2026 Events & Conferences: Where You’ll Find ROC This Year

Rehab Owners Community (ROC) and Hansei Solutions on the road!

Hansei Solutions is hitting the road again in 2026 to connect with treatment providers, behavioral health leaders, marketers, and innovators across the country. From industry-leading conferences to community-driven recovery events, we’re excited to be part of the conversations shaping the future of behavioral health.

Here’s where you can find us this year — and if we’re missing a great event, drop it in the comments!

January

CAPTASA

📍 Louisville, KY
🗓 January 30–31

The annual conference hosted by the Kentucky Association of Addiction Professionals (CAPTASA), bringing together treatment providers, clinicians, and industry leaders to discuss best practices in addiction treatment, recovery support, and behavioral health innovation.

Learn more:

https://www.captasa.org/

February

BHASE

📍 Miami, FL
🗓 February 11–13

Behavioral Health and Addiction Services Expo (BHASE) convenes professionals across the behavioral health space for networking, educational sessions, and discussions on the latest industry trends, compliance updates, and operational strategies.

Learn more: https://www.bhasesummit.com/event/e1ad0371-7697-4668-b98f-11101e9c063e/-

March

BHB Value

📍 Orlando, FL
🗓 March 5–6

Hosted by Behavioral Health Business, BHB Value focuses on value-based care, reimbursement models, and financial sustainability in behavioral health organizations.

Learn more:

https://bhbvalueconference.com/

April

Recovery Open

📍 Brooksville, Florida
🗓 April 5

A community-driven golf tournament and networking event supporting recovery initiatives and raising awareness for substance use disorder treatment and recovery services.
Learn more: https://recoveryopen-cabot.com/

APNC

📍 Lake Junaluska, NC
🗓 April 14–16

The Addiction Professionals of North Carolina (APNC) conference provides education, training, and networking opportunities for clinicians and leaders in the addiction treatment field.

Learn more: https://apnc.org/events/apnc-2025-fall-conference/

N.O.W. Matters More Golf Tournament

📍 Winter Garden, FL
🗓 April 20

A fundraising golf event dedicated to supporting recovery programs and increasing access to treatment and community resources.

Learn more: https://www.nowmattersmore.org/golf-tournament

May

NAATP

📍 Amelia Island, FL
🗓 May 4–6

The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) conference gathers executives and treatment leaders to address policy, advocacy, operations, and best practices in addiction care.

Learn more: https://www.naatp.org/naatp-national-2026

West Coast Symposium

📍 Palm Springs, CA
🗓 May 28–30
One of the nation’s premier addiction treatment conferences, offering clinical education, CE credits, and networking for professionals dedicated to improving outcomes in behavioral health.

Learn more: https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/west-coast-symposium

July

BHB SUD Business Summit

📍 Chicago, IL
🗓 July 16
Hosted by Behavioral Health Business, this summit focuses on business strategy, investment trends, and operational growth within the substance use disorder treatment market.

Learn more: https://sudbusinesssummit.com/

August

Cape Cod Symposium

📍 Cape Cod, MA
🗓 August 6–9

A leading conference for addiction and behavioral health professionals featuring evidence-based education, emerging treatment approaches, and networking opportunities.

Learn more: https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/cape-cod-symposium

Overdose Awareness Day

📍 Various Locations
🗓 August 31

An international day of remembrance and advocacy to honor lives lost to overdose and promote awareness, prevention, and recovery support.

Learn more: https://metrodrug.org/ioad2025/

September

BHOC26 – Behavioral Health Outcomes Consortium

📍 Dana Point, CA
🗓 September 8–10

This collaborative industry event brings together thought leaders, clinicians, policymakers, and innovators to explore outcomes measurement, accountability, and the future of behavioral health care.

Learn more: https://www.kipuhealth.com/resources/kipu-health-at-bhoc26-dana-point-ca/

Nashville Adolescent Symposium

📍 Nashville, TN
🗓 September 23

A focused gathering of clinicians and operators dedicated to advancing best practices in adolescent behavioral health and substance use treatment.

Learn more: https://cumberlandheights.org/event/adolescent-symposium-2/

Recovery Month Fest

📍 Nashville, TN
🗓 September 27

One of many community celebrations held nationwide during National Recovery Month, bringing together providers, advocates, and families to celebrate recovery and promote awareness.

Learn more:

https://www.recoveryfestnashville.org/

October

East Coast Symposium

📍 Orlando, FL
🗓 October 9–11

A major behavioral health and addiction treatment conference offering clinical education, leadership development, and extensive networking opportunities.

Learn more: https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/east-coast-symposium

BHB Invest

📍 Phoenix, AZ
🗓 October 28–30

Behavioral Health Business’ premier investment-focused event, connecting operators, investors, and executives to discuss M&A, private equity trends, and growth strategies in behavioral health.

Learn more:

https://bhbinvestconference.com/

December

GXC

📍 Las Vegas, NV
🗓 December 6–9

A large-scale behavioral health and addiction industry conference featuring keynote speakers, educational tracks, and exhibitor showcases focused on innovation and growth.

Learn more: https://gxclive.org/

Let’s Connect

Recent revelations about MultiPlan have raised concerns about potential price-fixing in healthcare and have prompted calls for a federal investigation. MultiPlan's algorithms recommend payment amounts for out-of-network medical claims, often driving down payments to providers. This allows insurers to collect higher fees.  

Senator Amy Klobuchar has asked federal regulators to examine whether MultiPlan's algorithms have enabled major health insurers to conspire to reduce payments to doctors, resulting in higher bills for patients.

In addition to Gina de Peralta Thorne, Executive Director of Treatment Professionals in Alumni Services (TPAS), who will speak on our next Masterminds Discussion, Matt Lavin will join us in the latter half of the meeting to discuss the essential information regarding the federal hearing on Multiplan.

See You Tuesday, June 11th

Additional Resources:

• New York Times Article on MultiPlan

• Justice Department Announcement

• Archived New York Times Article

In Poison Pill, a recent Washington Post article, the reporter examined the prevalence of drug sales on social media in light of the record-breaking number of drug overdose deaths in 2021. The article reads: “Snapchat and other social media sites have become “the superhighway of drugs,” said Milgram, the DEA head. “We see this all the time – people will be in a chat about something they care about, a concert or something, and dealers will come in and try to connect with these people.”

The article examines what social media platforms can do to crack down on the drug deals on their platforms, including better self-policing, correcting dangerous misinformation and cooperating with law enforcement investigations.

While those considerations are vital to stopping the overdose epidemic, a question that might be equally of interest to rehab programs is: Can the same tool that is a hotbed of illegal – and sometimes lethal – transactions be used to promote addiction recovery and drug education?

Public Information Campaigns: Positioning Yourself as an Authority (and Promoting Your Rehab Program)

Obviously, social media platforms have long been a mainstay of advertising and promotion for many rehab programs. Some rehab programs may already be very successful at earning clients through traditional advertising on social media or social media campaigns.

Public information campaigns are most often associated with government and nonprofit organizations. For example, the well-known anti-smoking campaigns or other campaigns to raise awareness about public health issues such as cancer screenings or healthy eating, as well as campaigns to raise awareness about social issues such as human trafficking.

But public information campaigns can be a powerful tool in your public relations arsenal. They serve to position your company as a subject matter authority and give you visibility without the impression of self-promotion. An added benefit, of course, is that public information campaigns can make a difference in combatting a major problem. They can correct misinformation, connect the public with useful resources and, sometimes, convince people to take positive action.

Your rehab program can create its own public information campaign or choose to partner with existing public information campaigns such as the DEA’s “One Pill Can Kill” campaign. Consider a joint effort with affinity organizations in your community that have a shared goal of solving the drug crisis, such as the local public health department or local sheriff’s office. In some cases, such campaigns are already underway, saving you the effort of starting from scratch. Volunteer organizations can also be a treasure trove of passion, labor and community visibility.

