Most of us have read the book about the mouse and the cheese…
Today’s ten minute marketing tip is kind of like that.
Senior living leads are moving. They’ve been moving. But a surprising number of providers still haven’t accepted that.
Where are your senior living leads coming from?
Remember the days when senior centers, churches, hospital social workers and primary care doctors were our primary referral sources?
Throw in some great special events, as well as targeted direct mail campaigns and ads in local papers, and you probably had all the new leads you needed.
Now most assisted living and retirement living communities report at least 50% of their leads start online.
Some providers are finding as many as 70% of their leads originate online in one form or another.
Even if they call you instead of filling out your online Contact form, you can be confident the adult child and/or the senior themselves has checked you out online before picking up the phone.
What resources and tools does your site provide to educate and answer questions?
Resources for Your Assisted Living Website
To help you ramp up your site before summer, here are a few suggestions for senior living content:
- Paint the Picture: Tell the stories of solutions such as the wife whose own health improved after her husband was safely settled in a memory care community or the adult daughter trying to be a long distance caregiver and failing before her mom moved to assisted living.
- Finances are Important: We know all things financial can be tough to understand. So many adult children really believe aging at home is the least expensive option for a parent. Create educational articles for your blog. Guides. Calculators. Financial issues related to senior living are among the most popular search terms in our industry.
- Drop the Jargon: The senior care industry is overwhelming enough to the average bear on the block. Help them understand what kinds of care are out there and what their loved one might need. In language they can understand (which means dropping the jargon) create guides that cover services by level of care. Tools that make it easier to compare one community with another.
- Conversation Starters: Those of us who have been around the industry for a while know talking about this whole topic is tough for adult children. Share tips to make it easier. Guides to help them start difficult conversations. Online support groups to help families network and share with one another. (Setting up a private Facebook group might be a great way to do this for individual communities.)
- Environment Matters: Finally…and this is a biggie… show how where you live in later life influences how well you live. We are loving ASHA’s new Where You Live Matters for this very reason.
- Answer Questions: Our final tip is to answer the questions you hear from families every day. Your blog is a great place for doing that! If you don’t have one yet, this SlideShare can help you get started.
And that’s it…our ten minutes are up!
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