4 Common Digital Marketing Challenges Affecting Senior Living Patient Recruitment

Senior Care

Sep 19

Are you looking to step up your digital marketing efforts and attract more potential residents to your senior living facility? In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at 4 challenges that may affect your recruitment efforts, and discuss how you can overcome them to market your facility more effectively – both to elderly individuals and their families.

1. Overcoming The Stigma Of “Nursing Homes”

One of the biggest barriers is the fact that many older individuals see “nursing homes” as places of isolation, neglect, and poor overall care. Unfortunately, popular culture has promoted these ideas, and they can be hard to overcome.

But it is possible to overcome this stigma. In fact, we’ve written an entire blog post about how elder care organizations can overcome the “nursing home” stigma and attract more potential residents. You can read it in full by clicking this link, but here are some highlights:

Focus on the community that you provide to residents
Highlight daily activities, events, and your social calendar
Emphasize the privacy and comfort of residents
Show that your facility is properly staffed to provide great care
Focus on what makes your facility special (location near medical facilities, chef-inspired menu, specific amenities like personal trainers, etc.)

2. Failing To Provide Enough Information About Your Facility

Choosing to move into a senior living facility is a huge decision, both for elderly individuals and their families. So to make sure they're equipped to make this decision – and to choose your facility – you want to empower website visitors with all the knowledge they need.

One of the best ways to do this is with an information-packed website. According to data from Senior Housing News, 68% of surveyed senior VPs at senior living facilities said that their website is their most effective marketing tool, followed by direct mail (51%) and social/education outreach events (38%). So we recommend putting as much information on your website as possible, such as:

Clear information about pricing/insurance
Social/event schedules
Photo or video tours of your facility
Detailed descriptions of services
An example of a resident’s daily schedule
Menus and food information
A list of available medical/lifestyle services
Biographical information about doctors, nurses, and other staff members
FAQ sections answering common questions from potential residents
Live chat for seniors to connect directly to an employee with questions

3. A Website That’s Outdated, Difficult To Navigate, Or Isn’t Mobile-Friendly

Just having lots of information on your website isn’t enough. You also need to present it in a modern, attractive, and mobile-friendly package. If your website is slow, doesn’t work well on mobile devices, or is difficult to navigate, you’ll have a hard time bringing in new residents.

According to data collected by Forbes, 47% of users will leave a website if their content doesn’t load within two seconds. 88% of users won’t return to a website if they have a bad experience, and 61% of users say that they’ll go to another website if they don’t find what they're looking for within 5 seconds.

4. Managing Online Reviews And Ratings

Today more than ever, online reviews have a big impact on how potential patients view your senior living facility. According to a roundup of statistics compiled by Exploding Topics, 81% of people use search engines like Google to evaluate local businesses, 98% of people read online reviews at least “occasionally,” and a single negative review could cost your business up to 30 customers.

And while you can’t prevent negative reviews, you can take steps to improve your reputation if someone does leave a bad review. 89% of customers are “more likely” to work with a business that responds to reviews – and this includes responses to negative reviews.

Responding to negative reviews shows that you care about what people think about your business – and by taking their concerns seriously, you can find areas where your facility can improve. If multiple people complain about bathroom cleanliness, for example, you can hire an additional cleaning technician to keep things spic and span.

Reach More Seniors With Incept Health – Contact Us Today!

At Incept Health, we’re experts in digital marketing – and we can help our clients overcome these challenges and many more when recruiting potential new residents. Interested in seeing how we can help you grow? Contact us online to set up a consultation today.

Patient Engagement

Amanda Cowgill