Maximize Your Influence

Historically, social media sites have functioned differently than traditional media because credibility is built in a grass-roots way. Instead of expensive advertisements or visibility through famous spokespeople, social media has helped companies be successful through the old fashioned “word-of-mouth” and “personal referral” way of promoting a company – amplified by modern communication technology.

You can capitalize on this in two ways:

1. Connect with your social media community with the goal of engaging large numbers of followers in efforts to raise awareness about drug deals on social sites.

2. Enlist the help of “influencers,” or followers with lots of social media visibility.

Social media influencers, are ordinary people (as opposed to celebrities) who built a reputation for themselves on social sites. In an online world engorged with information – both accurate and false –followers rely on influencers as (an ideally trustworthy) source of information that matches their views, and/or interests saving them the trouble of sifting through the daily flood of news themselves.

While you may not have anyone in your social media community with the reach of the most well-known “influencers,” you can certainly find a handful of followers who in turn have a large number of followers and frequent social media activity who share your company’s goal of saving lives.

If you’re unfamiliar with how to create a social media strategy and structure a social media campaign, there are many resources available, including tutorials on most of the social media sites themselves as well as professional informational resources such as LinkedIn Premium. If your budget allows and/or you don’t have the bandwidth to tackle the project yourself, you can also consider subcontracting with a social media marketing expert.

Share your experience with public information campaigns and social media campaigns. What’s worked for you?

Blogging is an excellent method of increasing the SEO of your website. If you have been creating blog content for a while, it may be challenging to come up with new ideas. Rather than creating posts from new topics, you can update the posts that had the greatest success in order to continue to leverage them.

Tips for updating blog posts

Here is a list of tips you can use when updating your old blog posts:

Create a list of your most successful posts

To start, create a list of all your blog posts and determine the metrics you would like to monitor. If you use Google Analytics, you can access information like goal conversion rate, time on page, bounce rate, and social shares. Once you have made your list and included your metrics, rank the posts from best performing to worst performing. The ones at the top of your list are the ones you can focus on updating and resharing.

Review the existing content

Proofread the blogs you have chosen to ensure there are no typos and to confirm all the information presented is still relevant and accurate. It is important to check that all the links still work and are connected to relevant and recent information. Consider reviewing your CTA and ensure it is still optimized. Remember to renew your meta description to reflect the new content.

Work on the appearance

Reviewing your blog means that you can update or add more images, take extra time for formatting, and ensure the look and feel of the article matches your current branding efforts.

Use the same URL and the original post

Instead of copying and pasting your old content into a new post, revise the one you have and keep the existing URL. This will help reduce your chances of getting flagged for duplicate content. Keeping the URL is also important to ensure you leverage any links to the page and can help increase SEO.

Add more information

As you review your blog, add extra context, information, or examples as necessary. If you notice any terms or ideas that are vague or complex, add more detail or simply the ideas. It is also important to revise dated information to help ensure you are presenting the most recent and accurate information. Another good approach is to integrate trending topics into your blogs to help attract a new readership.

Create (more) internal links

As you grow your blog, there are likely to be increased opportunities for internal links. Review your content and try to insert internal links to more recent posts to help create a larger web for all your content.

Include an editor’s note

Add an editor’s note to help keep your readers informed and to increase your transparency. It may be confusing if the publishing date is current, yet the comments are from months ago. It can also help encourage repeat readers to continue reading if they know there is new information available.

Maintain your keywords

If you choose to update your title, ensure you keep the keywords so that the page still ranks for those words and matches the existing URL.

Why updating old blog posts is important

If you have a lengthy blog on your website, updating the posts can seem like a daunting task. However, making the effort has many benefits, including:

• Maintains brand image: By ensuring all the information included in your blogs is accurate and updated, you can help build trust and your company's reputation when potential clients find your content.

• Improved SEO: If your old blog posts are irrelevant or of poor quality, this can negatively affect your overall SEO and hurt your current marketing efforts. There is such a thing as bad content, so minimizing what is considered bad content by search engines can help your rankings.

• Increased opportunities: If potential clients are accessing old and outdated information, it can deter them from pursuing your programs, and this can affect your earnings.

Other ideas

Here is a list of other ideas you can use to refresh and redistribute your existing content:

• Create spin-offs: If you have a great idea from an old blog post, think about ways that you can create a series of spins offs and expand on the information you already have. Consider other angles to the topic and what other additional information might be helpful to your readers.

• Reformat your content: You are likely to have blogs that are more successful than others, so consider repurposing the information into other formats. For instance, you can create an infographic, a podcast episode, or a video to help reach larger audiences.

• Create a highlights section: Consider creating a “highlights”, or “best of” section on your website to showcase your most successful content.

• Share them in other ways: You can share your blog posts on other blogging sites or industry-relevant groups to help grow your audience.

• Share older content on social media: As long as the information is still relevant and accurate, you can share your old blog posts (or updated ones) on social media to help encourage readership.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Email marketing is an effective method to attract new clients, convert leads, and stay connected to others in your network. The success of your email campaigns largely depends on your email open rate. The more people that see your message, the more people will gain value from it, and the more people will take the action you desire.

How to get a better open rate with email marketing

Here is a list of best practices you can follow to help increase the open rates for your email marketing:

Keep your list updated

Regularly update your email list to ensure your subscribers are still interested in receiving your messages. You can periodically remove inactive subscribers and confirm their interest in your messages. Consider offering an opportunity for them to update their preferences. You can also try to re-engage a cold list. For example, conduct a survey or invite them to a relevant industry event.

Segment your email list

People are much more likely to open your emails if they think it is relevant to them. You can achieve this by segmenting your email list into target groups. For instance, you can create a “network” list, a “prospects” list, and an “alumni” list to start. Once you have these segments, it is much easier to know what subject lines and messages to write that will entice them to open and engage with your emails.

Create effective subject lines

Your subject line should gain the attention of your recipient and encourage them to open your email. Try to entice curiosity so the recipient wants to learn more, use numbers or humor, or relate to your recipient by using their style of speaking.

Stay relevant

Provide information that is important and relevant to the audience segment you are targeting. Try to include information they can use and apply in their own life.

Optimize for mobile

Your emails have a good chance of being read on a mobile device, so be sure to account for that in your layout and formatting. Here are a few best practices to follow:

• Use simple formatting with one column.

• Use an appropriate sized font.

• Keep the subject line concise.

• Don’t assume images are being displayed and ensure your message looks good without them.

• Use images with smaller files sizes to reduce load time.

• Use a large call-to-action button.

• Keep links far apart so it is easy to tag on the right one.

Use names

Send personalized messages to your recipients by adding their names. Many email services provide features that allow you to pipe in recipient information easily.

Keep the number of emails reasonable

Although it is important to stay consistent with your communications, be sure to not overdo it to avoid overwhelming or annoying them. Give your subscribers time to digest the content and keep them wanting more. You can consider your target audience and research best practices for email frequency, but usually this means 1-2 times per week.

Provide value- always

With each email you send, be sure to know exactly why the recipient might open it. Provide something that’s valuable, tangible, and resonates with them in both the copy and the subject line. Remember, features, services, and copy about your company aren’t of value to your subscribers.

Make the sign-up process easy

Be sure your subscribers know what they are signing up for and provide an easy process to do so. Try to set expectations, like the value they will receive and how often they will receive it.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

You can engage potential clients and others in your network online by creating an effective Instagram account. While creating a visually appealing and branded grid is important, what matters more is engagement. There are a number of ways that you can increase engagement, and ultimately increase the reputation and exposure of your business online.

What is engagement on Instagram?

