercely angry, weeping with sadness, and laughing maniacally. Probably.

So, what do you think? Have you used Facebook’s new Reaction Emojis yet? Like? Love? Wow?

To learn more about Laura Mitchell Consulting, please email us at info@lmcllc.us or visit us at lmcllc.us.

Blog, Meet the Innovators

Meet the Innovators: Majd Alwan, Senior Vice President of LeadingAge

We recently spoke with Majd Alwan, an expert in the Technology and Aging space, the Senior Vice President of Leading Age, and the Executive Director for CAST (Center for Aging Services Technology.) We thought you might be interested in hearing the highlights from our conversation!

Q: Thanks for talking with us today, Majd. Let me start by asking you to tell us who you are and what you do.

A: I’m Majd Alwan, Senior Vice President of Technology at LeadingAge. I’m an engineer by training. I have a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering, a Master’s in Control Engineering, and a PhD in Mobile Robotics from the University of London, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine.

I am also the Executive Director of the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technology (CAST). At CAST, we bring together aging service providers, especially those who are forward thinking, along with innovators from technology companies, and researchers from universities who are involved with developing and evaluating technologies. Our mission is to accelerate the cycle of developing, evaluating and adopting technology that can improve the quality of care and the quality of life for older adults and care providers, and help reduce the cost of caregiving on society. I know it sounds lofty, but I believe anything is possible if we put our minds to it, and have the right players and the right approach.

Q: How did you get started in this industry?

A: I’ve always been fascinated with biomedical applications of engineering, even starting back in grad school. When I was working on my PhD, I started working on designing an autonomous wheelchair for handicapped people, and that really sparked an interest in working with the aging population and people with disabilities. As you know, technology can benefit both. I landed at the University of Virginia as an assistant professor, and was hired to lead their Robotics and Eldercare Technologies Program. Then in early 2002 I attended the inaugural meeting that led to the creation of CAST. I’ve been involved in CAST from its early days.

Q: You’ve been part of the aging and technology industry for some time. What is going well, and what do you think could be better?

A: While we were developing our portfolios of hands-on technology application planning and selection tools, we recognized that while many provider organizations are engaged in strategic planning, many of the plans are shallow, on technology especially. They don’t dig deep enough into their goals, or look at what technologies are out there that could be key to achieving or facilitating those goals, or accelerating them, or reaching them more cost effectively or efficiently. We realized that organizations are adopting technologies but approaching them in a siloed manner. That’s a problem. So the next logical step is strategic IT planning, to identify what’s needed in the IT infrastructure, then layer technology applications on it.

So last year we launched a strategic IT planning portfolio. It makes sense for providers to take the opportunity of their next major investment, for example campus expansion, a new building, upgrades to facilities, etc. and use that project as an opportunity to look at the required IT infrastructure and invest in it first, and then invest in the applications. If you want to implement telehealth, if you haven’t planned ahead, you may discover your IT infrastructure can’t support it, maybe your network can’t handle the bandwidth for video conferencing with the hospital.

Q: How would you say that CAST is helping to change the way we provide aging services?

A: We start with trying to create vision, helping providers overcome the imagination barrier, by envisioning how technology can change the way they deliver services. We created a video for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging to show what we thought the future could be.

We also encourage technology companies to pursue the idea of living laboratories, to pilot technologies in provider settings as opposed to research study labs, or hypothetical environments. And we encourage the use of “user-centric” design, engaging caregivers and older adults in early stages of development, and raising the awareness of providers of developing technologies.

Then we realized that, although this was necessary, it wasn’t sufficient. So in 2011 (at that point I was leading CAST) we realized there was a need for more hands-on tools, and hand-holding guidance to help providers with technology adoption. So we did a scenario planning exercise of future business models that are technology-enabled, and at the same time likely to become mainstream over the next few years. We identified key enabling technologies that are foundational for these models, and then started portfolios of tools to help providers plan for, select, and implement these technologies.

Our first portfolio was on electronic health records (EHRs), and later ones featured remote monitoring, medication management, functional assessment and activity monitoring. This year we tackled the issue of shared care planning and care coordination across different settings, including the entire extended care team. The portfolios provide both a process, and also selection matrices that provide a lot of information about commercially available products, as well as easy-to-use interactive online selection tools that let providers objectively select solutions that are right for their care model or setting, and their must-have functionality and features.

Q: What’s coming up next?

A: The field of aging services is luckily very broad and rich, so we started with electronic health records, and are expanding. Once you create a monster, you have to keep feeding it and taking care of it. So we have to update the tools we created annually. Product offerings change as startups go belly up and their products disappear. Some firms are acquired and products are always enhanced, phased out, or launched. So we’ll continue to enrich our existing portfolio tools, and every year we add a new one. Next year is Care Coordination.

