Do you have a concrete and seamless strategy to market your residential assisted living home? After finding the right location, establishing proper procedures, and training a quality team, a solid marketing strategy is key to ensure success.
A solid marketing strategy will accomplish four objectives.
- Eliminate sales frustrations
- Connect with prospects
- Understand marketing cost
- Circumvent problems by planning ahead.
The cornerstone of a solid marketing strategy is centered on 5 pillars.
The 5 Pillars of a Solid Marketing Strategy
- Identify Your Target Audience
- Pick Wise Promotional Methods
- Create a Sales Funnel
- Use Technology to Build Relationships
- Leverage Social Media to Connect and Engage
1. Identify Your Target Audience
The first step of lead generation is identifying your target audience. Research is critical to marketing. Understand the demographics of your audience, such as WHO they are, WHERE they live, HOW much money they earn, and WHAT is their lifestyle. Finding the answers to these important questions will help you create a comprehensive marketing plan.
2. Pick Wise Promotional Methods
Strategically promoting your residential assisted living home will help you generate leads. A proper promotional plan will ensure that your residential assisted living home gains the attention of your target audience. There are countless platforms you can use to promote your business, but all platforms are not effective for all businesses.
Examples of Marketing Methods
- Informational Websites
- Blogs
- Social Media
- Speaking Engagements
- Industry Events
- Current Customer Referrals
- Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
- Traditional Advertising
Your residential assisted living marketing plan will achieve expected results when you identify promotional methods that effectively target your specific audience.
3. Create a Sales Funnel
After identifying your target audience and picking wise promotional methods, collecting contact information is your next critical step. Process all prospects to a standard form or landing page. This process is a non-intrusive approach of funneling leads with contact information. Free gifts, coupons, samples, and other incentives encourage prospects to share the information you’ll need in order to follow up. As a successful residential assisted living home operator, you’ll need to create a consistent system to track potential residents and funnel them through the process.
4. Use Technology to Build Relationships
Cultivate relationships in order to transition seniors into residents. An email newsletter or virtual tour video with an informational vlog allows you to create consistent communication with your prospective residents. Plan your email marketing campaign, and follow the CAN-SPAM Act regulations.
5. Leverage Social Media to Connect and Engage
While many seniors do not use social media, their children do. In most cases, a family member will be responsible for the assisted living placement of mom and dad. Social media provides a number of lead generating opportunities. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube are good platforms to engage the senior living community and funnel them to your residential assisted living home as new leads. Use social media to create positive touch points. The more positive touch points people have with your residential assisted living home over time, the more likely they are to trust your brand. Lead generation should be thought of as a long-term and continuous process. An efficient system will streamline the lead generation process and increase your opportunities to fill empty beds in your residential assisted living home.
Eliminating Sales Frustrations
Difficulties landing leads and connecting to potential residents is a frustrating process that often leads to failure, unless you build a solid marketing strategy.
Sales can be sobering and challenging. To avoid discouraging and depressing difficulties, be sure to put a solid marketing plan into practice.
Connecting with Prospect
Ask yourself how your sales process and tours feel from a prospect’s perspective.
Research shows that when prospects reach out to a residential assisted living home, they are educated and have already narrowed down their search.
Missed phone calls are missed opportunities.
As a residential assisted living home operator responsible for filling beds, it is important to know how to interact with people.
Be prepared to answer random questions, listen to comments and body language, don’t talk too much, and don’t come across as disinterested.
Connect with prospects.
Prospects who feel engaged will typically share their experiences with friends and family members.
While word of mouth is the best marketing, be mindful that negative experiences can have an even broader impact.
Understanding Marketing Cost
Marketing comes with a price tag.
Traditionally, the cost of each new inquiry is about $200. Blowing a lead is like setting two $100 bills on fire.
Potentially, it is worse than that.
Based on the national average residential assisted living home monthly cost of $3,650, with a 30-month average stay for seniors, the loss of a move-in could easily exceed $100,000.
Understanding the cost of marketing will enable place an added sense of responsibility on individuals responsible for sales.
Circumvent Problems by Planning Ahead
It makes good business sense to stay ahead of any problems. The following 5 pro-tips will help your sales team capture every lead:
- Provide sales training to every single person responsible for answering prospect calls.
- Train all staff about the importance of being available to effectively handle inquiry calls.
- Gather required information from every caller based on a pre-printed spreadsheet.
- Train your team to be present, show interest and listen to every conversation. Effective listening will always make a positive impression and set the stage for a successful ongoing relationship.
- Train your team to encourage prospects to come in for a scheduled tour and personal visit.
RALAcademy Provides Ongoing Support for Marketing Strategies
Visit www.RALAcademy.com to learn more about marketing strategies to make the most out of your leads.
The academy teaches students how to succeed as new residential assisted living homeowners and operators.
During the 3-day course, instructors teach using an interactive live training approach.
Participants learn everything from A to Z about how to run a residential assisted living business.
Contact the academy today to learn strategic skill sets and support structures needed to launch your residential assisted living business to the next level.
Do you want to learn how to generate more leads by marketing your residential assisted living home the right way?