Engagement on Instagram measures the number of people that saw your post compared to the number of actions that were taken. There are a number of ways that engagement is measured, including:

• Comments

• Click-throughs

• Shares

• Branded hashtags

• Saves

• Mentions (tagged or untagged)

• Followers and growth

• Likes

• DMs

Effective ways to increase engagement on Instagram

Here is a list of tips you can use to increase engagement on your Instagram account:

Tell a story- While the type of visuals you post is important, focusing on telling a story via your captions, videos, stories, and profile is an effective way to increase engagement. Telling a story is likely to make your account more memorable, as it helps to foster connection and experience with your brand.

Create saveable content- Creating informational posts that your followers are likely to save can help you increase engagement. Quotes and attractive graphics can also inspire your followers to save your post.

Initiate conversations- Just as you wouldn’t wait for someone to approach you at a party to start talking, you can reach out to others to encourage interactions on the platform. Start your own conversations with others in your niche or potential clients to help increase the traction of your account.

Utilize Instagram stories- You can use stories to facilitate informal and conversational interactions with your audience. Be sure to show your face to help add a personal element to your message.

Learn about your audience- Review the demographics of your audience to determine the type of content to post, the tone to use, and the best times to launch your post. Making great content is a lot easier once you realize who will see it.

Create and share relatable memes- Different memes can resonate with almost any audience. Create funny, interactive, and relatable memes for more likes, saves, shares, and comments on your posts.

Respond to questions, comments, and DMs- Be sure to interact with the comments and messages you get on your posts. Engaging your followers in conversation makes them feel seen and heard, and excited to connect with you again in the future.

Create awesome captions- You can add up to 2200 characters in an Instagram caption, so be sure to create your own story. Elaborating on the image, sharing info about an event or your business, and adding context to your post can help others learn more about you, connect with your business, and engage with your account.

Use relevant hashtags- Hashtags are a great way to increase exposure by showing your post in multiple locations on the platform. You can add up to 30 hashtags to a post.

Collaborate with others in your industry- Invite someone to collaborate on a post or reel, so they can share the content with their followers.

Create carousel posts- Carousel posts allow you to post 10 images or videos in a single post. You can get creative with the way you utilize this feature.

Add CTAs to your captions- Adding a CTA or asking a direct question in your captions invites your audience to take an action or post a comment. You can also encourage your followers to click a link in your bio to drive traffic to your site and increase engagement rates.

Post video content- Videos are both eye-catching and engaging and typically receive much higher engagement than other types of posts.

Use Instagram stories stickers- One of the most engaging uses of stickers is the question sticker. Consider using them to host an “Ask me anything” session on your stories.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

A sales script is a set of talking points, questions, answers, and conversational structures that can help prepare and guide your sales team during calls and inquiries, increasing your conversions. They can help your team make effective and accurate sales calls and can keep your message consistent. This helps to engage potential clients, build the reputation of your brand, and gain more admissions.

Benefits of using a sales script

Here is a list of benefits to consider if you are interested in using sales scripts for your drug and alcohol rehab center:

Keeps your message consistent

It is important to keep the message you provide prospective clients consistent so your team is always providing accurate and enticing information. By following a sales script, you can increase the chances of your team delivering an effective message, regardless of who is interacting. This can help make your brand more appealing and memorable and can ensure key points are delivered every time.

Helps keep your team on track

Without a sales script to follow, outreach or admissions calls can be at risk of losing focus. A script can help provide a clear beginning, middle, and end to a conversation and help keep relevance in the conversation. It can provide a list of questions to cover and help the sales team maintain a conversation. It can also bring structure and clarity to the interaction.

Increases listening

Using a script can help your team feel more at ease in a conversation. Instead of thinking of the next thing to say, by following a script, they can spend more time listening to the potential client, participating in the conversation, and providing information that is of best assistance.

Improves effectiveness of the team

By using a script and working to improve it as you go, your sales and outreach team will become more effective, resulting in more clients for your rehab center.

Prepares your team for objections

Using a sales script means that there are answers to questions and responses to objections prepared. This helps your employees be more effective when these points are brought up in conversation and can help them know how to guide the conversation back on track.

Helps make your process scalable

Following a sales script can help you train, manage, and scale your sales team better and faster. This can help you onboard new employees and create an effective process with benchmarks that can be shared with others.

Reduces stress

By having an outline of talking points, your sales team is likely to be more relaxed and confident. A script can help them speak in a conversational tone, rather than worry about what to say next or struggle to fill awkward silences. This can help them experience higher job satisfaction and can also help them build rapport with potential clients.

Creates better voicemail messages

By having a plan for what to say in a voicemail, your sales team can leave a tailored message that increases the chances of you getting a callback.

Lets you test your process

By creating more than one script, you can conduct A/B tests to determine the approach that is most effective. By testing your approach and modifying it as you go, your script will continue to develop.

Improves lead generation

Being prepared with a tested script can help your sales team have stronger engagement with potential clients, leading to higher conversions.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Managing employees involves monitoring the work of your team and providing praise when appropriate. It is important that employees feel valued and respected for the work that they do. Rewarding effort instead of results can help create a more effective team and focus priorities.

Why should you reward effort over results?

Here is a list of reasons why you should reward effort over results in your drug and alcohol rehab center:

Helps prioritize what is right

When the only goal is to complete a job, a business can lose sight of what is important- namely, the treatment of clients and working together with other team members. By rewarding effort, teamwork and values take precedence in workplace processes.

Reduces reliance on luck

Results are often a product of luck, and this can be a source of frustration for employees who have worked hard but have not had the same results as someone who got lucky. Comparatively, hard work is the result of effort, talent, and attitude. By rewarding your employees for their effort, you reinforce the importance of dedication and create more fairness in the workplace.

Creates a sense of purpose

Praising hard work can help your employees realize hard work is more than a means to an end. They learn their efforts are part of a larger purpose and that they are an essential part of the team.

Improves results

Focusing on efforts will help focus the entire team on the long-term goals of your business, rather than the immediate task. Dedicated effort will bring motivation, fairness, happiness, and better results for the overall goals and each milestone along the way. By feeling like the job they do is valuable, employees that receive praise often take more pride in their work and feel good about their roles, increasing office morale and reducing turnover.

Work better than punishment

Offering rewards for positive behaviors is more effective for increasing motivation than punishing the negative ones. By offering praise or rewards, you can encourage employees to take certain actions, or repeat what works.

Reaffirms continuous hard work

By encouraging hard work, you signal to keep working hard, even when a task is complete. If you only offer praise for a completed task, this can signal to employees to stop working hard, or that their job is done, once a task is complete.

Increases trust among staff

Offering praise can increase trust among staff. By recognizing efforts, you can create stronger relationships and increase motivation. The trust you build can also encourage employees to stay working for your company and work harder, as they typically feel more respected and appreciated when they receive praise.

Creates a growth mindset

When you praise employees for their efforts, it signals to them they can take chances and make mistakes, increasing resilience to keep persevering. The more (calculated) risks a person takes, the more likely they are to find success. This mindset can become a habit and develop an effective team. For instance, if you only praise results, it may signal to employees to never take risks or take on a challenge where they fear they might fail. When you praise effort, it encourages faith in skills and abilities and can result in employees pursuing more opportunities for development.

Encourages autonomy

By offering praise for efforts, or for a job that is not yet complete, you are encouraging your employees to continue pursuing tasks in their way in the future, even without praise.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Scholarship link building is an effective way to create high-authority backlinks for your rehab website, gain public exposure, and support your local community. The process involves reaching out to educational institutions and offering a scholarship to students in exchange for a backlink to your site.

Google typically views .edu sites to be trustworthy because of their high domain authority. While the process can be time-consuming, it typically leads to a high return on investment, as the cost of the scholarship may be one of the few costs for numerous, high-authority links to your site.

Benefits of a scholarship backlink campaign

Here is a list of benefits of creating a scholarship backlink campaign for your drug and alcohol rehab center:

High-authority backlinks

A successful scholarship campaign will gain your rehab center a ton of high authority, .edu backlinks, increasing your SEO. Try to target local institutions to increase your search ranking for local results. This can also be helpful in convincing the institutions to participate, as they are more likely to trust and support a local business.

