Archive for category: Marketing Resources

Can you remember what you were doing in December of 2019? That was only three years ago. And yet, it feels like a lifetime. And no wonder when you consider everything that’s happened since.

The pandemic has had a profound effect on how we think, buy, interact, and conduct business. And this most certainly applies to senior living marketing and sales. Below is an overview of five important lessons we’ve learned since the pandemic upended the world—and what these lessons mean as we head into 2023.

Senior living marketing fundamentals will always matter, but there needs to be room for flexibility and creativity.

When it comes to marketing, the fundamentals matter. We often call them the “blocking and tackling” of marketing. Think things like understanding your buyers, knowing your community’s unique value proposition, and having a reliable way to deliver the right message to the right prospect at the right time.

But fundamentals—while important—aren’t the only thing that can influence a game plan. Certain situations (like a pandemic) might require a last-minute pivot, a creative trick play, or even a long-bomb attempt into the end zone.

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Teams that embrace flexibility within their game plans (even as they practice important fundamentals) are better poised to meet unexpected situations—whether that’s a pandemic, natural disaster, recession, or something else.

The senior living sales cycle has gotten longer—and that isn’t going to change.

During the pandemic, the sales cycle grew longer for many senior living prospects. But here’s the thing: In this post-pandemic world, the senior living sales cycle is still long . . . and it’s growing longer for certain populations, like younger Boomers.

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Prospects are going to require more touches than ever before. And we’re not talking more phone “check-ins,” either. Each touch has to provide compelling, meaningful content geared to that particular persona. Teams are going to need much more content than ever before, which is an investment if you want to do it right.

When buyers want to buy, they will buy.

Life goes on. Yes, even during chaotic times. When a prospect’s mind is made up, they will buy if they’re able to do so. And that’s the key, right there. Buyers are the ones who decide when the time is right. They are the ones who dictate the sales cycle. And they decide when they want a sales interaction. Note: It’s usually after they’ve been exposed to a senior living brand several times.

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Marketing and sales teams need to enable buyers to make the best decisions. This means removing any friction from the sales process. For example, if buyers want clear, transparent pricing info, don’t make them jump through hoops to get it. If you create friction, they will move on since they have MANY good options to consider, not just your community.

Virtual selling does work in senior living, and there’s still a place for it in our post-pandemic world.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s this: Virtual communications can be extremely effective—even with older demos. During the pandemic, we saw older adults become adept with FaceTime, Zoom, and using their phones to research or do things like order groceries.

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Let people choose how they want to interact with you. Offer virtual options and features as well as in-person events.

Social media is going to matter more and more.

Older adults’ increased comfort level with technology and social media isn’t going to disappear simply because the pandemic is over. If anything, the experience from the last few years might inspire people to check out (and possibly fall in love with) other online places, like Instagram and even TikTok. Plus, keep in mind that younger Boomers are already spending time on those platforms.

Older adults’ increased comfort level with technology and social media isn’t going to disappear simply because the pandemic is over. If anything, the experience from the last few years might inspire people to check out (and possibly fall in love with) other online places, like Instagram and even TikTok. Plus, keep in mind that younger Boomers are already spending time on those platforms.

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Experiment and monitor results on social media—particularly newer platforms like TikTok. Over the next decade, senior living communities will be catering primarily to Boomers. Currently, older Boomers are in their mid-seventies, and younger Boomers are approaching sixty. Gen X is right behind them. And all of them are active across social media platforms.

 

Need help navigating the new normal?

Our clients didn’t miss a beat during the pandemic—and neither did we. If you’d like help incorporating the above lessons into an effective marketing plan for the next 90 days, let’s talk.

The most successful senior living communities encourage collaboration among their marketing and sales teams. These communities understand that the ultimate goal—boosting occupancy—is the same for both “sides” and that working together, instead of against each other, reaps much bigger rewards. 

So how can you foster a more collaborative environment between your senior living sales and marketing cohorts—especially if the teams have been functioning primarily in their own silos? Below, you’ll find six strategies. 

1. Make sure the marketing and sales directors embrace the idea of aligning their departments.

Employees take their cues from their managers and directors. Creating a collaborative culture requires everyone’s effort and support. The managers of both departments—marketing and sales—need to work well together. This will serve as an example to the team. 

