Marketing Automation 101 for Senior Living Communities
Marketing Automation 101 for Senior Living Communities
So…you’ve been considering marketing automation as part of your community’s digital strategy, eh?Â
Congratulations! That is exciting… and one of our favorite digital marketing strategies is marketing automation for senior living operators.Â
Marketing automation in the senior living industry is becoming increasingly adapted by forward-thinking leaders. Therefore, industry leaders are investing more in building marketing automation for senior living communities across their portfolios.
Families are going online to find quality communities near them. No matter how many leads you are generating with qualified traffic strategies, if you aren’t nurturing those leads, then your community is missing an opportunity.
Marketing automation allows operators to create a system for follow up that keeps your community top of mind. Additionally, it can help to accelerate the sales process for your on-site teams.
Let’s take a look at the basics of Marketing Automation for Senior Living Operators that will help you get started…and keep going successfully.Â
In this marketing automation 101 article, we will discuss:
- Fast Facts to Support Marketing Automation (…in case you aren’t quite convinced)
- What is Marketing Automation?
- Benefits of Marketing Automation
- How to Get Started With Marketing Automation (…7 steps to get you going the right direction)
- Campaign ideas to jumpstart your automation journey
- What to do to prepare your team for Marketing Automation
Remember…if you want to get started with marketing automation or you need support with your current marketing automation platform, Smart Girl Digital offers a variety of SL+ MAP packages to meet your organization’s needs.
We’ve partnered with some of the best platforms in the industry to provide training, consulting, and campaign implementation that generates results and impact occupancy.
Fast Facts to Support Marketing Automation
- The use of marketing automation can lead to an increase in sales productivity of up to 14.5%.
- 76% of operators who use marketing automation see a positive ROI from their investment (according to Hubspot).
- Communities that use marketing automation have seen a 53% higher conversion rate than those that do not.
- Marketing automation can reduce the time spent on marketing tasks by up to 75%, freeing up resources for other activities.
- Communities that use marketing automation see an average of a 10% increase in their overall sales productivity and a 12% reduction in marketing overhead.Â
- Communities that use marketing automation are able to generate 50% more qualified leads at a 33% lower cost per lead.
When surveying marketers about the impact of marketing automation on an organization, a study from Avada indicated:
- Nearly two-thirds of marketers (61%) believe the most important goal of marketing automation is lead generation.Â
- 57% of marketers cited lead nurturing as a priority for marketing automation technology.Â
- 47% of marketers believe sales revenue and sales enablement is the main goal for marketing automation
- Other priorities for the marketers surveyed included: improving customer engagement (36%), marketing productivity (29%), and improving campaign measurability (28%).
Specifically in the senior living industry, sources estimate that only 20%-30% of operators have implemented a full-scale marketing automation platform as part of their sales and marketing strategy.Â
Undoubtedly, the statistics show that marketing automation can improve your entire sales and marketing process. So why wait to get started…
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation refers to the use of software and technology to automate and streamline marketing tasks and processes. This can include email marketing, social media management, lead generation, and more. In the senior living industry, marketing automation can be a powerful tool to help communities reach potential residents and their families, nurture leads, and ultimately drive sales.
Some common uses of marketing automation in the senior living industry include email marketing, social media management, and lead generation.Â
On one hand, lead generation helps communities identify and nurture potential residents, and ultimately convert them into paying customers.
On the other hand, social media management helps communities stay connected with their audience and build relationships.Â
Finally, email marketing allows communities to send personalized and targeted messages to potential residents and their families.Â
For these reasons, a full scale marketing automation strategy combines each type of marketing touchpoint into a specific system that aligns with your communities sales process.
Benefits of Marketing Automation
One key benefit of marketing automation is that it allows senior living communities to personalize their marketing efforts and target specific audience segments.
For example, a community may use marketing automation to send personalized emails to prospective families at key moments during the sales process – initial inquiry, post-tour, and post-move-in. Automating each of these touch points can help increase the effectiveness of the community’s marketing efforts and improve its overall performance.
