Archive for the ‘Nursing Home Marketing’ Category
Friday, October 1st, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
According to a recent report by the National Investment Centers for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry, assisted living occupancy rates rose slightly in the second quarter of 2010. While it’s only a modest increase, occupany reached 87.7% overall, and according to Michael Hargrave, vice president of the NIC Market Area Profiles (MAP) service, demand is growing at a rate of approximately 7,000 units annually. 
McKnight’s Long-Term Care News published an informative post on how providers can achieve greater success by matching demand to needs. To do this, healthcare providers should conduct an in-depth market analysis that includes a competitive analysis, overall industry trends and local market trends.
If you’re looking to expand your existing services or open a new facility, you should first consider the percentage of the local population comprised of seniors 65 and older. Beyond this, income levels of the senior population, payor sources, and general ability to pay are important considerations.
Demand is just one piece of the puzzle. Market supply also has a big impact on the success of healthcare providers. A saturated market, even if demand is high, means more competition, and this can drive both prices and occupancy rates down. Overall industry trends, such as the trend towards more flexible service offerings and a broader continuum of care (from independent living to skilled nursing and memory care, all from the same provider, for example), are important to consider when evaluating the competitive landscape.
Read the article from McKnight’s Long-Term Care News
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Tags: assisted living, McKnight's Long-Term Care News, supply and demand
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, September 24th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
On September 8, 2010, Google announced that it would be launching new search technology: Google Instant. Many searchers didn’t even notice, and if they did, their biggest concern was whether the constantly changing results as they type made their eyes go buggy. Assisted living providers who focus on building an online presence, however, wondered how this new search technology would impact their optimization efforts.
Expert opinions are strongly divided into three camps:
- Those who say Google Instant killed SEO
- Those who say Google Instant will improve SEO
- Those who believe it makes no difference
SEO is sometimes like trying to play a game without knowing the rules, or perhaps playing a video game with someone else who knows all the secret hacks but won’t share. As we know well, Google makes the r
ules, but they’re known for holding the cards close to the chest. For this reason, it may be difficult to tell the impact Instant will have on SEO for several months, when sufficient keyword data is available to be analyzed.
The biggest fear is that long-tail key phrases will become obsolete, as many searchers will put in only the first word in a phrase before seeing results relevant to what they intended to search for. Long-tail key phrases are generally easier to rank for and less expensive to bid on than popular general terms. Others believe, however, that when key phrases are suggested to searchers, they’ll be more inclined to use more specific terms, therefore increasing the number of long-tail keyword searches overall.
Before making drastic changes to your marketing plan or hopelessly abandoning your SEO plans altogether, we suggest waiting it out a few months to see how things play out. In the meantime, stick to your plan. You don’t want to throw another variable into the mix right now, because then you can’t be sure whether traffic and keyword changes are attributable to Google Instant or something else.
Image Copyright Spencer E. Holtaway on Flickr Creative Commons
Tags: Google Instant, search engine optimization
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, September 17th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
When it comes to gaining admissions, many assisted living providers are still under the “provide great care, the admissions will follow” school of thought that became outdated the moment “website” was a household word. While providing quality, compassionate care is a core component of running a successful assisted living facility, residents have come to expect exceptional care — they are, after all, paying for it. 
Offering stellar amenities, friendly and accomodating staff, and pristine living conditions aren’t enough to make you stand out from the crowd in the information age. Savvy senior care providers know that great care is just one component of an overall marketing campaign — one that drives visitors to your company website, encourages happy customers to share their experiences, and makes it easy to find you online. The fact is, most people searching for an assisted living facility will make the web their first stop.
Your web presence should compliment a great reputation and positive word-of-mouth marketing. When a customer hears about the great care your facility offers, and they visit the web to learn more about you, what do they find? Do they find a great Facebook page, a quality website, news articles, listings in senior care directories that allow them to submit a query online, and photos and information about the happenings in your community? Or do they find a yellow pages listing with a phone number but no link to a company website?
