Keri Gerlach of Greenfield, WI writes:
“I’m the marketing director for Clement Manor, a retirement community. My biggest challenge is a limited budget and limited resources targeting long term care and assisted living. Not many folks are out there touring facilities until they have to, and given the economy, most are waiting even longer to sell their homes.
“More specifically, I’d like ideas on how to encourage families to ‘window shop’ now so that when the time comes for their parents, they’ve done their homework and have an idea about what facility they might choose. The sons and daughters we are seeing are in their mid-60s.”
Hi,
Keri, I worked for a radio station with a 55+ audience and we put on a Seniors Expo. This involved all the retirement villages but it would be just as easy to hold the event at yours. Invite funeral parlours (!), local tour operators, in fact anyone who provides a service. Each person buys time on the radio over say eight weeks and gets a stall or similar in your property. Radio station loves you, providers love you. Even invite Scouts and guides to generate youth feel and goodwill to elderly. Plenty opps here:-)
Happy to talk more on it if you need to.
Alan
PS website is only a small part of what I do:-)
Ballroom dancing attracts 60+ dancers, your target audience. How about contacting Ballroom Dance groups (you can find them googling) and:
1) invite them to come dancing at your facility as entertainment for the residents (gets them into the facility and gets the word out among the dancers from that dance club).
2) asking about printing tabletop tents with an invitation to visit your facility on one side, and the dance menu for the evening on the other? Some print programs and might invite you to put an ad there.
You might also inquire with local hospitals about sponsoring a workshop on Life Planning for Your Parents’ Care. They could cover the publicity, you could present an informative workshop on the variety of decisions a caregiver will have to make, and what to consider. Be sure to put your facility name and logo on any handouts. Offer this same 1 hour workshop to local churches.
If not you as presenter, partner up with a hospital social worker to do the class and support the class with a facility tour and brochures of your facility.
Look through the local community college class offerings for classes on similar topics for which you could be a guest speaker and/or offer a facility tour. Of course folks in these classes tend to be pretty proactive already.
Keri,
Look up http://www.sres.com the Senior Real Estate Specialist website. It identifies Realtors who are dedicated to working with baby boomers and their parents. Get a list within say 50 miles of your location of the members and invite them for a special tour of your facilities. Work with the Realtors who are in the field, create a program for them and welcome their referrals. Make it easy for them to recommend you by sponsoring a lunch, have a speaker on a subject relating to seniors and real estate (will and trusts?) and some will show. Keep them in the loop, on your mailing list.
Keri,
You local mall is a great place to find your target market. See if they have a walking program and if you can speak to the walkers or do some inexpensive ads panels that they’ll see while walking. Another area is a local health club. Go there around 9-10 am.
Bob Evans and IHOP are also good hang outs but be careful about soliciting.
Keri, have you heard of Eons? It’s an online social media group for people over, I think, 50 or so. You’d be surprised at how many early Baby Boomers are pretty computer savvy.
As well, you might look into those Health Fairs that are often sponsored by newspapers, Chambers of Commerce, and other health oriented businesses.
Finally, offer an open house affair with a dinner (or coffeee and dessert) and a presentation. Kind of like what the vacation shares do.
Good luck.
Patricia
You know where I am seeing the over 60 crowd? They swim every morning at the YMCA. They are a very social group. Maybe you can do some event at your local YMCA
Hi Keri! IL (independent living) is a tougher sales these days, so I’d concentrate on attracting people to AL or through your Adult Day Care. The latter is definitely less threatening to people dealing with the emotions of placing a parent, and ties into economic concerns of having people age in place at home for a bit longer to save money. Also, the early boomers who are placing parents judge by their own standards, so having a series of events that are fun and “not just for old people” positions you as a vital community. Also, try running informational seminars on “How to Choose” that are truly unbiased, with a variety of speakers. People are starving for info on this since it can be VERY confusing, as well as emotional.
I suggest contacting magazines, AARP and Canadian Snowbird Association,also Zoomers which was CARP. These magazines will be happy to do an article on your retirement home, which will definitely be good for business.
Keri, I’m at the early end of the “considering retirement” spectrum, at age almost-58, but my mother resides in a community much like yours down in Naples, FL, and I have done a lot of work with active adult, continuing care, and related services.
The place most people look first for information on retirement options for themselves or their parents is the Internet. There are MANY ways in which, for little or no money, you can get attention on the Internet, but you need to know how to do it. Some examples:
*Blogs
*Article publication through directories
*Social media
*Websites that are interactive, not just online brochures (as yours is now)
Any site you control yourself needs to be “optimized” so that it shows up on page 1 of a Google search for the terms under which you would like to be found. In your case, you would probably like to be found under terms such as “retirement community Wisconsin” and/or, even narrower, “retirement community Greenfield Wisconsin”.
Contact your local college(s) and see if they have students who have studied and excelled at “online marketing,” probably in their School of Communications (or related discipline). As interns or employees for you, they should be quite affordable and while they may not have the skill of an established expert, all that matters is that their skill is as good or better than the skill of whomever may be advising your competition.
Good luck!
I think one of the obvious would be you need to start blogging about this topic so you become a source of information while they window shop
You could offer a free coupon call it a baby boomer relief coupon.
It could be used by baby boomers caring for aging parents. They could get a free afternoon off from caring for their parents when they drop them off at your facility.
Try respite care. Families always need a break from caring for family members whether or not they are independent, assisted or bed bound. It’s a wonderful way for the prospect to see you have a great place. Alot of times the respite resident will stay on.
I don’t know about on-line communities in Wisconsin specifically, but you will find the target 50- and 60-somethings playing on golf courses and volunteering for lots of things like Meals on Wheels, in hospitals, and at libraries, etc. Outreach here should be designed to drive people to your website and your related online information channels.
Hello Keri,
Your best sales force are your residents themselves. You may be able to reach influencers, but they reach the decision makers. Equip them with sales tools to reach friends and aquaintances who may also consider your location. Low cost promo items like T-shirts, baseball caps and, definitely stationary all imprinted with your logo will reach their social circles. Provide these items to residents as a ‘thank you’ package. Everyone likes “free” as it reinforces the goodwill of your community. Residents will wear caps and shirts in local malls and establishments and letters will strengthen your brand as well. Granted, these items come with a cost, but maybe less than what you might expect.
You can take advantage of online marketing. This can be done with much less money at adwido just visit their website.
Hope it helpful.