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senior living marketing agencies

Senior Living Marketing Agencies: 10 Ways We’re Different

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This year, we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary. Surviving a decade in any business, but especially in the ultra-competitive world of marketing, is no easy feat, so we thought it would be fitting to highlight 10 ways we’re different from other senior living marketing agencies. 

Below, you’ll find what makes us special, what makes us tick, and what might make us a good fit for your senior living community. 

1. We know how to successfully manage our clients’ marketing from afar.

When the pandemic hit, many companies panicked as they transitioned employees to remote work. Not us. We’ve been a virtual agency since our founding, and we only work with employees and freelancers who’ve shown that they can thrive in a virtual environment.  

  • What this means for our clients: We can service our clients no matter where they’re located. This is especially helpful for communities that have multiple locations throughout the country. No more worries about miscommunication or things falling through the cracks. We know how to get work done, even if we’re not all in the same room. 

2. We pass along the savings from our virtual setup to our clients. 

Marketing agencies are famous for touting their cool workspaces, which are often in lofts with exposed brick and come complete with cool amenities like snack bars, bean bag chairs, and meditation rooms. Hey, we’re not trying to diminish creating good spaces for employees, but all those things cost money. A virtual setup eliminates many of those costs. 

  • What this means for our clients: In a virtual setup like ours, we don’t have as much overhead as traditional agencies in brick-and-mortar buildings. We can invest those savings in the talent we hire and the tools that will support them (like computers and secure IT). And we can pass along the savings to our customers as well. It’s a win-win for everyone. Not to mention, we’re cutting down on greenhouse gases since our employees don’t commute and since we don’t need to maintain a building. 

3. We only focus on the senior living industry.

Honestly, this is rare. You might find other agencies that list senior living as one of the industries they serve. But for an agency to focus solely on one industry is unusual.  

So why do we focus only on marketing for senior living communities? Well, our founders built this agency on their combined experience. They spent the bulk of their careers working in senior living communities. They understand the industry from an operator’s perspective and from a marketing and sales team perspective. (They also have a keen understanding of where families are coming from.) Why expand into other industries when we know and care about this one as much as we do? 

  • What this means for our clients: We know the senior living industry inside and out and our buyer persona research is unparalleled in the marketplace. 

4. Our team members are passionate about the senior living industry.

This goes along with the previous point. Because we focus on senior living, we hire people who either have experience in the industry (professionally or through volunteering) or a passion for the industry. 

Often, our team members bring both to the table. And sure—we also bring on people who’ve demonstrated that they want to embrace this industry and learn from us and our clients. (This is especially true among our interns.) 

  • What this means for our clients: There’s less of a learning curve. Yes, we absolutely take the time to learn about your community and your ideal prospects. But as for the industry itself—what senior living is, what it isn’t, how the sales cycles function, and so forth—we’re way ahead of other marketing agencies that generalize. 

5. We customize our approaches. 

It would be easy to think that because we only focus on senior living, we must have cookie-cutter approaches to our work. But that’s not the case.  

Even though most senior living communities are essentially selling the same thing, we believe that it’s possible to develop a unique value proposition for each client—and that what makes a community special should guide its marketing campaigns.  

  • What this means for our clients: When you work with us, you get a mix of must-have digital marketing tactics, like web marketing, social media marketing, paid ads, and the like. But how we build out each tactic and campaign is where the customization comes into play, based on your specific objectives and your ideal buyers. 

6. We’re not only good at marketing. We also understand senior living sales. 

This, too, is unusual for marketing agencies. Sure, agencies will often have a high-level understanding of the sales process. But again, remember our founders—they intimately understand senior living sales cycles as well as the challenges sales teams face (and that marketing teams face while working with sales). 

  • What this means for our clients: Over the last decade, we’ve taught many senior living sales teams a better approach to working leads. We’ve taught teams about the difference between marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs), and how MQLs need to be nurtured while sales teams follow up on SQLs. We’ve written extensively about senior living sales, too.

7. We offer SMARTbrand, SMARTbrand+, and SMARTstores. 

We can confidently say no other marketing agency (that we’re aware of) offers this suite of solutions for print collateral and branded materials. 

  • What this means for our clients: We recognized the need for turnkey solutions that can cut down on printing costs while delivering quality materials. Plus, for companies that operate multiple communities, consistent branding is essential, and our SMARTstores make it easy to keep everything and everyone using the right branded materials. 

8. We have a marketplace with approved vendors to help marketing and sales teams shine. 

This goes back to our roots. (We’ve evolved since our founding in 2012.) We vet companies who sell to senior living marketing and sales teams, and we promote these great companies in our Marketplace.  

9. We have our podcast.

OK, so we know just about every other marketing agency out there has podcasts. But our focus is on senior living marketing and sales topics (and we’ve had over 6,000 downloads to date). 

  • What this means for our clients: We embrace technology, and we show our clients successful ways to market by demonstrating how it’s done!

10. We’re a HubSpot Platinum Partner.

We became fans of HubSpot long before we became a partner, and the reason is simple. HubSpot is the leader in inbound marketing. Its all-in-one software package makes it easy to attract the right prospects, delight them throughout their journey, and convert them when they’re ready.  

  • What this means for our clients: You can’t be successful today without marketing automation, and HubSpot consistently delivers the best product in this arena. Of course, to get the most out of marketing automation, you need to make sure it’s been set up properly and that someone who understands its many nuances monitors the results. And that’s precisely the support we deliver to our clients when we set up and manage their HubSpot. Learn more about HubSpot for senior living in this free guide. 

Want to experience what a senior living marketing agency like ours can do for your community? 

Now’s a great time to get in touch and discuss your marketing plans for the next quarter.