Leslie Newlife

Seniors like being active. Staying in a room doing nothing, or just watching TV, gets dull for anyone. For some, it feels like being grounded by their parents. Take initiative and get the ball rolling on your planner. Some activities you might like to consider are:

• Karaoke – music has a way of getting people together to laugh with. It doesn’t matter how bad or how good they are at singing, it’s the good-natured feeling of getting together and having fun that matters.
• Bridge Night! – There’s nothing better than just a hint of competition.  A great card game gets the energy and anticipation building; and the more people the merrier. Of course, any card game will do, but the idea is to get as many involved as possible.
• BINGO – Almost everyone likes BINGO. Instead of giving cash, give rewards!  Recognition in the monthly newsletter. Throw a small party for the winner serving their favorite food. Imagination is your only limitation.
• Line Dancing, Walker Line Dancing, and Chair Line Dancing – Who doesn’t like to dance? Some great music, and live action gets the blood pumping and laughter ringing from the fun.
• Dinner and Entertainment – Find a small local band that is familiar with old country flavor. During the late fall and winter months, often times bands are in downtime. Some bands will also come just for an opportunity for charity, only needing a small word for recognition.  Having a nice dinner, with some tasteful entertainment allows opportunity for your patrons to enjoy themselves.

As your planning your activities for your senior home, keep in mind that seniors grew up in a time where being idle was not popular. Therefore, ask them if they’d like to participate in the planning or setting-up of the activity. Also, remember that each of those involved tend to get enthusiastic about being a part of something they’re doing for their friends. They are an excellent source to share their enthusiasm with everyone they meet, thereby helping with your marketing the event.

Have a purpose or theme for each activity and let that purpose motivate the attendance of the community. Ensure you plan the event in your social media pages where you build the anticipation.

For example, one of your activities may be in part of a charity function such as painting ornaments for a Christmas tree for the local children’s hospital.

Another example gives back to the community. A purpose of helping one of the community members who’s had a difficult time recently. A community loves to get together to help one of their own.

After each event, post online or in the community newsletter how much fun it was. Submit pictures to keep memories and the feeling of camaraderie safe. This will help everyone in the community look forward to the next activity.

Which activities do your residents enjoy most?

Remember to share any events open to the public with us so we can add them to our calendar.

Marketing is an integral part of any business and most senior living communities cannot thrive without proper marketing strategies. There are different approaches given to marketing and advertising activities, depending on the nature and size of your business. Budgeting appropriately for these activities is the key to success. Below are some reasons why your senior living community should market for advertising, marketing and sales activities.

• A Budget Helps to Decide on the Marketing Activities to Engage in

Marketing activities are diverse and can range from brochures, to bill boards, television ads and so on. The cost of any given marketing approach varies considerably. A marketing budget will help your community to decide on the marketing approach that is in line with its resources and capable of giving the highest results.

According to the US Small Business Administration, proper marketing budgets are in the range of 2 percent and 10 percent of sales. On average, businesses spend between 4 and 6 percent on marketing budgets, but this can go up to 20 percent.

• Budgeting Helps to Avoid Wastage, Errors and Redundancy

When a community is tied to a stipulated amount, it is easy to figure out the most effective way of achieving a given objective while sticking to the stipulated cost. Once this is established, the allocated amount will be directed to that activity without losing focus. Budgeting for marketing and advertising purposes helps managers to be more accountable. Without a clear roadmap, the possibility of wastage increases.

• Budgeting is Important for Evaluation Purposes

Marketing and advertising campaigns do not end at execution. Their effectiveness must be evaluated using various tools. This evaluation is particularly important for future activities. It is a reflection of what has been achieved or not. At this point, the amount spent proves whether or not the campaign was worth.

Marketing and advertising are important for growth and profitability. When these activities are well aligned and executed, companies are able to scale higher heights and grab a greater share of the market. Without a marketing budget, your community may lack the muscle to send a word about your brand, goods and services.

Checkout the New LifeStyles advertising page!

Times change, and if you really look around, you’ll find that more seniors are tech-savvy and up-to-date with the latest innovations, such as phones, computers and more. Marketing to seniors takes creativity and preparation for knowing what they want. They like connection to the inside and outside world. They want to stay active, and they want to have independence. A senior’s life isn’t all about healthcare. There are other factors too, and sometimes it’s the little things that give you the edge over other senior living communities.

• Connection

One of the most attractive things about a community to a senior is if the community has a network connection. Family is the highest priority and to keep connected, allow your residents to keep in contact with friends and family through Skype, social media and other various means. Ensuring your community has ways to keep in contact with their family gives them extra security and a way to stave off a feeling of isolation.

In addition to staying in contact with those outside of the community, it’s just as important to stay in contact within. Having a Facebook page for the community itself is a very good idea. Connecting with friends to throw together a community event or get-together just because they can, promotes fellowship and security. In addition, a social media page builds a community online promoting influence to other prospects to investigate.

