To understand the ways that marketing has evolved in the senior living field, you first must understand how prospective residents and their families have changed. As a group, they’re more knowledgeable and discerning than ever. And that requires a more refined approach to capturing their interest.
“They’re savvier, they’re more internet aware, they’re more educated,” said Debi Thomas, vice president of business development for Legend Senior Living. “I think our customers today are totally different than they were when I first got into this industry 28 years ago. Technology and the way we gather our information has become more sophisticated, so our customers have become more sophisticated, too. They know more of what they’re looking for.”
Thomas, lead of Argentum’s Sales and Marketing Executive Roundtable, shared her insights on the biggest trends in senior living marketing – and what comes next in the rapidly changing field. What’s especially clear is that senior living and its customers have evolved together, side by side, as the industry has undergone massive changes. As Thomas noted, a key reason that the senior living customer has become more educated about their options is because providers have excelled at helping them become that way.
“As an industry, we’ve done a good job of introducing what assisted living and memory care is,” Thomas said. “Our industry is still fairly new when you consider that senior living – as far as assisted living or memory care – has really not been around that long. Our customer has just gotten much savvier.”
Anxious customers in search of the best fit
Senior living community customers as a group – both prospective residents and their families – are by their nature anxious, Thomas said.
“When you’re dealing with making that move or you’re dealing with someone who is near and dear to you making that move, you’re anxious about it,” Thomas said. “A lot of people see it as giving up their independence, when, in fact, moving into an assisted living community really increases your independence. But the anxiety comes from the unknown, and maybe the fear a little bit. So, they’re anxious to learn more about what we can provide.”
With customers trying to understand the lifestyle and the opportunities that a senior housing provider can offer, marketing plays the central role of supporting and educating the customer during their journey, Thomas said.
Against that backdrop, senior housing must be “more available and informative,” Thomas said.
“Families want information immediately (and as much as we can provide) and are looking for price transparency, while marketing is evolving way beyond traditional methods that would fill buildings even five years ago,” Thomas said.
In addition, the expectations for what communities can provide have heightened, impacting the content that marketing efforts must prioritize.
“The prospect is seeking a more active lifestyle which has shifted the message to focus on more than just care,” Thomas said. “Providing care, three meals, and an apartment are a given. The message is shifting toward promoting a vibrant independent lifestyle and the long-term health benefits of such. Content and messages are changing dramatically.”
Customers are doing more research than ever before visiting a community, making it paramount that senior living providers are able to make a compelling case before there is a tour – otherwise, the tour may never happen.
“You have to get your message across, but how do you do that? That’s a big challenge today,” Thomas said. “When you’re in the residence, you can actually see it and feel it. You can witness it. So how do you get that message across before they come in and intrigue them enough to come into the residence to experience it? The great marketing challenge right now is to convey the message and make them want to come and visit so they can truly feel it for themselves.”
The rise of digital
Thomas said customers who are spending more time online have been the driving force to an increased marketing focus on digital spaces.
“Older adults are becoming more tech-savvy, making the digital shopping experience more important as part of the complete marketing strategy,” Thomas said. “The customer is using the internet more than ever to determine where they will visit. We need to be certain that our message is clear on our website and in any digital experiences.”
Social media continues to grow as an important element of digital marketing – “not just in terms of social advertising and content push, but social media tells a story and you want to show the experience using it,” Thomas said.
Within digital marketing, Thomas is seeing changes, too. For instance, pay-for-click and search optimization previously dominated the area, but Thomas now is seeing more over-the-top advertising (OTT) and connected TV (CTV) advertising, which are featured on streaming media.
No matter the area, the message must be concise and compelling in digital marketing. “The customer is bombarded with ads all day – even while searching senior living – so how do we stand out?” Thomas asked.
“You only have a short amount of time to get your message across with digital marketing, so you have to make sure that your message is very specific and urgent and also that it will pique their interest so they’re going to want to go to the next step,” she said. “Hopefully, that next step is either a phone call or that next step is coming in to experience the community in a tour. But you’ve got a short window to make an impact to do that.”
Even with digital’s growing importance, Thomas said hosting events, building relationships with the local community and building awareness outside the digital space remain critical, and Thomas said print marketing still plays a vital role, whether it’s advertising in print media or ensuring that there are print materials to share with prospective residents and their families, such as after a tour.
“We want the customer to leave with something in their hand that they can refer to,” Thomas said.
Thomas said it is essential to view your marketing package as a whole – as a single, unified campaign.
“The message – whatever you’re trying to convey – needs to be consistent throughout all of your avenues that you’re using,” Thomas said. “Whether it’s display ads or the OTT or whatever, your message needs to be conveyed consistently.”
Research and targeting
As important as the message and the platform are, marketing is rapidly becoming most about zeroing in on your intended audience with pinpoint accuracy.
“The better that you can target the better the message gets across,” Thomas said.
Getting a message that is tailored to the demographic that it is reaching is crucial, Thomas said.
“You can’t have the same message when you’re trying to connect with an independent customer as you would have with a memory care customer,” Thomas said. “The message and the lifestyle and the needs of the customer are completely different. The message needs to be specific to your customer.”
For instance, larger providers with communities across the country cannot simply market the same way in each region where they have a presence.
“When you’re talking about a specific residence, you are truly targeting a different market,” Thomas said. “The market in Pittsburgh is going to be different than the market in Florida, so you can’t have the same message in both Pittsburgh and Florida. You have to really speak specifically to your local market, and you have to know who that is. Your message is going to be different even though you’re hoping for the same outcome.”
Among the promising potential benefits of artificial intelligence is the capability to target messages to specific audiences with newfound precision, Thomas said. Thomas noted that Argentum has been a leader in efforts to integrate AI into senior living, including through a pilot program developed in partnership with AlphaROC. The company’s product, occam, uses AI and machine learning to provide focused research.
For marketers, AI will help provide invaluable information such as how many prospects are in specific markets and the average clinical need in each region, Thomas said.
“It’s going to be huge,” Thomas said. “It’s going to allow us to market to micro markets in areas or regions in a way that we don’t have at our disposal right now.”
Thomas said AI is in its early stages but believes its use in senior living will evolve markedly in the next five to seven years and is poised to have a widespread impact on the industry. It’s the latest in a line of innovations that are changing how marketers work today.
“This industry is really growing, and it’s exciting to be a part of it,” Thomas said. “It’s fun to watch the growth – not only in units that are available, but the customer knowledge and what we’re able to bring to the customer and the lifestyle that we can enhance for someone. It’s really exciting to watch right now, and a lot of that excitement comes from marketing and the way that we are getting our message out.”
