SENIOR LIVING EXPERTS. BUILDING CONNECTIONS.
SENIOR LIVING EXPERTS. BUILDING CONNECTIONS.
SENIOR LIVING EXPERTS. At a recent presentation on digital marketing, Solutions Advisors Group was asked, “how much should you spend on digital marketing?” The answer is, “it depends.” Just as each community and each market is different, your marketing budget should be unique, too. We wanted to share some thoughts and tips to help you design a budget that aligns with your needs and goals.
Most direct marketing budgets are made up of line items – or ‘buckets’- such as advertising, direct mail, events, website, etc. One way to gauge your future spending is to look back at the previous year’s budget and outcomes from each bucket. When conducting sales and marketing assessments, we often find large expenditures for traditional marketing tactics, i.e., print or broadcast, yet an analysis of lead sources shows scant results in the number of leads or move-ins generated. If your goal for the upcoming year is lead generation, nurturing or reengagement, consider re-allocating a portion of your media budget to direct mail or digital marketing.
It may seem counterintuitive, but lead generation is not always the end goal. While some marketing firms think you can never have too many leads, Solutions Advisors Group believes the opposite can be true. A peek into several community CRMs shows us that too many leads often results in delayed response times, overdue activities, a lack of thoughtful follow up and an overabundance of lost leads. Generating too many leads fosters a frenetic pace and a lack of focus on those ‘mature’ prospects who need nurturing and also have the highest chance of converting to a move-in.
While multi-channel marketing is best practice, we often recommend marketing budgets that are leaner on the traditional marketing side and heavier on the digital side. While markets are different, Solutions Advisors suggests a digital marketing budget may be nearly twice that of your traditional media spending.
But digital marketing has its own set of ‘buckets’- or channels – and how much to allocate for each digital channel is another challenge. Donna Langer, Solutions Advisors Group Vice President of Digital Operations, says the key to getting the most value from your website is to track and measure traffic to your website from each digital channel, e.g., organic, direct, paid, referral, etc. If those terms are unfamiliar to you, consider retaining a digital marketing consultant to track your site’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) showing the top converting channels and level of visitor engagement. For example, if your website’s organic search is strong, meaning visitors are finding you through search engines, perhaps you can spend less on paid search (PPC) and reallocate those dollars for social media strategies. Knowing your KPI’s will allow you to identify the most impactful strategies that bring traffic to your website and budget accordingly. Understand, however, that the process is fluid: the ever-changing digital landscape makes it imperative to keep current with trends.
To learn more about the importance of digital marketing, contact Solutions Advisors Group at 866-342-2267 to learn how a digital marketing review could improve your website’s performance.
Interested in partnering with the expert in senior living sales and marketing? Request a no-cost consultation with Solutions Advisors Group today.