We’re expanding our EHR portfolio to add a 7-stage adoption model. You can measure the adoption of EHR by whether a firm has it or not, but we don’t have a good handle on what functionalities are used. So, with this model in place, we’ll get a perspective from EHR vendors on where their clients are, and later we plan to survey providers to see where they think they are.

And every year we add a new area. On the docket of potential tools are technologies for fall detection and prevention, emergency nurse call and response systems. And social connectedness is another big and exciting area.

We are advocates for technology, and we really examined technology policy priorities this year, and released an issue brief focusing on a few potential bills and initiatives, encouraging members to help us advocate for these things, including the expansion of access to the Internet, both for older adults and for aging service providers, advocating for the expansion of telehealth and telemedicine and removing restrictions on reimbursement. And we advocate for long-term post-acute care providers in EHR incentives. We’d like to see them actively participate in the health information exchange, and to be financially rewarded for adopting and using the new technologies.

Q: So, with all your experience in this space, do you have any advice to offer a new entrepreneur?

A: Sometimes entrepreneurs get too enamored with their own inventions. As an engineer, and as a former entrepreneur who has dabbled in startups, and from my research, I’d say you should talk to your potential clients and users, engage them from the early stages. Have a user-centered design approach. Treat them as co-development partners, and not just as a pilot site or test subjects. They have a lot to contribute, to help ensure that your product has a higher likelihood of being embraced and implemented. Engage with providers who understand the regulatory environment and the business environment. That’s important, for a company to make it through the long and scary Valley of Death from initial investment to making it in the real world as a sustainable business.

Laura Mitchell Consulting is a strike team of experts in the aging and technology industry. Know someone that we should feature in our “Meet the Innovators” blog series? Contact us at info@lmcllc.us and let us know!

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If you had to choose a cartoon character to represent your brand…who would it be?

So you’ve done all the things that businesses do. You have a great business plan, marketing strategy, a fantastic website and you’ve even set up a great social media presence. What more could you need?

What If I asked you to pick a fictional character that best represented your company? Who would it be?

Would it be Daffy Duck? Mickey Mouse? Maybe it’s Punky Brewster or Ward Cleaver. I’m not asking you to leave anything to Beaver here. Nope. I’m trying to encourage you to humanize your company.

People don’t just buy a product anymore, they buy a personality and they buy the emotions they feel while interacting with your brand. While a website is a great way to share information about an organization’s product or mission, it lacks a certain human element. It is your clean storefront, but it may not fully get across your brand “personality.” This is where your social media can be a wonderful tool to be silly, emotional, inspirational, to stand on your soap box and make it clear that there are actual human beings behind your operations, customer support, technical support, sales and marketing. This is your brand personification.

Maybe there are no set rules for social media, but I think we can come up with some rough and ready guidelines.

Don’t do things to others that you wouldn’t want done to you. In other words, embrace the golden rule of social media.
Generate real value for your listener. Make sure you always answer the “what’s in it for me” question with every single post.
Make mistakes! It’s a new frontier out there, so make up your own rules as you go along. Don’t be tied down to perfection. This will stop you at every turn and you will end up going nowhere fast. Make mistakes, embrace them, learn from them and own them. Pivot and move along.

People aren’t perfect, and your digital presence won’t be either. Try new things, have fun, and take risks. If a post isn’t working the way that you intended it to, be agile and adapt quickly. This is what growth hacking and agile marketing is all about. Be human, and you will find your audience understands and respects this.

At Laura Mitchell Consulting, we carefully craft and maintain digital brand identities. We stand out because we go against the grain of traditional marketing rules to create fun, cutting-edge and entertaining social media presences that customers want to engage with.

To learn more about Laura Mitchell Consulting, please email us at info@lmcllc.us or visit us at lmcllc.us.

Blog, Meet the Innovators

Meet the Innovators: Jill Gilbert, Producer of the Digital Health Summit

We recently sat down with Jill Gilbert, an expert on products in the Aging and Technology space, a longtime entrepreneur, and the producer of the Digital Health Summit of CES.

Q: Hi Jill. Thanks for talking with us today. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

A: Glad to be here. I’m Jill Gilbert. I’m the producer of the Digital Health Summit, which is part of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) put on by Living in Digital Times. Living in Digital Times is a production company behind a number of different summits. They brought me in seven years ago to help build the Digital Health Summit at CES. And it’s been a ride ever since.

Q: How did you get into this industry?

A: I started interning in the film industry when I was in college, and got a job with Disney when I graduated. I was in the film industry for 15 years. After 15 years, I was ready to get out of LA, so I moved up to San Francisco, not knowing exactly what I’d be doing.

