Today, there are an increasing number of highly sophisticated marketing tools and techniques that are changing the game in senior living occupancy growth, brand building and return on investment(ROI). “Remarketing” content optimization for Page One search rankings and Google Analytics are just a few of the “smart” technologies that growth-oriented senior living communities are employing these days.
Another extremely valuable and increasingly popular technique is called “Pay-Per-Click” or “PPC” marketing.
According to award-winning website development and online technology expert, Alex Boyce, Director of Technology & Online Marketing for SageAge Strategies, “If you have not already familiarized yourself with Pay-Per-Click marketing, it is time to do so. PPC offers several significant advantages over traditional marketing tactics, such as print ads and direct mail, that can upgrade your growth strategy and, most importantly, optimize your results.”
Pay-Per-Click Defined
Essentially, PPC is an online advertising tactic in which your advertisement appears on the results page of relevant keyword searches. You pay a fee each time one of your ads is clicked on by consumers searching for your types of services. Essentially, it’s a way of purchasing visits to your site, rather than hoping to earn those visits organically through traditional search engine optimization tactics.
For example, if you are a senior living provider that pays for the keyword “memory care assisted living” or “Alzheimer’s care services,” your ad can be highlighted at the top of the search page anytime those terms are entered. When your ad is clicked, the consumer is then taken to an appropriate “landing page” on your website that provides them with compelling information about your solutions and the advantages of your brand.
PPC ads typically appear on top and/or the side of the search results, thus providing your organization with ideal positioning and visibility. Again, as the term Pay-Per-Click implies, you only pay for the advertising campaign if your target consumers click on your advertisement.
The 5 Major Advantages of “PPC”
Although traditional marketing initiatives still have a place in a fully-integrated marketing strategy, PPC advertising offers several very important advantages over traditional advertising techniques, including:
1. Faster results – Pay-Per-Click marketing is one of the quickest methods of attracting your target consumers to your website and engaging them as prime prospects for your community’s services. While a comprehensive, long-term SEO strategy featuring valuable consumer-focused content is highly important for sustained growth, PPC campaigns offer the advantage of generating fast results.
2. Casting a wider net – PPC provides the further advantage of providing you with access to a vast array of media through the Google network. You can think of this as running a traditional newspaper ad that runs in thousands of targeted newspapers simultaneously instead of in just one.
3. A precision focus – PPC also enables the customization of your ad campaign parameters. You can specify the exact geographic focus and the types of media you want to use. You can also choose not to use certain media. In this way, you have greater control over whom your ad is directed to, where it appears and when.
4. Measurable conversion rates – PPC is a measurable lead conversion strategy that:
- Creates “impressions,” or views, of your ad
- Encourages clicks on your ad for more information about your services
- Provides your sales team with quality prospects that they can then turn into move-ins
- Tracks and measures “click-through rates” for your campaign against industry standards to assess its overall effectiveness and, if necessary, to make appropriate adjustments
5. Improved ROI – You only pay when web searchers who are seeking your types of services click on your ad. Thus, PPC offers a more cost-effective approach when you want to get greater efficiency and faster results from your sales and marketing budget. PPC continues to provide your sales team with a source of high-quality leads over the course of your PPC campaign.
Types of PPC Ads
PPC campaigns can be either “search engine” focused or “display” based and come in a variety of formats, including text, graphics and video. In both cases, when a prospect clicks on your ad, they are taken directly to your website.
Search engine ads are typically text based. These are the color-highlighted ads you often see at the very top of a search results page when you enter a keyword.
Display ads often appear as banners or more traditional looking ad formats on web pages that feature related content. Like search ads, display ads are also highly targeted to specific audiences, and only appear on web pages that are related to your specific search terms. For example, if you are an assisted living community, your ad could appear in an article discussing how to know when it’s not safe for your aging parent to live alone.
Ads that optimize visual appeal – those that include relevant visuals and brief, 30-second) videos – tend to be the most effective.
The CareFamily Example
CareFamily is a successful national provider of in-home senior care services that offers everything from companionship services to hands-on care. CareFamily’s services enable our clients’ families to customize their at-home care plans for their elderly parents and other loved ones.
Recently, CareFamily reached out to SageAge Strategies to assist them in creating a precision, geo-targeted Pay-Per-Click campaign for in-home respite care, hospice care and in-home memory care. The campaign ran for 10 weeks on both Search and Display Networks and achieved outstanding results, with which the CareFamily leadership was very pleased.
Overall, the CareFamily campaign achieved a very large number of new impressions (views), an outstanding conversion/response rate of 7.31 percent (vs. the senior living industry average conversion rate of one to three percent), and a highly cost-efficient rate of conversion (click-through rate) by their target consumers.
|
131,133 |
|
|
Clicks |
684 |
|
Avg. cost per click |
$4.50 |
|
Conversions |
50 |
|
Conversion rate |
7.31% |
|
Cost per conversion |
$61.52 |
Time is Money: The Critical Role of Your Sales Team
Your sales team is also a highly important component of an effective Pay-Per-Click strategy!
In order to cultivate the maximum benefits of your PPC campaign, you sales team must be prepared to respond very quickly to online inquiries that come in. The fact is that online shoppers expect instant gratification and a hot lead can turn cold very quickly – especially if one of your competitors gets to them first. Today’s sales best practices recommend that sales personnel should follow up on PPC leads within five minutes and be ready and able to take the prospect through a sales conversation.
We Would Love to Hear from You!
If you have comments or questions on Pay-Per-Click or other online growth strategies, we’d love to hear from you. We also encourage you to share any experiences you’ve had in these areas, whether they have been successful or not. Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Proven Marketing and Online Technology Expertise Is Available to Guide Your Growth Strategy Successfully
If you are a senior living community considering the need for assistance in organizing and developing highly effective and cost efficient growth strategies, such as “Pay-Per-Click” marketing, we encourage you to contact us for more information today. SageAge Strategies is a multiple award-winning, strategic growth and marketing organization that operates exclusively in the senior living industry and was recently named one of Inc. Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America. For more information, please call or e-mail Adrienne Mansfield Straub at 570-601-1720 ext. 202 / adrienne@sageagestrategies.com.
Contact Us Today!