Highly personalized, creative approches stand out in this market
BY SARA WILDBERGER What’s the top social media platform for people 65 and older?
If you said Facebook, you’re correct, according to the
Pew Research Center’s latest fact sheet. But the second most popular is YouTube. Surprised?
And the adult daughter of the prospective resident you’ve been talking to is very likely to be on Facebook every day, and the adult niece who has been living with and helping that same prospective resident is likely on Instagram, never reads emails, never talks on the phone, and communicates through text and WhatsApp. To introduce people to your community, you have to somehow reach them all.
Finding individual ways to reach and serve indi- viduals is at the heart of senior living. The extensive research and relationship-building processes around choosing senior living requires more touchpoints, more educational content, and more long-term management of online reputation. But trends and technology in sales and marketing are making these challenges easier.
Omnichannel smooths the path “With technology today, we can do effective omnichan-
nel marketing,” says Jamison Gosselin, vice president of senior living strategy at G5, who has also held senior positions at Sunrise, Holiday, and Argentum. “Other in- dustries have been doing it, and now it’s coming into senior living.” G5’s recent “State of Digital Marketing” report out-
lines trends in senior living and matches these to spe- cifically to how digital marketing can help. “Omnichannel marketing” means offering seamless experiences. It differs from multi-channel marketing in that you’re getting the same impressions, experience, and services whatever device or channel you use. “Think about how personalization enhances your dai-
ly life today,” says Janel Wait, chief strategy officer at GlynnDevins, a tech-enabled marketing firm serving se- nior living. “Before you get in your car to drive to work, your phone proactively calculates your drive time down to the minute. If you watch Netflix, it will customize sug- gestions based on your personal viewing preferences.” “We expect personalization in our daily lives, and
senior living customers have the same expectations,” she says.
A complex buyer’s journey “We like to draw nice clean lines of how the buyer’s
journey works,” says Gosselin. But in senior living, emo- tional factors, issues with time and health, or the amount of research and conversation needed make it more of a dance than a direct route. The discovery stage alone can last months. G5 puts the average number of touch- points before a decision is made at 10.7. “Mapping each unique customer journey allows us to understand what is and isn’t working well when ex- ecuting omnichannel campaigns,” says Carrie Mandel- baum, senior vice president, digital communications,
32 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
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