Improve Your Assisted Living Marketing Plan by Adding Integration

Don't Think Piecemeal

Even a growing market (like assisted living) is effected by the down economy. In this type of environment, those with a more effective marketing plan will attract a larger share of the available move-ins. Those with weak plans will suffer. So its critical to hone and strengthen your plan. One way to do this is to weave integration into the strategy.

Grow Calendar 2011

What do I mean by integration? The commonly designed marketing plan is designed to be piecemeal...elements of the plan are treated independently and executed separately. For example, a marketing director will visit professionals in the community and hand out their brochure to "earn?" referrals. When the visit is over, they may send a thank you card and set their calendar for the next visit. (After all, it is the visiting part of their plan.) But they will seldom think about interviewing the professional while they are there and including that professional's expertise in an advertisement for their facility or on their website.

If they would, they would acquire valuable content (along with its credibility) for their ad and/or website. At the same time, they would also be building a stronger relationship that can turn a professional into an ally, and even a key referral source. And the new information on their website would help them to serve their community. This one effort would inject continuity and synergy into their plan, making it more dynamic and effective. The end result, more people take notice, are attracted and are referred. That leads to move-ins.

Flow From One Element To Another

There are seven key elements to any assisted living marketing plan are:

Referral Source Development Advertising Community Outreach & Inreach Public Relations Visits & Tours Inquiry and Family Member "Keep In Touch" Website & Internet

When executed well, each element can lead to move-ins. However, when organized as a team, each one can become more powerful and increase their results. For example, what is shown on a tour of the facility will be remembered and trusted more if it has already been seen on the company website. When a variation is also seen on a community bulletin board or in a follow-up mailing, the trust level increases even more. (FYI - Trust is critical to the assisted living selling process.)

Place The Website In The Center Of The Plan

The website is commonly thought of as an extended brochure and an independent element. Big mistake! It should be the hub of all marketing. Most (if not all) strategies should either start on the website or lead back to the website. Some should do both. The dynamics of the added continuity and synergy, as well as the use of technology the market has come to expect, result in a more effective plan. In addition, the staff can save a lot of time on the creative process and may even lower the expenses of execution. Here is an example of what I mean.

Visit and interview a local professional who serves seniors and/or caregivers... That leads to adding their information and a sample of their expertise to the "Support Services" page on your website... That leads to including that sample of their expertise in an advertisement in the local newspaper for your community outreach event... That leads to the community outreach event that involves the same referral source... That leads to a news story released to the local media outlets... The event is also added as an "Activity Scrapbook" entry on your website... The Scrapbook entry is easily converted into a new, quick, printed in-house handout... That leads to follow-up mailings and e-mails to event attendees, family members and referral sources... And the new handout is also added to community bulletin boards you have set up.

This one strategy blends together six of the seven key marketing plan elements - referral source development, advertising, community outreach or inreach, public relations, inquiry "keep in touch" and the website. It can also share copy, design elements and photos which saves time and money. Note: Of course, to do this effectively and efficiently, their must be systems in place that take advantage of technology.

Put Me In Coach

Adding integration is similar to managing a team sport. You have to recognize and understand the individual players at your disposal (marketing elements and people), then blend them into a cohesive unit that performs better as a team than as individuals. When designing a plan, you should look at your list of key elements, then weave (at least) some of them into each campaign. They could work together or they lead to one another. The goals of this integrated team include:

Creating added credibility. Building trust faster with the help of continuity and synergy. Providing tools to those would like to promote you. Saving time and/or saving money. Attracting more inquiries. Providing more incentive to offer referrals to your facility. Improving inquiry/tour/move-in ratios.

This concept of integration is not new, but it is underutilized. A big reason why is that it demands an organized leader who sees things differently, has the ability to blend the positive attributes of people and marketing elements, and works within a company culture that allows change to what has been done in the past. Is it worth the effort and the change? I believe it provides a marketing advantage that should not be overlooked or underestimated. An assisted living company that utilizes integration properly will come out of this down economy with added market share and will be well positioned for growth in better times.

