We literally wrote the Book on Senior Housing Marketing

I wrote a book! Not just any book… it’s “The Book” for how to market your Assisted Living Facility online.

At first glance, considering all the marketing options available for your senior housing marketing playbook might be overwhelming. These include Search Engines (Organic, Maps, Pay-Per-Click), Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), Paid Online Directory Listings (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, BOTW, FourSquare, Yelp.com, etc.), and Paid Online Lead Services.

To maximize your lead flow from the Internet, you need to develop a PLAN which covers each of these online marketing opportunities. The purpose of our new book is to outline a plan that will transform you from an online marketing novice to the dominant player in the Assisted Living Facility industry. 

Check it out here: The Book on Digital Marketing for Assisted Living Facilities

Throughout our book, we lay the foundation to:

• Map out your senior housing marketing plan (Website, SEO, PPC, Pay-Per-Lead services, etc.)
  
• Start with the fundamentals (Market, Message, Media) before jumping headfirst into your Digital Marketing Strategy
  
• Setup your website
  
• Understand how search engines work, and learn the differences between the paid, organic, and map listings
  
• Optimize with Search Engine Optimization – How to optimize your website with keywords that are most important for your particular business
  • How to conduct keyword research 
  • Our list of the most commonly searched keywords broken down by industry 
  • How to achieve the maximum result by mapping out the pages which should be included on your website
  • How to optimize your website for ranking in the organic listings on major search engines
  • How to improve your website’s visibility so you can rank on page one for your most important keywords
  • List of link building techniques and strategies that are proven to enhance rankings even in the post Penguin and Panda Era
  • Content marketing strategies for maintaining relevance in the Senior Living space
    
• Optimize Google Maps – How to get ranked on the Google Map in your area
  • The fundamentals of Google Maps ranking (NAP, Citations, Consistency, and Reviews)
  • How to establish a strong name, address, and phone number profile
  • How to properly claim and optimize your Google Business Profile Local Listing 
  • How to develop authority for your map listing via citation development
  • List of the top citation sources for your business organization, according to the industry standards
  • How to get real reviews from your customers in your true service area
    • Sample Review Card
    • Sample Review Request Email
    • Sample Review Us landing page for your website
      
• Understand Website Conversion Fundamentals – How to ensure that your website converts visitors into leads in the form of calls and web submissions
  
• Understand Mobile Optimization – How to optimize your website for mobile visitors
  
• Utilize Social Media Marketing – How to utilize Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social platforms for maximum effect in your business.
  
• Use Video Marketing – How to tap into the power of YouTube and other video sharing websites to enhance your visibility and drive better conversion
  
• Leverage email marketing tools (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.) to connect with your customers on a deeper level, receive more reviews, get more social media connections and ultimately get repeat and referral business.
  
• Understand and capitalize on Paid Online Advertising opportunities
  
• Use Pay-Per-Click Marketing (Google AdWords and Bing Search) – How to maximize the profitability of your Pay-Per-Click Marketing efforts
  • Why PPC should be part of your overall online marketing strategy
  • Why most PPC campaigns fail
  • Understanding the Google AdWords Auction process
  • How to configure and manage your Pay-Per-Click campaign for maximum ROI
    
• Use Paid Online Directories – What paid online directories should you consider advertising in (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, BOTW, Spoke.com, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellowpages, etc.)
  
• Manage Pay-Per-Lead and Lead Services – How to properly manage Pay-Per-lead services for maximum return and long-term gains
  • Sample lead follow up email sequence
    
• Track, Measure and Quantify – How to track your online marketing plan to ensure your investment is generating a strong return

When it comes to Internet marketing for your business, there are several avenues to explore. In our book, we briefly touch on the various Internet marketing channels that are available and then go into more detail throughout its chapters.

Online Marketing Channels

1. Search Engine Optimization (Organic Listings and Map Listings)
2. Search Engine Marketing/PPC on Google AdWords and Bing Search Network
3. Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn)
4. Video Marketing
5. Email Marketing
6. Free and Paid Directory Marketing (BOTW, Spoke.com, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellow Pages, etc…)
7. Paid Lead Services (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, Emfluence.com, Fuellead.com, Intellibright.com, etc…)

Search Engine Optimization 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing your company’s visibility on major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) in the organic, non-paid listings as consumers are searching for your products or services. There are three very critical components of Search Engine Marketing. The three components are:

• Paid Listings – The area along the top and side that advertisers can bid on and pay for to obtain decent placement in the search engines
  
• Organic Listings – The area in the body of the Search Engine Results page
  
• Map Listings – These are the listings that come up beneath the paid listings and above the organic listings in many searches

Search Engine Optimization involves getting your website to show up in the Organic and Map Listings. These listings account for a majority of the search volume. As depicted in the illustration below, about 70% of searchers click on the Organic (non-paid listings) rather than the paid listings.

