How to Win in the Independent Living Facility Marketing Game in 2019
In 2017, there were several major changes in the independent living facility resident including, the increase in the digitally savvy senior; a change in living preference drove the requirement between Assisted Living, Home Healthcare, Independent Living and Skilled Nursing Facilities; a decline in occupancy levels, increased competition and reallocating marketing budget from tradition to digital within independent living facilities.
With this new and different information than in the past, it is important to dig deeper to determine how to capture this change. The following is a list of five independent living facility marketing ideas to gain new residents in 2019:
One: Content Marketing Strategy
As it is always stated, content is king. Seniors are now more technologically-savvy than ever before and are searching for researching different living preferences on the Internet. Therefore, to successfully attract seniors to your independent living facility, you must provide online content for research. Just like with Millennials and Gen Zers, seniors are building credibility based on your website and the information they can find.
Blog posts are the best option to deliver this information. They should be meaty and deliver a substantial amount of information. You can discuss a variety of topics including the benefits of living in an assisted living community as well as the challenges. Transparency is always the best approach so adding the cost of living at the facility will go a lot way.
Two: Marketing Community Experience
While every visitor to your website likes stock online imagery, those who are going to change their way of life in your community wish to see the reality of the environment. To do so, you can utilize analytics to market the experience. There are four Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) which you should focus your efforts: inquiry volume and type, traffic quality, traffic volume and source and cost per inquiry.
Inquiry volume and type segments each channel within the community to determine which are the best and least performing. You can also tie an ROI back to resident acquisition goals to confirm the values. The traffic quality metric determines if you are attracting the right type of resident for the community based on your specific levels of care. The traffic volume helps you understand which channel is driving the most traffic. Finally, the cost per inquiry is the average cost the company spends to close a lead per marketing channel.
Three: Targeting ACI and Parents
By targeting the Adult-Child Influencer (ACI) and the potential resident, you have to work creatively. The ACI and parent are very different but share the same goals. They both wish to find a warm and inviting community that offers the best quality of life. Therefore, by targeting both, each requires a different approach. Typically, the ACI is split between Generation X’s and Millennials so you must earn both of their trust.
Generation Xers have more disposable income than their Millennial counterparts so it is important to allocate more dollars to ensure they see your message. To send the message to the Gen Xer, you must come with facts and evidence. Your message can reach them via online channels such as websites, online directories, social media, review sites, and email marketing.
The Millennial is considered a digital native so you must communicate with them exclusively online or via social media. They are educated and want fact-based information but appreciate imagery. Therefore, you should utilize storytelling to integrate statistics into the independent living facility’s story. This can be accomplished with Infographics to help tell the story. The appealing online channels for the Millennial match that of the Gen Xer.
Four: Wellness Promotion
The modern senior is active and dedicated to pursuing a high quality of life. With healthcare treatments evolving over the years to address ailments beyond physical health, seniors want a well-rounded lifestyle. The eight dimensions of wellness include: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, environmental and financial. When each of these is the focus, your community can further promote wellness programs while gaining the trust of potential residents. Craft the community message to reflect all eight of the dimensions.
Five: Website
View your website as the community’s front door with the internal décor being modern and comfortable. Your website needs to target the exact same emotional response: modern and welcoming. Therefore, it must appeal to your target audience and be optimized with the proper keywords to do so. Also, your website must display well on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Statistics show that 32% of those over the age of 55 conduct online research via smartphone. The website must be simple to navigate and provide information in the way that they wish to view it: video, infographics, blog posts and podcasts. Delivering the target information in the way the audience wishes to view it is crucial to keeping them interested and on the website.
As you focus on these five segments of your independent living marketing campaign, you will start to generate an efficient and successful program with a higher number of new clients and padding to the bottom line.