Around that same time, my dad, as part of his business, was getting interested in resources for seniors and for their families, so I started researching that concept. I started out by looking for resource books. That’s something I used to have in the film industry, with contact numbers for every single thing you’d need for a show. I wanted something like that for senior care, but everything was so scattered. Listings for assisted living were mixed with listings for nursing homes. Everything was a mess. To make sense of it, I started the Gilbert Guide, a local guide to help you find places that would fit your needs best. In it, I tried to set levels of quality which hadn’t been done before, which was an interesting and complicated thing to do.

Out of that we created a national directory of senior care. I remember when we were googling “adult day cares in Mississippi,” building the directory piece by piece. Eventually I moved my focus to products, and specifically how to match seniors and caregivers with products that are coming out of this telehealth space. I started doing videos, called The Daily Wrinkle, where we would test products. I still remember there was a blanket designed for putting out fires. You know how heavy, hard and cumbersome it can be to use a fire extinguisher. For a senior, it’s almost impossible. So we tested this product. We went into my kitchen where (under the watchful gaze of a San Francisco firefighter) we purposely lit a grease fire, and then put it out with this blanket.[pullquote align=”right” cite=”Jill Gilbert, Producer of Digital Health Summit” link=”” color=”#69AE22″]”We want to help companies lower the cost for healthcare, and to bring better healthcare to consumers.“[/pullquote]

My real interest was in products, so we sold that company, and I was brought into my current position at Living in Digital Times to build the Digital Health Summit.

Q: Have you seen any connection with your film background?

A: Interestingly enough, film production lends itself to what I do now, helping to “sexify” the products, helping to bring more appeal to healthcare, so that it attracts the interest of a broader audience, so the press will write about it, and consumers will learn about it.

Q: So, what is the Digital Health Summit? Can you tell me about it?

A: It’s a conference and exhibition where we bring together cutting edge technologies, to try to move the conversation forward. We want to help companies lower the cost for healthcare, and to bring better healthcare to consumers. Our show shines a big spotlight on the industry. CES is an enormous show, and if you’re not in context on show floor, you get lost. So we help package and verticalize certain topics there. If we can put a brand on it, then when people attend the show, they’ll know what to find there, and where to find it.

It has since expanded into baby technology, which was a natural progression from healthcare, because so many devices and products are developed for new moms. Last year we expanded into beauty tech as well. A significant amount of beauty technology comes out of the healthcare world, for example lasers that might help with hair removal or skin discoloration.

Q: What about the Summer Summit? It’s a little different, isn’t it?

A: Yes. The Summer Digital Health Summit has a slightly different focus. It’s about helping companies know how to do better, how to build, scale, grow, and really to succeed. It’s for entrepreneurs, companies in digital health, caregivers, carriers, and investors. It’s a nice mix of people that have to work together to perfect the system, and to move the industry forward, and hopefully in turn move their own businesses forward. We bring a number of elements together, including education, through robust panels, speakers, and case studies. And we bring companies together that can learn from each other or work with each other. And unlike CES, which is unwieldy, we keep this one more intimate, so people can get down to business.

Q: Have you seen changes to the summits over the years?

A: In the beginning, seven years ago, I was practically begging people to come to CES. When that show started, there was one company signed on. Now it’s the largest exhibit at CES. The biggest names in healthcare come to CES. People do real business there. It’s an immense opportunity for companies to be there.

This June will be the fifth Summer Summit. In that time, the biggest change I’ve seen is that the topics and the audience have gotten much more knowledgeable. When we started out, the topics were like “Telehealth 101” or “What is remote monitoring?” It was much more introductory. Now we’re diving deep. The topics are much more focused, and the audience is much more sophisticated. Plus, when we started, we were talking more futuristically, but now we’re talking about real solutions, real results, and real data. Now we’re telling patients’ stories on how digital health saved or changed their lives.

Q: You’ve seen a lot of what goes on in the industry. What do you think are the biggest challenges right now?

A: The technology is right. We have it. It’s here. We’ll continue to see developments, obviously. But how it’s how it’s packaged and delivered, the business models and how to monetize it, that’s a big challenge. We struggle with reimbursements and with adoption. So I think one of the biggest challenges is how to get the technology into the hands of people who could use it, or the physicians who could recommend or prescribe its use. The challenge is engagement, adoption, and long-term use. Many companies have gone by the wayside, and it’s not about the quality of their technology. It’s the other factors. Did they use their money wisely? Did they partner with right people? It’s easy to run out of money, to focus on wrong market, to not meet the regulations. It’s hard to be CEO of a digital health company, very, very hard. I don’t want the job, but I hope that I can help those who do have the job, those companies, to elevate their companies and help them succeed. We are pro entrepreneur.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: We’re starting a new site called Discover Baby Tech. We have a couple of new moms here, which is how we got the idea. I searched high and low for all the latest products and technology when I was preparing for my son, but I couldn’t find a consolidated site for all these technologies. So we’re launching one. This will be a fun blog to write. We’ll be featuring all the products in the space, showcasing them, and letting dads and moms in on what we find. We discovered so many cool things when we were building it out, so it’s fun for us too.

