What is your strategy for targeting senior living professional referral sources online?
<<<Crickets…>>>>
Don’t feel too badly if your answer is that you don’t have a strategy for targeting senior living professional referral sources online. While we recommend it to senior living marketing teams often, few folks take us up on that advice.
In addition to direct calls from seniors and their families, leads come to communities in a variety of ways offline. Obviously right?
So why are so few providers only targeting seniors and their adult children online? Why not referral sources too?
Think about all the reasons that you should target senior living professional referral sources digitally:
- Time management: Hospitals have cut many social worker and discharge planner positions over the last few years. Those who are left must find ways to do more with less time. Technology can help. Being able to email providers, schedule tours online, share virtual tours, floor plans and photo galleries with families helps busy professionals. It can also assist them in learning more about your community and company at times that are convenient for them. The same holds true for other types of professional referral sources.
- Education: While health care professionals might be well-versed in senior care, others who offer support to families in crisis may not be. Think about pastors who provide counsel to a family struggling with a loved one’s Alzheimer’s disease or a wife having a tough time physically managing her husband’s care alone. Just like you host clergy appreciation events offline, you could be hosting them online too.
- Resources sharing: Professional referral sources want to serve their patients, clients, and parishioners well. But the reality is, their time is often short. You can help by creating tools, guides, and checklists they can share, and making it easy for them to find. And creating them in formats that can be emailed or printed.
What kinds of things can you do to connect with senior living professional referral sources digitally?
Senior Living Professional Referral Sources and Digital Connections
Here are a few suggestions for you to consider:
- Have a professional resource center on your site with tools, checklists, guides, and more
- Capture email addresses so you can stay in touch via newsletter
- Post floor plans and photos and make sure professional referral sources know about them
- Make sure your site is mobile friendly – not a luxury anymore but a necessity
- Have specific resources for specific professional referral source groups (i.e. clergy, primary care physician’s staff, attorneys, estate planners, social workers)
- Create a separate blog just for professionals and encourage them to opt-in to receive updates
- Provide professionals referral sources with a way to schedule tours for families online
The bottom line is, make it as easy as you can for senior living professional referral sources to send leads your way.
Have questions about how to do that? Drop us a note! We’ll be happy to help you get started.