What Is a Senior Living Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is also regarded as an advertising strategy that a company, in this case a retirement community, will implement to help them achieve (or exceed) their operational goals and marketing initiatives for a set period of time.
This often consists of various types of market research, the creation of customized messaging, platform evaluation and selection, execution of tactics, success measurement, and much more.
Why Is a Senior Living Marketing Plan Important?
As senior living professionals, we know how important a senior living marketing strategy is.
Not only does this strategy help senior living communities, assisted living communities and memory care communities better target their audiences and reach potential residents, but it also helps elevate your community to the next level by improving brand recognition, your sales team’s sense of direction, occupancy and your list of prospective residents, business growth, and even more.
When Should I Create a Marketing Plan?
If you’re like many other senior living professionals, you’ve discovered that trying to create a marketing plan all at once at the end of the year is not generally the most successful practice.
Think about this: How many times have you crafted a perfectly laid plan, only to have it disrupted a few months in? Or, worse yet, how many times has it rarely been considered at all?
Instead, it’s wise to consider planning by the quarter or creating a broad view of what you’d like your approach to accomplish. There’s no better time to get started than now, so learn more about creating your effective senior living marketing plan below.
How To Create an Effective Marketing Plan for Senior Living
Define Your Goals
It’s important to set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. What could you be doing? What could be done better? What needs to be adjusted?
After evaluating this, consider what you want to accomplish. Some ideas may include nurturing current relationships, creating new relationships with prospective residents, and increasing occupancy and sales.
Goals generally vary depending on your specific community’s current needs, so don’t base your goals on surrounding communities that may have different needs and objectives.
Consider Your Audience
Your entire marketing plan should revolve around those you serve. Target those who will benefit most from your community. This means outlining exactly who your target audience is, knowing what they like and don’t like, determining how to best meet their needs and preferences, and understanding their overall persona. You’ll also want to evaluate your customer relationship management to make sure you can accurately track your target audience and leads.
Evaluate Your Platforms and Content
How will you reach your target audience? Some communities may opt for direct mail pieces with strong calls to action, flyers for special events, brochures, and of course, an educational series of events. All these avenues are great, but make sure to incorporate inbound marketing and digital marketing, too, which include social media channels, high-quality blog content, email marketing campaigns, and search engine optimization (SEO). Remember that your target audience often may include adult child influencers (ACIs) who definitely rely on digital content for information as they help make important life decisions for aging parents – and many seniors are tech savvy and comfortable as well.
Research Your Search Results
Speaking of SEO, where are you in the search engine rankings? If you do a little research, you’ll be able to discover how visible you are to your target audience.
Along those lines, it’s also a good idea to search what people are saying about you online. Whether you’re receiving positive word-of-mouth marketing or you need to do a little outreach, this is crucial information to know and include as part of your marketing plan.
Make Any Necessary Updates
Are your websites and social platforms easy to navigate? It’s important to make it simple for prospective residents, families and even professionals to find the information they need. If it’s not easily found, you just may lose out on connections and future residents.
Update your website, make sure contact information is easily accessible, ensure your websites load quickly, and evaluate your search engine optimization.
Outsource Your Marketing Plans With an Expert Like SageAge
If all this information leaves you feeling a bit overwhelmed, a marketing agency can easily help support you. In fact, at SageAge, we’re proud to help many senior living communities, assisted living facilities, and other senior services providers create and accomplish their marketing plan goals.
For more information, please call or email Melinda Schmitz at 816.349.0464/[email protected].
SageAge is a multiple-award-winning strategic growth, marketing, and consulting organization that operates exclusively in the unique senior living marketplace. We’d love to provide guidance and strategies to help you successfully accomplish your goals. Contact us today!