And right now I’m really getting focused on the Digital Health Summer Summit. I’m planning content and building out the show floor. And I’ve already started developing themes and content for CES, which is next January. We’re working on finalizing space for Beauty Tech and Baby Tech for next year. Lots of companies are coming back. We’re taking the shows to the next level, thinking about how best to raise the bar. Those are our big goals.

Blog, Conference

Laura Mitchell to Coach AARP LivePitch Competition

MirchellL_130923_8988a (1) Laura Mitchell will be attending AARP LivePitch as a coaching mentor for two of the competing startups in the quick pitch competition. The fifth annual AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch will take place Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA. An experienced mentor to entrepreneurs, Laura will be returning to LivePitch for the second time. She has also served as a coach and mentor at the Louisville Innovation Summit, AgeTech West, LeadingAge Shark Tank and more.

Laura has over a decade of experience as an entrepreneur. She is a founder of GrandCare Systems, and a founder of the AgeTek Alliance. Her latest firm, Laura Mitchell Consulting (LMC), specializes in guerilla marketing and growth hacking. A thought leader in the aging technology space, she looks forward to sharing her insights with the brightest, most innovative minds in the industry.

The 2016 event will happen in the technology capital of the world. This one-day pitch competition, now its fifth year, is for startups focused on caregiving in the aging and technology space. Contestants have three minutes to pitch to expert judges, including venture capitalists and angel investors, as well as intended end users, consumers whose feedback is gathered and shared in real-time. Startup companies in the aging technology space will benefit from the guidance and oversight of brilliant minds from across the country.

Watch a recap of last year’s event here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-EoH4F9N0

Laura Mitchell is the founder of Laura Mitchell Consulting, a strike team of marketing and growth strategy experts in the aging and technology industry. To find out more, contact us at info@lmcllc.us.

Blog, Meet the Innovators

Meet the Innovators: Peter Radsliff, CEO Presto Services

Q&A With Leaders in Technology and Aging

We recently had the pleasure of talking with Peter Radsliff, CEO of Presto Services. We’re featuring highlights from that conversation today in our ongoing blog series on innovators in the Technology and Aging industry. FOTO Peter Radsliff

Q: Hello, and thanks for talking with us. To start off, can you tell us a little about yourself?

A: My name is Peter Radsliff and I’m CEO of Presto Services. I’m a longtime consumer tech marketing and product guy. I’ve developed and launched a lot of new products in my career. I’ve worked for a well-known consumer electronics brand, a Fortune 100 company, and have been an executive at five venture-backed tech startups. Presto is my latest startup and I’ve been there the past 8 years.

Q: How did you get into the aging industry?

A: It’s funny, while I was working for a Fortune 100 company, I got a call from a recruiter. They identified me as a person who might be a good candidate for the first VP of Marketing hire at Presto when the company was being formed. After about 15 interviews, I ended up not taking the job because it didn’t make financial sense to leave some stock option value I had at my current company.

Two years later when I was looking for my next career move, one of Presto’s board members whom I knew, from a well-known venture capital firm, called me and asked whether I wanted, “my old job back.” Apparently the VP of Marketing Presto had hired was leaving and I now had my second chance at the job. By that time Presto had a new CEO and when I met him he asked whether I wanted the job. I said, “Aren’t you going to interview me? He replied, “Everyone else already has, I’m just the new guy, so why start over from scratch?” So I accepted the job in 2007 and that started my history in the aging/wellness/digital health space. Who knew that a mere year-and-a-half later, I would replace that man as Presto’s CEO. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”Peter Radsliff, CEO Presto Services” link=”” color=”#69AE22″]”From a marketing standpoint, the minute you brand something as being for old people, you make it less marketable as a product.“[/pullquote]

Q: What’s the history of Presto? How did the product come about?

A: Like a lot of products in this industry, a well-known entrepreneur was having trouble communicating with his father who didn’t use a computer, and he said to himself, “You know, there’s got to be a better way.” What was different and interesting about Presto’s founding story is that the company was incubated inside one of the world’s largest venture capital firms. Presto actually started within their office complex and spent a year and half researching how to address this perceived communications gap, whether a new device for interaction with non-PC users could succeed, and what form it should take.

At first, the thought was that they should develop a simple-to-use 2-way electronic communication device. They were, in essence, trying to design an iPad-like device in 2004, long before Apple’s introduction of the iPad in 2010. In hindsight, this was a pretty ambitious project for a startup. It turned out, the senior subjects in the research study didn’t want an electronic device. At the time, there were a lot of additional costs with digital communications, setting up broadband to the home, or cellular services. And bottom line, this type of gadget just wasn’t wanted by the test subjects. So the team went back to the drawing board to ask, what else could Presto be?

