Nursing homes can help a person live a fulfilling life by providing them with the care and maintenance services needed to support them. With the rise in the number of nursing homes in recent times, the market has indeed become competitive, making it crucial for top-notch nursing homes to come up with effective ways to be seen by their target audience while creating a lasting impression.
One way to gain a competitive edge is to use digital marketing strategies to get your nursing home seen, be it through SEO or paid advertising. Your nursing home’s online presence can, in fact, make it easier to drive leads and nurture them into conversions, allowing your business to stay at the top of its game. But is getting started with any of the current suite of digital marketing services right for your nursing home, or is there more to the eye than you can see currently?
Given the vastness of digital marketing, it can become overwhelming to determine which strategy works best for you. To clear the clutter and help you achieve an actionable direction, this blog outlines the effective marketing strategies to use, nursing home marketing ideas, and how we can help you stand out.
Why Is Nursing Home Marketing Important?
Nursing homes are respite for people who need care and support to go about their lives. This includes senior citizens, people with disorders (or disabilities), and patients recovering from some form of disease. The experts at the nursing home take over the care and maintenance responsibility of such patients, allowing them to recover as they are well taken care of. Most care homes work on the fundamentals of helping others recover fast while providing them with the highest quality of care and support services. There are many reasons nursing homes need marketing; some of them include:
Filling Occupancy
Nursing homes thrive when they are occupied. Since they usually have a routine that ensures every patient’s needs are fulfilled throughout the day, having new admissions ensures they can customize care, allowing a person to heal in their own time. Digital marketing strategies can help advertise their nursing homes, paying emphasis on the range of services they offer as well as the benefits one can experience after enrolling at their institute. Everyone’s care and support requirements are different, and through digital marketing, nursing homes can ensure they are able to fill occupancies and always have a thriving community based on the vision and mission of your nursing home.
Building Reputation
Nursing homes get people from different walks of life as well as people who need constant care and attention. When choosing a nursing home for their family member, most people want to ascertain they are opting for an institute that offers compassionate and personalized care. Digital marketing can help establish your brand’s authority and credibility in the industry by using different types of techniques, including search engine optimization, blogging, guest posting, and paid advertising.
Attracting Qualified Staff
Nursing home staff are the pillars of any institution as they transition the vision and mission into reality through their hard work, perseverance, and dedication. However, finding qualified and talented staff can become challenging sometimes, especially since your organization works closely with improving people’s lives through care and support. With digital marketing, you can advertise available vacancies to people who are trained, have experience, and are looking for a job in this sector. All this can be done by simply posting about the openings on your social media accounts, running advertising campaigns, or uploading necessary details on your website.
Community Engagement
Gaining traction and engagement from your community is vital to ensuring people in your organization feel connected. Digital marketing allows your organization to host community events, get-togethers, and even workshops, allowing members of the institution to participate. Such events are a blessing, allowing individuals to enjoy interacting with loved ones while learning something new. Digital marketing makes it simple to advertise such community events and attract footfalls to the event.
Staying Competitive
To stay at the top of the market and get more patients, nursing homes need to advertise their business, and digital marketing consistently helps achieve that within specific budgets. There are different marketing techniques that you can try to ensure your business stays ahead of the competition and becomes a name that everyone can trust. While it involves using a combination of strategies, plenty of monitoring, and routine optimization, the overall results your nursing home can achieve through digital marketing are promising.
15 Effective Marketing Ideas for Nursing Homes
Marketing for nursing homes is crucial to ensuring people who need your services can easily find you. Digital marketing makes it easy to position your business at a place where finding it is easier and a matter of a few clicks (or even a simple Google search).
Here are some effective marketing ideas for nursing homes:
1. Geofencing Advertising
Geofencing is an incredibly effective advertising format that allows nursing homes to trigger their ads whenever their target audience crosses a virtual boundary. These ads are usually crisp and to the point, ensuring your target audience can interact with them and make an instant decision. Including your content details is crucial to ensuring your target audience is able to take action without any second thoughts.
Putting up virtual boundaries to trigger your geofencing ads around places like hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and even physiotherapy clinics can drive results, considering that patients at these places are often looking for additional support to heal and get back on track.
You can also consider setting up geofencing boundaries around senior care homes and your competitors to capture the attention of individuals considering alternatives. Highlighting your nursing home’s unique features and benefits can be immensely helpful in turning interested candidates into promising leads.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Healthcare SEO is an important aspect of nourishing your online presence and getting results without having to spend a penny on advertisements. Search engine optimization can be effectively used to increase your website’s online visibility, drive more website traffic, and ensure your visitors get all the information they will possibly need to make a sound decision.
Through SEO, your nursing home can attract patients looking for practical solutions that will help improve their quality of life and ensure the services are within their budget. Besides, using the right set of keywords and conducting thorough on-page and off-page optimization will ensure your organization’s website attracts organic traffic and eventually appears whenever a search is done. To ensure your website ranks highly, consider using long-tail and local keywords.
3. Google Ads Campaigns
Google Ads is a practical method that can seamlessly complement your search engine optimization efforts. With Google Ads, your nursing home can reach the target audience right when they are making a relevant search for your business. The tool’s targeting features allow you to reach people based on their age, income, interests, and location, allowing you to advertise only to people who are likely to convert into qualified leads.
Google Keyword Planner can be actively used to find keywords associated with your services, allowing your business to highlight the unique features and benefits a patient can experience once they sign up. You can also consider highlighting the range of insurances and any other providers you accept, allowing anyone with a need to reach out and enquire about their needs and more. There are also plenty of campaign types that you can consider utilizing to drive more traffic to your website and create a name in your target market.
