Marketing for Senior Living Facilities After the Coronavirus
Marketing senior living facilities after COVID-19 must demonstrate how you’ve improved, while presenting the facts that show your residents are safe. One of the first big news stories that you may have read about COVID-19, usually just called the coronavirus, involved deaths at a senior living facility near Seattle. Since then, the virus has made its way to vulnerable populations inside other skilled nursing, assisted living, and independent living facilities across the United States. In response, most of these places have restricted visitation, canceled social activities, closed communal dining areas, and taken other firm action to reduce the chance of spreading disease. In the past, most senior facilities have highlighted the chance to remain social and active as some of their most positive features. Of course, even offering residents an active, social experience cannot come before safeguarding health. Naturally, this crisis has created huge challenges for facility administrators, loved ones, and of course, residents. Still, this national health crisis will surely pass. Along with the challenges of today, senior care businesses can also find some marketing opportunities for the future. Positive marketing for senior living facilities after the Coronavirus No doubt, senior living facilities and families have recently needed to make some hard choices. Many facilities have temporarily suspended new admissions, which will reduce revenue. Families have had to make the difficult choice to forgo visiting their parents and grandparents or to take them home. The resident’s adult children may not want their loved ones to feel isolated or might simply have the typically misguided idea that senior care facilities are breeding grounds for disease. Marketing senior living after coronavirus will take emphasizing the very real positives of your facility by demonstrating how you’ve improved and presenting the facts that can alleviate concerns. Marketing for assisted living and nursing homes should emphasize overall benefits For instance, families may already struggle to take care of their younger and healthier members during the current situation. Even during typical times, they often lack the training, equipment, and focus to protect their elderly and infirm elders. Katie Smith acts as the CEO and president of LeadingAge. This organization represents nonprofit senior care facilities. She admitted that some early cases, such as in Washington state, highlight how unprepared some facilities — and even the entire country — was for a quick-spreading virus of this nature. At the same time, Katie Smith observed that these facilities still provide one of the safest places for elderly and infirm people to live. Trained professionals can monitor residents, ensure they get their medications on schedule, and most of all, stick to best practices for containing the spread of disease. In addition, federal and state governments strictly regulate senior living and healthcare businesses. Under this recent threat, organizations have doubled down on their efforts to adhere to high standards. It’s well known that elderly people have a much greater risk from dying of coronavirus than younger people, according to published medical statistics. On the other hand, almost three-quarters of family members said that their own and their parent’s life improved after a move to a senior facility, according to surveys. Even better, about 70 percent of the seniors surveyed felt the same way after the move, even if they had resisted in the beginning. Some examples of the benefits that they cited included improved mental and physical health, less stress, and better family relations. Focus upon communication During this crisis, senior facilities can maintain their good image by focusing upon clear, honest communication with current residents, families, and the wider community. This is a good time to send out emails, letters, and even press releases to let everybody know how hard you’re working to effectively protect residents. Even if it’s not all good news, you should also remain as transparent as possible. Certainly, current restrictions on activities, visitations, and communal dining will make some people unhappy. With the relatively long incubation period of coronavirus, you could have residents who already contracted the disease from visitors or even caregivers who had no idea they were carriers. You need to ensure that people understand that you have followed best practices and taken steps to save lives. While you’re communicating important information, you can also use this opportunity to build and maintain your brand image as a competent, caring, and transparent organization. Try to mitigate the negatives Right now, many residents and their loved ones will find your social distancing measures unpleasant, if necessary. Still, you may find ways to help bridge the gap. For instance, some senior living facilities have helped residents use such technology as Facetime and Zoom in order to reduce isolation, keep in contact with their families, and even interact with other residents. It’s time for you to find creative solutions and of course, craft marketing to let people know about them. Start developing your marketing plans now Sadly, we’re likely to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic for several more months, if not years. Still, people will need your services, perhaps now more than ever. Your attention to safety, honest communication, and clever solutions should provide you with plenty of marketing inspiration in the coming months.