Then someone had the idea of using plain-old 8 ½ x 11 inch paper. Working models were made, and more research done, sending email and photos over standard telephone lines that would automatically print out in high resolution and full color. Neither a computer, nor broadband Internet service was necessary for the system. One big worry was the complex user experience and cost of developing hardware with a built-in scanner to enable handwritten scan-and-email replies, but what the research subjects resoundingly stated was that they knew how to reply to an electronic letter, they picked up the phone and called back! So Presto decided to partner with HP to develop the Presto Printing Mailbox. Presto developed the cloud service with many other features for family caregivers, and HP developed the hardware. FOTO PPM

Q: Does that change the way we provide aging services?

A: When a family caregiver has only in-person visits or phone calls to communicate with their mom or dad, that’s a pretty frustrating and limited set of options. Since few people write letters anymore and the speed of life is way faster than the mail carrier, there needs to be some other way to create a visual way to communicate and provide a persistent record of delivered information. Can you even imagine a world without email or text messaging today? Without visual communication and a persistent record, you lose a huge amount of efficacy in the dialogue. Bottom line, Presto provides almost instant written communication between people in the digital world and those who don’t participate, or who struggle with it.

A while ago I received a note from a Presto end-user, a grandmother. The note was on purple, flowery stationery and handwritten in cursive. I’ll never forget it. She wrote to tell me how much Presto had helped her life. How her son lived in another state, but she’d just that morning received a picture of a sonogram of her grandchild about to be born. She ended her note saying, “Thank you, from all the mothers.” As CEO of a technology firm, that’s the reason why I get out of bed every morning.

Q: So, what would you change about this industry?

A: I’d like to see us stop defining people by age. Age really has nothing to do with this industry, we’re ALL aging! One way to look at it is to think about the healthcare industry. The vast majority of healthcare dollars spent in America are spent in the patient’s last few years of life. It’s actually shocking when you look at the healthcare system as a whole. That could have defined the healthcare industry as primarily an ‘age-related’ set of activities. But of course, healthcare is healthcare; people get sick at all ages, and receive treatment at all ages. What if we applied the same reasoning to our industry? Just like healthcare, our products are used proportionately by one age group, seniors, but we should look at them as people first, not by their age.

Belief sets arise and create a divide between those who think of themselves as old and those who don’t. From a marketing standpoint, the minute you brand something as being for ‘old’ people, you make it less marketable as a product, less interesting to news outlets, and investors, less likely to be developed and used where it can do the most good. It’s part and parcel of our youth-obsessed society. I’d like to see us reframe the discussion so it’s not always an age thing, and that would be big step forward.

Q: I hear you’re making some changes. So, what’s next for you?

A: What’s next for me? I’m going back to my product design and development roots. I did my undergraduate and graduate work at San Francisco State University’s Design and Industry department where I later joined the faculty. I have recently been advising students there who have made it to the finals of the ‘Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge’ which is being judged April 4, 2016. I am also taking on some strategic marketing and product advising work at my consulting firm, Product Alchemy (www.prodalchemy.com), where we help our client’s products and services realize their full potential.

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Budget?? I’m a Startup!

Bill: Ted, while I agree that, in time, our band will be most triumphant. The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

Ted: Yes, Bill. But I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.

Bill: Ted, it’s pointless to have a triumphant video before we even have decent instruments.

Ted: Well, how can we have decent instruments when we don’t really even know how to play?

Bill: That is why we NEED Eddie Van Halen!

Sound familiar? Or maybe this is more applicable to my fellow entrepreneurs:

Bill: The truth is, we cannot raise money until we can prove we have revenue.

Ted: Yes, Bill. But I do not believe we will get revenue until we’ve got a great marketing plan and the supporting collateral to pitch investors.

Bill: Ted, it’s pointless to try and pitch investors if we do not yet have enough money to build the product.

Ted: Well, how do we build a product when we don’t have the engineers to do it?

Bill: That is why we NEED funding!

Many entrepreneurs struggle with raising capital, finding themselves with limited resources to keep up with over-funded competitors, while trying to maintain a positive public image. Some of these startups come to me for marketing help, and it’s no wonder. Marketing is often the least funded department in the organization. Sometimes there’s no marketing effort at all. I totally get it. These are the kind of people who will occasionally forgo their own paychecks and fund their organizations from their credit cards. But the good news is that marketing doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.

Here are a few tips on how to better use your limited resources to organically grow your brand awareness.

