Tips For Boosting Senior Living Census Rates

At the forefront of every senior living marketer's mind is, "How can I increase census?". Unfortunately there is no magic want you can wave to boost your move-ins overnight. However, there are certainly some best practice you can follow to drive occupancy and revenue.

Pull leads from varied sources

As technology continues to improve, it's important to ensure you are staying on top of the latest and greatest business development tools. It is no longer enough to rely solely on paid lists and zip code-based direct mail campaigns. It is also not enough to slap a profile up on A Place for Mom and expect census to instantly increase itself. It may take more work and more time, but if you want to bring in residents, you must utilize a combination of multiple, varied tools to target and attract clientele. McKnight's Senior Living outlines five key channels you should be utilizing to generate leads: blog posts, email marketing, social media, organic search results, and paid advertising (pay-per-click). If your community isn't well represented, you are going to miss out on potential leads.

Keep your marketing up-to-date

Outdated, incorrect, and just plain old looking marketing pieces are not going to bring in clients. Senior housing is an extremely competitive and over-saturated market, so it is critical that you do everything within your power to attract residents and their families. Since the company website is our most important marketing resource, I'd recommend beginning there. When was the last time the website was updated? Is all of the information still relevant? Could it use a face-lift? Consider introducing more modern colors, fonts, stock photography, and even a new layout. Once the website is in good shape, then you can move on to analyzing your collateral materials such as flyers, brochures, inserts, etc.

Create Relevant Content

Don't just promote your community in every post or email. What will engage the consumer is information that is varied. Share industry relevant stories, hot topics, current trends, common fears, tips, tricks... Always write content with the customer in mind. For example, the vast majority of your audience will not care that you are opening a new retirement community six states away in Omaha and someone named Tina has been named the new ED. That information has nothing to do with your clientele here in Pittsburgh. Instead, they are more likely to care about the fun trip your residents just took to the Natural History Museum or pictures of the recently renovated sun room on the first floor.

Retain current residents

Writing a blog is a