• Safety

How safe is your senior living community? Retirement living includes freedom. If a community member wants to go for a walk at 8 p.m. with their dog, Trixie, and best friend, George, do you have enough lighting in the neighborhood? Are there enough benches to rest on? Are the sidewalks in good condition or are they a trip hazard? Is your community “senior” friendly through these little things? They’re a possible deciding factor and if you can boast of them for your marketing agenda, then you have an edge.

• Simplicity

If the normal things you use for marketing strategy aren’t working as well as you’d like, then maybe it’s time to take a different approach. Often times we fall unknowingly into complicated strategies, however, when your efforts aren’t proving as effective, then turn toward simplicity first for new ideas and new angles. Our seniors are now those coming from an era of beginning technology development. Their priorities are in family and enjoyment of retirement living.

Family, safety, security and well-being intertwine with retirement. Build your community upon what is most important to seniors and your community will surely grow.

Even though the demand for senior living and care communities is growing, the online marketing reach of these companies is often very limited. In today’s environment, inbound marketing can provide a more reliable and cost-efficient method for attracting leads.

What Exactly is Inbound Marketing?

Traditional marketing consists of tactics in which you are reaching out, or trying to grab a person’s attention at the right time. These are often strategies that require casting a wide net, using print advertising, direct mail marketing and broadcast media. Inbound marketing attracts those people most interested in senior living and care to you by providing the content and information those individuals need and want.

Inbound marketing will make use of your blog, social media channels and email newsletters, and produce content for your target at every stage of the buyer life-cycle. This means capturing a person’s attention at the earliest point in the decision-making process, holding their attention, becoming a trusted resource and guiding them to become customers. However, it does not end there. Inbound marketing will also turn your customers, fans and followers into promoters as they share the useful and helpful information you create.

Below are some steps to help you get started:

• Create Customer Personas

You likely have a good bit of information on demographics. Customer personas take that information to the next step of identifying specific wants, needs, values and essentially the things important to your ideal customer. What things does the majority of the people living in your community have in common? Are the more interesting in on-site activities or group travel? Essentially, you are identifying what is important to your ideal customer for the basis of your content creation.

• Develop a Content Calendar

This will include social media posts, blogs, newsletters and other digital marketing methods. Take time to consider the questions your personas are asking and the kinds of things they love and talk about. As an example, you may want to write content talk about social opportunities for senior singles, highlight a popular 60s cover band, or list the best local restaurants. You can then blend in other content with a more traditional marketing message.

• Design a Distribution Plan

No matter how well-crafted the content is, it has no value if people are not reading your posts or watching your videos. Make sure you are sharing your content across multiple channels. Post a link to your blog on your social feeds. Embed your video in a blog post with a corresponding article. Additionally, don’t be afraid to re-share content a week, a month or even a year or more after initially published. While it varies based on the platform, the half-life of online content is very short. Anything you can do to extend it will add value.

• Convert Your Audience

Throughout the process, your audience will likely need several conversion events. Visitors will convert into prospects, prospects into leads and leads into customers. You will need a well- designed website that helps guide prospects to strong calls-to-action and optimized landing pages. Provide incentives encouraging visitors to subscribe to your e-newsletter, follow on social media or schedule a visit. This gives you the ability to market directly and with a more personalized message.

Whether you are a new business or senior living community trying to establish your Facebook community or a large business looking to expand, taking a step back and re­-evaluating your community management strategy can help regain your focus and social media, advertising, marketing and sales success. Below are some foundational tips to always keep in mind.

• Building a Fan Base

You probably put thought into every status update, every image and every video, but how do you make sure your content gets seen? First, be sure to fully integrate your website content with your Facebook account. You should have contact links on all pages and hyperlinks and share buttons on each individual piece of content. Next, find industry­ relevant groups on Facebook and introduce yourself. There are audiences out there already looking for your content, you just need to let them know where to find you.

• When to Post

Test Facebook post times during high activity hours at the beginning and middle of the work­day and late in the evening for night owls. Finding your post time sweet spot takes audience awareness, patience, testing and tweaking. Try to consider your audience’s lifestyle when imagining when they might have time to engage on Facebook, then give them something to engage with!

• What to Post

When crafting your Facebook content, keep the 80/20 Rule in mind.This means that 80 percent of your content should be helpful, engaging content relevant to your audience’s wants and needs and only 20 percent of your content should be brand or product promotion. This content balance helps maintain your reputation as a valuable resource without coming off as a commercial. Use relevant, trending hashtags in your posts to gain additional, organic reach. Try to avoid posting too many “like­ baiting” memes; these may underperform due to newsfeed algorithm filters. Focus instead on posting content that is interesting to your community.

• How Often to Post

To maintain a valuable information flow for your Facebook community, strive to post at least three to five updates per week. Once you have established your peak hour post times, maximize on all of those engagement opportunities. It is a good idea to also space out a variety of post types for maximum visibility.

To check out New LifeStyles’ Facebook page, click here!