When most people think of “Internet Marketing,” they think of Search Engine Optimization. However, you will begin to see that SEO is only a small piece of the MUCH BIGGER “Internet Marketing” puzzle for business owners.

Search Engine Marketing / Pay-Per-Click

Now that we have discussed SEO, let’s talk about Search Engine Marketing or PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Google, Yahoo, and Bing all have paid programs that allow you to BUY listings associated with your keywords to be placed in designated areas of their sites.

There are three really important benefits of PPC:

• Your keyword listings will appear on search engines almost immediately
  
• You only have to pay when someone clicks on your listing – hence the term Pay-Per-Click Marketing
  
• You can get your ad to show up on national terms in the areas/cities in which you operate

PPC Marketing works on an Auction system similar to that of eBay. You simply choose your keywords and propose a bid of what you would be willing to pay for each click.

Several factors determine placement which is discussed in detail in the PPC for Businesses chapter of our book. But, in the broadest sense, the one who is willing to pay the most per click will be rewarded the top position in the search engines, while the second-most will be in the second position, etc.

PPC Marketing is a great way to get your company’s website to appear at the top of the search engines right away, driving qualified traffic to your website.

Social Media Marketing 

You just can’t deny Social Media’s reach and influence (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), but how can it be utilized by an Assisted Living Facility which is just starting out? How can you use social media to grow your business? Just look at the staggering statistics for Facebook:

• More than 2.91 billion monthly active users (4th quarter 2021)
  
• 79% of monthly users log on to Facebook on any given day
  
• The average user has 130 connections
  
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

So, how can you employ this amazing tool to grow your business? Use it to connect with your personal sphere of influence, past and new customers. By doing so, you can solidify and maintain existing relationships, remain top-of-mind, and ultimately increase repeat and referral business.

Video Marketing

Did you know YouTube is the second-most used search engine on the market? Would you guess it is even ahead of Bing and Yahoo? It’s true!

Millions of people conduct YouTube searches on a daily basis. Most business owners are so focused on SEO they completely neglect the opportunities that video and YouTube provide.

By implementing a Video Marketing Strategy for your facility, you can get additional placement in search results for your keywords, enhance the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and improve visitor conversion.

Email Marketing 

Similar to Social Media Marketing, email marketing is a great way to remain top-of-mind with your customers and increase repeat business and referrals. Compared to direct mail and newsletters, email marketing is by far the most cost-effective means to communicate with your customers.

As we discuss in the Email Marketing for Businesses chapter of our book, we feel email marketing can be used to effectively draw your customers into your social media world.

Paid Directory Marketing

There are a number of Online Directories that are important for businesses and specifically for Assisted Living Facilities:

1. BOTW (Businesses of the World)
2. AboutUs
3. Spoke
4. Yelp
5. Foursquare
6. YellowPages

Paid Lead Service Sites

There is an array of services that will sell you leads on a “pay-per-lead” basis or a flat monthly fee.

1. Emfluence
2. FuelLead
3. Intellibright

Specifically for Assisted Living Facilities the bigger players are:

4. A Place for Mom
5. Caring.com 

While these leads tend to go to a number of different providers and will be less qualified than other sources, these Pay-Per-Lead services can be a profitable online marketing channel if executed correctly.

Where to Start with Senior Housing Marketing?

With such a large amount of Internet marketing channels, where should you start? I firmly believe that over time, you should be appropriating each of these online marketing opportunities.

However, you must first begin with the foundation – your website, organic rankings, and social media/email. You should start looking at the various paid marketing opportunities when your website is set up correctly, ranking on search engines for your most important keywords in the organic, non-paid listings and you are actively engaging in social media activity.

We have found that the biggest and most impactful opportunity is getting ranked organically (in the non-paid listings). You may then leverage the additional profits in paid marketing to further augment your growth.

Once you are ranking well organically and things are firing on all cylinders, then you can start to run a well-managed Pay-Per-Click Campaign and explore paid online directory listings on Yelp, Foursquare, etc.

To pre-order the book and get more in-depth with your Senior Housing Marketing plan, visit this link: The Book on Digital Marketing for Assisted Living Facilities

To get a jump start on getting your assisted living facility on the right track, schedule a discovery call to see how our agency can help your facility thrive.