What you don’t want: A sales or marketing director who says they support aligning the departments, but behind closed doors, they undermine the initiatives by doing their own thing or making divisive comments. 

2. Bring everyone together for team-building events.

Effective collaboration takes practice and regular “doing.” Think of it like a muscle that you need to regularly exercise for ultimate fitness.  

Now, we get it. Team-building events can sometimes conjure eye-rolls from participants. Don’t schedule events to simply check off a box and say you’ve done them. Get feedback from your teams about what types of events they’d enjoy doing (or at least, that wouldn’t result in groans). Different people will crave different things. A ropes course might work great for one team while another team might dread such an event.  

And keep in mind that you don’t need to always make team-building events so formal—or a big-time commitment. Maybe in the summer, you bring everyone off-campus to the local miniature golf course for a round and ice cream. Or maybe you hire an ice cream truck to stop by one summer afternoon and everyone gets a free treat and enjoys a break together. 

If your teams aren’t in the same location or if you’ve stayed with a virtual set-up for marketing post-pandemic, you can still do virtual events. Every other week, have a virtual watercooler Zoom call for 25 minutes where you’re not allowed to discuss work—but all other topics are OK, like what people are watching on Netflix. 

3. Encourage people to get together outside the office.

It’s not always easy for camaraderie to take place while under management’s watchful gaze. Encourage events outside the office to mix things up—think a bowling league, a softball league, or simply Friday lunches at a local eatery. 

When putting together teams for things like softball, don’t make it sales vs. marketing. Create teams that include people from both sides since that’s the whole point. You could also ask for volunteers from each department to co-manage something specific, like a holiday food drive or an Earth Day event.  

4. Provide training for everyone.

Sales departments often complain that they don’t have enough leads—or the leads aren’t good enough. Marketing often complains that they’re delivering all these leads to the sales department, but the sales folks drop the ball on closing them.  

Does that sound at all familiar? 

To combat these common complaints, the sales and marketing directors need to recalibrate the conversations happening within their own departments. Sales teams need to learn about (and embrace) the differences between marketing-qualified and sales-qualified leads. Sales departments shouldn’t be trying to work all leads—only SQLs. 

Marketing, on the other hand, should be focused on nurturing the MQLs. But marketing also needs to pay attention to feedback from sales about the quality of the SQLs.  

Everyone is ultimately working toward the same goal: more move-ins and higher occupancy. Not everyone has to agree on approaches 100% of the time. But people should be willing to work together, share ideas, listen to feedback, and adjust accordingly based on the feedback. 

This sort of collaboration happens from the top down. The sales and marketing directors need to set the tone and example—and they might need some help getting there. Provide training. And/or work with an outside agency (like ours) that has experience in both marketing and sales—and can help bridge the gap. 

5. Reward and reinforce positive behaviors. Redirect adversarial behavior (and intervene when necessary).

When directors/managers see strong alignment between their teams, they should point it out. “Hey, Mark and Cyndy worked really well on developing a lead nurturing campaign with a delivery cadence that really warmed up these cool leads and poised them for a sales interaction.”  

You’ll also want to monitor adversarial behavior and redirect negative conversations whenever possible. And, of course, you need to nip adversarial behavior in the bud. Finger-pointing or phrases like, “That’s their job, not mine” will need to be addressed. And toxic language or behaviors shouldn’t be tolerated at all.  

Again, you don’t want to call people out in front of large groups. But if you have someone on the team who doesn’t want to play ball with the other side, you need to intervene.  

If the person ultimately refuses to get on the collaboration train, you might need to make a tough decision about the person’s future with your team.  

This can be hard, especially on the sales side if there’s a person who is a good closer. You need to ask yourself at what cost is it worth keeping a good closer if their ways create an uncomfortable, antagonistic, or toxic environment.  

Would it be worth losing them now and seeing a dip in move-ins temporarily while you promote from within and/or hire someone who’ll be a better fit and embrace the “smarketing” vision? The answer is yes. Over the long term, numbers will rebound—and probably surpass where they were with the uncooperative person.  

6. Have a standing meeting on the calendar—but make sure it’s useful.

Coordinating efforts requires communication. A weekly check-in call or meeting is a good idea, provided there’s a clear agenda, a strict time limit, and that the meeting is actually useful. Be willing to cancel the meeting if no one has anything to discuss. End meetings early whenever possible. Stick to agendas that move projects forward and that provide actionable insights and tasks. 