Stay away from “simply too many notes” (Amadeus)
Don’t try to be the master of everything. Choose what you want to be known for and do it well. You have limited resources, so keep your eye on the ball. Remember, you can always expand the product offerings and services later. You should be able to explain your brand in just a few words.
Pick a target audience
It’s good to know that your product is versatile and expandable. Resist the urge to be everything to everyone. If you seem to lack focus, it will be difficult to acquire investment and hard to keep the company team members and message on target. Remember, you can always expand to other demographics later. Stick to one, and do it well.
You can’t buy me love
It’s difficult to even buy attention these days. Don’t waste your money on paid advertising campaigns. Most likely, a paid TV campaign won’t answer all of your revenue needs. And throwing dollars into paid advertisements won’t be helpful at all if you haven’t first honed your message and positioning. Instead, I recommend spending money on a good, hard-working person willing to get his/her hands dirty and do the grunt work of evangelizing, social media and guerilla marketing.
Your team is everything!
A startup means that everyone needs to be good at a variety of things, as everyone must wear several hats. “That’s not my job” is rarely heard at a successful startup. Avoid hiring too many specialists. Instead hire hardworking and smart generalists who can do whatever needs to be done. You will be glad when your customer service person can also do some social media, answer tech support calls or do training. Once you start to grow, that’s when departments get honed in.
One for all, all for one
In a startup environment, everyone must work equally hard. Avoid becoming a top heavy organization, or risk an unhealthy work environment. Everyone needs to operate as a cohesive team, all employees working toward the same, defined goals.
Know your weaknesses and OUTSOURCE
If you do find yourself in need of specialized work, outsource. If you don’t have someone who is good at graphic design, hire an outside party to create your brochure or website. Make sure to shop around. You shouldn’t be spending all of your dollars on fancy marketing pieces. Get something that is good enough for your needs and know you can improve later with increased funding. Most importantly, stick to what you can do well and ask for help when you need it.

Laura Mitchell is the founder of Laura Mitchell Consulting, a strike team of marketing and growth strategy experts in the aging and technology industry. To find out more, contact us at info@lmcllc.us.

Blog, Meet the Innovators

Meet the Innovators: Michele Ahlman, CEO of ClearSounds Communications

Q&A With Leaders in Technology and Aging

We’ve been talking with innovators in the Technology and Aging industry. Today, we spoke with Michele Ahlman, CEO of ClearSounds Communications. Here are some highlights from our conversation. MicheleAhlman Head shot

Q: Hi Michele, thanks for talking with us today. Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?

A: My name is Michele Ahlman. I’m CEO of ClearSounds Communications, CEO of Clear Digital Media, and Vice President of HITEC Group. I’ve been in the hearing health business for 35 years.

Q: That’s a long time. How did you first get started in this industry?

A: It’s a family business. Early in the 80s, long before there was much technology, my mom founded our first company, HITEC Group. That firm is a distributor of telecommunications products for the hearing-impaired. My dad blew out his hearing as a tank commander in the military, so her entrée to the industry came through my dad’s own personal experience with hearing loss.

My mom was a school teacher in Chicago for many years. She didn’t have an MBA. No plan to take over the world. She liked the idea of giving back, helping people, creating opportunities, doing good, and creating a legacy for her kids. That was her mission. She lived by the golden rule, built strong relationships, and HITEC flourished over the years.

Q: Where did they get the idea for ClearSounds?

A: My dad came on board in the mid 80s. He went to the phone company, Illinois Bell at the time, and he said, “You guys are doing a half-assed job taking care of people with disabilities.” So we took over the special needs center for the phone company, which later became AT&T. We were their special needs center for 17 years, and the incubator for telephone accessibility ideas for folks with hearing loss.

When AT&T got out of consumer products, we realized the industry was left with outdated technology. So at that stage we incorporated ClearSounds, and entered the world of engineering, manufacturing and design. We created a lot of new products for people with hearing loss, and it became very successful.

Q: What do you find to be the biggest challenge in this industry?

A: People with hearing loss don’t form a distinct, easily identifiable group. But what’s intriguing is that, over the years, the profile of the hearing aid user hasn’t changed much: someone in their mid to late 70s who has struggled for over seven years before pulling the trigger to get help. But hearing loss is nondiscriminatory in age, and in fact, it’s increasingly affecting the younger generation. And still, the people who take action hasn’t changed over time. The psychology around it is mind boggling. It’s not like there’s a group of people who raise their hands and say, “I have hearing loss, and I can’t wait for technology to help me out with that.” Even though it could. It’s fascinating.

Q: So what is it? What’s stopping people from taking action?

A: There are a variety of factors at play: cost, convenience and mindset. Cost and convenience is addressed with the emergence of over-the-counter hearing aids. Finally, people have the option of reduced cost and more convenience, but it hasn’t moved the needle significantly. Sure, these new products are moving, but they’re not reaching new consumers. They’re reaching people who were already taking action through hearing care centers and audiologists. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”Michele Ahlman, CEO ClearSounds Communications” link=”” color=”#69AE22″]”It’s not like there’s a group of people who raise their hands and say, “I have hearing loss, and I can’t wait for technology to help me out with that.“[/pullquote]
In 2012, we formed Clear Digital Media, our third business, to deliver real-time content on the issue of hearing loss to patients in waiting rooms of audiologists’ and doctors’ offices, and we’re even expanding into dentistry. Our mission is simple. It’s to educate, entertain, and engage people who could be getting help, trying to address this challenge of hearing loss.