Improve Your Assisted Living Marketing Plan by Adding Integration

Grow Calendar 2011

America Going To The Small House - Pocket Sized Homes For Living Large

Concern for the environment and concern for the pocketbook are leading home buyers away from luxury estates and toward more affordable houses that use less resources and encourage simpler lifestyles.

Variously dubbed the smallhouse, minihome, homelet, microhouse and wee house - modern architects are coming up with great designs that make maximum use of space and resources with minimum land use. With some of the buildings as tiny 400 square feet, you can be certain that every inch is packed with purpose. It's a scrimp here and splurge there aesthetic: built-in storage, smaller appliances and lofts eliminate wasted space while vaulted ceilings and giant windows make the most minuscule spaces seem airy and bright.

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The emphasis on making good use of space while maximizing style is a familiar concept in Japan and Europe where land is at a premium and concern for the environment is urgent. Americans on the other hand, haven't seriously played with the idea of efficiency since the depression.

In 1936, Frank Lloyd Wright developed the Usonian house design. This boxy modernist house was a simplified version of his earlier Prairie house - but stripped down, without attics, basements or ornamentation. The Usonian was an attempt to create a distinctly American style of home that was available to everyone. Built on principles of convenience, comfort and economy, its spacious open interiors belie the low profile boxiness seen from the street. Wright's work inspired modernist architects all over the country. Locally, the designs of Victor Hornbein, Joseph and Louise Marlow, William Muchow, Eugene Sternberg and Gerry Dion are all part of the Denver real estate market. Perhaps one of the best known enclaves of this type of house can be found in Arapahoe Acres, a post-war subdivision in Englewood built in the modern style.

More recently, the Katrina Cottage has captured the public imagination with efficient designs that packed the functionality of a six room house into less than 600 square feet. These feisty little houses can cost less than ,000 in materials, stand up to hurricanes and still have nine foot ceilings and ample southern charm. A Katrina Cottage requires you to have land to build it on however. Now available through Lowes stores in the US, this is a small house for those homesteading on the Minnesota frontier, building a vacation home in the mountains or putting up a little home on a tiny urban lot.

Saving money is an important driving factor behind the current appeal of small houses. Do the math: A smaller building costs less to build and less floor space means less energy consumption. Maintenance is always on a much smaller scale. Small houses simply use less heat, less water and less electricity. And of course, less storage space means less of everything else. Pack rats and shop-a-holics need not consider simple living or serious downsizing, but if you're interested in being conscious of your consumption and minimizing your strain on the planet, a small house might be for you.

For many people the idea of living in a smaller house is tied to the idea of sustainable living or living with their means - with style. Though the idea of sustainable living may still seem novel, the recent rash of foreclosures has certainly brought this idea home for many. Naturally if you're spending less on utilities, land taxes and possessions, you'll also have more money for everything else.

Want to be where the action is? Living smaller doesn't translate into a meager lifestyle. In fact, part of the attraction of a smaller home is the ability to live large in other areas of your life. For many people, a smaller home allows them to buy in high priced urban areas that are otherwise out of reach.

Hate housework? One of the resounding benefits of living smaller is that small spaces are far easier to keep clean than sprawling McMansions. Less to organize and fewer steps to organize what you have, a smaller space gives you more time for other pursuits.

You don't have to live in a modern steel box to live more efficiently either. There's plenty of older housing stock that makes a great springboard for simplified living. Post war bungalows, shotguns, cabins, rowhouses, usonians, side-gabled and english cottages can all be found in Denver and surrounding areas. With an initial investment on energy efficient upgrades, built-in fixtures and creative storage options, living in a small old house can work better for most people than living in a bigger resource-hogging building.

America Going To The Small House - Pocket Sized Homes For Living Large

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