Today’s consumers want instant information at their fingertips. You must make it easy for the community to learn about you and your services. Savvy seniors — and their family members — want their need for technology to be met. If you don’t have an online presence, it can lead people to assume your facility lacks technological amenities. It can also turn some consumers off because they have to do more work to find out what they want to know (i.e., now they have to pick up the phone to schedule a tour, but they really wanted to check you out online prior to making that kind of commitment).
If you’ve got a great reputation that you’re not enhancing with an online presence, you’re missing out on a ton of leads. It’s simple and easy to list your community with us, and it’s a great place to start your online marketing campaign.
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Tags: internet lead generation, online marketing, senior care marketing
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Buying Internet Leads, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Online Media, Senior Housing Marketing | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 by Jacqui Tom
Our population is aging, yet fewer people are choosing nursing home living, reports the Associated Press. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that the number of nursing home residents dropped significantly — from 1.63 million to 1.49 million — in the five-year period between 1999 and 2004 (this is the last year for which data is available). 
Why the shift? For one, nursing homes have long carried a stigma of caring only for the very old, frail, and dying. Many nursing home facilities have already adapted to an assisted-living-like community lifestyle, and many focus on short-term rehabilitation, but nonetheless, many consumers still think of a nursing home as a place to grow old and die, rather than as a place to continue living life.
To adapt to changing consumer demands, other nursing homes have taken innovation a step further by offering adjunct services, like in-home care or assisted living. One nursing home began offering pick-up service from its cafeteria to community members, while another opened its fitness classes to non-residents. Another even began to sell incontinence products online.
Some nursing homes with a menu of offerings have experienced jumps in revenues over the past several years, but they’ve noticed a definitive shift in where the money’s coming from. Nancy King of Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services told the Associated Press that demand for services outside of core nursing home care has doubled in the past five years. These services now account for one-fifth of the company’s revenue, which was once solely generated by nursing home care.
But don’t count nursing home care out just yet. There will always be a need for nursing home care, which is currently the only long-term care option that can always be paid for by Medicaid — assisted living facilities and in-home care providers have limitations on the care they can offer or the length of time a patient can receive services under Medicaid. And as nursing homes adapt to ever-changing market demands, they will gradually overcome past negative stigmas as consumers realize that nursing homes have a lot to offer residents in their aging years.
Image Copyright JSmithPhoto on Flickr Creative Commons
Read the Associated Press article
Tags: assisted living, nursing homes
Posted in Aging, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Living News | No Comments »
Monday, August 23rd, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
The August 19, 2010 edition of ALFA Update featured a case study focusing on social media, where two top senior living executives shared their tips and strategies for implementing a successful social media campaign. As both pointed out, social media is now an important component of word-of-mouth marketing, and it shouldn’t be ignored. 
Tricia Lilly Ourand, Director of Marketing for Brightview Senior Living, points out that staying focused on the objective is the first key to using social media effectively as part of your overall marketing strategy. Determine what you want to gain from using social media, and why your audience is using social media. You might be using it to gain visibility or brand recognition, to make sales, or even to recruit staff.
Your audience is probably seeking information — what do they want to learn or discuss? Do they already have knowledge of your assisted living facility or nursing home, or are they being introduced to your organization for the first time? From this point, Ourand says, you can create your strategy by developing policies that outline who can post content to what social sites, and ensuring that your posted content is search-engine friendly by using keywords.
Laura Ellen McAvoy, Operations Manager for The Arbor Company, recommends designating a specific social media point person who is in charge of posting regular updates, growing connections, and engaging your audience. She recommends setting your pages up with photos, details, and information before ramping up your fan base. Finally, utilizing family and friends who are already members of your social networks to start conversations is a great way to encourage initial interaction on your pages.
