ASSISTED LIVING
Marketing To Drive Growth At Senior Care Facilities
Assisted Living
While demographics are generally supportive of the pool of potential residents for assisted living , facilities are still suffering from persistent vacancies . Business development professionals know that challenges have grown since the crash of the housing market in 2008 ; families , both seniors and their adult children , are still faced with financial stress as well as many competing residential options and modes of care . With such a broad array of choices available to seniors , it is incumbent upon Senior Care Facilities to execute a well-designed , long-term marketing plan to drive growth .
Assisted living has long been considered needs-driven , but care at a facility or residence is increasingly viewed as an “ optional ” purchase for addressing those needs , especially for adult children under financial strain . “ Aging in Place ”, the practice of keeping elderly parents in their homes longer than they may have historically , is often viewed as a path to saving money , though that “ independence ” has many , often hidden , costs . Home improvement to provide accessibility , oncall transportation services , maintenance , just to name a few , all add-up and are frequently underestimated by families when considering costs and benefits .
Increasingly , seniors are also moving-in with their adult children to both preserve assets and in some cases , support their children . Unsurprisingly , this has led to an increase in the number of communitybased services for seniors , as well as visits to both physician offices and emergency rooms . This arrangement also places significant strain on a family emotionally , particularly if active grandchildren are in the mix .
There are also many new alternatives to facility care , as well as technological advances , which allow for home monitoring and long-distance caregiving that have made competing options more plentiful than ever before .
In this environment , it ’ s not hard to see why waiting lists , once the industry norm , have become a thing of the past ! Relying on how things were done by previous owners or successful facilities in previous years is no longer a guaranteed road to success . Instead , facilities need to work harder on their marketing plans than they ever have before .
To address this competitive marketplace , communicate their value proposition and drive growth , assisted living and senior care facility marketing plans must address two constituents at the same time .
1 . The family members of the clients that you wish to serve .
2 . Enticing those senior clients themselves .
These groups respond to your message in different ways , but ultimately seek the same goal : quality of life that makes financial sense . Identifying your target demographic ( if you do not know it already ), finding out whether your buyers are more likely to be senior citizens or their adult children , is the first step in building a successful marketing plan .
It bears mentioning that some facilities at this stage of the marketing plan take an easy , well-worn route that can short circuit the organization in the long run . Instead of building a road map to increased occupancy , some facilities move straight to discounting - reducing entry fees ,
26 | FALL 2016