Improved reputation

Providing a scholarship to support a student is an act of generosity likely to be valued by the community. This PR opportunity can help you create a marketing campaign to share with local students whom you might support.

High-quality content

Most scholarship pages ask candidates to submit an industry-relevant essay as part of their application. Not only will this enable you to distinguish a worthy scholarship winner, but it will also give you content to publish across your website, further enhancing your general SEO strategy.

Long-lasting backlinks

Try to extend the application and selection process to keep your high-authority links published for as long as possible. The long life of these links is helpful for your campaign ROI. Creating cycles of scholarships can also help extend the life of the backlinks.

How to create a scholarship campaign

Here is a list of steps you can take if you are interested in creating a scholarship campaign:

1. Define your goal

Defining your goal can help inform all other aspects of your campaign. It can also help you measure your success so that you can adjust your approach in the future. Think of the niche of students you might like to target. The more specific you can get, the more likely people will apply. For example, as a rehab center, you can target students who are in public health, psychology, sociology, or criminal justice programs.

2. Create a scholarship page and legal documents

A scholarship page on your website is the page the school will link to if they choose to offer your scholarship. Be sure to clearly describe the requirements and eligibility details of your scholarship, the amount of your offer, and more about your business and opportunity. You can link to your home page and any other pages on your site that can offer more information.

Consult legal advice to create your legal papers for the scholarship to guarantee the information you provide is correct and comprehensive. This is one of the most important factors when a school decides to publish your scholarship, so be sure to create it carefully.

3. Create and review a prospects list

Focus your list on local schools, as they are the ones most likely to accept your scholarship. You can also select a few important schools across the country to target. When creating your list, be sure to consider the schools that offer programs most relevant to the industry.

4. Create your outreach email

Write the emails you plan to send to schools with your scholarship offer. Be sure to include clear information about who you are, what you are offering, and how to access your information. Review your information to ensure it sounds honest and professional.

5. Send your emails

To help make your email look more professional and increase the chances of acceptance, customize some of the information to the recipient or school. It is also helpful to keep track of the institutions you reached out to, the status of the request, and contact names to help you stay organized.

6. Monitor submissions

Once schools start accepting your scholarship and linking your page on their site, monitor the entries. As there are likely to be many submissions, it can be helpful to dedicate a specific email address and employee to handle the task.

7. Promote your scholarship

You can start to advertise your scholarship to encourage more people to apply. You can use your typical marketing channels, like your website, social media, and emails to do so.

8. Choose your winner

After reviewing submissions, choose your winner and be sure to have reasons behind your choice. Follow the notification process outlined by the school, if applicable.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Wikipedia is one of the highest ranking websites in the world, often appearing higher than LinkedIn and company websites in search engine results. Having a Wikipedia page can be an attractive goal for many professionals and businesses, but the process to get a Wikipedia page is challenging. While Wikipedia pages are often expensive and time-consuming to create, they can provide an added level of credibility and public exposure, benefitting you and your rehab center.

5 pillars of Wikipedia

While Wikipedia has no firm rules, it does operate under what they call its five pillars, including:

• Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.

• Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view.

• Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute.

• Wikipedia’s editors should treat each other with respect and civility.

• Wikipedia has no firm rules, only policies and guidelines.

Conditions for writing a Wikipedia page

Here is a list of conditions that you can consider and follow if you are interested in creating a Wikipedia page for yourself or your business:

• Articles demonstrate neutrality. Content in Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view. 

• You can’t find any information about your technology or topic on Wikipedia. Only write a Wikipedia page if another one on the topic does not exist.

• Your or your company are “notable.” Wikipedia editors apply a “notability” test to determine if your subject warrants a Wikipedia page, and passing that test is a requirement for publication.

• You have multiple, verifiable sources. Wikipedia articles need multiple verifiable sources. These are “articles on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.” For example, university-level textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, and mainstream newspapers. It also helps if these references have their own Wikipedia page, as they are more likely to be considered reliable.

What does notability mean in the context of Wikipedia?

Notability guidelines are some of the most subjective aspects of getting a Wikipedia article. The key point to remember is “Existence does not prove notability.” To be considered notable, you will need to demonstrate that you and/or your business have garnered significant coverage by verifiable, reliable, and independent sources. Wikipedia states: “If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list.”

Having your name or your business name simply mentioned in an article typically doesn’t qualify. Articles about you need to have you as the main subject. This includes articles that are in the form of an interview, a biography, or an article by a reasonably well-known author. These articles should have your name or business name in the title and be published on a recognizable site.

How to get an article on Wikipedia

If your organization is notable enough to deserve an article, and you wish to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, the best thing to do is to provide any useful sources and request that an independent editor create the article. Specifically:

1. On your user page, disclose your relationship to the organization.

2. Go to Wikipedia:Requested articles and find a category under which to list your request.

3. Describe the very basics of what your company is, no more than a couple of lines, and avoid puffery. Be up-front about your conflict of interest by mentioning it in the request.

4. Find a number of independent reliable sources that have substantial information about the topic and provide links to them in the request. Your own organization's material about itself does not count as such a source.

5. Optionally, find a WikiProject related to your organization's campaigns, products, or services if one exists. On the WikiProject's talk page, post a link to your request, and make sure to mention your relationship to the company so the person who creates the article understands where the request is coming from.

If the topic has promise, a member of the WikiProject (or any editor that regularly responds to article requests) may start an article in article space based on your sources. Keep in mind that due to the nature of Wikipedia and its community, being honest in your relationship with your company will increase the chances of your article being improved by the community, rather than deleted.

It may be helpful to create a draft of an article in a user subpage. You can also submit a draft through the Wikipedia:Article wizard, if you feel strongly that you can meet the requirements of neutrality and sourcing. However, be aware that even in a user subpage or through the article wizard, advertising is forbidden. Do not create a draft unless you are reasonably certain you can do so within Wikipedia's expectations. Do not be surprised if such a draft ends up deleted as advertising and be willing to adjust your approach.

If you have little or no experience with editing on Wikipedia, please realize that starting new articles that are soon removed can be very difficult for new users. Wikipedia has a lot of policies and guidelines that are not very obvious and may challenge new users who start from a blank page. The result is that Wikipedia deletes many articles from the site every day. To learn more, see Why was my page deleted?

A gentler introduction to Wikipedia is to begin by making small edits to existing articles, to gain experience and understanding before adding new articles, and to demonstrate a good faith interest in helping the Wikipedia project and not just your own organization. You may also request adoption by an experienced user who will help you learn to edit productively. Take your time and build your article in your user subpage. When you are ready, have an experienced editor review it and then deploy it as a regular article with an appropriate article title.

Tips to get a Wikipedia page written about you or your business

Here is a list of tips you can follow to increase your chances of getting a Wikipedia page published about you or your rehab center:

Go through community guidelines before creating a page

When you create a Wikipedia page, you need to be a registered user. If you start making edits without signing up, you won't gain credibility. You need to be at least 4-days-old as a user and edit 10 other articles before you start thinking about starting your own page.

Get many people involved to build your page

If the only person putting updates on the page is you, there is a probable chance that an editor might erase your content from the platform. It is important that you have multiple people who keep updating information about you on the platform. You can ask your colleagues or other Wikipedia writers to edit your page once in a while. You can find Wikipedia writers on LinkedIn, build a network, and edit each other's pages.

Create content which resonates with a large audience

A larger community of editors and readers would have to verify your content in order for it to last. Think clearly about what you want to write. If you are writing about yourself, think about what exactly have you done that deserves a Wikipedia page to communicate it to the world?

Make the readers feel more involved

The people who are visiting your personal Wikipedia page are almost like a part of your story. They are there because they are fascinated by you and want to know more. You can make the readers feel more involved in your journey by posting images of you and updating your profile regularly.