Why You Should Craft a Longer Media Plan for Senior Living Communities
The unique values and sensitivities of the senior living sector require a specific media outreach and marketing plan with a decidedly long-term approach. Short-term vs. long-term marketing approaches As defined by the independent news source Business 2 Community, the fundamental difference between shorter and longer outreach/marketing plans is goal orientation. Put simply, a shorter plan will seek short-term results, while a longer plan will seek long-term results. From effectively managing costs to meeting immediate business demands, the short-term marketing approach certainly presents many distinct benefits. The value of long-term marketing, however, simply cannot be underestimated. This is true in all industries and market sectors, but it is particularly true in the world of senior living. Although it requires a bit of patience, a longer media plan for your senior living community will gradually build the brand credibility and trust factor that you need in order to attract a loyal consumer base. Key long-term strategies for senior living marketing Seniors and their families are not generally quick to place their faith in any random living facility. It takes a bit of time to establish trust and build confidence in this particular business sector. In light of this fact, senior living community owners would be wise to concentrate on the following long-term marketing elements: 1. Branding From Coca-Cola to Apple, the brands that we love the most share one thing in common: familiarity. By building brand awareness and recognition over time, a company can firmly establish a positive reputation. This is particularly important in senior living and other business sectors that provide essential, sensitive, and/or emotionally charged services. To find true and lasting success with your senior living, you must take care to build your brand across a full spectrum of media channels from print to broadcast to digital. 2. Content Marketing A key component of brand-building in the digital realm is content marketing. By maintaining a current blog and offering downloadable informative content online, your senior living community can both attract new clients and strengthen relationships with existing clients. Just maintain consistent branding elements (logo, slogan, etc.) on all content marketing outreach and make sure that all content marketing connects to a central pillar page that represents your brand with strategic precision. 3. SEO Another long-term marketing strategy that is absolutely vital to senior living community owners is search engine optimization. Better known by its acronym, SEO, search engine optimization is a specialized and time-consuming process that improves your company’s overall ranking on Google and other popular search engines. In short, when someone in your area searches for a senior living community online, you want yours to be among the first that appear at the very top of the page. SEO is your ticket to this type of immediate visibility. 4. Consumer Reviews Another great way to generate credibility over the long haul is to accumulate positive online reviews. In addition to building a good reputation on independent consumer rating sites such as Caring.com and SeniorHousing.net, you should consider posting positive reviews on your official website and/or social media pages. Go beyond reviews from current and former residents by adding reviews from family members and loved ones. For more information If you have further questions about the value of a long-term media plan for your senior living community, contact a skilled and knowledgeable senior living marketing professional at Bigeye today. Bigeye has a state-of-the-art approach to good, old-fashioned credibility building that is perfect for the senior living sector.
And the Oscar goes to… Cinema ads for multi-family properties
The average movie theater has approximately 200 to 300 seats filled with local residents, business owners, and future tenants, making it prime real estate (pun intended) to kick off a unique property marketing campaign. Cinema advertising, or the local advertisements that run before a movie screening, are a powerful way to increase exposure for your multi-family property without needing to do a ton of work. Movie theaters bring the community together in the same way a census or sample group might, making them an ideal place to test and target potential customer personas and tenant personalities. Here’s why: 1. Cinema advertising is hyper-local: In most cases, people attending movie theaters live, work, shop, and play near by. With the exception of specialty theater experiences, such as mega-IMAX theaters or novelty concepts such as CineBistory, most theaters attract customers who live within a 15-30 mile radius of their location. If not less. If your goal is to expose potential residents to your multi-family property, you can literally handpick the neighborhood you want to target by advertising in theaters nearby that location or in neighborhoods with similar, complementary socioeconomic compositions. 2. Location, location, location: If your multi-family property is near the theater you’re advertising in, you also have the opportunity to showcase the local amenities of that area. Most movie theaters are near malls, shopping plazas, and walking promenades, serving as an anchor for local stores and restaurants. Appealing to potential residents may start with your property itself … but your building is supported by the amenities, walkability, and comfort of the neighborhood itself. Use your cinema advertising to highlight the experience they are already enjoying and how you fit into that pleasant moment and future memories. 