Topic Rundown
- The Limitation of Focusing Solely on Solution Seekers:
Not only is the solution-seeking audience smaller, research shows that their search tendencies don’t align with this single-pronged approach. - The Importance of Brand Awareness in Senior Living:
Prospects and their families gravitate toward familiar, trusted brands and businesses. A balanced marketing strategy will allow you to be among them when the time is right to seek a senior living solution. - Allocating Budget for Long-Term Growth:
These general guidelines will help you establish how to allocate budget for the best immediate and long-term outcomes. - How to Build Brand Awareness:
Brand tactics recommendations and guidelines for activating a cost-effective marketing mix. - Building a Sustainable Future for Senior Living Communities:
Future-proof your communities, ensuring growth and sustainability, even in competitive market situations.
As senior living operators strive to improve their occupancy rates, many find themselves laser-focused on immediate solutions — those residents who are actively seeking a senior community. While this seems like the logical path to filling vacancies, an overly narrow focus on solution-seeking residents can actually hurt your long-term occupancy.
The Limitation of Focusing Solely on Solution Seekers
By concentrating all of your lead-generation efforts on solution seekers (what SSDM refers to as “Placement Focused” prospects), you’re missing out on a larger audience that may not yet be at the decision-making stage (what SSDM refers to as “Planning Focused” prospects) but could become future residents.
According to recent research commissioned by SSDM, the Planning Focused individuals, along with their adult children, are more likely to consider communities that have already established a positive presence in their minds well before they begin their Placement Focused search for a senior living solution. In other words, if your brand isn’t familiar to them by the time they’re actively seeking out options, you’ve already lost significant ground to competitors.
This underscores the importance of thinking beyond the immediate and the measurable. Lead-generation metrics are essential, but they only provide a snapshot of short-term success. If you’re not also focusing on building long-term brand awareness, you’re missing out on opportunities to create a sustainable pipeline of future residents.
The Importance of Brand Awareness in Senior Living
Brand awareness is more than a marketing buzzword; it’s the foundation upon which future occupancy success is built. Imagine a potential resident or their family member considering senior living options. Our recent study indicates that their first instinct will be to look for names they know and trust. If your community hasn’t made an impression during their earlier, Planning Focused phase, it’s much harder to win their attention when they begin actively looking.
A well-rounded marketing strategy that incorporates brand-building helps you stay top-of-mind among a broader audience. It allows potential residents and their families to form a positive association with your brand, making them more likely to consider your community when the time comes to make a decision.
Allocating Budget for Long-Term Growth
If your marketing budget is solely focused on lead generation and solution seekers, it’s time to rethink your allocation. We recommend dedicating 10-15% of your marketing budget to brand-building efforts. This should be in addition to your existing lead-generation efforts, rather than replacing them, to ensure that you’re addressing both short-term needs and long-term growth.
Brand-building initiatives should aim to create positive impressions with your audience, not just those in the market for senior living today. This requires a diverse and often disruptive approach to marketing — something that goes beyond traditional search marketing.
How to Build Brand Awareness
- Display ads
- Video content
- Promoted social media posts
- Local event participation and/or sponsorships
- Promoted virtual how-tos and webinars
- PR features
- Much more
The right marketing, advertising and promotional mix will depend on a wide number of variables, including your brand, market size, market type and more, but all should help you reach a wider audience. The key here is to engage your audience emotionally, whether through heartwarming stories, humor, or aspirational messaging that resonates with their concerns and desires.
Creating content that speaks to the head, heart, or even the sense of humor of your target audience will help you stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. For example, emotionally driven video campaigns showcasing the warmth and sense of community in your senior living environments can resonate powerfully with both potential residents and their adult children.
The right marketing agency can be a valuable partner in developing this type of disruptive, impactful content. They can guide you in building campaigns that not only drive immediate occupancy but also foster long-term brand loyalty.
Building a Sustainable Future for Senior Living Communities
If you want to future-proof your senior living community and build sustainable occupancy, your marketing strategy needs to do more than focus on immediate leads. By dedicating a portion of your marketing budget to long-term brand-building efforts, you’ll create a stronger pipeline of future residents who are already familiar with and trust your brand. In a competitive market, this can make all the difference between thriving and merely surviving.
To see how SSDM can help, schedule a complimentary consultation with us.
