How Marketing Helps Elder Care Organizations Overcome The Stigma Of “Nursing Homes”
Let’s face it. “Nursing homes” don’t have a stellar reputation. They're often shown as places where older folks live out their final years in a lonely, clinical, or even neglectful setting.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Assisted living facilities are an important part of the elder care system for individuals who need around-the-clock personal and medical care. But the stigma remains.
So, how can elder care organizations show the benefits of assisted living to elderly individuals and their caretakers? In this blog, we’ll discuss a few marketing strategies you can use to reach potential residents and emphasize the benefits of assisted living.
Address The Common Misconceptions And Myths Around Elder Care
First, when developing your marketing campaign, we recommend creating content and developing informative ads that break down the myths and misconceptions spread around by pop culture. Here are a few ideas:
Focus on your community – Social isolation and loneliness are commonly associated with nursing homes. Showing how your facility engages residents and helps them build a community with one another is a great way to overcome this.
Show off the social calendar – Another common misconception about nursing homes is that they don’t provide opportunities for fun, recreation, or social events. To combat this, you can develop ads that highlight the outings, classes, and other social events available at your facility.
Highlight resident privacy – Many people think that living in a nursing home means losing their privacy and autonomy. You can highlight the private rooms you offer and the steps your staff take to protect resident privacy to overcome this objection.
Emphasize proper staffing – Speaking of staff, another misconception is that all nursing homes are understaffed or hire unskilled, neglectful workers. While it’s true that many nursing homes are affected by a worker shortage, there are many facilities that provide an excellent level of resident care. In your marketing, you can focus on the skills and qualifications of your staff and your staff-to-resident ratio.
Let them see what’s on the menu – Worries about food quality are also common among the elderly and their caretakers. So if your facility has excellent cooks and offers delicious meals, put them in the spotlight! Showing the nutritious, well-balanced, and diverse meals that are available to your residents will help dispel this myth.
Reach The Right Audience With Your Message
If you’re looking to reach more potential residents, you also need to make sure that your marketing messages are reaching the right audience. Otherwise, you’re wasting money that could be spent elsewhere. Chances are, you’re looking to advertise your services both to elders and to their adult children or caretakers in the area near your facility – not 18-24 year olds located a few towns away.
That’s why social media is a powerful tool for elder care organizations. Facebook and Instagram are popular among all age groups. This includes the aging generation of Baby Boomers, who will all be 65 or older by 2030, and will represent the largest generation of elderly people in U.S. history.
Using social media, you can promote your facility both to older people and their caretakers. Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms let you choose target audiences based on age, income levels, geographic location, and tons of other demographics.
For example, if there’s an area in your city with lots of senior living communities, you could create an ad specifically for older adults who may be interested in transitioning to a skilled nursing facility in the near future – and serve it directly to people who live in this area.
Show What Sets Your Community Apart From The Rest
Along with “busting myths” about elder care, showing off the best elements of your facility is a great way to overcome the social stigma associated with nursing homes. So, what is it that your organization does best?
Do you offer expert medical care with skilled nurses? Frequent outings to parks and shopping centers? Are you located near a major hospital? By focusing on positive aspects of your facility, you can put your best face forward and show potential residents the benefits of joining your community.
Not sure what the best aspects of your community are? We recommend using patient satisfaction surveys to gather more information about where you’re doing well – and where you could use improvement. Take a look at this blog post to learn more about the value of patient satisfaction surveys.
Need Help Reaching New Residents? Incept Can Help!
Elder care organizations operating assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities face many unique challenges, especially when it comes to marketing. At Incept, we’re here to help you break through barriers, bring in more residents, and put your organization on a path to sustainable growth. To learn more about what we do, feel free to contact us or give us a call at (330) 649-8000.