Hire a marketing agency to create and maintain your page

There are many marketing agencies that create and maintain Wikipedia profiles. It is likely that you will not have the time to make a Wikipedia page for yourself, given the constant updates required. A marketing agency can take care of all these requirements and can set the page up for you. They can even take care of the regular updates and visits that are required to build your profile.

Additional tips and links

Here is a list of things to keep in mind and helpful links you can visit to learn more:

• Every article written on Wikipedia needs to be unique and a summarized version of the information. No copy and pasting from other sources- even if it is your own site.

• Images are only allowed if you own them or they’re not subject to copyright.

• You can read through Wikipedia’s Articles for Creation for additional explanations and guidance.

• Get written about in as many places as possible. To help you qualify as a “notable” person, you and your business need to be featured in multiple, reliable, independent secondary sources. Because Wikipedia borrows its content and credibility from external editorial bodies, there needs to be credible content about you published in other reliable sources.

• Remember that Wikipedia is not a directory. Here is a list of things that Wikipedia is not.

• Use red-linking to your advantage. If there are pre-existing articles on Wikipedia that reference you or your work, you can go into those pages and red-link your name to alert people that your biography is missing from Wikipedia. This will help editors assess whether you need a standalone page or a biography on an already existing page.

• Be cautious about writing your own Wikipedia page, as doing so can be viewed as violating Wikipedia’s stipulations for neutrality. This can lead to the page being rejected or taken down. Even more serious than the initial rejection is that once an article is rejected, it is very difficult to get a new page because Wikipedia flags it.

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Postcards are an effective way to reach out to leads, prospects, alumni, and others in your community. This form of direct mail marketing can help you connect with people in a unique way that differs from the never-ending online promotion. Postcard marketing is a great way to connect with recipients, as they are more likely to pay attention to your message. They might also be more likely to keep or display your content. Adding this human touch to your marketing efforts can attract more clients, increase your number of leads and prospects, and help remind alumni of your services and location.

There are many different postcard mailing services that can help you connect with past or future clients in a way that is easy to implement, cost-effective, and trackable.

What do effective postcards include?

Here is a list of elements to include in each postcard you send:

• Headline: Use a clear headline that conveys exactly what you offer. Try to incorporate action words to prime the recipient for the action you would like them to take.

• CTA: Each piece of marketing material you send out needs to ask something of the recipient. Be sure to include a clear CTA that encourages the recipient to take action.

• Images: Effective images should gain attention and communicate your brand and offer. Try to incorporate images that are crisp, clear, and engaging.

• Offer or information: Your postcard should include information that explains what you offer and how your services can help.

• Contact information: Ensure your logo and contact information is clear so that interested recipients can contact you easily.

Postcard marketing best practices

Here is a list of best practices you can follow when you implement your postcard marketing campaign:

Track your performance

Set up tracking for each campaign and identify KPIs to measure your success. You can include trackable elements, such as tracked phone numbers and unique landing pages or QR codes.

Personalize each card

As you likely will be working from a mailing list, be sure to personalize each card to increase attention and engagement.

Update your mailing list

Ensure that the addresses where you send postcards are current. This will help reduce costs and increase your success through effective targeting.

How to send postcards

Here is a list of steps you can take to create an effective postcard campaign:

• Outline your goals: Before sending out your postcards, outline what you would like to achieve with your campaign. This will help you measure and track your success, and align your messaging.

• Assess your mailing list: When you determine your goal, consider the mailing list that is most appropriate. If you are interested in getting more leads, you can mail postcards to your prospects list. If you are interested in reaching out to alumni, you can use that mailing list to address cards.

• Address, attach postage, and send: Ensure the address is printed correctly and each card has the necessary postage before sending them out. You can also use a postcard mailing service that can help streamline the process. These services allow you to reach out to every house in an area or create location-based campaigns. The prices for these programs are relatively low.

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EAPs (employee assistance programs) provide employees with short-term counseling services to help overcome the challenges they face. Business owners can work with EAPs to promote wellness for employees and their immediate families. As EAPs work in different sectors, they make referrals to service providers with more extensive and specialized services, including drug and alcohol rehab programs. Developing relationships with EAPs means they may refer clients directly to you.

Services provided by EAPs

EAPs provide services that address a number of different issues, including:

• Personal difficulties

• Substance abuse

• Job stress

• Balancing work and family

• Relationship difficulties

• Eldercare, childcare, parenting difficulties

• Harassment

• Family violence

• Separation and loss

• Financial or legal

How EAP referrals work

When workplaces offer support from EAPs, employees access services in one of three ways:

1. Self-referral: The employee seeks the services themselves

2. Informal referral: A supervisor, friend, or colleague makes the referral

3. Formal referral: A supervisor recommends the referral based on job performance

Employees work with an agent to assess and overcome any issues. These agents often make referrals to community resources: companies in their network of trusted providers.

How to become an EAP provider

Each EAP has its own set of rules and regulations and varying application processes. In general, the stipulations typically include maintaining liability coverage and having appropriate licensing. They may also require an active CAQH profile and individual NPI number.

To become a provider, seek the EAPs you are interested in working with, find their application information online, and make your submission. You can also do some research into each provider to assess the types of service providers they work with and read any provider handbooks available.

Before reaching out to EAPs, it is beneficial to define your niche and begin to cultivate relationships.

EAP programs to consider

Here is a list of some EAPs to consider, along with links to their application pages:

• Modern Health- Apply to become a provider

• Talkspace- Apply to become a provider

• Anthem- Apply to become a provider

• Spring Health- Apply to become a provider

• LifeWorks- Apply to become a provider

• Lyra Health- Apply to become a provider

• Corehealth Global- Apply to become a provider

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Vendor referrals are a great way for businesses to help promote each other. They can develop your professional network, help you provide a holistic and complete range of services to your clients, and allow you to gain clients that are suitable for your facility. It helps you and other businesses excel at your specialty, and provides an opportunity to work with others who specialize in different, yet related areas.

How to be a preferred vendor

Here is a list of steps you can take to gain more vendor referrals:

• Communicate well: When working with other businesses, be sure to prioritize communication. This means you should reply quickly to emails, return phone calls promptly, and be open, transparent, and clear in all communications. This will help the other business realize your value and build their confidence in referring you to clients.

• Work well with others: To gain vendor referrals, it is important to treat the other business and the people you interact with in a way that makes them feel valued. Build trust in your relationships, and add value in everything you do. This will help keep you top of mind and will help your vendors think about how you can be of value to others that they refer.

• Interact online and help promote others: It is important that relationships with vendors are mutually beneficial, beyond direct monetary compensation. Do your best to promote your vendors when possible; share their social posts, promote their events, services, and products, and determine ways you can work together for mutual benefit.

• Express your thanks: Say thank you and express your gratitude often. If someone you work with does a great job, reach out to them and let them know. By expressing your thanks, you help develop a relationship and exemplify the way you run your business.

Tips to gain vendor referrals

Here is a list of tips you can follow to gain more vendor referrals and build mutually beneficial relationships with them:

Assess who is working with similar clients.

Once you identify the groups, organizations, and individuals working with potential clients, develop a relationship and build trust with them. When a vendor refers clients to your rehab facility, it means that their own reputation is on the line. Be sure to express your abilities and convey what it is like to access your services so they have reassurance about their referral. The goal is to make them look better for referring you.

Remember that people refer people, not companies.

Many people trust and refer people rather than companies. Remember this as you interact with others, especially vendors.

Make agreements with others.

You can create a vendor referral agreement with a group of other businesses to help promote each other, work together, and offer a full continuum of services to your clients. When choosing people to work with, be sure to consider the following:

• Learn about the other company- Just as you strive to be worthy of a referral, ensure the other business is worthy of yours. Do some research into their standard of services and remember that referring others reflects on you and your standards.