For this meeting, talk only about things that matter to both sides. For example, the sales team isn’t going to care about the edits a marketing coordinator needs from a writer for the latest white paper. This should be a separate meeting. But the sales team will be interested in hearing about the latest results of the paid campaign. 

Finally, end meetings with positive news. For example, a campaign that benefited both sides and that both teams worked well on together. Make sure you celebrate successes that highlight collaborative efforts.  

BONUS: Collaborate with an agency that understands senior living marketing and sales. 

That would be us! We can help bridge the gap and bring people together. Get in touch and let’s chat. 

We’re in the midst of celebrating our 10th anniversary. You can catch up on some of our other anniversary-inspired posts below: 

• 10 Ways Senior Living Marketing Has Changed in 10 Years 
• 10 Ways We’re Not Your Average Marketing Agency 
• 10 Interesting Facts About Us & Our Marketing Journey 

For this post, we’ve rounded up 10 predictions in senior living marketing for the next 10 years. Some of the ideas are bigger and dreamier than others. But our team believes all have merit—and could very well happen in some fashion over the next decade or just beyond. 

1. Boomer marketing will need to be segmented.

We’ve been reminding clients about this, but not enough communities are embracing the idea that Boomers should be segmented into two distinct groups: Boomers 1 and Boomers 2.  

The youngest Boomers are 58, and the oldest Boomers are 76. That’s a span of nearly two decades. What a 60-year-old Boomer wants will be vastly different from someone who’s approaching 80. 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Make sure you have plenty of engaging content that speaks to both groups—and that you have an effective way to score and segment leads in your marketing automation so that you can successfully send the right message to the right Boomer at the right time. 

2. Climate change will continue to enter the conversation.

From operations and infrastructure standpoints, senior living communities will need to address the climate crisis since things like more powerful hurricanes and threats of fires and floods will affect the buildings themselves. There will also be a need for clearer emergency protocols and preventive measures.  

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: People buying into senior living are going to increasingly care about this issue—and how it could affect their living situation. In fact, as this article reports, Boomers care about climate change as much as their younger counterparts—if not more. Communities that want to stay ahead of the curve should already be discussing messaging around green initiatives. (And urging the C-suite to start initiatives if they haven’t already.) 

3. Offering plenty of variety and interesting options will matter more—much more.

The generations coming up—think Boomers and Gen X—have grown accustomed to ordering exactly what they want, when they want it. They’re not going to accept a cookie-cutter lifestyle that has few choices or limitations on customizing features and amenities.  

This article from The New York Times quotes one industry expert as saying, “We have to design communities that cater to what boomers want, and that’s a difference between senior housing today and housing developed 10 or 20 years ago.” 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: While this trend will affect operations and infrastructure, it will also be something marketing and sales teams will need to think about, too. Because you’re going to need to quickly convey with makes your community different from all the others—and yet also show how people can customize it to their liking. 

4. More transparency will be needed on senior living websites around pricing.

Today, most communities shy away from listing prices on their senior living websites. (Or if they do, it’s either hard to find or you have to surrender your info to get it.)  

We predict that over the next decade communities will need to find a way to be transparent about pricing so that no one wastes their time—prospects and community staff members alike. 

Why do we predict this shift? The New York Times notes that there’s going to continue to be increasing separation between luxury senior living and more affordable options. “Specialized housing for older Americans has been around for decades. But shifting demographics are forcing the industry to diversify more rapidly across rates and services, yielding increasingly lavish residences for upper-income Americans as well as a growing number of affordable housing models.”  

The article discusses some interesting experiments happening presently, like one community requiring residents to volunteer 10 hours a month in the community to help take the load off staff and to feel more connected to the community. We predict more interesting experiments like that, which brings us to some of our wilder predictions below.  

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Teams will need to experiment with language and messaging around pricing discussions. This will influence so many aspects of marketing from organic search to paid ads to how you approach pricing on the website. For example, you might want to create interactive surveys that help website visitors easily self-identify whether they can afford the models that you’re specifically selling.  

5. Print ads and direct mail will go away. 

As we enter the next decade (the 2030s), we do predict that direct mail and print ads (and other print materials) will no longer be viable marketing channels. (Unless something unforeseen happens. We reserve the right to revise this prediction!)  

