Senior Living Lead Management Best Practices

Senior Living Lead Management Best Practices

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You’ve worked hard to get leads from various sources, like organic search, paid ads, and social media. You might think the hard part is over, but how you manage these leads matters—and it can make or break a senior living community, given the competition. Here are some best practices to know and use.

4 SMART senior living lead management best practices

1. Score leads appropriately

Some leads will be in a hurry—they need to move a parent into assisted living or memory care ASAP. Others will just be getting started on their journey, researching what senior living is. And in between, you’ll have other leads at various points.

If you treat every lead the same way, you won’t have much success.

For example: Good luck trying to rent one of your apartments to a person in their mid-sixties who’s doing early research into independent living. Your sales team won’t get far if they hound the person—and they might do more harm than good, leaving the person with a negative impression of your community. Meanwhile, your team wasted time on someone who isn’t ready to buy—and possibly lost out on someone who is ready.

To avoid this fate, you must score and segment leads appropriately. By “scoring,” we mean having an automated process that identifies and segments high-intent sales-qualified leads (SQLs) from marketing-qualified leads (MQLs).

This is where robust marketing automation, like HubSpot, comes into play. Good automation will score leads (according to the parameters you set) and funnel them appropriately. SQLs will go on to the sales team for follow-up. MQLs will enter relevant lead-nurturing campaigns. For the latter, the marketing automation will send the right email (with the right message) to the right person at the right time.

So, for example, an adult child helping her mom move by next year will enter a lead-nurturing workflow that delivers relevant content. On the other hand, a 60-something person getting a head start on researching independent living will enter a much longer-term email nurturing campaign.

It all begins with scoring leads appropriately, so don’t overlook this step.

2. Respond promptly to third-party leads

Remember, third-party leads are shared leads. In other words, your competitors receive the same leads as you. The community that responds fastest stands the best chance of converting the lead into a tour.

There are some drawbacks to using third-party lead aggregators:

  • Third-party leads are expensive. We’ve shared this nugget before, but it’s worth repeating: Most communities pay the equivalent of one month’s rent for third-party leads.
  • Third-party leads have low conversion rates. Aggregators get sales reps’ eyes to light up at the volume of leads. In fact, it’s not uncommon for communities to attribute 80% of their total leads to third-party sources. However, the conversion rate for these leads is low (six to eight percent), even though sales teams often spend most of their time on these leads.
  • Third-party leads require prompt follow-up. Success in converting third-party leads means winning the “speed to the lead” race. We’re talking a response time of 5 minutes or less on average – and that’s no easy feat.

You’re better off taking the money you spend on third-party leads and putting it towards other tactics, like Google Ads. (A good conversion rate for Google Ads in senior living is eight to 15%.)

We know many senior living communities don’t want to give up lead aggregators. If that’s the case for you, make sure you have a plan for fast follow-up.

Need help? We offer a Speed to the Lead solution that empowers your community to respond quickly to third-party leads, deliver brochures immediately, and follow up using an automated five-step lead nurturing workflow.

3. Have a plan for re-engaging cold leads

Your senior living CRM is probably filled with a fair number of “cold” leads. We’re willing to bet that not all of them are cold. Maybe a sales rep got lazy with following up. Maybe you have a backlog of leads you lumped together before you developed a way to score and segment appropriately. Or maybe a cold lead has since warmed up—but you don’t know this because you’ve written them off.

Instead of assuming all these leads are cold, try re-engaging them. Create a program that focuses on cold leads. (Hint: We have a turnkey program called “Stay in Touch” that makes it easy to re-engage cold leads.)

4. Use a senior living call center to manage inbound inquiries

Too often, communities rely on a front desk greeter or receptionist to field calls from people who want to know more about the community. The problem is that they are not trained and skilled salespeople.

Expecting your on-site sales reps to be available to take sales inquiry calls as they come in is also unrealistic. Your reps will be busy doing tours, meeting with families, and networking.

A better solution is contracting with a senior living call center to manage all inbound inquiries. A good call center (like the one we offer) can qualify, score, and segment leads appropriately. SQLs will go to the sales team (along with helpful notes). MQLs can go into relevant nurturing campaigns. You won’t have to worry about leads falling through the cracks. Learn more about LeadGenie here.

Need help implementing any of these senior living lead management best practices?

We have the lead management expertise you’ve been looking for. Give us a shout if you need help with lead management for your community or communities.

Why Isn't My Website Converting animated people reviewing desktop and phone device

Why Isn’t My Website Converting? Advice for Senior Living Marketers

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Are you a senior living marketing professional asking, “Why isn’t my website converting?” Read on, because the problem might be that you’re asking the wrong question. Below, we’re going to explain why—and we’re going to give you four better questions to ask instead.

“Why isn’t my website converting” is the wrong question.

The question is vague because the word “converting” is vague.

We all know what you mean generally, but specifically, are you asking why you’re not converting more people at the bottom of the funnel into move-ins? Or are you asking why you’re not converting anonymous website traffic into leads? And about those leads, are you referring to marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) or sales-qualified leads (SQLs)?

Remember, people don’t come to your site and instantly “convert.”

Sure, some people might enter with an urgent need, but what about everyone else? Consider the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1

Dad just died, and Mom can’t be alone due to her dementia. The adult children do a Google search on “memory care communities in the area,” looking for places with decent reviews. They visit the websites, including yours, do a cursory review, and head right to “contact us.”

Scenario 2

Lily and Bob are nearing retirement. They’re just beginning the search into senior living, specifically independent living. They’re considering Cape Cod so they can remain in Massachusetts near their kids and grandchildren, but they haven’t ruled out Florida, either. They’re checking out communities in both states, but the timeline for their decision is much longer, at least two years out. Bob and Lily enter your site after doing some googling and reading reviews. They subscribe to your blog and follow your community on social media, just so your community remains on their radar.

In both scenarios, the people “converted,” but they converted at different points in their journey—and where they are in their journey matters.

We know that move-ins are the ultimate conversion metric, but to get there, many smaller conversions need to happen along the way.

For example, Lily and Bob might move in two years later, which makes the smaller conversions (subscribing to your blog and following you on social media) super important.

4 better questions to ask than, “Why isn’t my website converting?”

1. Are we segmenting and scoring our leads appropriately?

If you’re sending ALL leads to sales, that’s a problem.

You shouldn’t treat all leads the same way. Someone who downloads a “Senior Living Options” guide is likely in a different place in their journey than someone who requests a tour.

Only sales-qualified leads should go to sales. The marketing-qualified leads should enter nurturing campaigns until they indicate they’re ready for a sales interaction. (It takes too many touches, on average, to convert a lead, to handle them all individually.)

Setting up effective lead scoring will give you much better insight into whether your website marketing produces sufficient MQLs and SQLs.

2. Do we have enough website conversion opportunities for people at various points in their journeys?

Keep the key stages in mind: awareness, consideration, and decision. You should have helpful content for people in each stage.

For example, people in the research stage (like Lily and Bob) might subscribe to the newsletter. Someone nearing the decision stage might find comparison charts useful. Both are essential steps to the ultimate conversion: move-ins.

3. Is there friction at any of our conversion points?

Friction is when the prospect gets stuck at some point on your senior living website, and the reasons why can be many:

  • A broken link
  • A form that doesn’t go through
  • Navigation that doesn’t make sense
  • A poor mobile experience
  • Too many hoops to jump through to get the info they want

Most of us have likely experienced friction on websites—that thing that makes us throw up our hands in frustration and exit the site.

With good analytics, you should be able to identify the culprit (or culprits) and drill down into each conversion point to better understand where people are getting stuck. From there, you can try to identify what’s causing the friction.

