One of the questions we receive most often from senior living marketing team members is why their content marketing isn’t pulling in leads. It’s probably the number one question providers enter in to our Contact box.
Since they aren’t our clients, it’s not an easy question for us to be able to answer quickly. We do, however, have a few ideas on why your senior living content might be failing.
Key Ingredients of Effective Senior Living Content
#1: Are you educating families or promoting you own business?
Too many times we see senior living content that is really just a sales pitch for the community or a company’s corporate page. For your senior living content to be effective, it has to help families find the answers they are searching for.
Our industry is so confusing for families. It leaves them with loads of questions.
As an industry expert, you are uniquely positioned to provide answers.
#2: Is your site easy to navigate?
Think about who our target audience is… seniors and their families. The adult children are often in their 50s, 60s, and even their 70s.
Is your site friendly on older eyes? Font size and style matter.
Is the navigation clean and straight forward? Make sure the information visitors need is easily accessible.
#3: Is the voice is off?
Another mistake we see often is senior living content that just isn’t written for older adults and their families.
It lacks authority.
Sometimes because it is written by a content mill with writers who have no industry knowledge, and other times it is just that the writing quality and voice don’t connect with families.
#4: Do you have the right mix of evergreen topics and seasonal/trending topics?
We map each of our client’s senior living content each and every quarter.
Yep, it is a lot of work. But the strategy behind it ensures that we balance evergreen senior living content with trending and seasonal topics.
It also makes sure we have depth of content on highly searched topics.
For example, just writing one or two articles on senior living financing won’t cut it. You need frequent content on the topic, but uniquely written and not the same article posted over and over.
#5: Does your content keep people on the site?
In every piece of content that we write, we look for opportunities to link to other resources on the site.
Not forced, spammy internal links but natural connections.
This helps keep people on your site longer which helps build your authority. They begin to think of you as an expert as they navigate their way around your senior living site.
#6: Is all of your senior living content designed for the top of the funnel?
While we aren’t big believers in the whole funnel approach to senior living selling, it’s a phrase that does capture the sentiment of what we mean.
You need to have resources for every stage of the senior living journey. Ways to connect and stay top-of-mind during this often-lengthy process.
Give some thought to the journey and what content you have for each stage.
#7: Does each piece of content have a call-to-action (CTA)?
You need to capture email addresses and have a strategy for utilizing them.
You also need to get those phones ringing!
Both require a solid CTA at the end of every piece of senior living content you create.
Just don’t confuse people by having too many CTAs or by getting too aggressive in what you ask them to do and share.
#8: Is your content optimized for SEO?
Failing to optimize your senior living content is another reason it’s failing.
Some providers mistakenly think using the phrase “assisted living” or “memory care” over and over in an article is all they need to do.
There’s more to it than that. You need to work with an SEO consultant to create a solid strategy.
Hopefully, these 8 tips will give you some ideas on why your senior living content is failing and what you can do to improve it.
If your assessment leaves you realizing that you need an experienced senior living content writer, send us a note. We’ll be happy to set up a time to talk about your struggles…