• Outline the benefits- Once you have identified others to collaborate with, outline the benefits of doing so. Think about your client base and services and how you can work together to reach more people and serve them better. By outlining how you can work together to serve the same people, the benefits of the relationship will be more clear.

• Create an agreement- Be sure to determine how the agreement will work and ensure that both sides are doing the work. You can clearly outline the services you provide and any limitations that are in place to help streamline the process. Identify the ways that your rehab facility can be suggested to the vendor’s clients, and vice versa, so both parties are informed and aware of the process.

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Business networking groups are a great way to connect with others in the industry, share concerns, offer advice and ideas, and grow together. They provide an opportunity to build relationships in a strategic way, provide and receive support, and connect with local business people.

How to create a business networking group

Here are a few considerations and steps you can take if you are interested in creating a business networking group:

1. Find a venue: Choose a favorite local spot (or a couple) that offers a large table or side room where you can regularly meet. Inquire if they can book it for you at regular intervals for your meetings.

2. Name your group: Create a catchy name for your group to help with communications and cohesion.

3. Create a goal or mission statement: By creating a goal, you can help others know what your group is about immediately, encourage like-minded people to join, and help keep the focus on the purpose of the meetings.

4. Strategize and invite members: Review your contact list and see who might benefit and contribute to your group. Think of the number of people you would like to join, and invite a few more than that, as not all invitees are likely to attend. Consider the people that might have questions, could offer advice, and are likely to show up.

5. Create a loose agenda for each meeting: By creating a loose agenda or topic of conversation for each meeting, you can help keep the conversation on track and ensure that important issues get covered. You can also choose to feature a member each time, where they have the opportunity to set the topic and guide the conversation to address their needs and concerns.

Tips to create an effective business networking group

Here is a list of tips for creating your own business networking group:

Identify your purpose

Determine the goal of the group and how you can focus on the people that would benefit most from the meeting.

Provide value

Try to identify what other groups are doing in your area, and offer something different. This will help recruit members, encourage engagement, and provide opportunities to meet with other professionals that cannot be found anywhere else. To help with this, think of your general topic, and keep narrowing it down.

Address member concerns

Provide an opportunity for members to bring up concerns at your meetings or contact you privately so that you can address the topic at the next meeting. When your members feel like they can utilize the group to address their specific concerns, they are more likely to participate and feel connected to the group.

Use scheduling tools to keep your group updated

You can use online tools to help schedule your meetings so that all members are updated. Consider scheduling a few in advance so your members can plan ahead. It is important to create a routine with these meetings so people know what to expect and can start anticipating the event.

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Here is a list of three must-read marketing books to help you run your business:

The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Find Your Hook. Communicate Your Message. Make Your Mark

by Dan S. Kennedy

This book focuses on how to create effective massaging to promote your business, position your brand, build excitement, and increase your profits. It addresses social media marketing, networking, and strategic memberships.

Your marketing strategy should have three main components: knowing how to create a proper image, finding the best media vehicle, and targeting and reaching your audience. Your marketing message should be centered on your USP to help differentiate you from the competitors. It is the reason potential clients choose you over other businesses. Your USP should be visible to potential clients and easy to understand.

Marketing messages are most effective when they are clear and shared at the right time in the right place.

Three key lessons from The Ultimate Marketing Plan

Here is a list of the three key lessons from this book:

1. Target practice: Your offering will not appeal the same way to everyone. The most effective way to connect with your audience is to separate them into groups that you can target individually.

2. Your company’s persona: Your marketing messages and business actions should all convey that you have a stable and reliable business.

3. Useful approaches in a customer service program: Treat every person like they are valuable. Know every detail about your business and offer to always provide accurate and complete information. Anticipate issues and have a plan to overcome them.

Purple Cow

by Seth Godin

Purple Cow makes the argument that the old way of building a business and promoting it no longer works. To be successful in today’s marketplace, you need a “purple cow”- a remarkable and unique product or service that stands out in the market. When people see a purple cow, they tell people about it. This is incredibly important, as an overwhelming amount of marketing messages bombard the public every day.

Marketing success no longer relies on having the largest marketing budget or creating the most advertisements, it is about having a product or service with the most influence.

Focus on the early adopters of your business and offering. By targeting your marketing messages to them and a small niche, you can help build excitement among the people who are already invested in your brand. They, in turn, will promote it via word of mouth. This message spreading is what will reach the rest of your larger audience, and will be more effective than trying to reach them via traditional mass marketing campaigns.

Success doesn’t come from pleasing everybody. In order to stand out, you are going to upset people and that is ok. Don’t be scared to create and promote your purple cow. The purpose of Purple Cow is to show that risk-taking is safer than playing it safe. It is imperative to create things worth talking about. 

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

by Robert B. Cialdini

This book explores why people agree to things and outlines that isolated information can lead us to make mistakes.

Six key principles of persuasion

Principles of persuasion are mental shortcuts used to help navigate the world and make decisions, including:

• Reciprocation- People often feel compelled to repay a favor. Therefore, if you do something for someone, it is less likely that they will say no if you ask something of them.

• Commitment & Consistency- Once we have made a decision or have taken an action, we are likely to maintain it to appear consistent and committed and to justify our actions. If you can convince someone to take a small initial action, you have a higher chance of convincing them to take another action in the future.

• Social Proof- This can be likened to peer pressure or herd behavior. It is the idea that we perceive something as right or wrong depending on the number of people that are already doing it. With the opinions of others as a guide, we can make decisions even when we are unsure of ourselves. 

• Authority- People are more likely to believe and be persuaded by people of authority. This stems from lessons of obedience from childhood.

• Liking- People are more likely to agree to something if they know the person making the request and genuinely like them. There are two factors that typically influence whether we like someone in this context: physical appearance and similarity.

• Scarcity- People are more likely to consider something to be of higher value if there seems to be a limited supply of it. The fear of loss can be stronger than the desire for gain.

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A superfan can be one of your biggest assets in the drug and alcohol rehab industry. They are people that support your business, staff, offering, and brand. They recommend your business to others and support your efforts and strategies. Their loyalty to your brand inspires others to pursue your services and become clients themselves.

Superfans know they can rely on your business when they need you, and in turn, you know you can rely on them to promote your brand.

Why are superfans important?

Superfans can become some of your best ambassadors, and they can encourage others to become clients or superfans themselves. The more superfans you have, the more likely you are to experience the benefits. Superfans build enthusiasm around your business, talk to others about your facility, help recruit new clients, share your content, promote your events, and encourage the people that need your services to seek them.

Pyramid of fandom

Author of the book Superfans: The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, and Build a Successful Business, Pat Flynn, identified a pyramid of fandom1. It categorizes people that have ever interacted with your business into four sections:

1. Casual: This is the largest segment of your client base and is typically engaged through online advertising and other marketing methods. They typically know little about your business or offering.

2. Active: This group has taken an action with your brand. They are aware of your offering but are typically unwilling to put in the effort to engage with you. This includes email subscribers or people that follow you on social media.

3. Connected Community: Your connected community is the group of people that interact with your business and talk with each other. This group helps build brand awareness.

4. Superfan: This is the group of people that engage with your brand, share your content, recommend you to others, and attend your events. Nurture this group to help encourage their ongoing support.

How to create superfans

Here is a list of steps you can take to create a group of superfans:

1. Assess your approach to customer service

Be sure to offer personalized assistance to each client and build a relationship with everyone who contacts your rehab center. Identify their challenges and short and long terms goals, and create a unique plan that can help them.

2. Exceed the norms of the industry

Create a strategy to improve your reputation in the industry. Be sure to empower your staff and provide resources to help them become leaders in the industry.

