When it comes to marketing ideas for assisted living many facilities seem to be sticking with what has worked in the past. The problem with this is that as the population ages and the demand for assisted living becomes greater, the competition also gets greater. With more assisted living facilities popping up each year you need to stay ahead of the curve in terms of new marketing techniques. Often it's the children of seniors, people in their 30's, 40's and 50's that are doing the research on where to send their parents. And the first place that people of this age range go to search for information is (you guessed it) online. To keep up with the increasingly competitive market place we've put together our top 3 "Must-Have" marketing ideas for assisted living facilities for 2016.
Assisted Living Marketing Ideas
1) Get Pro-Quality video of your facility and Promote it on YouTube
One of the easiest ways to establish if you want to look into a facility further is by visiting it. However in order to setup a visit you first need the potential client to be interested enough to come visit you. One step you can take to decrease their hesitancy around visiting is by creating a professional quality video of your senior living facility. If done right this is an excellent use of marketing dollars. A short 1-5 minute professional quality video can highlight the strengths of your facility, show off the features that you're most proud of, and even include testimonials from staff and actual patients. Nothing is better for converting new leads than hearing from past clients who had a great experience at your facility.
*Assisted living marketing video from Sunrise SL highlighting their staff and communities
2) Establish Yourself As An Expert Through Your Website
There's no doubt that if you're reading this article you already have a website (probably a very nice one) and are well aware of how important your online presence is. The area where most facilities lose out is by thinking of their website as "done" once it's built. A modern website is ever-changing; featuring fresh content and relevant information for potential customers. It also involves testing different offerings and analytically monitors which offers convert best and are best suited for the specific audience you're trying to reach. One way to stay ahead of competition and establish yourself as an expert is consistent, well thought out, blog content. Blog posts that showcase your facility as an expert in different areas of senior care will inform potential customers and make them think of you as the leading authority in different senior care topics. This establishes trust in your facility and, when done correctly, can fill your sales funnel with new leads looking to schedule a visit or meet in-person with a member of your staff.
*Use ebooks, whitepapers, blog posts, and downloadable content on your website as part of your assisted living marketing to establish yourself as a valuable resource. Become known as being an expert and thought leader when it comes to senior living.
3) Get a Verified Google Business Listing & Solicite Positive Reviews
When it comes to searching online Google has won. The dominate search and therefor are able to dictate which products they favor when in comes to search results. One of the products they tend to favor is (you guessed it) their own: Google Plus. Google plus started as Google's answer to Facebook and social networking. However just as Google's "won" in search, Facebook has "won" when it comes to social media. Because of this Google has restructured many of their products into what is now known as "Google My Business." Google my business streamlines your Google Plus business page, Google Maps, and Google Plus Reviews; all 3 are critical elements to getting found locally.
*This is an example of search results showing the Google reviews in the right hand column - one of the first things people see when researching your community.
If you do nothing when you build your website at least setup and verify your facilities location with www.google.com/business. By verifying your location on Google plus you're enabling your site to show up in local search results for different categories (such as nursing home, or senior care facility). You're also linking your website to your listing and location; thereby increasing your liklihood for showing up in localized search results and in Google maps. The last piece is Google Plus Reviews. Reviews are extremely important when potential clients are evaluating a business. You'll want to find ways to reach out to your best clients and ask for reviews if you don't have any. Consistently monitoring and soliciting reviews from your top clients can prove hugely effective when converting new leads.
This has been a few of the very high level assisted living marketing ideas from 2016. Click the link below to download our full guide to local search engine optimization for assisted living facilities.