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Tags: Assisted Living Marketing, social media
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
The 2009 National Survey of Consumer and Workforce Satisfaction in Nursing Homes, conducted by My InnerView, reveals some interesting findings in support of word-of-mouth marketing. The fifth report produced by the company, the 2009 survey reflects the opinions of an astonishing 233,000 nursing home consumers (approximately) consisting of residents and families, and an additional 283,000 (approximately) employee opinions. Overall, the findings encompass one in three nursing homes nationwide. Pretty impressive.
This report is of vital importance to assisted living and nursing home marketers, because it demonstrates the importance of a balanced marketing plan. Acquisition is only half the battle; satisfied residents comprise an equally important piece of the successful marketing campaign, because word-of-mouth is the most effective form of advertising. It also helps administrators and executives choose where to allocate funds: the never-ending battle of acquisition vs. retention.
While this comprehensive survey stands on its own, there are a few key findings worth pointing out:
- Employee-consumer relationships have a big impact on consumer satisfaction. Therefore, addressing employee satisfaction (which ultimately leads to higher-quality resident care) directly is as important as focusing on resident satisfaction.
- Overall consumer satisfaction rose steadily from 2005-2008, and has remained steady since. Geographic areas and non-profit status were not influential on consumer satisfaction.
- 85% of consumers would recommend their nursing home facility.
- States with pay-for-performance systems have higher rates of consumer and employee satisfaction.
- Two factors drive consumer satisfaction: care and competency of staff.
- The third most important factor driving consumer satisfaction differs between residents and families. For residents, choices and preferences are most important (below care and competency of staff), but for families, nursing care is more important.
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Tags: nursing home quality, resident satisfaction, word-of-mouth marketing
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
The data keeps piling up that seniors are accessing the internet more than ever. The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) discusses the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which indicates that 42% of individuals age 65 and older are now regularly accessing the internet; a figure that has grown 50% since the 2000 Census data. This population uses the internet to read email and access news online, but they don’t typically watch online videos or participate in instant messaging.
An AARP Bulletin Poll from December 2009 also examines Internet Use Among Midlife and Older Adults. The survey sample included more than 1,000 adults in the U.S. age 50 and older. 32% of respondents reported that they don’t use a computer at all, but 60% say they access a computer at home, while another 26% access a computer at work.
Of those who reported using the internet, 74% said they use it daily, and 38% said they access the net several times each day. In addition to reading online news and emails, purchasing products online, online banking, and travel reservations are among the most common internet uses for this population.
How long respondents have been using the internet varies. 42% have been using the internet for more than ten years, 32% between six and ten years, 20% between one and five years, and 4% for less than one year. Interestingly, most of those who reported that they’ve never used the internet aren’t interested in learning (71%). That figure is skewed by age; those over 65 are less likely to report being interested in learning how to use the internet (78%) than those between the ages of 50 and 65 (63%). It will be interesting to see how market saturation of web-enabled mobile devices impacts these figures in the coming years.
As the current 50-65 popualation continues to age, the number of individuals who are either already accessing the internet on a regular basis or are interested in learning how to use the internet will increase. Not only do assisted living providers and retirement communities have better chances of reaching seniors online, but those offering computer and internet access along with opportunities to learn technology will be more attractive to this technologically-savvy senior population.
Photo by Jakub Krechowicz
Tags: Assisted Living Marketing, tech-savvy seniors
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing, Senior Living News | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
Assisted living facilities frequently make the mistake of segregating their online and offline marketing efforts, considering them two entirely separate entities. Learning how to integrate your online and offline efforts delivers a more cohesive and consistent message, enhances your brand recognition, and boosts your ROI (return on investment). 
An obvious way to integrate your marketing efforts is to include your facility’s website url on business cards, letterhead, and other printed collateral. It’s also very important to ensure that your messages are complementary; for example, if you send out a mailer to promote a community event, your website should reflect the same information. Why? Word-of-mouth is still a powerful component of marketing, and news of your event may spread throughout the community. Someone without a printed mailer will probably visit your website for the details, and might get frustrated when they don’t find what they’re looking for.
An even better way to integrate using this example is to send out a teaser mailer, and direct people to your website to get the rest of the details. Why? You’re creating a trail, in a sense:
- Mailer directs them to your website.