3. Create a community and connect with them

Assess the people that interact with your rehab center, either online or offline, and make an effort to connect with them and create a community. This can involve inviting them to an event, interacting with them online, or calling them directly to see if there is anything your facility can offer them. Strive to get to know people on a personal level and engage in conversations with them. Create opportunities for clients (past, present, and potential) to interact with each other.

4. Provide ongoing value

People know when you are interacting with them just to gain their business. It is important to offer value beyond this. This includes creating informational content, hosting events, and creating alumni groups to continue engaging your community.

5. Make people feel special

Superfans show their support because of the way you make them feel and the results they have experienced because of your program. Focus on how you can continue to bring change and value to them. You can focus on the big picture, but putting in the effort to make positive small changes also helps to maintain this sentiment.

Using superfans to change your marketing approach

Common marketing funnels look like an inverted pyramid of fandom, where efforts are made to move people from leads to clients. By identifying your superfans, you can focus on nurturing them and building relationships, which in turn creates a group that supports and promotes your business and attracts more clients.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Direct marketing is a method of connecting with your alumni and leads by sending a message straight to them. This strategy is an effective way to send a targeted message to a specific segment of your audience and encourage them to take an action.

Methods of direct marketing

There are a number of different methods you can use to launch a direct marketing campaign, including:

• Text messages

• Email

• Direct mail

• Chatbots

• Event marketing

• Telemarketing

• Targeted social media ads

Benefits of direct marketing

Here is a list of benefits you may experience from direct marketing:

• Optimize budget: You can make the most of your budget by targeting an audience that has already expressed interest in your facility. It can help you set more realistic goals, make an impact, and increase clients. Many of the methods used are also cost efficient.

• Increase opportunity to analyze results: The nature of direct marketing allows you to better track and analyze your efforts, and adjust them as necessary to increase effectiveness.

• Build and maintain relationships: This approach allows you to contact your alumni and prospective clients directly, to help keep you top of mind and offer value. This helps you learn more about their thought process and develop an ongoing relationship with them. You can use the information you gain to inspire future projects or new campaigns.

• Distribute shareable information: Direct marketing campaigns are tailored to your audience, so they are likely to resonate with the information and share it with others who can benefit from your services.

• Inform other marketing strategies: The information you gain from a direct marketing campaign can help inform all other marketing efforts. You can identify what works, what doesn’t, and where your best opportunities exist.

How to create a direct marketing campaign

Here is a list of steps you can take to create a direct marketing campaign:

1. Review your contacts

Determine who you wish to contact and target for your direct marketing campaign. Assess your contact list and segment it as necessary. You can also use the leads you have generated from an inbound marketing campaign, or choose to target people on social media.

2. Create the content

When creating your content, be sure to create each aspect strategically. For instance, if you choose to run a direct marketing campaign via email, ensure the message, subject line, images, and time you plan to send it are all optimized. Be direct in your messaging; encourage your audience to take an action by being straightforward about your request and including a clear CTA.

3. Enable tracking

Most methods of direct marketing offer a way to track your success. Ensure analytics are enabled for the method you choose so that you can accurately track your campaign.

4. Conduct a test

You can create an A/B test on a small group to assess which of your messages performs the best. Be sure to only adjust small elements at a time to ensure you are evaluating your options correctly.

5. Launch the campaign

Once you have determined the version of your content that performs the best and determined the best day and time to send it, you can launch your campaign.

6. Assess the results

Give your campaign some time before you make conclusions about it. You can assess your analytics and look for measures such as bounce rate, open rate, engagement rate, and action on your CTAs. You can then use this information to inform your next campaign to continually improve your process.

Principles of direct marketing

To help you learn more about the best way to create a direct marketing campaign, here are a few principles to keep in mind:

• Focused: Direct marketing campaigns focus on a specific segment of your audience. All aspects of a campaign are tailored to this segment.

• Communicative: As the campaign is focused, you can speak to your recipient directly, rather than create a generalized mass marketing message. Be sure to communicate what you want them to do.

• Influential: Direct marketing campaigns aim to convince your recipients to take an action. Outline clear goals for your campaign and focus on achieving that goal with every step.

• Measurable: One of the main purposes of direct marketing it to measure your success to inform your future campaigns. Ensure all the important metrics of your campaign are trackable to help refine your approach.

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The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) is a nonprofit professional membership organization with over 945 members that supports addiction treatment providers through leadership, best practices, resources, systemic law, and policy advocacy.

NAATP’s service as a convening body brings the industry together to promote collegiality and the dissemination of best practices. They are premised on the idea that professions develop and succeed when their members communicate, collaborate, develop standards, and advocate together through a professional society.

They offer a reputable and comprehensive source of addiction service providers and supporters. All NAATP members in good standing appear in their directory and search criteria are based on facility demographics. These listings help clients understand addiction and navigate different treatment types. They also provide information to help clients distinguish trustworthy treatment services and learn how to evaluate standards of care.

Benefits of joining NAATP

Members of NAATP can enjoy a wide variety of benefits, including:

• Search engine visibility: NAATP members gain a place in the searchable Membership Directory. Inclusion in the directory helps your SEO with a relevant, high-authority link, along with increased public visibility. Read more information about the NAATP Directory Search Engine Optimization. 

• Consumer confidence: Membership in NAATP improves your visibility with a listing in the searchable Addiction Industry Directory, which serves as a comprehensive source of addiction service providers and supporters.

  • Member Seal: You can display your membership in NAATP on your website. Upon membership approval, you will receive the official high-resolution NAATP Member Seal.

• Networking and dialoguing: Membership provides opportunities to meet other leaders in the industry to share resources and solve problems together.

  • Annual Leadership Conference: The National Addiction Leadership Conference remains unique and critically important as the leading educational and networking event within the addiction treatment field. Members receive discounts on attending and exhibiting at the national conference. 

  • Regional meetings: NAATP Member Roundtables are regional events held throughout the year for organizations to learn about membership services and benefits, and to collaborate with addiction treatment professionals in your area.

  • Member-only forum: Another way to connect with other NAATP Members is through the Member to Member Forum (M2M). This member-only tool allows for meaningful information exchange between treatment center professionals.

• Education and training opportunities: In addition to a national annual conference, you will receive a complete list of Clinical and Operational Resources which include access to past NAATP webinars, conference materials, and more. 

• Capacity building resources: You can connect with insurance, billing, staffing, and human resource experts to keep your center effective and profitable.

• Awards & Recognition: Nominate and honor the industry leaders you most admire and participate in an activity that features your center.

• Careers: You can use the Job Center to help find qualified staff in the addiction treatment field. You can also post a job opening within your organization for free.

• Salary Survey: The National Addiction Industry Salary Survey helps the national treatment provider community create fair compensation packages, recruit and keep competent staff, and manage your budget. All members that participate will receive a complimentary copy of the completed report.

• Outcomes data: The addiction treatment Outcomes Pilot Program (OPP) was designed to test a method and produce a standardized, uniform, and replicable methodology for outcomes tracking. To learn more, see the Outcomes Measurement Toolkit.

• Public policy voice: NAATP represents the addiction provider constituency in Congress and throughout the policy-making community, through the Washington DC-based Policy Representative and NAATP-PAC (Political Action Committee). NAATP is your voice and advocate in Congress and at the policy-making level.

• Employee retirement 401(k) benefit plan: NAATP has partnered with well-known retirement industry providers to offer the NAATP Retirement Solution. You can offer a retirement plan to your employees, while reducing administrative burden, transferring fiduciary risks, and reducing costs.

For a comprehensive overview of member benefits, visit the NAATP Member Benefit Guide.

What are the treatment program selection criteria?

Here is a list of provider member criteria to be accepted to NAATP:

• Must provide direct professional addiction recovery services

• Must be licensed or certified by the state in which you provide services

• Must be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) or the Joint Commission (JCAHO) or other recognized accrediting bodies.

• Pay and remain current for NAATP dues

To learn more, visit the Guide to Treatment Program Selection and the Membership Terms and Conditions page.

