The chart above represents the search interest in "inbound marketing" from Google trends data over the past 15 years. As you can see it's clearly a rapidly growing area of interest. With all the different digital marketing tactics available it's hard to know which ones will work for marketing your assisted living facility.
All of the different digital marketing tips and techniques start to come together when you connect them into one integrated plan: inbound marketing for assisted living communities. Inbound is all about what the customer needs. When you market to their needs, you are sure to get positive results. In fact:
"Companies that use inbound marketing are three times as likely to get higher ROI on their campaigns compared to those old outbound marketing strategies."
- HubSpot State of Inbound 2015
Let's take a look at some of the most practical inbound marketing techniques you can use to market your assisted living facility.
Gathering Information about Your Ideal Resident
The inbound marketing methodology starts with having the right information. Who are you marketing to? What does your ideal new resident profile consist of? When and where does your target audience go when they're online? What information are they looking for online while trying to choose which assisted living community to choose? This kind of information can direct all of your marketing efforts, as it helps you to understand exactly what your target audience finds valuable.
You can gather this information in several ways:
- Ask the current residents of your facility for help, and provide them with a questionnaire or survey to complete.
- Reach out to the family members of those in your facility with a survey as well.
- Make your contact information easy to find on your website, so that people with questions can contact you with no problem -and provide their email address in the bargain.
- Write short posts about a question you might have, then ask followers on your social media what they think.
- Join a few forums that might interest elderly people in need of assisted living or their adult children, and find out what they are talking about outside of your usual stomping grounds.
- Invest in software that collects and analyzes data for you, to help you better understand which of your marketing efforts produce results, what kind of blog posts stimulate conversation, and which social media platforms resonate most with those seeking information about assisted living facilities.
Create Content That Potential Residents Will Find Useful
If you think that you don't need to consistently put out blog posts, social posts, videos, downloadables like eBooks, and other forms of content you're in the minority. By not doing these things you are putting yourself in opposition to the 77% of marketers who now use content marketing (and that number includes competing assisted living facilities). And if you think your community doesn't need to be found on the Web, you are burying your head in the sand.
← Great Use of a CTA (call to action) from SLR. This would be an example of an ebook that somebody looking for information would want to download!
Content marketing is the backbone of an inbound marketing strategy. Use the information you have gathered while interviewing your ideal residents to answer questions like:
- What kind of topics you should cover in your blog posts.
- What type of content receives the most interest from your ideal customers
- Should you keep it light-hearted with the occasional touch of humor, or is a somber tone more appropriate?
- What time is your content most likely to be viewed?
- What online platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, your own website) bring you the most prospective clients?
Engaging with Your Readers & Spread Your Message
As the fastest growing demographic of social media users, seniors are well-placed to engage with you and help you engage with prospective clients. Give your readers plenty of opportunities to share their viewpoints and opinions, and participate in the conversation yourself without dominating it. Also, make sure to ask for a positive review from your favorite existing customers! Reviews are one of the first things people look at online and one of the simplest marketing techniques you can implement.
Inbound marketing for assisted living uses all of these tactics to create a marketing approach that brings in prospects, and gives them access to information that they find valuable. Seniors looking for an assisted living facility are out there looking for you - inbound marketing helps them find you by providing valuable content. It's a win-win scenario. Still not sure where to start? Contact us at NextWave Care to find out more, and to give your inbound marketing plan a powerful start.