- Your (professional, frequently-updated) website has all the details, and they look around (seeing pictures and descriptions of all the fun and exciting happenings at your facility).
- They visit your facility for the community event you’re hosting.
Now, they’ve had three separate contacts with your facility and you’ve begun to build a relationship. Those visitors shouldn’t be directed to your home page, however, unless you’ve customized your home page to emphasize information related to this promotion. If possible, create a custom landing page for the purposes of your promotion that lets your visitors know they’ve reached the right place. Display the necessary information and then lead them to explore other areas of your website.
This is, of course, the tip of the iceberg as far as ways to integrate your online and offline marketing campaigns. When developing your marketing campaign, consider all components as one cohesive unit and plan how it will all tie together.
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Tags: offline marketing, online marketing
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
Despite the widely held belief that senior citizens aren’t making use of the internet, recent data shows otherwise. Inside Elder Care cites a 2004 study by Pew Internet that indicates that seniors’ online habits are much like those of the younger generations. Two-thirds of seniors (66%) use the internet for product research, almost half (47%) purchase goods online, and 100% visit government websites.
The Pew Internet study is a few years old, but indicates promising future trends. In 2004, 22% of seniors were using the internet — a figure that jumped 47% in the four years prior to the study. More recent data shows that the rising trend continued; a 2009 report from CTAM (cited on the AARP Global Network) finds that 77% of seniors (65+) shop online, a whopping 94% use email, 71% seek out health and medical information online, and 70% rely on the internet for daily news.
Inside Elder Care notes that both seniors and caregivers can benefit from being online. For one, long-distance caregiving can be easier with the use of daily email communication. Caregivers have peace of mind, and seniors who are able to connect with their families more frequently are less likely to be depressed. Making use of all the internet has to offer can maintain cognitive function, not to mention the sense of accomplishment that comes with mastering technology.
Senior care marketers take note
This data is also great news for senior care marketers. We’ve known that caregivers are using the internet to find information, which we discussed in a related post, but the fact that seniors are also researching online means they can play a more active role in making decisions regarding their care.
Marketers should be aware that online strategies should be designed to appeal to two audiences:
- The caregiver market — the families, children, and spouses of the aging or disabled who have traditionally made care decisions.
- The senior market — the seniors themselves, who are now also actively researching health and medical information online.
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Tags: internet usage, Senior Housing Marketing, seniors online
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Senior Housing Marketing | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 18th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow
In December 2009 and January 2010, Econsultancy, in cooperation with ExactTarget, conducted a survey of 1,000 marketers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The study aimed to identify marketing budget increases for 2010 and the allocation of marketing budgets across media channels. They found that nearly half of respondents (46%) planned to increase their overall marketing budgets in 2010, and two-thirds (66%) planned to allocate more funds to digital media.
More interesting, though, is the number of marketers who reported plans to actually shift some of their budget from traditional to digital channels — 28%. Why? Well, for one, it’s easier to track results from digital media than from traditional advertising. It’s significantly less complex to obtain definitive numbers of leads generated from an online ad, using simple tracking mechanisms, than it is to determine how many leads were generated from a print ad.
The study also found that companies who consider their brand reputation an important measure of marketing effectiveness were the most likely to be shifting more marketing dollars to digital media.
The blog Online Marketing cites several studies, all of which also indicate a shift to online media usage. For example, Strong Mail’s 2010 Marketing Trends survey showed that 90% of 1,000 respondents planned to increase or maintain their online media spend in 2010, with social media marketing and email campaigns topping the priority list. Among offline marketing tactics, trade shows and events are still considered strong contenders.
Our prediction? We’ll continue to see marketers shifting their traditional advertising dollars to the more controllable and measurable online marketing tactics as companies learn how easy and effective internet lead generation can be.
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Tags: marketing budget shift, online media marketing
Posted in Assisted Living Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Nursing Home Marketing, Online Media, Senior Housing Marketing | No Comments »
