If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that marketing strategies and tools will always evolve in the senior living field. With more than 25 years of marketing experience, I’ve also learned there’s no universal formula for reaching your goals or finding success. For most teams, their wins depend on navigating changes in the field and building connections with people.
One of the most important steps that teams can take nowadays is to create an integrated multi-channel marketing strategy. By using a variety of communication channels to share information, Life Plan Communities can create consistent and engaging experiences for prospects, residents and families. In the coming years, adopting an integrated marketing approach will become the key between standing out in a crowded marketplace or getting lost in it.
Watch the webinar recording to learn more about the value of Integrated Marketing strategies.
In our November 20, 2024 webinar, Love & Company President/CEO Rob Love, Senior Vice President Integrated Marketing Strategy Joe Ford, Strategic Sales Advisor Ryan Knisely, Content Marketing Strategist Lexi McDaniel and Website & Interactive Director Michael Guill discuss cracking the code on age-old issues – through integrated, strategic marketing in our webinar, “Integrated Marketing in the Digital Age.” Watch the webinar here.
What Is Integrated Multi-Channel Marketing?
Integrated multi-channel marketing might sound complicated, but it’s actually a simple and effective marketing strategy that uses multiple communication outlets—like social media, emails, text messages and events—to share consistent messages with people.
In general, it’s helpful to know that a communication channel is any medium used to share information. Channels vary, so it’s also important to know what your audience prefers:
- Verbal. Face-to-face conversations, in-person meetings or phone calls
- Written. Emails, letters, newsletters, flyers, text messages or reports
- Digital. Social media, online forums, video calls or chat applications
Integrated multi-channel marketing uses a strategic mix of communication channels and technologies to deliver the right information at the right time throughout a customer’s journey. A customer journey is essentially the path a customer takes from becoming aware of a brand to making a purchase and beyond. The goal of an integrated marketing approach is to provide consistent messaging across all channels to help prospects recognize and connect with your brand more easily. Some examples of common channels include:
Online channels
- Social media
- Email campaigns
- Websites
- Videos
- Blogs
Offline channels
- Print ads
- Direct mail
- In-person and Zoom interactions
- Events and webinars
- Call outs
6 Key Benefits of Using a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
In my personal experience, I’ve noticed that many Life Plan Communities still rely heavily on a few preferred methods of communication, like phone calls, which limit their engagement through other popular channels like email, text and social media. Once your team begins to expand your messaging across platforms, you’ll notice benefits:
- Increase in engagement. An integrated multi-channel approach prevents siloed communication and gives people the chance to interact with your content more.
- Better quality of leads. This strategy helps you clearly identify and target your audience, as well as messaging for each channel.
- Opportunities for emotional connections. Using different channels can help you reach more people and tell your story in ways that are unique to the channel. It also creates opportunities for more people to emotionally connect with your content.
- Better brand recognition. Sharing cohesive messages across multiple channels can help you build stronger connections and keep your brand top of mind. When people are familiar with your community, they may trust you more and recommend your services to people they know.
- Reach more people. When you integrate multiple communication channels, you maximize your exposure and broaden your outreach efforts.
- Access new data. Using more platforms means getting more data, which also means you’ll have access to valuable insights about your audience, such as age, location, gender and information on how and what type of content they prefer.
Love & Company’s Success Story
In one of our most successful campaigns for St. James Place, our multi-channel marketing campaign aimed to dispel the misconceptions about the affordability of the community.
We came up with the campaign, “You don’t have to be a millionaire to live at St. James Place.” Our creative team put together a series of marketing materials and advertisements, which were shared through many popular communication channels like print, radio and TV.
St. James Place used a multi-channel approach and invested in direct mail, events and digital advertising to increase visibility and engagement. This strategy ultimately drew interest from potential prospects and led to a significant rise in leads—St. James Place saw a 57% increase in leads while visits to its website increased by 240%.
The Future of Marketing for Senior Living
Communities that prioritize integrated multi-channel marketing will have an edge over their competition in the coming years. In a world flooded with messages, it’s never been more important to stand out, keep your messaging consistent and know your audience.
When your community prioritizes different channels in your campaigns like direct mail, e-newsletters and sales call-out messaging to communicate, you make it easier for people to recognize and trust your brand. At Love & Company, we’re all about helping communities share their information in different ways that deeply resonate with their audience.
If you still have questions about the best channels to use, how to communicate with prospects or residents, or marketing for senior living in general, we’d love to chat! Reach out to Tim Bracken, our vice president of client relations, at 301-663-1239. Never forget: Your community’s messages and stories matter, and they deserve to be heard and shared.
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