4. Facebook and Instagram Ads
Social media has become prevalent in today’s age, and by strategically creating and managing your nursing home’s social media accounts, your business can attract the attention of family members on the lookout for nursing or care homes for their loved ones. Aside from using these platforms to run ads, your organization can also consider using content marketing strategies to regularly share educational content and host events directed toward educating your potential residents.
The versatility of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allows nursing homes to create a community-like ambiance where people from different walks of life can come and help each other out or even seek advice to improve their condition. If you are looking to link your social media ads with landing pages, make sure you create dedicated pages to cater to the needs of specific website visitors.
5. Programmatic Display Advertising
How time-consuming and overwhelming can it become to look for ad spaces online? Programmatic display advertising can very well take care of it. Through it, nursing homes can actively automate the buying and selling of digital display ad spaces, optimize their ad spend, and ensure they can maximize their return on investment without any hassles.
Besides, programmatic display advertising uses consumer data, so it is more likely to be perceived positively, encouraging a smooth decision-making process for your target customers. Different ad formats, such as display ads, native ads, and video ads, can be used to make your business cost-effective and generate desired results.
To avoid over-expenditures or spending all your budget on not-so-effective ads, consider engaging in A/B testing practices and track key performance indicators like impressions, clicks, click-through rates, and overall conversions your campaigns can drive.
6. OTT Advertising
OTT platforms have become a hit in recent years as they bring access to entertainment content to the fingertips. Due to this, more people are opting to use these platforms for all their streaming needs. Their rising popularity also makes them a top choice for every nursing home marketing strategy.
These platforms allow organizations to reach an already engaged audience with your offers, benefits, and ways to get in touch with you. These platforms also allow the use of data programmatically, making it easier for brands to target prospective patients and healthcare customers with high accuracy. For maximum results, consider adding contact details where potential customers can get in touch for more inquiries and other information.
7. Host Local Events
Community events are amongst the most effective ways to attract prospective residents to take an interest in the range of services, benefits, and plans your business has to offer. These events allow healthcare professionals to interact with their target audience and address misconceptions while assisting individuals with care needs to visit the nursing home website to learn more or speak with available administration experts for further inquiries.
These events should be an active plan of your marketing strategy as they break the barriers, allowing people in need to ask for help without worrying about being judged. For guaranteed results, consider advertising and marketing details about these community events in advance, creating a strong sense of urgency and allowing interested families and potential residents to enroll themselves.
8. Partner with Healthcare Providers
Healthcare providers are always dealing with people looking for the best available option for their treatment requirements. Be it at health fairs or even at community events, they are always dealing with people looking for a provider who can take care of their unique needs and requirements. Partnering with these healthcare professionals will enable your organization to attract more registrations or inquiries, as these professionals will be recommending your name if a person is looking out for care home options.
9. Volunteer Programs
Volunteer programs allow your organization to actively give back to the community as well as create a lasting impression. These in-person events let your experts show what your business truly stands for and encourage people to get in touch with you to learn more about your offering, plans accepted, and more.
10. Educational Webinars
Educational webinars are an excellent way to maximize your marketing efforts while leaving your potential residents with information they can use to make sound decisions. Running ads will benefit in attracting people who could be interested in learning more about your offerings. Make sure you are addressing one topic in utmost detail during these webinars to offer value while encouraging interested participants to contact you for more details.
11. Online Reviews and Testimonials
Online reviews and testimonials act as social proof, establishing your business’ claims, vision, and mission to be the truth. In industries like healthcare and nursing, where people are looking for compassionate yet affordable services, reviews can help build trust and win over prospective residents looking for reliable nursing homes.
12. Video Marketing
Video marketing is diverse, and it allows your organization to publish information in different formats, allowing your business to experiment with campaigns without missing out on the essence of your organization. You can consider using testimonial videos, information-oriented videos, and even small virtual tours of your property, allowing families to make the best decision for their loved ones.
13. Direct Mail Campaigns
Direct mails allow your organization to deliver personalized messages, build trust, and make the recipient feel special. These campaigns hit the sweet spot as they deliver straightforward messages, helping your potential residents understand their options, the plans they can benefit from, and how their lives can change at your skilled nursing facility.
14. Print Ads in Local Publications
Nursing homes are often preferred by seniors as they offer them peace of mind and dedicated services that are often within their budget. However, seniors often also struggle to find places where their goals can be achieved. Publishing your ads with local publications can significantly increase the chances of your ads being seen by your target audience, given reading print media is still their preferred mode of getting to know things.
15. Billboard or Transit Advertising
Billboards and transit advertising allow your organization to publish ads on a bigger scale, ensuring prolonged exposure. This advertising format is traditional and allows your business to leverage old-style marketing ideas on a budget. Make sure to keep the ads creative and copy engaging, to the point, and include contact details for inquiries.
How Propellant Media Can Enhance Marketing for Nursing Homes
At Propellant Media, we understand that having to market and advertise your nursing home amidst everyday operations can be a challenge. That’s why, when you choose us, you are also banking on services that:
- We are customized to ensure your unique needs and expectations in terms of advertising and marketing are being taken care of.
- We understand the extent of trust people put in your services and our team ensures appropriate and responsible representation of your organization.
- Whether you want to increase organic traffic to your website or aspire to serve the local community, our services are 100% customized for all your needs.
- From web design to creating ads to hire skilled nursing facility, we cover every need you will potentially have.
Conclusion
Skilled nursing facilities are the right destination for people looking for additional homes outside assisted living or when they are recovering from a major life event. By carefully advertising your services properly, at the right place, and at the right time, you can attract people who are looking for care and support services. By following these effective marketing ideas, you can shine bright online and become the name your prospective residents can trust.
Unsure how to implement these effective marketing ideas? Get in touch with us to know how we can help your nursing home grow online.