Target Markets : From the Outside In
By Jacqueline Colafemina
Were you prepared for Mobilegeddon ? Does your facility understand your target audience ? Do you see your outreach statistics improve each year ? If you answered no to any of these questions , it would be beneficial to revisit your marketing plan and develop a plan from the outside in .
During the session From the Outside In : Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the Prospect ’ s Decision Making Process , Jackie Stone , VP sales consulting , Varsity , Wormleysburg , PA presented a project devoted to analyzing what makes up a facility ’ s target audience and how to effectively market to them .
Project Looking Glass III entailed researchers living in a community for 30 days and 30 nights twice throughout the year . This gave marketing researchers insight into the life inside different communities . It gave them a deeper dive into the decision-making process of their target market including insight on events or situations that triggered the start of an investigation , factors influencing the decision to buy or not buy , impact of faith on their decision , importance of care in the decision and trends and / or differences among age groups .
The project gave insight to many statistics revolving around faith or religion , age factor and how target
The study found that ... 44 percent of direct mail is NEVER opened ... nearly 46 percent of participants indicated that a website ’ s design is their number one criteria for the credibility of an organization and videos on landing pages increase conversions by 86 percent .
audiences were getting their information that led to their decisions . An example of useful insight from the project was that people often don ’ t research facilities until they need them , and that they don ’ t know where to really start looking in the first place . The study also showed that a majority of the research was done electronically on mobile devices or computers .
Keeping up with the trend of your designated market is vital to your facility ’ s success . The statistics gathered through this project clearly show the trend is moving to online advertising for senior care . Great news because it is a cost-effective method . The study found that 86 percent of participants skip television commercials , 44 percent of direct mail is NEVER opened , 91 percent of people unsubscribed from company emails they previously opted into , nearly 46 percent of participants indicated that a website ’ s design is their number one criteria for the credibility of an organization and videos on landing pages increase conversions by 86 percent .
Don ’ t fall behind the curve . Reassess your marketing plan and hit your target audience .
39 Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Summer 2017