For example, if a landing page that’s usually enjoyed excellent conversions suddenly stops delivering, you can investigate why:

  • Does the form work?
  • Is anything in the copy outdated?
  • How does the page render on mobile?
  • What CTAs are leading to the page?

Sometimes it’s something as simple as a broken form.

Other times, it’s not obvious, and you must experiment. That’s where A/B testing can be helpful. Change an element on the landing page (maybe the wording in the headline) and see if that improves conversions.

4. What’s the quality of the SQLs been like? (AKA: Do we have a website problem or a sales problem?)

Your sales team must communicate honestly with themselves and marketing about lead quality. Are they closing the ones they have at an acceptable rate/percentage?

If yes, then ask:

  • What makes these leads “high” quality? This is a question for the sales reps. The info they provide can help inform things like blog topics, FAQs, and premium content offers.
  • What path do these leads take on the website? A good analytics package shows you their path and their various conversion points. If you understand what’s working, you can try modeling other paths that aren’t working after this “winning” path and see if this helps improve the numbers.

If no, then ask:

  • What’s the sales follow-up like? If sales reps are calling once or twice and considering a lead “cold” if they can’t get anyone to bite, this suggests the problem might have less to do with the website not converting and more to do with the sales team needing some training or support in how to effectively follow up with SQLs.
  • Why aren’t the leads good candidates for moving in? If the sales reps are doing a good job following up, discuss why they think the leads aren’t converting. Is something “off” with the lead scoring? Some leads may be misclassified as SQLs when they should be MQLs. Is something off with the buyer personas? It might be time to develop fresh personas and revamp your content strategy.

Don’t go it alone when it comes to website conversion issues.

Understanding why your site isn’t “converting” takes work. Partnering with a senior living marketing agency that monitors web analytics and makes wise adjustments based on actual data can be a smart investment. Curious to learn more? Get in touch, and let’s talk about your website.

Senior Living sales tips converting to move iis

Senior Living Sales Tips: Converting Tours to Move-Ins

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Getting a prospect to tour your senior living community is a critical step in the senior living sales process—but it’s only one step. Once prospects finish the tour, then what? What can your marketing and sales teams do to help prospects cross the finish line and become residents?

We’ve rounded up some tips for helping your teams do exactly that.

Senior living sales tips: what to do during the tour

Build a personal connection

The salesperson’s job is to focus on the prospect. This is an excellent opportunity to discover what makes the prospect tick, their questions, and why they (or their family) might be hesitant about your community. Remember, the main goal isn’t to sell—it’s to listen. Show sincere empathy and take mental notes.

  • PRO TIP: If a prospect raises a concern, you can address it, but “addressing” doesn’t necessarily mean “fixing.” Not every concern can be fixed. Sometimes, it’s more important for the prospect to simply be heard.

Tailor the tour to the prospect’s interests

To do this, you need an excellent pre-tour process that captures relevant details about prospects. Are they foodies who love gourmet meals and fine wine? You’ll want to stop by your community’s pub and talk about the wine tastings on the first Saturday of each month.

Does a prospect love to read? Talk about the community’s book club, stop by the library, and—ideally—introduce them to book club members during the tour.

  • PRO TIP: Don’t force it. Your community might not have something for every interest under the sun, and that’s OK. If someone brings up a new hobby, you could talk about a current resident who started a new program or club that didn’t exist before they moved in. Your job is to show what’s possible in your community in addition to what’s already in place.

Offer a “taste” of your community’s lifestyle

We mean both literal and figurative tastes. Food quality is always at the top of prospects’ lists, so invite prospects to have a meal. Better yet: invite them to come back for a meal after they finish their tour. Book it with them before they leave, but send them home with something to whet their appetite, like yummy baked goods from the community’s kitchen.

As for figurative tastes, invite prospects to participate in activities like an upcoming movie night or book club. Don’t simply invite them, either. Facilitate by introducing the prospect to the resident in charge and reminding the resident as the date gets closer.

  • PRO TIP: During the tour, hand the prospect a physical invitation where the prospect gets to choose from three upcoming events. They can RSVP on the spot. If they don’t want to commit before they leave, tell them you’ll call them tomorrow to see what works for their schedule. This provides an excellent opportunity to check in and gauge their feelings about the community without seeming pushy. You’re simply following up on the invitation.

Pepper the tour with success stories

Share success stories about current residents or their families. Hearing about positive experiences—or experiences they can identify with—can go a long way in helping to alleviate doubts and inspire confidence.

PRO TIP: Introduce prospects to current residents during the tour, including some of the ones featured in your stories. This allows them to see firsthand the positive experiences and relationships that can be developed within the community.

Discuss the move-in process

If your community doesn’t have a new resident welcome program, start one ASAP. Every community should have a program for welcoming new residents and helping them acclimate. The program can include pairing the resident with a peer, making sure someone from the community is there to greet them on move-in day, and scheduling introductions between the new resident and essential personnel, like the chef and the executive director.

  • PRO TIP: This isn’t a once-and-done conversation. Creating a thoughtful guide to moving into your community will benefit everyone involved. You could create a section on your site for new and future residents that includes essential and helpful info.

Senior living sales tips: What to do post-tour

Always follow up

It seems so basic, right? Senior living sales 101. But in our busy world, sometimes the basics fall by the wayside. Always follow up tours with a heartfelt note—ideally, a handwritten one you send via good old-fashioned snail mail. You can then follow up with digital communication like email, but a handwritten note is classy—especially in the eyes of the older generations—as it takes time to write and shows someone you’re thinking about them.

Personalize the note! This is where all that listening you did during the tour will pay off. Demonstrate you were listening by referring to something they said or providing further info about a question or concern they had.

  • PRO TIP: If you’re working with a family member—like an adult daughter looking at communities with her mom—send a note to both people. Make sure you don’t say the same thing. Again, personalize these letters. What’s on the mind of the adult daughter will be different from what’s on the mom’s mind.

Provide written info on the move-in process

You’ll see that we repeated this tip—on purpose. During the tour, you should discuss the next steps if the prospect wants to move in. You should also discuss how your community helps residents acclimate. But post-tour, you should follow up with specifics in writing. Creating a packet with a checklist of next steps, important dates, and even a list of helpful service providers like senior move specialists can be helpful. (You can turn this into a digital packet on your website as well.)

  • PRO TIP: Consider working with vendors on preferred pricing packages. For example, if a new resident uses one of the preferred moving companies you recommended, the company could discount them. This creates added value for new residents and senior living referral sources and networking partners.

Offer incentives if/when appropriate

People love good deals, like waived fees or discounted first month’s rent. If you’re heading into a historically slow season—or your census is below a critical threshold—you can deploy incentive programs until you get your numbers back up.

Need help preparing your sales team for productive tours?

Your best bet is to use a senior living call center like LeadGenie. The staff can qualify callers who are ready for tours and record interesting nuggets about them for the sales reps who’ll be leading the tours. Learn more about LeadGenie here.

Bottom-of-the-funnel content ideas

Bottom-of-the-Funnel Content Ideas That Senior Living Communities Should Try

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Let’s talk about bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) content. Oh, wait—you’re not sure what that means? No worries! We’ll walk you through what it is and why it’s essential. Plus, we’ll share fun ideas to rock your BOFU.

What is bottom-of-the-funnel content?

To understand BOFU, we need to discuss what comes before it—and this involves a quick lesson on the basic stages that buyers go through: awareness, consideration, decision.

(You might see this labeled as awareness, evaluation, conversion—same thing, different labels.)

People at the top of the funnel (TOFU) are just getting started on their journey.

