Digital Marketing Has Totally Changed Strategy. Have You Updated Yours?

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Aug 30, 2017 | Marketing Strategy

Digital (online) marketing is evolving and growing in importance every day. It has become a major force in business-to-consumer strategy and is now outpacing more traditional marketing approaches in performance and results.

Experts say that for those of us who operate in the senior living and senior care world, we have a simple choice – keep up with progress or fall behind.

“If you don’t know what tactics and strategies are now trending or are coming around the corner, you could put yourself at a serious competitive disadvantage,” says Sean Ochester, Executive Vice President of Digital & Integrated Strategy for SageAge Strategies. “Early adopters will be rewarded and those who are unaware of the changes and advances taking place risk being left behind.

“While senior living has its unique nuances, emerging technologies and strategies that provide more effective message and content delivery in ways most appealing to consumers cannot be ignored. They are now being used with great success in other industries.

“Today, there are several trends that are shaping digital marketing strategy. I want to offer some facts and trends about digital advertising, mobile marketing, social media, content marketing, email and SEO that have significant influence on how senior living providers market to seniors, their adult children and related constituencies.

“For example, we are now seeing a greater desire for digital transactions, online research and a lot more. Keeping abreast digital trends helps to boost understanding of the value of digital strategies and the many benefits online marketing.

“As noted by “TOP DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS IN 2018,” we are seeing a great increase today in the promotion of things over social media channels such as  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Most companies are using these social media channels for promoting their websites, products and services.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Digital Marketing is Now a Force

The article “54 Statistics & Trends That Will Shape Your Digital Marketing Strategy” provides compelling information and statistics on digital marketing that can help you to understand its current strength and its power for the future.

For example, consider these telling facts provided by highly credible marketing data sources:

  • Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links, and websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages. (Source: TechClient.)

  • 70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles rather than an advertisement. (Source: Demand Metric.)

  • Segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns. (Source: Mailchimp.)

  • Google and Facebook dominate the digital advertising space with a combined share of 57.6%. (Source: Visual Capitalist.)

  • The click-through rate (CTR) for native ads (see discussion above) is more than double regular display ads — 0.33% for mobile and 0.16% desktop. (Source: Business Insider.)

  • 84% of mobile marketers believe they’re providing a positive experience. Yet less than half of consumers report their experience was positive. (Source: Unlockd.)

Coming Attractions: A Peek Behind the Digital Curtain

Digital marketing continues to be refined, enhanced and expanded every day. Case in point: Many of you might not have heard the term “native advertising” before.

Native ads are defined as a piece of writing or other material in an online publication that resembles the publication’s editorial content in form and function, but is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote a product or service. The word native in this case refers to the coherence of the content with the other media that appears on the platform.

Native ads blend into the surrounding content in such a seamless manner that readers may not even spot them as a form of marketing – whether it be an advertorial, instant content, search advertising, recommended content or sponsored listings form of native advertising. Their purpose is to put the right information in front of the viewer when they actually need it.

According to “7 Major Digital Marketing Trends For 2018,” native advertising has become one of the most sought-after marketing methods to gain exposure in front of the right audience. By contrast, users often find interruptive ‘pop up” ads irrelevant. For instance, you are browsing a website and instantly an out-of-context ad pops out of nowhere.

This is a common concern for marketers, which is best addressed by native ads. They enable brands to market their offerings in a non-disruptive way that blends in easily with the environment a user is most comfortable with. And as noted by data provided by Polar and BI intelligence, click-through rates for premium native ads on mobile gadgets were four times higher than the count of non-native display ads.

Tell Your Story and Engage Your Prospects Like Never Before

Sean adds, “For the many compelling reasons outlined above, we strongly encourage senior living providers to adopt digital (online) marketing best practices now. When used as part of an integrated marketing plan, they make a major difference in your ability to reach your audience in ways that are timely, relevant and engaging that traditional forms of marketing simply cannot.”

For any senior care or senior living community seeking to leverage its marketing budget for maximum engagement, lead generation and ROI, the key is to choose the right partner. SageAge Strategies has developed a digital marketing platform that is second to none in the senior living and senior care industry, and we work with client-partners across the nation to achieve measurable results daily.

Our leading-edge digital marketing professionals work hand-in-hand with your leadership team as a highly specialized resource and an extension of your sales and marketing team. We can share examples of effective social media campaigns and demonstrate how a campaign can help grow your interest and inquiries. We can audit your email campaigns and create a plan to generate a higher return. And we can have our copywriters review your content (social media, PPC, and native ads) to increase the return on your marketing investment.

SageAge Strategies: Leaders in Integrated Digital & Traditional Growth Strategies

At SageAge Strategies, our digital marketing team excels in the latest best practices that increase quality lead generation and grow your occupancy. If you need assistance in any areas of integrated growth strategy to improve your results, we invite you to contact us today to learn more.

SageAge Strategies is a multiple award-winning, strategic growth, marketing and consulting organization that operates exclusively in the unique senior living industry. For more information, please call or email Adrienne Mansfield Straub at 833-240-0655 ext.100 / [email protected].

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