I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Seriously. A sprinkling of the white stuff sounds better than the near triple digit heat wave we have here in Ann Arbor. And much like retailers who are gearing up for the holiday rush, so too are we at SCS. Those of us who are veterans in the assisted living industry know what happens every year during the holidays. I probably wouldn’t need to set the stage for you but… I’m a writer. Scenes are what I do.
Adult children return home en masse between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Maybe for the first time since last holiday season. The parent that they thought was “doing fine” clearly isn’t. Their house is a mess. They’ve lost weight. Bills are piled up on the counter. This unexpected scene sends fear and panic racing through the adult child’s bloodstream. They race to their iPad and turn to our friends at Google for answers and advice. 
Is your assisted living content ready for them? Will they find your community or your competitor first? Will your site engage them or send them bouncing back to the search engine results page?
While the scene I’ve set may sound a bit over-hyped, it really isn’t. I’ve been where families are with my grandparents. Tough. Scary. Days. This is your real chance to help educate them on their options. It may be time to reallocate some funds from those shout at you, old school marketing methods that don’t work as well anymore. And invest that money in quality inbound strategies.
Here are a few quick tips to help you outrank even the biggest assisted living on the block this holiday season:
- Is your site rich with relevant content that answers questions for each trigger and touch point on the senior care decision journey?
- Do you have Google+ pages set up for your communities? (And by set up I mean with events pictures, reviews, and more…)
- Do you have any community presentations already set up in a PowerPoint? Maybe ones you prepared for a senior center talk or for your prospects at a recent luncheon at your community? Add detailed notes to it so it can be a self-explanatory presentation. Then upload it to Slide Share! Here is a great read on Slide Share if you aren’t that familiar with how to use it.
- Is your blog up and running? What are you waiting for!? Call your IT folks right now and have them set up a Word Press blog for you on your site. I’ll wait while you do that… All set? Good. Let’s move on.
- Do you have strong and strategic CTAs (call to action) on your site? Are you capturing leads with opt-ins? Visit any one of the “big 3” assisted living companies’ websites and see for yourself how well they use them. You can, too. They aren’t difficult to do.
- Are you routinely sending out eNewsletters to prospects and families? They are easy and inexpensive. And the senior care industry is one where these really work.
And to encourage you to plan ahead and not wait for the smell of turkey in the oven to review your senior care content strategy, we are offering our Christmas in July special. A blog and Facebook package guaranteed to leave a little jingle left in your bell. Shoot us a note if you’d like to learn more…