Some folks think a brand is a company’s logo or name. But those are components of a brand, along with the messaging, visual identity, and values and mission. These components work together so that when people see the name or logo, they have a gut feeling—a perception—either positive, neutral, or negative about the company. That perception is the brand.
So, the question becomes: How does your senior living community make people feel? What perception do people have when they see the logo or hear people talking about it? What do your residents and families say about the community behind closed doors or after the executive director leaves the room?
Now, you might be thinking, “I can’t control what someone thinks or feels about our community.” That’s true—you can’t control those things. But you can certainly influence them. And that’s where branding comes in.
Branding is the strategy and tactics that help shape, manage, and nurture people’s perception of your community. It’s not something you cross off your list—it’s never done. And over time, your brand can evolve.
Head spinning yet? Don’t worry. We got you. Below are five tips for better senior living branding.
Executive Summary: Better Senior Living Branding
- Your brand is how people perceive your community (positive, negative, or neutral).
- Senior living marketers can help shape and influence people’s perceptions.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel: build on the positive perceptions that already exist about your senior living community.
- Don’t be afraid to say what your community isn’t. (This is powerful branding, too!)
- Always present an authentic message (hint: AI shouldn’t be anywhere near the message).
- Embrace the process! Branding is never done.
Table of Contents
Double down on positive perceptions.
Don’t be afraid to lean into what you’re not.
Be authentic with your brand messaging. (Hint: Don’t use AI.)
Accept that branding is a dynamic process.
Where to get help with your senior living brand
1. Understand what your happiest residents, families, and professional partners think about your community.
A famous quote widely attributed to Jeff Bezos sums it up well: “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
That’s why, to truly understand what your brand already means to the people who matter (and who you’re trying to attract more of), you need to talk to them. You need to see your brand through their eyes. Because the things that they keep pointing out might be different from what you think the brand is all about.
We can’t stress this enough: Your brand isn’t about what a senior living marketing team drums up during a couple of meetings. If your community has been around for any length of time (a year or more), your brand already exists, for better or worse. People already have thoughts about your brand. Your job is to bring the positives to the forefront and address any negative associations (the latter can and will take time, and often requires operational support, not just marketing magic).
But it all starts with understanding the perception. That means talking to people—residents, families, and professional partners—about how they perceive your brand.
Keep in mind that this conversation is a little different than buyer persona research, where you’re trying to uncover why someone chose your community. Those reasons might include amenities, food, or staff. Those things are not your brand.
Instead, ask these questions to get the “brand” conversation started:
- What words or emotions come to mind when thinking about our community?
- What is our community’s single greatest strength or quality?
- How would you describe our community to a friend?
- If you had to describe our community’s “personality” in two or three words, what would those words be?
- What was your first impression of our community? Has that impression changed, and if so, how?
The answers to these questions, along with other insights you gather from conversations and reviews, can help inform other components of your brand, like visual identity, messaging, and brand voice.
2. Double down on positive perceptions.
People already have strong thoughts about your brand, and (hopefully) many of them are positive. Why reinvent the wheel, especially when you already have positive perceptions?
Instead, highlight those positives. Double down on them. An excellent source for uncovering existing positive brand perceptions (in addition to having conversations with residents and their families) is review sites, starting with your Google Business Profile.
- What positive words do people keep using to describe your community?
- What positive themes keep surfacing?
- What makes your community special or different, according to reviewers?
If you have many reviews across various review sites, consider compiling them into one document and giving it to AI (like ChatGPT). Ask ChatGPT to note common words and themes. Then, ask AI how well your website, social media platforms, and so forth reflect people’s perceptions of your brand.
Does the brand you put forth on your website and Facebook sound completely different from the way real people actually perceive your brand? If there’s a disconnect, address it.
3. Don’t be afraid to lean into what you’re not.
Several years ago, Debbie Howard (our CEO) worked with a senior living community that had been around a while, and the campus felt much more lived-in as a result. A couple of competitors had come into town in recent years, building from scratch, and promoting a luxurious, modern lifestyle. The marketing team for the older community wondered whether they needed to rethink their brand since it “felt” old to them.
Debbie spoke with the community’s happiest residents and family members, including some newer residents who’d just moved in. Turns out, the residents’ perception of the older community was very positive—and it was positive because of the “older” factor. To these residents, the biggest brand value was the community’s homey, comfortable feel. To them, the community already felt like home, and they had little interest in the fancy-schmancy brand across town.
Debbie and the marketing team capitalized on this already positive perception (see point #2 above). Also, they didn’t shy away from saying exactly what their community was not—and why that was a good thing.
4. Be authentic with your brand messaging. (Hint: Don’t use AI.)
Large language models like ChatGPT and Claude produce content that sounds the same for a reason, even if you try to train it out of them. (Read more about an interesting study that explores why.)
Essentially, AI twang is a feature baked into the models themselves, so it’s nearly impossible to get LLMs to produce something original-sounding—or content that reflects an actual brand voice.
What AI ends up producing is an imitation at best, something that doesn’t sound quite right. At worst, it produces something that might sound “fine” on the surface, but in reality, is simply “meh” and forgettable.
And here’s the thing: Most people don’t like brands that use AI. A WordPress VIP survey found that 60% of U.S. consumers consider AI use in brand messaging a major “turn-off.” The study notes that “The brand that feels human in the AI era earns the decade ahead.”
Bottom line: You won’t do your brand any favors by relying on AI for your brand messaging.
So, what should you do instead? Go back to the reviews and have AI pull out full-on phrases and sentences that reflect the brand you’re building. Use those phrases to build your messaging. Yes, even if it sounds a little raw or unpolished. Raw, unpolished messaging is having a moment right now—and we don’t see that ending anytime soon, as people increasingly give side-eye to brands that use AI.
- PRO TIP: Here’s a great article on common branding blunders to avoid.
5. Accept that branding is a dynamic process.
Branding is ongoing work. The biggest part of the work isn’t doing more “stuff”; it’s listening to the conversations people are already having about your community. Monitor reviews. Read comments on social media. Review transcripts from sales calls and online chat.
Doing so will enable you to:
- Tell if people’s perceptions around your brand have changed or remained consistent.
- If changed, what’s changed?
- Is the change positive? For example, a new theme may have emerged that people consistently talk about. Play that up!
- Or is the change negative? For example, maybe your community has been struggling to maintain staff. That’s an operational issue, but one that very much affects your brand. Bring it up with leadership.
- Play up the positives. Address the negatives.
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
PRO TIP: Check out this article on next steps for building brand recognition as a senior living provider.
Need help with your senior living branding? Get in touch.
Our team of marketers, writers, and designers has extensive experience helping communities define their brand and make the most of those attributes. Let’s set up a time to discuss your senior living brand.