Print and direct mailers still work with the Silent and Greatest Generations—and older Boomers. But think of the 58-year-olds you know today. How many of them regularly read print publications? 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Closely monitor your results with direct mailers and print ads. Don’t be afraid to pull the plug once the numbers are telling you these vehicles aren’t delivering ROI. Continue to monitor what does work with younger Boomers and Gen X (and don’t be afraid to experiment). 

6. Expect to see more offers of senior living “test drives” or “free trials.”

Hey, it works for Netflix, right? And sleep trials work for mattress companies. Why shouldn’t the concept of a free trial work for senior living communities? Offering people the chance to test drive accommodations for two-week stretches might be the way to seal the deal.  

After all, most communities that offer free lunches often see increased interest and higher move-in conversions from those who attend those lunches than those who don’t. So think of this idea as simply an extension of a turbocharged free lunch. 

And no, it might not work for every senior living lifestyle (like memory care) or price point. But for AL and especially IL? Why not?   

Now, we know there will be some kinks to work out, like making sure people don’t use the two-week trial as free lodging for a vacation. You wouldn’t offer it to just anyone, either. But for truly sales-qualified leads—we’re talking serious folks who are considering your community vs. a competitor . . . why not offer a no-obligation trial for a week or two so they can experience what life would be like? 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Our point in bringing this idea up . . . it’s going to be on marketing and sales teams to come up with some of these big, hairy, scary ideas and present them to the C-suite. And if you really want one of your wildcard ideas to happen, know that everyone on the marketing and sales teams might need to step up and participate. (Nothing is worse than someone coming up with a great idea, only for that person to walk away, because it’s on someone else to execute the great idea.) 

7. Expect to see more flexible options for how, when, and where people can live. (Especially in the luxury active lifestyle space.)

Imagine a senior living community with locations in the Northeast, the South, and the West. And now imagine, as a resident, you get to split time between all three communities. Perhaps you spend your summers living in the community outside of Boston, your autumns in California, and your winters in Florida.  

Who knows? Maybe a sister community will pop up in Paris, and every other spring, you get to live there. We predict more creativity and options like this, especially for the luxury active adult lifestyle. 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: So much of what we’ve been discussing in this article should sound exciting to anyone who works in marketing and sales. Because historically, one of the biggest challenges has been that senior living marketing and sales teams are all essentially selling the same thing—the same floor models, the same amenities, and the same concepts (more or less). But in order to be competitive and to cater to the younger generation’s more discerning tastes, we’re going to see more differentiators—which will make it easier and more fun to market. 

8. Expect to see even grander scenarios in the ultra-luxury senior living space.

The Times article we’ve been linking to throughout this blog post discusses the growing income disparity between luxury senior living and more moderate options. And we think this disparity will continue to grow.  

As a result, we predict some “ultra” high-end luxury communities will come into existence, ones that offer customization to the Nth degree, amazing concierge services modeled after 5-star hotels, and lots of built-in perks. “Senior living” will become a senior living experience—with many options for what that experience can look like. 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: The behind-the-scenes teams will look very different, too. The ultra-luxury model will attract people with luxury marketing backgrounds from other industries, like hotels, rather than healthcare. (This isn’t a judgment, either! Different senior living models will need very different teams supporting them.)  

9. Death, dying, grief . . . these subjects will emerge from the shadows.

Some of the writers on our team—including this writer who authors most of SLS’s blog content—have often wondered why we don’t talk about death, dying, bereavement, and grieving more in senior living materials.  

No, it’s not a sexy topic. Or a cheery one. But it’s necessary. People residing in senior living communities—even those on the younger end—deal with death (and long-term illnesses) regularly. Think parents, spouses, and friends. Maybe even adult children.  

As this article in Psychology Today says, “We need, as a society, to acknowledge this grieving process; to talk openly to people living with a terminal condition and be kind and available. When we shun those experiencing death or loss we shut ourselves off from our more compassionate, empathetic selves and reduce our capacity to relate to those in distress.” 

Now, we’re not suggesting that a community’s marketing materials will ever lead with the subject of death and dying. But as younger Boomers and Generation X come of age, we predict an easing up on the unspoken rule that talking about death is verboten. 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Writing about death in a way that people can embrace will require nuance and planning—it’s not something a writer can put together quickly. The best thing teams can do now is learn what their personas would like to know and hear about this topic. Talk to current residents. Talk to families. Talk to families who’ve recently lost a loved one who had been living in your community. What would they have wanted to be done differently? What would they have wanted to know? What materials would have helped? 