They’re becoming aware of their own need or problem. For example, adult children of seniors might have a family meeting because mom is having trouble maintaining her house now that dad is gone. What should happen next? Hire in-house assistance? Downsize to a smaller house? Retire to a senior living community? Something else?

At this point, your senior living community probably isn’t on anyone’s radar yet. The family begins researching, which is when top-of-the-funnel content, or TOFU, comes in:

  • Blog posts
  • Infographics
  • General informational guides
  • Social media posts
  • Print/digital ads

People in the middle of the funnel (MOFU) have been doing their homework and considering their options.

Using our above example, maybe everyone (including mom!) agrees that downsizing and moving into a senior living community makes sense. Now, it’s a matter of learning more about IL, researching options, and evaluating them.

Types of content that speaks to the senior living MOFU crowd include:

  • Webinars
  • Surveys/quizzes
  • Deep-dive informational guides
  • Deeper educational resources
  • Review sites

When someone is in the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), they’re ready to buy.

This is known as the conversion stage. Again, using our above example, the family members might have narrowed it down to three contenders for their mom.

Types of senior living BOFU content include:

  • Events/free lunches
  • Exclusive move-in offers
  • Rate sheets
  • Photo galleries
  • Floor plans
  • Review sites

Keep in mind that there’s often overlap between stages. For example, people in the top of the funnel might not know the difference between independent living, assisted living, and memory care. They might assume nursing homes fall under the senior living umbrella.

However, people in the middle of the funnel have likely learned the basics. At this point, they might focus on the specific lifestyle they’re interested in, read reviews, and compare options.

And people in the bottom of the funnel might have their eyes on three different places. Even though they’ve already read some reviews, now they’re going back and reading more—especially what the one- and two-star reviews have to say.

Why is BOFU content important?

It’s easy to think that TOFU and MOFU content are more important than BOFU. After all, if you can get someone to the point where they’re seriously considering your senior living community, what more can you do?

Think of it this way: if someone hasn’t made a final decision, your community still has a chance. Great BOFU content can give your community a competitive edge over communities that don’t take this extra step.

And even if other communities also have a strong BOFU game, something that your BOFU content mentions might resonate more.

Bottom line: Don’t skimp on developing strong BOFU content.

BOFU content brainstorm for the win!

Need fresh BOFU content ideas? Check out the brainstorm below. Customize them to fit your needs. And if you need help bringing any of these to life, give us a shout. Our content team is ready to help.

“Real stories from happy seniors”

Showcase residents’ positive experiences to build trust and credibility. You can make a video using Canva (or its equivalent)—interspersing pics with words and audio. Then, email the prospect and their family a link with something like “This could be you in 30 days.”

Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: Happy residents talking in their own words is powerful marketing. And you never know what little nugget will motivate someone on the fence.

PRO TIP: You can create a similar version with clips from family members about how happy and relieved they are that their loved one has acclimated to your community—and how much easier it was than they were expecting.

“At your service: meet the team”

Here’s another video idea that can resonate, especially if you’re trying to create that bespoke senior living experience. Do a video montage featuring key people like the head chef and have them talk about how they can’t wait to meet “you” (the new prospect) and help you settle in.

  • Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: It’s reminiscent of high-end hotels or cruise ships. Who wouldn’t want their own staff, right?

“Move-in made easy: a little something special for our newest resident”

This is a practical suggestion, but no less effective. Moving is HARD, no matter what the person’s age. Add in other challenges, like selling a house or moving to a new state, and the move becomes even more complicated. A move-in guide shouldn’t be generic. It should assume the close—that the person is moving into your community—and outline all the necessary steps, contact names, phone numbers, and what to expect on move-in day.

Ideally, this would be a nicely designed packet. Make it even more special by including an invitation to enjoy a welcome toast at the community’s lounge. The note can say something like, “We’re looking forward to toasting your arrival the afternoon you move into your new home at Awesome Senior Living Community!”

  • Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: It’s helpful. It’s thoughtful. It gives people a taste of the service they can expect.

“What to expect your first day, week, and month”

Round up quick snippets from residents about their experience the first day, week, and month after they moved into your community. This is the place to highlight residents who might have been anxious/afraid/sad about making the move and their “pleasantly surprised” reaction to what happened the first day, week, or month.

  • Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: Some people in this stage might be hesitant about moving—or even sad and anxious. Showing real people with similar sentiments and how your community “pleasantly surprised them” will resonate (while demonstrating empathy).

“Safety and security: your peace of mind matters to us”

Highlight the community’s safety protocols, emergency response systems, and 24/7 security measures to reassure prospective residents and their families that they’re making the right choice when they choose your community.

  • Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: Safety is a big topic that doesn’t get as much airplay as it should in a community’s content initiatives. We get it. It’s not sexy. But it’s vital info—even more so to someone who’s about to make a decision.

“Your last-minute questions – including the ones you forgot to ask – answered”

Compile a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and some not-so-common but still relevant questions.

Why this is effective bottom-of-the-funnel content: The title alone should make someone want to click, open, or continue reading. Because someone in the decision stage will likely be curious about knowing the answers to a question they forgot to ask.

This is just the beginning of our BOFU content brainstorm.

Need more ideas? Set up a 30-minute brainstorming session with us at no charge.

Senior Living Marketing: Time for a Mid-Year Checkup

Senior Living Marketing: Time for a Mid-Year Checkup

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June is an excellent time to review your senior living marketing strategy. If you do this mid-year checkup now, you can hit the ground running as we enter Q3.

What exactly should you review during your mid-year checkup?

Don’t worry! We got you.

In this article, we’ll cover the following:

  • Website marketing review tips
  • Social media marketing review tips
  • Email marketing review tips
  • Bonus: Three analytic points that marketers often overlook (but you won’t!)

Let’s get to it.

Senior Living Website Marketing: What To Check

How’s the overall user experience (UX) been over the last six months?

Remember, your senior living website serves as your central marketing hub. You must constantly monitor its performance—and how everyday users respond to and interact with the site.

Things to check:

  • Is the site easy to navigate and accessible to everyone? Don’t underestimate or ignore WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And don’t assume your site is still accessible simply because it was the last time you checked. It’s amazing how quickly accessibility can break down as people add or revise new pages. Performing an audit is a good best practice.
  • Does the site load quickly across all devices? People have little patience for slow sites and may depart your site if takes longer than a few seconds to load.
  • Is the mobile site just as user-friendly as the desktop site? The mobile version of your site needs to be just as easy to read, skim, and navigate as the desktop version.

These last 2 items also factor into good SEO. Slow-loading websites and poorly performing mobile sites will cause your search engine ranking to take a hit, so don’t ignore these issues.

Does your site convert anonymous traffic into leads—and leads into move-ins?

It doesn’t make sense to continue pumping out more of the same content if you have no idea if any of it is working. The most successful communities close the loop with their marketing and sales efforts so that they know what content converts.

Things to check:

  • Review stats on form submissions, click-through rates, and phone calls. How do things compare year-over-year? If stats are down, do you know why?
  • Analyze landing page performance. Where could you optimize better? Should you run an A/B test?
  • Evaluate CTA performance and lead capture mechanisms. Sometimes making a small change, like the color of a CTA button, can have a considerable impact.
  • Use heatmaps or click-tracking tools to understand user engagement. Hotjar is a popular option.
  • Identify high- and low-performing pages. Pay attention to user behavior flow, bounce rates, and time spent on each. How can you apply what you see on the top-performing pages to those needing a little extra TLC?

Do you need to revise content due to messaging inconsistencies or poor performance?

Content marketing doesn’t mean you’re simply writing new content. You must monitor existing content and revise it as needed. The work of content marketing is never done!