Q: Is there anything you would change about this industry if you could?

A: As we think through the process of distribution, and how people adopt technology, we have to address the question of whether we’re a technology industry or a healthcare industry. How do we address the psychological barrier of people taking action to treat their hearing loss?

Hearing aids are expensive. Getting one is usually an expensive process, and not always a convenient one. Often hearing aids aren’t covered by insurance, and I think that changes people’s mindset. The senior demographic typically looks at the doctor as the expert. Insurance covers the visit, and those two things are associated, part of the medical world, getting treatment. Hearing care is often out-of-pocket, and expensive, so our mindset isn’t the same. It changes how people take action.

Plus, it’s typically not a crisis, not like when you break a leg, and need to get treatment immediately. When we start to lose hearing, it’s gradual. People can raise their voice when talking to you. You can adjust volume control. If there are seniors or grandparents in your life, you’ve probably heard them tell you they’re fine. It’s just that you mumble. People tend to wait until they’re so frustrated, until the process of communication is so exhausting, that they don’t do it anymore. Hearing impacts how we see ourselves, based on how people react to us. It’s ironic that it’s so important, but we don’t take action because we don’t want to admit it’s a problem.

Hearing loss progresses. It doesn’t get better. The younger you are when the hearing problem starts, the worse it’s going to get. But people don’t want to talk about it. It’s all very intriguing, and we need to figure out how to break through the psychological barrier, and let it affect the products themselves, and how they’re delivered.

Q: What is the industry getting right?

A: In the hearing healthcare area, what we’re doing right is realizing that the consumer rules. We can try to control distribution, but the consumer makes the final decision. The true path to growth, to more people adopting the technology, is when the consumer has an element of control over the process. When the distribution model controls the customer’s behavior, when there are limited options for accessing technology, and for finding choices that fit, then nothing’s going to change. And the industry is shifting to understand that better.

Q: What’s next for your companies?

A: We’re about breaking that psychological barrier that limits people from taking advantage of the technology advancements that are out there, that keeps them from picking and choosing, and blending them together into the best Frosty ever (laughs). This is a deep question, that no-one has figured out yet. It’s complicated, but an extremely exciting opportunity for us.

We need to figure this out. ClearSounds has a series of Bluetooth connected devices, so we’re trying to move to form factors that are cooler, and that make people feel better about owning technology. It brings music back to life for people, and that seems key to me, because it’s really important to a lot of people.

On the Clear Digital Media side, we’re engaging patients at the point of care, building loyalty, and providing a tool to educate, engage, and entertain people in the waiting room. All of this helps change the dynamic between the patient and the provider.

HITEC Group is rebranding, from hearing-impaired technology to health-inspired technology. We’re expanding into things that get people motivated. What gets you going? What motivates you to take action? We will be tying all of these things together.

Q: What advice would you give a new entrepreneur?

A: I think there are two types of entrepreneurs. Midwestern-model entrepreneurs have a great idea. They go to family and friends, and do everything they can to launch the business all by themselves, a self-funded, mortgage on the line, small family business. Then there are Big Idea entrepreneurs, who have a big idea, go to venture capitalists to get investment money, give up some control, but blow it out of the water, go public, become wildly successful. My parents are serial entrepreneurs in the model of the Midwestern entrepreneur, and that’s what I’ve always known, so my advice is in that mindset.

Give more than you expect in return, and the payoff is tremendous. There’s no substitute for working hard, no patch, no pill. You have to be ready to bust your ass and be scared as hell. If you can get through that, anything is possible. My own parents worked hard. There were times things were really tough, food stamps, Section 8 housing. I grew up in a world where there was no other option but working your butt off. I remember my parents having conversations where they told each other, “We will make it. We will be successful.” That way of thinking has resonated through my life. And honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.

Laura Mitchell Consulting is a strike team of marketing and growth strategy experts in the aging and technology industry. Know someone we should feature in our “Meet the Innovators” blog series? Contact us at info@lmcllc.us and let us know!

Blog

6 Easy and FREE Branding Tools You Should Already be Using

“Great is the enemy of good,” or so the old saying goes. This can be particularly applicable to a non-traditional marketing technique sometimes referred to as growth hacking, agile marketing, guerrilla marketing, or whatever it is you like to call it— the art of quickly using inexpensive online tools to promote your brand, organization, or message. The best part is that it’s really not expensive. The tools are free. You just need to know how to use them, when to post, and what content will drive engagement.

