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Every year, senior living operators update their annual budget, making necessary changes in marketing spend to hit occupancy targets. The process can be different for each operator, but the goal is the same: maximize results, while controlling the amount of money it will take to hit the goal. As operators review their results from last year, it’s likely they are scrutinizing traditional methods of print advertising. And questioning how they can participate more in digital marketing to drive occupancy.

The customers journey is varied and complex these days, and knowing how a customer arrived at your doorstep isn’t as clear as it used to be. But, the odds are, the consumer will be online, it’s 2016 after all. My 72 year old mother has an iphone, an ipad Mini, and a laptop. And yes, she still has a phone book she carries in the trunk of her car, but only “in case of emergency!”

The marketing metrics clearly show a trend: consumers are shifting more and more too online channels, engaging in online research, reading reviews and articles, and watching videos. Senior living operators know the consumer is online, but how can they engage them beyond a website?

Here are 3 ways in which digital marketing can be more effective than print advertising, driving more calls and tours into your buildings:

Precise Demographic & “keyword” Targeting
Engaging Content Thru Video
Fast Responsiveness to The Current Occupancy Need
What if you could meet your ideal customer, at the exact moment they type in “assisted living” or click on an online video about “dementia care” on their cell phone or tablet?

Digital advertising can target specific “keywords” that match your buildings product or services. Newspapers will tell you that they reach a certain amount of households, in a certain demographic, but they may or may not be looking for assisted living. You want your community to show up when these “keywords” are typed into a browser, this is the exact moment you need to meet your potential next customer. You also can control who sees your digital ad from a geographical standpoint. Your digital ads can show up only to viewers in targeted locations. You can control this by showing your ads only to viewers in a certain city, county, or zip code. Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Facebook, all know where you are geographically, and will only serve up your ads to viewers you specify. Another geographic control is to add additional “keyword” search terms like “assisted living Dallas” or “dementia care Ft. Worth.” These are just some of the many ways in which you can control who sees your ad, and help you be more precise, while reducing wasteful ad spend.

Which medium can better demonstrate what your “brand” is all about; a ½ page ad in a senior lifestyle publication, or a 1-minute online video of your building’s Executive Director talking about her passion for helping families?

Video can help your build trust with the customer. They can see and hear for themselves, what your staff, residents, and building looks like all within a comfortable setting, before they ever step foot into the community. With more research being available online, consumers want to engage in videos when making a buying decision. Whether a video is watched pre-tour or post-tour, it gives the consumer additional content to help them make a buying decision. Most people have never shopped for senior living before. Video can inspire people to take the next step, as they get a feel for your “brand” thru online video.

Your building suddenly suffered a major occupancy loss in memory care, how do you adjust your print ads to try and drive more memory care leads and tours to the building this month?

The short answer, you can’t, well not as easily. Print advertising has deadlines, print dates, and other restrictive time issues. Most print advertising is done for long term name brand recognition, and doesn’t specifically meet the short term occupancy needs of the building. It can be money well spent, it just takes a long time to show a result, usually at a fixed cost. Digital marketing can be adjusted daily to meet the current occupancy needs of the building. If you suddenly had 5 openings in memory care, you can quickly target customers searching online for information using keywords associated with memory care needs. You can quickly reallocate your budget to 100% memory care “keywords” until you’ve stabilized your memory care occupancy, then go back to an allocated budget for other care types your building has. This flexibility, can really deliver a result, in a much shorter time frame.

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