Things to check:

  • Review copy on the top trafficked pages. This might seem unnecessary, but you don’t want to lose traction. Is anything outdated or off-brand? Can you freshen testimonials, videos, and content offers?
  • Revisit your content calendar for the rest of the year. Can you spot any content “gaps”? Do you need to adjust content topics or formats based on what resonates with people?
  • Review messaging from a marketing and sales alignment POV. Are the messages in synch? The last thing you want is a disconnect between your website and what people hear during tours or sales calls.

PRO TIP: If you’ve been blogging consistently over the last couple of years, chances are good that you already have plenty of the “right” content. Instead of writing new content, pause for a month and focus only on auditing existing content like blog posts and refreshing the copy. Look for ways to repurpose content: turn that white paper into a series of blog posts, or that blog post into a listicle you share on social. Finally, don’t be afraid to retire older content that’s outdated or is no longer working (and that you can’t fix).

Social Media Marketing: What to Check

Are the platforms working for you—or against you?

You don’t need a presence on every social media platform under the sun to have success. Rocking one or two platforms is better than being mediocre across five or seven. Don’t be afraid to pause platforms that aren’t delivering ROI.

Things to check:

  • Assess each platform’s overall performance. Are people engaged? Are you spending time on a platform that’s getting a lot of press (looking at you, TikTok) but that doesn’t make sense for your senior living audience—at least not yet?
  • Review follower growth. Has the platform gained followers? Are they engaged? What’s the overall reach like?
  • Evaluate ROI. First, make sure you understand how to calculate actionable social media ROI for your senior living community. Second, determine which platforms deliver the best ROI. Does it make sense to continue with what you’ve been doing? Or should you pause any platforms?

Is your social media content strategy delighting prospects?

Why continue posting content your audience has zero interest in? Keep in mind that what people like will fluctuate.

Things to check:

  • Assess the overall engagement and relevance of each social media channel. For example, have you jumped on board the TikTok train simply because everyone’s talking about it? Do you spend tons of time creating TikToks, but you’re not gaining traction? If a particular platform isn’t delivering measurable results, it’s not worth spending the time.
  • Evaluate how you and your team use visuals, videos, and storytelling techniques in your posts. What resonates? What doesn’t? Where can you improve?
  • Identify the type of content that works best and revise your social media calendar accordingly. Swap out content that isn’t getting engagement and schedule more of the content that’s been getting results.

Do you have a truly engaged community of fans (even if it’s small)?

When it comes to social media marketing, it can be tempting to focus on highly “visible” metrics, such as likes. But savvy marketers always dig deeper.

Things to check:

  • Analyze community interaction and response rates. How quickly do people respond to your posts? Do your posts continue gaining traction over a few days, or do they fizzle quickly?
  • Review comments, messages, and reviews. If your posts are getting people to comment or send direct messages with relevant questions about your community, you’re doing something right. Don’t underestimate the power of social media reviews, especially when they happen in other threads where people tag your community.
  • How’s your social media networking? Are you collaborating with/tagging relevant partners to increase visibility? If you haven’t prioritized this, now’s a good time to add this to your marketing mix.

Email Marketing: What to Check

How do the numbers look?

You can’t judge one set of numbers for one email. That’s why looking back at emails over six months is helpful. Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. The numbers for your lead nurturing emails will differ from those for your community’s email newsletter.

Things to check:

  • Don’t get too hung up on open rates (unless you’re looking at adjusted open rates like HubSpot shows). Do pay attention to click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates.
  • Pay attention to unsubscribe rates and spam reports. These are inevitable, but they should be low overall. If you find a particular email in the last six months caused a spike in either, see if you can determine why.
  • What have you learned from A/B testing of subject lines? If you haven’t done any A/B testing, now’s the time to start.

Are people engaging with your emails’ content and the places you’re sending them to?

Things to check:

  • What type of content does your audience like best? Short and punchy copy? Lists? Free downloads? Videos and webinars? Knowing this will help inform your primary content calendar. For example, shift marketing dollars to video creation if your audience prefers video content to ebooks.
  • Is the email’s design helping or hindering marketing efforts? If people are receiving and opening the email but not acting, it’s not always the content’s fault. It could be the design or layout. Just as you should A/B test subject lines, you can A/B test different design elements. Sometimes simply changing the color of a CTA button can positively impact CTR.
  • Check the messaging of all automated emails. Too often, marketers set up their automated emails and forget about them. Get in the habit of reviewing all lead nurturing content from a high-level messaging and brand consistency mindset. (You should also make sure all links are working and email workflows are still operating according to the logic you initially set up.)

How’s your list hygiene?

Things to check:

  • Assess your lists’ overall health. Do you need to send a re-engagement campaign to people who’ve stopped engaging? When was the last time you purged your list of disengaged subscribers? If you continue to send emails to disengaged people, this will lower your overall sender score. (This is known as graymail.)
  • Review segmentation and personalization strategies. For example, if you’ve been using people’s names in the subject lines, have you seen a correlation with open rates, CTR, and other conversion points? If you haven’t experimented with personalization yet, now’s the time to make a plan.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of opt-in forms and lead capture mechanisms. How have sign-ups been over the last six months? Try inserting them mid-way through blog posts and see if that grows your list.

Three Analytic Points That Marketers Often Overlook

Most of our tips above included looking at analytics as part of your mid-year checkup of various areas, like the website or email marketing.

But here are three broader analytics points that too many marketers overlook. Add these to your mid-year checkup.

Make sure you’ve set up clear goals and conversion tracking:

  • Define and track specific conversion goals, such as form submissions or phone calls.
  • Analyze conversion funnels to identify potential drop-off points. (More on drop-offs below.)
  • Implement tracking codes and pixels for accurate measurement.

Analyze demographic and behavioral data:

  • Explore demographic insights of website visitors and email subscribers.
  • Analyze user engagement based on age, location, and interests.
  • Use this data to refine your buyer personas and marketing messages for them.

Pay attention to funnel drop-off points:

  • Identify stages in the conversion funnel with high drop-off rates.
  • Analyze user behavior, messaging, or design issues causing drop-offs.
  • Optimize those specific areas to improve conversion rates.

Need help doing some or all of the above?

Listen, we get it. You’re already juggling so much. That’s why sometimes the best step you can take is a step back and outsource to a marketing agency like ours to do the heavy lifting. We’ll come in with fresh eyes and see what’s working and what isn’t so that you’re in great shape heading into Q3 and Q4. Get in touch, and let’s talk about your marketing strategy.

Senior living marketing tips for Google Business Profile

Senior Living Marketing Tips for Google Business Profile

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In a previous blog post on overlooked marketing opportunities, we mentioned Google My Business. Since our original blog about Google My Business was written, Google retired that name in favor of Google Business Profile. We received some questions and figured we should provide more comprehensive tips for Google Business Profile specifically.

Let’s get to it!

What is Google Business Profile (GBP) and why should I care?

Since its inception, Google has (amazingly) maintained its dominance in the search engine market. Statista reports that as of January 2023, Google had a market share of 84.69 percent. Any business that doesn’t pay attention to its presence within the Google universe does so at its own peril. And one of the biggest things that influences that presence is your Google Business Profile listing. Google uses it to inform your company’s entire presence across Google, including all related products from Search to Maps.

Keep in mind, too, that Google is always tweaking its algorithms so that it serves up better results for users. Most recently, in March 2023 Google rolled out core algorithm updates. Prior to that, it’s 2021 Vicinity update focused on its local search algorithm, and according to BrightLocal, the update is all about targeting proximity as a ranking factor.