10. Another pandemic? Aliens? Something else?

Back when we founded our agency in 2012, we never would have predicted the world we’re in today—a world that’s still emerging from a two-year pandemic and that’s publicly acknowledging and investigating UFOs.  

Trying to predict what the world will be like ten years from now might seem like a foolish endeavor. But it’s important to dream—and to anticipate things large and small, good and bad. We do think we’ll continue to see some big marketing shifts in general—and within senior living marketing specifically. 

• What this means for senior living marketing and sales teams: Stay alert. But don’t panic. From a marketing standpoint, follow reputable sources and work with people who keep their fingers on the senior living marketing pulse.  

Work with us now and worry less about the future tomorrow. 

Making predictions can be fun—and exhausting if you start fixating and worrying about things that haven’t happened yet. Senior living marketing can be exhausting enough on its own. Let us help. You can offload many tasks to us, and we’ll always keep you informed about the latest marketing trends we’re seeing—and if any make sense for your community.  

We spend a lot of time talking with our clients about marketing strategy—and why creating a winning strategy is an essential first step. But what does a “winning” senior living marketing strategy even mean, or look like? Keep reading . . .  

1. Define what “winning” looks like at various points during the marketing and sales process.

In senior living, the ultimate conversion point is move-ins. Everyone wants to see more move-ins and better move-ins. But words like “more” and “better” are incredibly vague. Marketing and sales teams need specific (and realistic) numbers to aim for—and not just in terms of move-ins, either.  

Think of all the conversion points that can influence move-ins. For example, increasing quality website traffic by 10 percent next quarter is an example of a clearly defined goal that can influence move-ins. No, not right away, but eventually. 

The clearer your definition of winning is and the clearer your goals are, the easier it will be for marketing and sales teams to develop a strategy for achieving those goals—and for measuring progress.  

2. Develop a strong resident retention program.

If you have excellent move-in conversions, but lousy resident retention, this will affect your bottom line.  

Remember, it costs more to replace a resident than it does to attract a new one. When a disgruntled resident leaves, you lose precious acquisition (aka marketing) dollars. But other costs come into play, such as direct costs, operational costs, and social costs. (Hint: Make sure you understand the lifetime value of each resident.) 

Bottom line: A winning senior living marketing strategy today must include a specific strategy for retaining residents and keeping them happy. 

3. Don’t skimp on the essentials, like buyer persona development.

We understand that persona development can be hard for some people to appreciate (especially those in the C-suite who are monitoring spending). After all, the results don’t yield something truly tangible, like a piece of marketing collateral. Personas aren’t customer-facing, either.  

But here’s the thing: You can’t develop a winning senior living marketing strategy if you don’t understand who you’re marketing to. Taking the time to understand the ideal residents for your community will inform your overall strategy. Generic personas will produce a generic strategy—one that won’t deliver the ROI you’re looking for. Instead, invest in senior living persona development. 

4. Be prepared to pivot—a lot.

Long gone are the days when you could create a 12-month marketing strategy for the year ahead. Too many things are in flux now in our world, forcing marketing strategies to change on a dime. Case in point: the pandemic, the current rise in inflation, and even climate change.  

Marketing strategies—and those responsible for developing and managing them—must remain nimble. You need to adjust quickly as things change on the ground.  

For example, if you were managing any communities in Florida in September of 2022, you likely had to change your short-term campaigns quickly, thanks to Hurricane Ian. And if any of your properties were affected by Ian, well . . . obviously that’s what we call a game-changer—something that can upend a marketing strategy in a matter of hours. 

This leads us to our next point . . . 

5. Work with a marketing agency for additional expertise and ongoing support.

A good senior living marketing agency can serve as an extension of your own marketing team within your community. Plus, an agency has a 30,000-foot view. They can help pick up the slack, monitor analytics, and often save you money since everything can flow through them (ad buys, paid digital ads, writing, etc.). 

Interested in learning how we can help your team create a winning marketing strategy? 

Set up a complimentary brainstorming session with us and let’s talk through your goals and how we can help you achieve them.