Another benefit of marketing automation is that it can help senior living communities save time and resources. By automating routine marketing tasks, communities can free up their staff to focus on more important tasks and initiatives. This can help improve productivity and efficiency, and ultimately lead to better results.
Above all, marketing automation can be a powerful tool for senior living communities looking to improve their marketing efforts and drive sales. By automating routine tasks, personalizing marketing efforts, and targeting specific audience segments, communities can increase their reach and effectiveness, and ultimately achieve better results.
How to Get Started with Marketing Automation
First things first…
- Define your goals and objectives: It’s important to define your goals and objectives for using marketing automation. This will help you create a clear plan and strategy for implementing marketing automation, and measure the success of your efforts over time.
- Choose the right marketing automation platform: There are many different marketing automation platforms available, each with its own unique features and capabilities. It’s important to choose the platform that best meets the needs of your senior living community, and that integrates seamlessly with your other marketing and sales tools.
- Integrate your marketing automation with your other systems: Marketing automation should be integrated with your other systems, such as your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, website, and operations software. This will help you create a seamless and cohesive marketing experience for your potential residents and their families.
Now, let’s build it out:Â
- Identify your target audience and create buyer personas: Before getting started with marketing automation, it’s important to identify your target audience and create detailed buyer personas. This will help you understand the needs, interests, and behaviors of your potential residents and their families, and tailor your marketing efforts to their specific preferences and goals.
- Map out your campaign touchpoints: Once you know your target audience, spend time outlining the customer’s journey. What stage in the sales process will this campaign serve? What messaging is going to be helpful for a prospective resident and their family? How many touch points do you need? How frequent? What is considered a conversion for this campaign?
- Begin building your campaign assets: With a clear vision of who your campaign is for and what you want to happen along the customer journey, now you can begin building your campaign assets. Campaign assets include: email copy messaging, graphics, logos, landing pages, and more. Work with your marketing team to craft compelling messaging that encourages your audience to take the next desired action.
- Test, measure, and optimize: Once you’ve implemented marketing automation, it’s important to regularly test, measure, and optimize your efforts. This will help you identify what’s working well and what can be improved, and make adjustments as needed to achieve better results.
Marketing Automation Campaign Ideas for Senior Living Operators
There are many campaign ideas to support your occupancy efforts as a senior living operator.Â
Learn more about our 4 Core Marketing Automation Campaigns here.
Here are a few marketing automation campaign ideas that you can start mapping out for your community today:
- Onboarding Welcome campaign – make new inquiries feel at home right away.
- Post Tour follow-up campaign – keep families engaged after they tour. Follow up with key messages that expand on their tour experience.
- Re-engagement campaign – don’t let leads in your CRM go cold. Re-engage them with a thoughtful and value-filled series of messages that help them through each stage of the decision making process.
Remember…your marketing efforts should align with your sales process. Learn more about Sales & Marketing Alignment.
Preparing Your Team for Marketing Automation
Now that you are ready to get going…don’t forget to update your teams. Marketing automation doesn’t just impact your marketing efforts. For a successful campaign, sales teams must be aligned with the processes.
First, make sure you have the right team resources to support the buildout of your marketing automation campaigns. Identify at least one internal marketing team member to own the process and implementation of your automation strategy.
Next, choose an industry partner who knows and understands how to build effective marketing campaigns for the senior living industry. A partner can help you with building your overall strategy…AND building the campaign assets to craft an effective campaign.Â
(Ask Smart Girl Digital about our SL+ MAP Package options for qualified operators)
Finally, communicate your marketing automation plans with your sales teams. A properly documented marketing automation strategy document can inform your sales teams about what is happening (automatically) beyond their CRM. Plus, this document can make sure your CRM processes are clearly outlined for triggering the right campaign at the right moment in the sales journey.
Time to Get Started
If you have questions or need marketing automation support for your organization, book a Digital Discovery call with Smart Girl Digital. We have industry-leading experts helping senior living operators across the country create and automate campaigns to attract, convert, and retain more residents.
1 Comment
Senior Living Marketing Automation with ActiveDEMAND · 01/27/2023 at 11:04 am
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