Bright Local says, “Although proximity has long been an important signal for local search results, it’s also been the case that businesses can optimize to successfully rank far from their actual business location. Through the Vicinity update, Google now appears to be clamping down on this, which will naturally make local search results more relevant to the user. In terms of the benefit to businesses, this gives them a greater chance to rank well in relevant local searches, as they’ll be competing less with businesses that are further away.”

Google Business Profile sounds more important to Google than it does to me. Do I really need to pay attention to it?

Short answer: Yes, you should. Think of your Google Business Profile listing as a second website—one that often gets served up long before anyone would organically land on your main website. Your GBP listing is tied closely to Google’s local search algorithm, which pays attention to a searcher’s physical location. (If you’ve ever done a search in Google and ended your search query with “near me,” like “Indian restaurants near me” or “bowling alleys near me,” you get the idea.)

The Google Business Profile listing takes up valuable real estate on the search engine results page (SERP), showing up in the right-hand sidebar on desktops and at the top of the results on mobile devices.

Like anything else with search results, what people can scan quickly from your GBP listing will determine whether they dig deeper into your listing or move on to a competitor.

The listing (on both desktop and mobile) will show the nuts and bolts automatically, like the name of your business, a few pics, location info, map info, and reviews. People can click in for a deeper look at more pictures, videos, reviews, and the like.

An important point: Your GBP listing exists whether you’ve “claimed” it or not. If you don’t claim it, you risk having inaccurate info and a drabby, boring listing. By claiming your listing, you have the opportunity to manage and monitor it—and make it as engaging as possible.

How does having a Google Business Profile listing help my senior living community?

It can increase overall brand awareness and name recognition. If your listing keeps coming up as people conduct searches on senior living communities in your area (and related searches—more on this in a moment), people will become more familiar with your name and overall brand, even if they don’t click through. Because of the real estate the listing takes up, a person can’t not see it. Sure, they might only give it a cursory glance, but a glance is still a glance—our subconscious minds remain at work.

Your GBP listing also reinforces brand recognition for people who are already familiar with your name. They might be doing a search on your name—perhaps trying to get an address and phone number. A robust GBP listing will give them those things—but so much more, including reviews, pictures, compelling info about the community, and any recent news or updates (think COVID).

Check out the screenshot below that we pulled from a client’s GBP analytics.

The green area shows the “direct” searchers—people searching on the client’s business name and address.

But the blue shows the “discovery” searches—people searching on a category, product, or service related to seniors and senior living in that area. This high level of discovery is not unusual for Google Business Profile listings, provided they’re set up properly.

Google views

Bottom line: A good Google Business Profile Listing can help people discover your business on that all-important first page of Google search results. That’s another psychological aspect at play: Whether right or wrong, people do tend to trust what’s served up on the first page of Google, especially items that are prominently displayed, like GBP listings.

Wow! That sounds great! So, all I have to do is “claim” my Google Business Profile listing and add a few pictures? Or are there some other tips for Google Business Profile that I should be following?

Remember how we mentioned earlier that your GBP listing is like a second website? Well, just as you optimized your website for search, you need to optimize your Google Business Profile listing for search as well. And just like you do for your senior living community’s website, you have “on-page” optimization elements as well “off-page” optimization elements to consider.

Tips for Google Business Profile: On-page elements

The Google Business Profile interface is extremely user-friendly. Your job is to simply fill out all relevant sections listed in the backend of your GBP account—and to do so clearly and compellingly. The on-page elements refer to items that are customer-facing, meaning folks who land on your listing will see the info you provide.

Sections to pay close attention to:

  • Info section. The “info” section lets you provide all the forward-facing information about your community, like a brief overview, hours, and location info.
  • Pictures. You can—and should—add plenty of pictures. And double-check how they look on desktop and mobile. Follow Google’s guidelines regarding pictures. The recommended resolution is 720 px tall, 720 px wide. The minimum resolution is 250 px tall, 250 px wide.
  • Videos. People LOVE videos. If you have good ones, add them, particularly ones that highlight the lifestyle and vibe within your community. Follow Google’s video guidelines for maximum effect.
  • Reviews. You want to make sure you’re responsive to reviews. Thank people for giving positive reviews. For negative reviews, tread carefully—avoid sounding defensive or dismissive. And don’t repeat the same canned response to negative reviews. Humility can go a long way. So can offering a real person’s name and number to contact on your end.
  • Questions and answers. If someone takes the time to ask a question, ANSWER IT! First of all, it’s only polite to do so. If one person has the question, we can guarantee many other folks do as well. Answering the question thoughtfully helps demonstrate your community’s responsiveness. And questions can be a great source of intel for you. The questions could inspire a blog post or info you need to add to the website.
  • Ongoing updates: You can post updates, just like you do on social media. So post a link to a blog, a premium offer, etc. Keep it fresh and share items regularly.
  • Accessibility attributes. This is especially important for our industry since it speaks to how accessible your communities are to people in wheelchairs.

Tips for Google Business Profile: Off-page elements

Google Keywords

When we say “off-page,” we’re referring to the stuff behind the scenes (people searching won’t see this info). A good example is the category you choose. As Google explains, “Categories describe your business and connect you to customers who search for the products or services you offer.”

Identify a primary category (like assisted living). You can also add additional categories (think keywords) related to your business. See the screenshot from one of our client’s listings that we helped set up.

My senior living community has multiple locations. Can I have multiple Google Business Profile listings?

YES! Google understands that many businesses, from banks to hotels to senior living communities, have multiple locations and, as a result, need multiple listings. Google provides excellent step-by-step instructions for bulk location management (there are different steps for businesses with fewer than 10 locations vs. those with 10 or more).

An important caveat: When you have multiple locations to manage, the work you need to do in Google Business Profile increases—and often by a lot. This is why we recommend working with a senior living marketing agency like ours. We can help you set up, manage, and maintain multiple listings with consistent messaging and accurate info.

Whew! That’s a lot. Where else can I learn about Google Business Profile?

Honestly, the best place to start is Google—it provides excellent step-by-step instructions if you want to go the DIY route. And, of course, working with an agency partner like Senior Living SMART also makes a whole lot of sense. We can either do it all for you or double-check and make sure everything is fully optimized. Having a second set of eyes never hurts. Get in touch and let’s talk about your senior living community’s presence on Google!

Senior living lead eggs hatching with footprints towards sale sign

5 Things You Shouldn’t Do with Your Senior Living Leads

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If we could share one article with every senior living marketing and sales team, this would be it. Why? Because it has to do with everyone’s favorite topic: senior living leads. Specifically, mistakes to avoid. Let’s get to it.

1. Don’t treat all senior living leads the same.

If you’re a Senior Living SMART client and/or a regular reader of our blog, you’ve likely heard us say that not all leads are created equal. Some leads are ready to buy now. Others might be ready two years from now.

How should you handle the very different needs of various leads? To start, you should divide your leads into two buckets—sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). SQLs want to buy sooner rather than later, so they will be served up to the sales team. MQLs aren’t ready yet, so they will enter longer-term nurturing campaigns.

For all of this to happen efficiently, you’ll need marketing automation software and website forms that capture meaningful info to help segment and score your leads. You can choose to get more granular with your lead segmentation if you wish. For example, within your MQLs, you might segment leads according to buyer persona (e.g., senior vs. adult child).

Bottom line: Meet your leads according to where they are on their journey. Don’t treat them all as if they’re ready to buy today or tomorrow.

2. Don’t ignore leads just because they’re in the very early stages.

This goes along with the previous point, but it’s worth repeating. Too often, we see marketing and sales teams ignore leads that are in the earliest stages of their journey (think leads that don’t plan to buy for at least a year). This is short-sighted. Remember, today’s researchers are tomorrow’s buyers—even if that “tomorrow” is eighteen months from now.

