Retirement communities have soared in popularity as Baby Boomers are transitioning to their retirement years. With a high number of retirees moving on to the next phase of their lives, the competition for housing has never been greater. The retirement community marketing strategies you have used in the past likely aren’t good enough to keep up with the competition today. Not only do you have to sell a senior citizen on your community, but you also most likely have to sell their adult children. The good news is refreshing your retirement community marketing is possible and here are some effective tips to help.

Optimize Your Website For Mobile Use

Seniors have embraced mobile devices over the last several years to the point where many of them don’t have desktop computers anymore. So if your website is optimized only for desktop viewing, you could be missing out on new residents. A user-friendly website is essential for retirement communities and it needs to be easy to read on a variety of devices.

Mix In Images From Current Residents

Images can tell a story and provide the context prospective residents need to decide whether your community is right for them. The top senior living marketing consultants suggest displaying real-life images of current residents in your community rather than stock photos. You can even incorporate video content that includes interviews with residents or simply shows how people in the community interact with one another. People relate to images more than text, so include a good mix of images on your website to grab a website visitor’s attention.

Provide Insightful Information On Your Blog

Your blog content should tie into your entire retirement community marketing strategy. Some posts should focus on how to find the best retirement community to live in. Others might focus on specific amenities you offer at your community. A good mix of insightful information posted regularly can help people decide whether your facility is right for them. Most people don’t make an immediate decision, so the more your retirement community is at the top of their minds, the better the chances are of them choosing it.

Choose Your Paid Advertising Wisely

A major part of senior care marketing is paid advertising. This allows you to target your audience and optimize keywords to generate more traffic to your website. You can direct users to specific landing pages based on their search rather than to just your homepage. Depending on the type of paid advertising strategy you choose, you could see a positive return on investment in a short amount of time.

Be Transparent About The Lifestyle At Your Community

Seniors and their adult children will be able to see right through you if you aren’t transparent enough. You can’t even give them an inclination that you might be hiding something, so don’t. Answer any questions they have thoroughly and provide them with resources or references to contact if they need further information. If you have a good enough relationship with some of your current residents, ask them to provide some feedback or insight to put on your website. People can research everything about retirement communities, so if you try to hide something, chances are it will be exposed. The more transparent you are, the more comfortable potential residents will feel about living there.

Target The Correct Audience

Targeting your audience is crucial no matter what form of retirement community marketing you choose. It’s a bit tricky since your audience could be seniors themselves, their adult children, or their caretakers. You can create specifically targeted blog posts periodically to give each of them something to think about. But your website content has to be geared toward all of them to an extent. It takes a certain level of skill and knowledge on how to target the correct audience that’s often best suited for digital marketing professionals.

Share Virtual Tours

A great way to provide insight into your retirement community is to share virtual tours on your website. People are tired of visiting a showroom that looks too good to be true because it usually is. Instead, provide a virtual tour of an actual room that is available to rent. This allows people to visualize their belongings in the room and how they can make it their own. 

Be Willing To Answer All Questions

The willingness to answer all questions comes back to the transparency aspect. It’s so important that it’s worth revisiting. If you don’t know the answer to a specific question, then find it for them. And always provide more information than you think they need rather than being short and sweet. 

Share Your Message On Social Media

Both seniors and their caretakers are active on social media today, so you need to be as well. It’s an important component of senior care marketing. Share your videos, blog posts, and engage with potential residents as much as possible. People want to relate to others on social media and the only way they can relate to you is if you engage with them. 

At iwebcontent, our senior living marketing consultants are ready to freshen up your marketing efforts. There has never been a more competitive era in the retirement community industry. We can implement innovative strategies to help you stay ahead of the curve and always attract new residents. When you’re ready to boost your marketing efforts, contact us to speak with one of our professionals to learn more.