Essential to this type of marketing is the ability to move quickly, fail quickly and pivot quickly. Often this requires trying out different methods to see what sticks and then going with it. This can be in direct conflict with a traditional marketing approach of controlling the message, achieving perfection, and the notion of “approval by committee,” which unfortunately strips out a lot of the creativity.

Here are 6 things you can do right now to be get your message out there, without breaking the bank.

Post on some type of a Blog and Use It

They’re free, and it’s one of the number one ways for you to share your brand and message. You can also use native applications like LinkedIn and Facebook for longer blog posts, or you can post on both (best of all worlds). Use it to interview your team members for staff highlights, tell your own story, announce a new product line, discuss outcomes and testimonials, or simply write a thought leadership piece that establishes you as an expert in your space. This is your company soapbox. This is your company’s daily newspaper. Use it.

Forget the Rules and Establish Goals

Stick to the point and don’t get wrapped up in marketing rules. It’s not rocket science. You are using methods of communication (online, word of mouth, emails, brochures, presentations, etc.) to spread the word on what you do, why readers should care, and how they can buy. Appeal to their interests and their emotions. Educate them. Make them consider you a one-stop shop for everything they would want to know surrounding your product or service. For example, if you have a hearing aid company, talk about how hearing loss affects people and their families. Educate them on why addressing the problem sooner can save them in the long run. Sell why your solution is better than the others.

Release Release Release

The greatest things about press releases is that you can do them yourself. Don’t wait for someone to release a story on you. Write it yourself and distribute it on an online PR platform. Laura Mitchell Consulting uses iReach to distribute press releases for ourselves and for our clients. IReach has a package that distributes your news to over 1600 websites for just $299. This is great for awareness, credibility and the fact that YOU can write your own message. Stay away from boring, monotonous and dry releases. Make it fun, emotional, engaging, and obviously positive. Sell yourself.

Communicate with Your Contacts

You have a zillion contacts from social media platforms and email lists from trade shows. Make sure you are communicating and sharing information. Broadcast information on your LinkedIn personal page and company page, share articles, and communicate in relevant groups. Use an inexpensive splash email service (MailChimp or Constant Contact) to send updates, specials, news, events and more.

For example:

Send a seasonal/holiday email greeting that creatively incorporates your brand.
Send information on an upcoming trade show to interested parties. (Include your booth number, events they should attend, expo trade show hours, and even link to the show app, so they don’t have to look all of it up.) See? You have done their work for them, and maybe they’ll just use your splash email as a guide at the tradeshow.

Create Value for Your Listeners

Balance out your promotional posts with educational, emotional, and engagement posts on your social channels. Stay consistent to your industry and clientele values, but provide nostalgic photos, videos, trivia, surveys, health and wellness tips, links to interesting and related articles, etc. You can and should always promote your brand, but don’t be spammy about it. The more value you provide, the better your entire brand will be received.

Make a Video

No, really. It’s a great way to share the story of your brand, and it can be cheap to get fairly professional results if you know a little bit about editing. Start by visiting sites like moovly.com or goanimate.com, check out their tutorials and have at it, Spielberg. Tell your story or interview a satisfied customer. Then create a YouTube channel and upload your work. It should be noted that even if you’ve posted your video to your YouTube channel, that posting your video natively to Facebook has proven to be far more effective, letting listeners stay within the Facebook platform and not forcing them to go to YouTube to watch. Take a look at a great guerrilla video here made using only an iphone, microphone, and a Mac (iMovie).

Bonus Tip! Tie them all Together.

This is often where I see a disconnect. Let’s say you publish a press release. Instead of just letting the release sit there, you should immediately post a blog entry about the fact that a press release was just written about you and link to the release. Then, instead of posting the newswire release link all over social media platforms, you’ll post your blog about the press release to all of your social media platforms. (This gets traffic to your domain vs. the PR site.) Consider putting it as a news feature on your website and perhaps even including the link in future upcoming splash emails. Effective social media and digital marketing strategies play together harmoniously without missing a beat.

The hard part? It’s uncomfortable. It defies so many rules we have learned about marketing. It allows for mistakes. But it also allows for great change. With this new age of marketing, you have to learn not to take yourself too seriously, because the greatest reward comes from risking, or better yet embracing, the loss of ultimate control.

And the good news is you don’t have to pick one or the other. You can have it all. With two different marketing strategies (perhaps digital vs. print) you can cater to different demographics. This is the new age of marketing and my advice to you is embrace it. Stop taking yourself so seriously. It’s all about brand awareness. Now get out there and tell your story.

Ready to get started? The LMC team can help you create effective, seamless and cohesive digital campaigns. Contact us. We’d love to help.

Laura Mitchell Consulting is a strike team of marketing and growth strategy experts in the aging and technology industry. To find out more, contact us at info@lmcllc.us.

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