While you might not market as aggressively to early-stage leads, you should still provide regular, helpful communications. The goal? For the lead to think well of your community so that when they are ready to buy, your community will be top of mind.

3. Don’t bombard your leads with the same marketing messages.

Since you have a variety of leads coming in, you need to have a variety of marketing messages at the ready as you nurture MQLs to SQLs. Because that’s precisely what good nurturing is—delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.

Getting to know your leads is an excellent way to develop engaging content for them. But how do you get to “know” your leads? Simple. Through your website forms.

Earlier, we mentioned having website forms that capture meaningful info. But if you want to take it to the next level, consider implementing progressive profiling. With progressive form fields, you can control which questions appear on which website forms. Not only that, but once a person has filled out one set of questions, they’ll be asked a different set the next time they fill out a form on your site. The answers will give you valuable insights into your prospects. As a result, you can serve up nurturing campaigns that make sense to them.

For example, maybe your website forms capture people’s favorite hobbies. For those who love food and cooking, you can serve up emails that discuss all the fabulous activities in your community centered around cooking: breadmaking class, sushi night, wine-tasting every Thursday afternoon, pot-luck dinner parties, etc. For those who cited sports as a favorite hobby, you can serve up a similar set of emails that talk about your fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts, golf league, football get-togethers, and the like.

The basic email campaign can be the same, but you will customize the messaging so that it speaks directly to your leads. Custom messaging is the secret sauce to effective lead nurturing.

4. Don’t “set and forget” your marketing automation.

With marketing automation, it’s easy to set up email nurturing campaigns and forget all about them. While automation is supposed to make your life easier, you still need to monitor results—and make adjustments based on what the numbers tell you.

What you should pay attention to:

  • Engagement. Are people opening the emails? Are they clicking through to your offers? Are they converting on those offers? Don’t send emails just to say you’ve sent them. You want your emails to work, meaning they should motivate the recipient to take a specific action—even if that action is something as simple as reading a blog post.
  • Conversions. Over time, provided your email nurturing is effective, you should see increased conversions: MQLs to SQLs and SQLs to customers.
  • Messaging. Even if engagement/conversions look good, revisit messaging to make sure everything you say is accurate. For example, you might have promoted virtual tours due to COVID. Now, you might have options for both in-person and virtual tours. We recommend looking at all messaging at least twice a year.

Don’t be afraid to adjust messaging that isn’t working. Trust what the numbers are telling you. You could throw a whole campaign out the window and start over. Or you can A/B test smaller changes. For example, if people aren’t opening your emails, test different subject lines. Haven’t tried personalization yet? Maybe you experiment with that and see how the results look.

Effective marketing automation is part science, part art—and it absolutely requires the human touch.

5. Don’t assume you’re in control. (Because you’re not.)

This is the hardest pill for sales and marketing teams to swallow. Twenty years ago, before everyone was online and before every senior living community had its own website, each community’s sales and marketing team was very much in control of the sales process. If someone was interested in learning about your community, they had no choice but to call or come in for a tour, which put them (the buyer) at the mercy of the sales team.

Things have changed. Thanks to senior living websites, review sites, and social media, buyers can now research to their heart’s content before ever talking to a salesperson. And they’ll only do the latter on their terms when they’re ready for a sales interaction.

If senior living sales and marketing teams want to succeed today, they must embrace this shift and focus on enabling buyers to get the info they need, when they need it. This means marketing and sales must remove any friction from the process and make it as easy and straightforward as possible for the buyer to purchase from you. Say hello to your new top priority!

Want more helpful strategies for increasing senior living leads? Download our guide.

Even though we bill ourselves as a marketing agency, we also have expertise in the senior living sales process, as this free guide demonstrates. Enjoy it with our compliments!

And, of course, if you need assistance, get in touch and let’s chat about your senior living sales challenges.

How to Increase Sales in Senior Living Schedule a 30 minute brainstorming session
senior living marketing event ideas, food truck

Senior Living Marketing Event Ideas to Try

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Need some fresh senior living marketing event ideas as we emerge from the pandemic? Here are some to consider. 

Senior Living Marketing Event Ideas to Boost General Awareness about Your Community

With these events, the goal is to create awareness about your community with the people who live in the surrounding area. These events cast a wider net—in fact, some of the events might skew younger—but the idea is everyone knows (or is connected to) someone who fits your ideal buyer persona. 

In other words, that twenty-five-year-old might have a grandparent in the area, or that forty-year-old might have a mother who’s been thinking of making the move to senior living.

Host a blood drive.

The American Red Cross has a turnkey system for hosting a blood drive. You provide the space, the volunteers, and the donors. The Red Cross takes care of everything else.

  • Who to invite: General population in the area, current leads, residents/families. The nice thing about this event idea is that you gain a lot of traction in one fell swoop. 
  • How to promote the event: Promote it to your lead database via email, promote it to residents and families, and promote it to people in the area through local advertising (such as Patch.com and the local paper—you can often submit event listings for free).
  • How to market your community at the event: After people donate blood, send them off with a goody bag with collateral about your community and a fun branded promotional item. Have sales reps on hand in case people have questions about the community. And make sure the reps are prepared to conduct impromptu tours if someone is interested.

Host “Food Truck Friday.”

Reach out to local food truck vendors in the area and designate a “Food Truck Friday” event. The trucks come from, say, 4-8 and park in your lot for residents/families and people from the larger community to enjoy.

  • Who to invite/how to promote the event: Same as above.
  • How to market your community at the event: You bring dessert! Set up a candy booth with your company’s signage. (Like the candy tables that are popular at weddings.) People can fill a bag of candy (for free). The bag will be branded with your community info and include collateral. Again, have sales staff available in case someone attending the event has questions about your community.

Senior Living Marketing Event Ideas to Woo Hot Prospects

When it comes to creating events to court prospects who’ve already expressed sincere interest in your community, you need to think strategically. These events will be “smaller” in terms of scale—and if any particular event proves successful, be prepared to start running it on a more regular basis.

Spaghetti Supper to Go

One of the most popular questions that prospects ask sales counselors is this: “How’s the food?” Show off your chef’s mad skills by offering spaghetti dinners to go—complete with garlic bread and cannolis. Serious prospects can finally taste food that they’d see on your menu if they lived in your community.

  • How it works: Prospects can reserve their order and drop by to pick it up between five and seven on the appointed day. With each order, make sure someone greets the prospect, helps them carry the dinner to their car, and offers a swag bag with some extras, like fun branded promo items. The next day, the sales rep can follow up and ask what the prospect thought of the meal.
  • Who to invite: Limit the initial send to hot sales-qualified leads (SQLs). And if this is your first time doing an event like this, limit the total number. Discuss with your chef about a reasonable number of spaghetti suppers they can prepare for one evening and start with that number as the upper limit. (So if the number is 10, send the offer to 10 prospects. There’s little chance that all 10 would say yes, but if by some chance they did, the chef could still accommodate all of them.)
  • How to promote it: Use a combo of email marketing and good old-fashioned phone calls. 
  • Bonus tip: The sales rep should follow up the next day with the prospect and ask what they thought of the food and to see if they’re any closer to making a decision. Plus, once you get in a rhythm, this can be an easy ongoing event—one you do every month for hot SQLs you’re trying to close.

Backstage Pass

You’re trying to sell how great your community is as a place to live, right? So give some of your hot prospects backstage passes to try out certain amenities.

For example, do you have a fabulous fitness center with lots of fun classes? Give the prospect a free pass to try it out for a week. Got an amazing restaurant on site? Give prospects a pass to enjoy a meal on the house. You get the idea. The goal is to give the prospect the opportunity to experience the community without a sales person hovering.