If you are interested in joining the ROC community, please complete this form for consideration: https://tinyurl.com/5btxe39z

Testimonials are one of the most effective methods of attracting clients. They share first-hand feedback on your program, company, staff, and facility. As video content dominates the internet, leveraging video testimonials can be incredibly effective for your marketing approach.

Video testimonials can help you share the story of what it is like to enter and complete your program. The story provides your audience with authentic word-of-mouth proof of your program’s success and can encourage them to think about how it may also benefit them.

Choosing one of your most successful clients is helpful when recording a testimonial video. Think about the people that you have a strong relationship with and who have experienced continued success with your program.

How to record a great story

Your testimonial video should focus on “the why.” Your participant can share the story of their experiences before coming to your rehab facility, why they decided to come, what the program was like for them, how their life changed, and what their life is like now. This is what ultimately will connect with your audience.

Instead of listing the features of your program, be sure to focus on the benefits. Encourage your participant to speak about how your program helped them overcome their addictions and what their life is like as a result.

When prompting your participant, avoid yes-or-no questions, as these don’t encourage story-telling. Your story should aim to create an emotional connection with the viewer and convey the personal insight of your alumnus.

While you can prompt your participant to speak about certain topics, be sure to let them share their story in their own way. The testimonial should be a conversation, rather than a question-and-answer session. Let them discuss their challenges, obstacles, and feeling before your program. By having them describe their pain points, you can better connect with people that are currently experiencing the same things.

Listen carefully to what your participant is sharing so that you can encourage further detail about important points or ask for clarification if needed.

During all phases of the conversation, ensure you are recording. You don’t want to miss out and not record something important or ask your participant to share an insight again. By continuously recording, you can also help your participant forget the camera is even there, which can help them feel more relaxed and comfortable.

While the recording process shouldn’t be scripted, it is important to incorporate a few elements to help the flow of your video:

• Introduction: Have your participant introduce themselves and share a brief description of their experience with your rehab facility.

• Content: The main content of your testimonial video includes the story of your participant and how your rehab benefitted them. Be sure to focus on tangible results in this section that viewers can relate to and want for themselves. Consider what prospective clients might want to know about your program and try to integrate that information.

• Conclusion: The conclusion can recap how the program helped your client and how they were satisfied with the results.

Tips to create an effective testimonial video

Here is a list of tips you can follow for an effective testimonial video:

Use real clients and let them tell their story

Viewers will see through a fabricated testimonial. Previous clients are your best opportunity to share insights about your facility and they will appear more genuine and authentic when doing so.

Find an awesome location

To find the best spot to record your video, consider the background, lighting, and atmosphere of the location. Ensure the one you choose is quiet and free of distractions.

Keep it natural and comfortable

Be sure to focus on recording the natural responses from your participant to help make your video believable. While preparing for the video is important, you don’t want to write a script to follow, as this will seem forced. Let them use their own words and share their story their way. To help them be more comfortable, consider having drinks and snacks available, and be sure to greet them and brief them about the process before you get started. You can also inform them to dress comfortably; no need for a formal dress or suit and tie.

Plan the structure of the video

Just as you would prepare an outline for a paper, outline the segments you hope to include in your video to help be more effective while recording. This will also help you remember to include all the important aspects when you edit the final version of the video.

Help your interviewee prepare

Before you record the testimonial, you can send your participant a list of questions or topics you are planning to address so they can think about what they are going to say. You can email this list to your participant a week in advance to give them time to think about their contributions and ask questions if needed.

Consider mobile

Most people will watch your testimonial video on their mobile device, so be sure to consider this for both the length of your video and the formatting of the final version.

How to make your testimonial video look professional

Here is a list of approaches you can use to help make your video more professional:

• Use transitions: Including transitions between clips is a great way to increase the production value of your video. Keep them subtle for the best results.

• Use graphics and text: Adding graphics, text overlay, or other visual elements can help keep your viewers engaged, provide more information when needed, and add branding elements to the video.

• Use different camera angles: Using a few different angles can help add variety and make your video more engaging. When editing, ensure there are seamless transitions.

• Use B-roll footage: Incorporate different scenes and visuals in your video. This can help you create variety and supplement the message you are sharing.

• Keep it short: Viewer attention spans are short. You want to ensure that you keep your video below three minutes. In this time, aim to cover about four or five points. If your participant has lots to say, consider dividing the footage up into a few different clips. You can then use one interview to create numerous pieces of material to use across your marketing channels.

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Creating an effective alumni program is a way to continue supporting clients after they leave your facility. These programs help to connect former clients with others in similar situations and help them maintain contact with your services and support when needed. Alumni programs can help your former clients avoid relapse, continue to build healthy habits and relationships, and offer a support system that can be critical to their sobriety.

By maintaining a connection with your clients, you can help them stay committed to their recovery. This can help improve the quality of your service offerings, build the reputation of your facility, and help support your clients as they progress on their journey.

How to get started

Here is a list of steps you can take to plan and create your alumni program:

Align the goals and values of your business with your program

By aligning your business and alumni program, you can help to maintain consistency in your message and delivery of services.

Outline the important activities and schedule

You want to ensure you offer a variety of activities that are consistently scheduled to help keep alumni engaged. Consider how often you want to hold events, the budget and staff needed, and the activities you plan to offer. For instance, you can consider offering regular events on-site, weekly or bi-weekly meetings, mentorship or buddy systems, and outings.

Determine the resources and staff that are needed

It is beneficial to delegate or hire a few staff members to coordinate the alumni program. They can create ideas for each activity, make arrangements, promote them, and run each event. You can also compare the budget you have to the one you need and think about how you might cover any additional costs.

Create a communication and promotion strategy

After you have a rough schedule and have delegated the tasks, you can then think about how you will communicate with your alumni to invite them to take part and keep them updated as the activities progress. Consider how you plan to convey the value of the program, why they should join, the channels you will use, and how you plan to account for people in different stages of the recovery process. Be sure to assess your alumni and client contact list to ensure you have the information needed to contact them.

Create an effective announcement

Once your program is ready to launch, inform your contacts that the program is live. Encourage them to get involved, let them know they will receive updates as the program progresses, and list where they can connect with others and find out more.

How to manage and promote your program

Here is a list of things to consider to help ensure the success of your alumni program:

• Create an email reminder system: Be sure to create a mailing list for your alumni program to help keep participants informed and involved. Consider creating special content (ex. blogs) to share with them, inform them of upcoming events, connect them with resources in the community, and stay present in their inbox to remind them you are still there to help.

• Create mentorship programs: By offering mentorship programs, you can help your alumni learn from others who have already overcome the challenges they are facing. These people can encourage your alumni to try new things, develop new skills, and celebrate their achievements. It also provides the mentor with an opportunity to give back to the program and celebrate their own successes along the way.

• Facilitate volunteer programs: By encouraging participation in volunteer activities, your alumni program can give back to the community. This can help build confidence in your alumni, develop their skills, and help them stay busy as they exit in-patient rehab and get back out into the world.

• Create a group on Facebook: By creating an exclusive group on Facebook, your alumni can stay informed, interact with others, and share their experiences and concerns. An online community can connect people with the same goal; to maintain a life free of drugs and alcohol. This can help alumni see the progress of others, share their milestones, and have a community accessible at any time and from anywhere.

• Stay in contact: To help your alumni stay connected and access the resources they need, be sure to reach out to them after they leave the program. Consider giving them a call or personal email to see how they are doing and ask if you can do anything to help. Consider implementing a hotline strictly for alumni to access your services when they need them the most.

• Create an activity calendar: By having an easily accessible outline of all the activities for your alumni group, you can help encourage attendance and build anticipation for your events. This can also help your alumni build a routine around your program offerings. Be sure to include guest speakers at your facility, outings, applicable meetings, and any retreats you plan.

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