As new digital touchpoints increase every year, marketers in the senior industry struggle with the best approach to reach the right audience, with the right content message, at the right time.
This process is often referred to as the customer journey.
The customer journey is the path traveled by a prospect through the sales funnel . From the point of "need awareness," the prospect travels through multiple stages and interactions moving towards your senior care services and beyond.
It represents an individual’s complete experience of being your customer.
Those familiar with Alzheimer's disease understand when you meet a person with dementia, you have only met one individual with dementia. While the disease process may have similarities, each person's experience is unique to them. Similarly, a prospect moving through the decision-making process will take a slightly different route than another. However, all encounter the same primary stages: Awareness, Consideration, Decision and Retention.
Awareness is when a prospect learns about your services but may not know why they may need your services. At this point, the prospect continues to discover the complexity and depth of their pain points and consider possible solutions. Finally, when the prospect approaches the Decision point, they’re ready but may need a final push to move care conversations forward.
How do you assist them through this journey? Enter content marketing.
What is content marketing?
Simply put, content is the new sales pitch. This is how you can build value among your desired audience. In fact, 60% are already at the Consideration stage before contacting your organization.
Top performing content for senior care marketers involves a development and distribution strategy—usually through your website, social media or other digital means. Carefully crafted content will act as an easy-to-follow pathway leading prospects seamlessly through the buyer's journey.
To be successful, an astute marketer will know who their decision maker is and what their tendencies, common fears and objections are.
It’s equally essential to provide keywords that pique their interest, underscore their motivations, and deliver solutions that communicate you:
- Understand their pain points.
- Can provide a clear path appropriately resolving those concerns.
Content marketing is the vehicle that brings this value to the process.
Why is content key to your marketing strategy?
In today’s digital world, you can’t assume you’ll retain a prospect’s attention throughout their decision-making journey, and you may need to boost engagement with family caregivers.
Therefore, the goal is to develop an inbound marketing strategy leveraging straightforward content that compels prospects to learn more about your company and what it has to offer—no matter what stage of the customer journey they're in.
Keep in mind, every business will lose some prospects midway through the process and pick up some just before the Decision phase.
Do you need to use different types of content marketing in your strategy?
When it comes to direct referral sources, a decision-maker or your potential client, one size does not fit all. Content marketing, unlike other options, has the advantage of controlling your message in a manner that’s consistent and cleanly aligns with your organization's messaging.
Content must be appropriate for where your prospect is in the customer journey. An effective marketing strategy answers these questions:
- What topics or needs should be addressed during the Awareness phase?
- What methods of communicating are best during the Consideration process?
- With a heightened understanding of your prospect’s pain points, what message must be reinforced to appropriately support them through the Decision point in the journey?
- Finally, what strategies in the Retention phase reinforce their decision to choose your organization and excite them to tell others about their positive experience with you?
As your company shares tailored knowledge, which underscores its interest in the success of your potential client every step of their journey, you can begin to nurture a lasting relationship built on transparency and trust.
Every individual will come in with their own personal experiences and bias that may affect how they perceive your service. Those who may have been treated poorly by another organization may feel that all providers will treat them the same. However, if they come to sense your organization is trustworthy, they’ll usually be comfortable continuing to work with you through the customer journey.
What type of content is the best for senior care marketers to use?
Senior care marketers can benefit from different content strategies. Some may be more effective than others depending on audience background, goals of the campaign, and the geography of the audience.
Here are eight types of content to consider when developing a holistic approach to your company’s marketing.
Storytelling
Think about the stories you used to hear at bedtime or the stories you hear now from friends and family. Memorable and engaging, right? It's not surprising that major social media platforms have tapped into this very concept. Creating a narrative in the mind of the audience helps them connect their personal experience to your brand and your service options.
Educational content
Many times, new caregivers of an aging loved one are thrust into this role without having full understanding of the journey they're about to embark on. Providing families with educational resources can both help them gain knowledge as well as build your authority in their mind.
Case studies
Hearing the progress made with others helps ease the burden of decision-making and enforces group think. Case studies are more detailed and analytical than storytelling but still convey the message that your team can help with a proven system.
Blog posts
Through careful keyword analysis and informative yet approachable blog content, a company can leverage organic search results for their services and facilities. This can be a unique take on local news and events or a series of posts aimed at your target audience’s interests.
Sponsored print content
Placing content where your audience will most likely encounter it is the key to good marketing. For example, a skilled nursing facility might find it beneficial to sponsor an article about skilled care in the Senior Resource Guide since copies are available at local hospitals and directly provided to social workers, case managers and discharge planners. The effectiveness of this type of content is bolstered when it can generate leads online.
Sponsored online content
While some readers may respond to print, it’s important to also cater to those who prefer to consume content digitally since many families are already online researching options. By having content on another trusted website frequented by prospects, you can build brand awareness and help convert those who may be interested in your services.
Videos
Did you know that the average person is predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online videos? More authority is being given to video content, which is favored by social media algorithms (hello TikTok). Videos are a great way to enhance storytelling or educational content by putting a face or graphics behind your messages. Plus, the retention from watching a video is much greater than casually reading an article or post.
Testimonials/reviews
We all want to see if others agree that a service/product is well-liked especially families wanting quality care for their loved ones. Highlighting the positive reviews while owning up to the negative ones can help earn trust among family caregivers. Encourage satisfied clients to leave a review on your Google or Facebook pages.
Need help getting started?
From Caregiving 101 to Memory/Alzheimer’s/Dementia, the Senior Resource Guide provides a variety of topics in different formats (i.e. checklists, infographics, videos, Ask the Experts) to effectively reach the modern caregiver. Connect with our team to see how we can help you strengthen your content marketing game.