  • How it works: Determine ahead of time 3-4 amenities that you’ll allow free passes to (and any rules/conditions). Create a nicely designed oversized “backstage pass”—something that reflects your community’s branding. Give it to the prospect and explain how it works. Even if they don’t use the pass, the offer itself will likely have a powerful—and memorable—effect.
  • Caveat: Make sure relevant team members are aware of the backstage pass. So, for example, if the pass is for the fitness center, everyone who works in the fitness center should A) be aware of this promotion and B) be alerted when someone is given a pass to the fitness center. This way, the fitness center employees can greet/help the prospect accordingly.
  • Who to invite/how to promote it: Determine on a case-by-case basis. If the hot prospect seems really interested in your community, this might be the offer to help seal the deal. Or if the prospect is wavering between your community and another one, this offer might help them decide.
  • Bonus tip: The sales rep should follow up with the prospect after the person has “used” the backstage pass. Again, inquire about the person’s experience and see if they’re any closer to a decision.

Senior Living Marketing Event Ideas for Thanking Referral Sources

Coffee and Donuts On Us

Don’t underestimate the value of your existing referral sources. It’s always good to thank them and remind them you’re there. Invite them to a quarterly “drive through breakfast” at your community. The goal is to reconnect with those you know and to show your gratitude for their referrals.

  • How it works: Buy boxes of coffee and donuts/bagels ahead of time. (It’s always good to order them ahead.) Have a team managing a booth at your entrance with all the goodies between, say, 6 and 9. Invite your referral sources to stop by and pick up breakfast—on you. Offer a little swag bag with a gift card to Starbucks and some collateral that they can use to promote your community (like a stack of postcards or brochures).
  • Who to invite: Referral sources—active ones and ones who’ve gone quiet.
  • How to promote the event: Create an ongoing email list of your referral sources and do a three-prong email blast. Send the first a week out. Send the second a few days before. Send the final one either the night before or early AM on the day of. The gist is simple: Go for a “thank you for your referrals. Enjoy donuts and coffee on us” message.
  • Bonus tips: Record who shows up! Get names. Then, follow up with the person individually via email saying you hoped they enjoyed the coffee/donuts, and you’d love to have them over to the community for lunch sometime. Again, you’re trying to stay top of mind in these folks’ heads while also giving them reasons to promote your community (by experiencing the great food, seeing the gorgeous grounds, and so forth).

After-hours Networking

Hosting an after-hours networking event is always a great way to mingle with referral sources—and possibly meet new ones! In terms of how to set it up . . . you can be in charge of doing everything—securing the location, food, etc. Or if your community is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, they often have sponsorship opportunities for after-hours networking events.

  • How it works: Host a cocktail hour at your community or a nearby restaurant. Invite referral sources and prospective referral sources for an evening of cocktails and networking. Make sure everyone leaves with a swag bag (filled with a promo item, something special like a gift card, and collateral about your community that they can hand out on your behalf).
  • Who to invite: Your current referral sources and a list of referral sources you’d like to get.
  • How to promote it: Follow the same steps as above for your current referral sources. For your prospective referral sources, create a separate email list. You’ll use similar messaging—”Join us for a night of networking. Sponsored by Awesome Senior Living Community.”
  • Bonus tips: Have several team members at the event and make sure they mingle. They should pass out business cards and get cards from whoever is there. Then, the next day, they should send a personal email to each person they met (new referral sources and existing ones) and ask to set up a one-to-one coffee chat to foster the relationship further.

Senior Living Marketing Event Ideas: Don’t Underestimate the Value of Virtual Events

As we emerge from the pandemic, we’re all itching for more in-person events, which is why we focused on those sorts of ideas above. But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s this: Virtual events can be effective—and can sometimes even work better for certain personalities (like introverts) or for people who want to explore your community from afar.

So don’t stop hosting virtual events. Your best bet moving forward is to offer a combo of in-person events and virtual events—and to monitor the results.

Check out these helpful articles for more info:

Remember, the Key to a Successful Event is Starting with a SMART strategy.
Be strategic in your planning—from the purpose of the event, to how you’ll market it, to how you’ll follow up. Need help along the way? Reach out. We love helping our clients develop and execute effective senior living marketing events.

Marketing Strategies for Senior Living: The Marketing Hourglass

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When it comes to effective marketing strategies for senior living, we follow the marketing hourglass, which our friends at Duct Tape Marketing developed.

The marketing hourglass involves seven important steps: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Retain, and Refer. This differs from the classic marketing and sales “funnel” approach, which typically involves Awareness, Consideration, and Purchase.

Duct Tape Marketing contends that the funnel ignores an important fact: that happy customers are often your best tools when it comes to lead generation and referral generation. The hourglass approach, on the other hand, takes customers into account (especially in the “retain” and “refer” steps).

Let’s break down the seven steps so you can apply them to your marketing strategies for senior living . . .

Step #1: KNOW

Basically, can people find you? If you operate a senior living community in Dallas, Texas, and someone in Dallas searches on “senior living near me” or “senior living Dallas,” will your community’s website come up on the first page of Google? If the answer is yes, great. If the answer is no (or you’re not sure), then you’ve got some work to do!

For your community to be “known,” you need to create a highly secure and highly optimized digital presence. This includes doing the following (at the very least):

  • Make sure your site is optimized with relevant keyword phrases. You want to use keyword phrases that your ideal prospects are searching on. (This requires research and know-how.) Then, you want to use these phrases naturally throughout your site, both on the page itself and in the meta data (the title tag and meta description).
  • Make sure your site has SSL security. How to tell? Call up your senior living website in a browser and look at the URL. Do you see a warning that says it’s “not secure”? Google penalizes sites that don’t have SSL security, meaning you’re less likely to rank well in organic search.
  • Make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices. More and more people (yes, even seniors) conduct searches on their phones or tablets. Your site needs to automatically “respond” to different devices (and screen sizes). Again, if your site isn’t built for mobile, Google will penalize you.
  • Make sure you site is speedy. It needs to load quickly! This is critical for the user experience (no one likes watching an endless pinwheel while a page loads). Again, Google takes note of slow sites as well. Incorrectly sized photos, bloated and unnecessary code, and big videos can slow down sites.
  • Make sure your Google My Business listing is up to date. Google cares about Google products. Google consistently serves up Google My Business listings when people search for things, particularly physical locations, like senior living communities. Consider your Google My Business listing as a mini website. Apply the same level of care you would on your main site. Include updated contact info, compelling text, great images and videos, and lots of reviews.

Step #2: LIKE

Once prospects find your senior living website, what happens next? Keep in mind that people have only so much patience when it comes to websites. If they don’t see what they’re looking for within a few seconds, they WILL bounce off your site—and go to a competitor’s site.

To encourage website “stickiness,” make sure . . .

  • The website navigation is clear and intuitive. Make it easy for people to work their way through the site. Keep in mind you’ll be dealing with older eyes. Think larger fonts and good color contrasts.
  • The keyword-phrase that brought people to the page is relevant and fully “dealt” with in the copy. For example, if someone landed on a page about “senior living community prices in Dallas,” the page better thoroughly deal with that topic and deliver the goods. (Rule of thumb: each page of your site should have one main keyword-phrase focus.)
  • The design is welcoming . . . and authentic. DON’T USE STOCK IMAGES. If someone is doing research on senior living communities in Dallas, chances are good they will see the same tired and unoriginal stock images on multiple sites. Don’t let your site be one of them. Invest in custom photography that highlights your community—and that helps people remember it.
  • The website is truly helpful. Make sure the site has a Resources section, contact info at the top of every page, and, ideally, some sort of Live Chat function so people can get answers right away.