3. Cinema advertising is more customizable than you think: The average consumer tends to self-select into neighborhoods and locations that fit their lifestyle, which is why carefully placed cinema advertising can make your property marketing can feel personal, even in a crowded movie theater. Even though your ad may not appeal to every person in the theater, you can make fairly informed assumptions about your target audience based on the location of the theater, type of experience the establishment offers, ticket price point, and movie selection itself. Don’t be afraid to get specific in your ads. The more targeted your messaging, the more likely it is that your audience will remember the ad and act on it later. 4. There’s nothing quite like a captive audience: We hate to say it, but cinema advertising is impactful in part because audiences can’t escape the repetition of and exposure to these ads. Even with the prevalence of smartphones and digital devices in the theater, pre-movie footage and advertising is somewhat inescapable for the average movie goer. Cinema advertising gives you the opportunity to drive your message home without investing tons of money in local television and radio ads, and as more and more people switch to streaming music options and cable-free television providers, understanding and adopting these opportunities will be an important part of local advertisers’ success. Let us help you understand how your property marketing plan might benefit from cinema advertising today. We’ll work with you to tailor your budget against your desired exposure, ideal tenant, and other marketing initiatives to find the perfect balance of budget, local partnerships, and creative content to take your multi-family property marketing to the next level. Click here to learn more about our services and case studies on how we’ve helped local businesses like you in the past. Then contact us to see how we can help you, too.
3 tips to improve your nursing home content marketing
It’s easier than ever before to find reviews, read about patient experiences, and shop for nursing homes. The market is changing, so your content marketing strategy should also. Digital natives are accustomed to having information at their fingertips and immersing themselves with a brand in the digital environment before making a choice. Because choosing a nursing home hinges on both practical and emotional variables, content is an important part of this information loop to educate potential customers about your facilities and build an emotional connection to your site. Accurate, engaging, and up-to-date content can make or break your ability to relate with today’s decision makers. Consumers often cite “convenience” and “trust” as primary considerations when choosing health care (alongside cost, of course). As a marketer, you may not have control over your facilities’ prices, but you can make it easier for prospective clients to find information, reach out for assistance, and begin building an open, earnest relationship. The heart of this data suggests customers are looking for two things: ease and reassurance. Content marketing can give them both. 1. Don’t be afraid to ask Improve your content marketing strategy by asking customers what information they need and how easy it is for them to find what they are looking for on your site. Simple web survey tools such as Qualaroo can help you do this on your own, or work with a digital marketing agency to complete a full audit. These results will inform what content is missing (or whether the content you do have is lost or misplaced). Before you start focusing on the bells and whistles such as testimonials or social media, nail the basics. 2. Empower your customers Many nursing homes try to increase engagement with their prospective clients by limiting information such as pricing, insurance information, or onboarding processes on their websites. This forces prospective customers to call and engage in a person-to-person information (read: sales) call. Younger generations simply don’t participate in the consumer journey the same way their predecessors did and this can be a huge barrier when they are researching healthcare providers. Whether it’s in the form of periodic informational webinars, newsletters, or transparent online, it’s important to empower your customers to find the information they need up front. All content should be built with the express goal of helping your customers accomplish something on their own, not to drive them into the administrative office. This improves trust, strengthens your relationship with your clients, and helps them feel confident in your nursing home. 3. Encourage customers to be cheerleaders Sharing your story with a nursing home can be a very emotional experience. But no content is more engaging and more authentic than real testimonials. Use customer-generated content as the most valuable asset on your site, across your social platforms, and during the customer lifecycle. This content is more than three times likely to generate engagement and shares than anything your marketing department might create, so start identifying your best customers today and encourage them to share their stories. For more ideas on how to improve your nursing home content marketing strategy, click here to learn more about how our agency has partnered with other healthcare professionals. We’re happy to help tailor an experience to your facility’s unique niche and customer needs.