Behavioral Health Industry | Internet Marketing & Social Media

Staying Alive and Prospering as a business in the behavioral health industry – leader of the pack

By Craig & Wendy Rogers

In the beginning…. I can remember when I first realized that I had no other choice but to build a web site.  I came to realize that I had to advertise my start-up boarding school project or fail, and the only viable advertisement venue was the Internet.  I knew absolutely nothing about web sites or Internet Marketing.  However, my back was against the way and I was either going to get on board, despite my ignorance and lack of marketing experience, or see my dream die.  That was in 2001.

At the time our first web site was built Wendy and I had a year of experience under our belts, having started Abundant Life Academy in December of 2000.  Essentially, we started our dream on prayer, hope, and faith. Three of our first 4 students came to ALA indirectly from Educational Consultant referrals.  Those were are first, and only, referrals from Ed Cons.  Prior to starting Abundant Life Academy, Wendy and I had partnered with John Anderson and Dr. Keith Brieland, and with Michael Cummings as we started Positive Impact.  We marketed Positive Impact exclusively through referrals, and almost 100 percent of the referrals came through Educational Consultants.  Early on John, Keith, Wendy, and I, courted Sal Rudman, convincing him to become our Marketing Consultant.  Sal became our Educational Consultant to our Educational Consultants.  He did a fabulous job, and in our first year at Positive Impact we enjoyed the referrals from 35 different Educational Consultants.  Trust me, it was a lot of work, and none of us got any sleep during that first year.  That all happened in in 1998-99.  After getting Positive Impact off the ground and established Wendy and I left to start Abundant Life Academy, a Christian (faith-based) therapeutic boarding school (started out as a small home) for troubled teens.  Abundant Life Academy, an academic-based therapeutic program established on Positive Peer Culture and Leadership Training, was our dream, a vision we had contented for, sacrificed for, giving all of our heart to.  When we started we had no idea that the Educational Consultants would not follow us into our new venture.

Starting a new faith-based school I was oblivious to the fact that very few Educational Consultants referred to faith-based programs.  Even though Wendy and I, through our good work with Positive Impact, had built strong reputations with the Educational Consultant world, as the founders of a Christian boarding school we were virtually ignored.  Some Educational Consultants, those we had built friendships with, were brutally honest with us by telling us that faith based programs are not used by the majority of Educational Consultants.  This news was not good at the time, totally devastating. But today, because of the fact that we were totally ignored,Abundant Life Academy sits on the top of Internet Marketing heap, out performing all other schools, programs, and corporations in the behavioral health industry.  Basically, with no other place to turn, we were forced to go to the Internet and learn the hard way.  Over the last 10 years I have become one of the experts in Search Engine Optimization, having learned how to market a business successfully through the Internet. So, we thank God that we were forced to find alternative ways to recruit and attract families.  Looking back at the whole affair, remembering back on all the trials and tribulations, reminiscing about our ignorance, I have to cringe.  I still don’t know how we made it.  But the important thing is that now many people from our industry have turned to Abundant Life Academy for help. The tables have been turned.

Having the knowledge, experience, and success in Internet Marketing makes Wendy and I quite a commodity these days.  So many schools, programs, and services in this industry are suffering as the old referral networks have dried up and stopped providing referrals.  Schools who in the past have relied solely on Educational Consultant referrals are hurting, watching their enrollment dropped to nothing.  Educational consultants are hurting too, as they watch prospective families turn to the Internet for help.  Essentially, the behavior of the parents of troubled teens has changed dramatically over the last 5 years, especially when it comes to researching services, and other related behavioral health needs.  Parents are going directly to the schools and programs through the Internet.  The schools and programs that ignored the Internet for some many years are now in trouble or have closed.  Educational Consultants who ignore marketing their practices through the Internet are hurting just as bad.  5 years ago who would have thought that a majority of the parents seeking help for their troubled teen would go exclusively to the Internet to find the resources they need?  I did!

In 2003 I started Zion Educational Systems, Inc (ZES).  ZES is an Internet Marketing firm focused on the development of marketing behavioral health businesses.  Essentially, we took the successful Internet Marketing practices we learned through Abundant Life Academy and established them in a broader sense to a broader market, encompassing all the possible schools, programs, and services related to the behavioral health industry, including Educational Consultants.  Today, ZES is on the verge of becoming a leader in Internet Marketing in three related industries.  More about Zion Educational Systems, Inc. our my next blog post.

Craig & Wendy Rogers

http://www.zioneducationalsystems.com

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