Step #3: TRUST

You’ve lured prospects to your site. Now, you need to build trust. A variety of “trust signals” exist. The best websites will use a combination.

  • Both text-based and (ideally) videos of real people talking about how much they love your community. (A combo of residents and staff can work well! A happy staff indicates a happy place, too!)
  • Relevant logos for any awards, recognitions, certifications. Your website—particularly the home page—is a great place to highlight “best of” and other awards.
  • In-depth resources that you offer for free. Position your community as the go-to place for information about senior living in your area. Offer educational content on hot topics like financing, how to move, checklists for evaluating options, resources for family members, and so forth.
  • A clear and compelling “team” and/or management page. Prospects want to get a sense of the people behind the scenes. Supply warmly written bios and photos that capture the people who bring your community to life.
  • Relevant info about COVID-19. For the immediate future, you need to have information front-and-center about how your community is navigating COVID-19. And guess what? This section isn’t static. It NEEDS to change to reflect what’s going on in your community. (Hint: Check out our free resource on how to market your senior living community during a pandemic.)

Step #4: TRY

Today’s prospects expect websites to be interactive. Yours should provide opportunities for prospects to “try” out your community so they can picture themselves or their loved ones living there.

  • Offer virtual room builders/floor plans. Room builders allow people to get a sense of space and décor. In addition, they help people envision how their belongings would work in the space.
  • Offer “on demand” tours. In this case, we’re referring to a tour you’ve recorded on video. While being able to experience a community in person is always preferable, it’s not always possible—due to things like COVID-19 or even location. If someone in Boston wants to get a feel for your community in Florida, an on-demand tour or other virtual event can help.
  • Let people download menus and activity calendars. It’s one thing to tell people about everything your community offers. It’s a whole other thing to allow them to see a breakdown on a real day-to-day calendar.
  • Make it easy for people to access your YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram. Your social media channels are a great place to go “behind the scenes” in your community. While professionally shot videos and pictures are great for your site, your social channels can house the candid shots and videos (which often come across as more authentic and relatable anyway).
  • Allow people to schedule tours (in-person or virtual) directly on your site at a day/time that’s convenient for them. This empowers the prospect and eliminates unnecessary back-and-forth between a sales rep and the prospect.

Step #5: BUY

You need to make it easy for prospects to buy from you. Now, we know what you might be thinking: “If someone wants to buy into our senior living community, all they need to do is talk to a sales rep.”

But that’s not how most people buy today. People do their homework first (as we described above). For senior living especially, prospects also try to self-qualify by researching and requesting pricing.

So ask yourself: How transparent is your senior living website when it comes to things like pricing, financing options, and so forth? Even if you don’t list pricing, you need to ADDRESS pricing so that people have a sense of ranges—and an understanding about what’s included. Then, beyond that, how easy is the overall buying process when someone does indeed want to buy?

Focus on the following:

  • Evaluate your website from a “I’m ready to buy now” perspective. Is there an area that clearly addresses the buying process soup to nuts? Bottom line: you want to enable prospects to buy from you.
  • Audit the overall buying process from start to finish. Begin with the moment someone says “Yes, I want to move in.” How easy is it to make a deposit? What happens next? Do you offer transitional services? Have you streamlined paperwork? Do you provide move-in checklists and downsizing tips?

Step #6: RETAIN

A prospect who becomes a happy resident will be your best form of advertising going forward. So the question is, how do you keep your residents happy?

  • Make sure you have programs in place designed specifically for new residents and their families. Think welcome kits, orientations, and “meet your neighbors” events that help new residents acclimate.
  • Conduct surveys. We recommend doing surveys two weeks after move-in. Why? Because 17% of all move-outs happen in the first 30 days! If you can get feedback/insight into how new residents are acclimating (or not), you and your team can identify any issues and (hopefully!) address them before someone decides to move out.

Note: The insights you gather during the “retain” step can inform your marketing and sales efforts. For example, use positive quotes from surveys and highlight them on your website.

Step #7: REFER

Did you know resident and family referrals have a 30 – 35 % closing rate? (For comparison, third-party leads close at 3 – 6 %).

  • Make sure you have an easy system in place for soliciting referrals from residents and their family members. One idea: “I’ve just moved!” postcards that you supply as part of your welcome kit to new residents. Encourage them to send these to their friends.
  • Make it easy for residents and their family members to review your community. In addition to referrals, the words of real residents can be incredibly compelling. Encourage people to leave reviews on your Google My Business page and via social media.

Let’s Chat!

Our Senior Living Marketing System

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We recently became part of Duct Tape Marketing, a network of marketing agencies and consultants from around the world.

As the Duct Tape Marketing website explains, “Duct Tape Marketing is founded on the simple belief that marketing is the most important small business system. And we just so happen to believe that small business owners are the true heroes of business, so we’ve made it our mission to build, train, support, and teach small business marketing strategies and tactics to as many of these heroes as possible.”

For us, we joined Duct Tape Marketing for three reasons:

  1. We wanted to bring in thought leadership from outside the senior living industry.
  2. We wanted to participate in a community of professionals who are as passionate about marketing as we are.
  3. We wanted to use a proven system that simplifies digital marketing.

Being a part of the network has helped us refine how we work with our clients. This has resulted in our ability to offer clients more choices, dependable delivery of work within budget and timeframes, and consistent results.

So, what is this marketing “system” that Duct Tape promotes? The system’s foundation involves creating three levels of marketing support: Build, Grow, and Ignite.

For the Build phase, we create a solid digital foundation that enables prospects to easily find your senior living community.

A strong digital foundation includes many components:

Once that work is complete, we move into Grow.

This is when we focus on content, such as . . .

When it comes to content, we create compelling pieces for all stages of the prospect journey so they will keep coming back to your website. With this new content, we can also optimize a variety of social channels (think Facebook, Instagram, and even Pinterest). In addition, we often start (or re-start) a monthly email newsletter to re-engage existing leads.

Then, we move to Ignite.

We fire up the lead generation turbo booster known as marketing automation. Marketing automation offers many benefits, but the biggest one is that it automatically scores and segments leads.

Remember, not all leads are created equal! Some leads are in the early stages of their journey, conducting research. They have no interest in talking to sales—yet. Other leads need to decide soon. And still other leads will fall somewhere in between.

How you treat different leads will—and should—vary, based on where the lead is in their journey. Your marketing team will work on nurturing the “not ready” leads (i.e., marketing-qualified leads or MQLs). In the meantime, the sales team will work on the sales-qualified leads (SQLs).

The marketing automation system makes this process seamless, by automatically serving up the SQLs to the sales team (and, ideally, your senior living CRM). For the MQLs, the marketing automation funnels them to appropriate lead nurturing workflows based on how they engaged with your site and what answers they provided on opt-in website forms.

This saves everyone time, and it increases conversions, since your sales team will only be focusing on high-intent leads rather than ALL leads.

During the Ignite phase, we often implement paid advertising to increase the number of qualified prospects coming to your site. We are good stewards of client budget. And we don’t recommend pursuing paid advertising until we reach the Ignite phase. After all, why waste money driving people to a bad website with poor navigation, limited content, and nothing to do when they get there?

This three-prong approach to senior living marketing has many advantages.

First, it aligns expectations and timelines for deliverables. Second, it keeps everyone focused on results. And, finally, it works! Interested in learning more? Let’s set up a complimentary 30-minute brainstorming session so we can discuss your senior living marketing and sales challenges.

Connect with us to learn more!

Let’s chat about your senior living marketing and sales challenges.

Let’s Chat!