How Senior Living SMART Came to Be Your Favorite Marketing Agency

What we do goes much deeper than simply getting our clients more tours, referrals, and move-ins.

We’re passionate about showing our clients how to connect with their ideal prospects through principled marketing that supports future residents at every step of their journey.

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How it began

Back in 2012, we launched Senior Living SMART as a one-stop resource for all the tools, services, and products you’d need to market and sell better into the senior living space. Our founders, Debbie Howard and Andréa Catizone, had spent their entire careers in the industry on the operator, sales, and marketing sides. To say they’d seen it all would be an understatement.

It was because Debbie and Andréa knew the industry so well that many clients kept coming to them for marketing “advice.”

Before long, Senior Living SMART evolved into a marketing agency focused only on senior living.

Where we are today

Today, we’re proud to be a full-service digital marketing agency that serves senior living communities.

But that’s a simple summation, isn’t it? There’s always more to the story.

Here are some highlights from ours . . .

Our passion extends beyond the industry itself.
Like Debbie and Andréa, many of our employees also have industry experience. But our passion goes beyond the industry itself. Sure, senior living marketing is our job, our career. But we genuinely care about seniors and the communities that serve them. We love working with community-level marketing and sales folks who share our passion for matching the right community with the right prospect.

We respect the prospect’s journey.
The decision to move into a senior living community can be emotional, life-upending, and often fraught with fear, guilt, and anxiety. The trajectory isn’t linear, either. We’ve spent years mapping the prospect journey; we understand it intimately. We always customize the journey to meet prospects where they are. From there, we nurture them throughout their journey. We’ve created a marketing system with no dead ends for the prospect.

Our agency boasts in-house expertise in every key area.
Some marketing firms outsource work, which can increase costs and create challenges within teams. At SLS, we do everything in-house, thanks to awesome employees with deep expertise in their respective areas. For example, the paid ads team lives and breathes all things Google ads. The writers understand AI, SEO, and content marketing best practices. The social media team stays current on what’s trending and what does (and doesn’t) make sense for our industry. And that’s just the beginning.

One word defines our core values: SPICE.

After all, who couldn’t use a little extra spice in their professional life?
But the fun nature aside, the word SPICE truly embodies what we value.

Be Strategic

We don’t go through the motions around here. We believe in thinking through the clients’ goals, bouncing ideas off one another, and paying attention to the story the data tells us. Strategy work isn’t sexy, but it is necessary if you want sustainable results and measurable ROI.

Be Proactive

We’re not fans of the “sorry, not my job” mentality. If we see something off, wrong, broken—whatever it is—we address it. If we have a fresh idea, we’ll run with it. If we can think of a better way of doing something, we’ll speak up. We do this with our clients and with each other.

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Have Integrity

We do what we say we’ll do. We’re honest with each other and with our clients, even when the conversation is hard. We own our wins and our mistakes, and we always aim to do the right thing, not just the easy thing.

Be Collaborative

Marketing has become an incredibly complex machine. One person can’t do All The Things well. You need a team adept at getting stuff done while working together. Because we’re a remote team, it’s essential that our people can work independently and run with things on their own. But it’s equally important that they know how to support one another and play nice in the same sandbox.

Be Engaged

We’re not just talking about being engaged with whatever the task is, although that’s part of it. We’re talking about being engaged in marketing, senior living, and the world. Curiosity fuels what we do inside and outside of work.

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Wondering if we’re a good fit?

Are we the right senior living marketing agency for you?

We know we’re not the right fit for everyone, and that’s OK. But if you’re a multi-site senior living operator with a clear growth mindset and at least one internal marketing lead, we should talk. You can expect a prospect-centered approach that produces meaningful results.

Resources

Looking for a senior living marketing agency that gets results? We wrote the book on it. Literally. Let’s build a strategy that drives move-ins.

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Marketing Audits

Our team of experts will analyze your online presence, messaging, and overall marketing efforts, so you know where to focus your attention for best results.

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Blog posts

Sometimes staying in the know is tough. That’s why we provide the freshest and most valuable senior living marketing trends, news, and information.

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Case Studies

See how we help senior living communities connect, grow, and thrive through thoughtful, data-driven marketing.

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Podcasts

Our senior living podcast can’t solve all the problems you’re facing. But it can give you important perspectives and tips.

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Webinars

Our senior living marketing webinars offer helpful strategies that you can watch whenever it’s convenient for you.

Every community is unique. Your marketing should be, too.

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Let’s create something your competitors can’t copy.