Housing For Seniors Report

Don't Forget More Traditional Advertising,
Marketing in Seeking Seniors, Boomers

CD Publications, copyright 2006

Internet use has made so many aspects of life and business easier in recent years—a development which could cause many to take for granted the fact that some simply don’t use the medium much or at all.

And while the Web should not be completely overlooked for marketing homes, properties and housing services, those in the industry shouldn’t over-rely on technology to get their messages out. That goes for communicating with baby boomers as young as 55 all the way to the oldest of nursing-home residents. Re-member, as a general rule, the older the demographic is, the more likely the resistance to change.

“Even though the percentage of boomers becoming Web savvy has increased radically since its inception, there still remain those who want to physically hold a book, turn the pages and make notes,” says Lisa LaCount, author of 1001 Active Lifestyle Communities.

LaCount and husband/co-author Stephan LaCount, whose book provides price and amenity information on more than 1,000 active lifestyle communities in 45 states, tell HSR a growing trend among builders is to rely more on Internet promotion than actual print sources when marketing and advertising. Though the couple runs the Active Adult Living Web site, the LaCounts believe limiting focus primarily to new technology fails to address a wide audience of people who simply don’t want to become computer or Web savvy.

In fact, since the active-adult industry is so new, there aren’t a lot of so-called old-school marketing/advertising/consumer resources out there. Lisa LaCount tells us there haven’t been books comparable to the Yellow Pages for this specific industry until recently.

Stephan LaCount tells us that, during the phase when the couple was gauging interest in the book they eventually compiled, seeing his father’s use of an entertainment coupon book struck him hard.

“He had all his favorites in the book marked with paperclips—you just can’t do that on the Internet,” he says of his father, now in his 80s.

The need for such written, touchable resources, especially regarding housing options, appears even more important for demographics older than the baby boomers. Though many adult chil-dren of assisted-living or nursing-home residents may be Web savvy, the residents themselves often want some-thing they can reference without logging in to anything, says Lisa Gelhaus, of the Nat’l Center for Assisted Liv-ing.

“There’s a place for each media venue,” Gelhaus tells HSR. “But people already living in assisted living say Web sites aren’t helpful to them.”

Gelhaus tells us polling by NCAL illustrates the de-sire of those considering becoming assisted-living resi-dents indicates that, generally, they want something they can “hold on to” as a reminder of what they may have seen and heard during a visit to a property. It is exactly why NCAL continues to develop brochures for those considering an assisted-living lifestyle.

“Making information available in a format that is comfortable to them is optimal,” Gelhaus notes.

Info: Stephan and Lisa LaCount, 802/614-9120, NCAL brochure information, 800/321-0343

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