The New York Times published an article about how surfing the Internet boosts aging brains in its October 16, 2008, edition.

In that article, Dr. Gary Small, director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center said that “a simple everyday task like searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older.”

When we visit a senior living community and introduce LINK, our online community product, many depositors and residents are familiar with the web, but quite a few are hungry for Internet training. Even if seniors consider themselves to be savvy users, they have questions on how to do certain things or want ideas on where they can find specific information and/or tools on the web.

If you aren’t already, consider offering weekly Internet sessions as part of the established activity calendar at your senior living community. Feature new topics on a weekly basis like how to upload photos, where to find the best travel web sites, expose them to social networking and more! Check with your local university to see if there is a student who might want to volunteer to lead these classes or reach out to an Internet savvy resident or employee to lead these courses. You don’t have to be a technical guru to provide learning and sharing via the Web.

How many of you are currently offering Internet courses for your residents? If not, are any of your residents engaging in Internet courses at local universities? 

The latest issue of GlynnDevins’ News You Can Use was released today. The issue focuses entirely on the economic crisis. There are articles on the consumer reaction to the crisis, as well as response strategies and messaging tips for senior living communities attempting to navigate these troubled times.

Get more senior living insights by reading News You Can Use.

A tough economic climate has forced retirement communities to retool how they generate leads and inquiries and of course, find the necessary sales to fill vacancies throughout their community. The focus should certainly be on furthering the relationship between the sales staff and the consumer, and advertising can help with that.

Using an ad agency in partnership with your sales staff creates a synergetic team that can generate the necessary sales to keep a community moving in tough times. To generate sales, you must first and foremost strive to develop personal relationships with the consumer; and for that, greater interaction is needed. You must give the consumer a compelling reason to join your “club”, per say. By relying on your ad agency to provide information and support for your brand and position, you can build a sense of community and trust. And once you’ve gotten the buy-off from leads to join your group, it’s easier to talk them through any tough decisions they might make, including excuses for not wanting to move to a retirement community right now.

Another way to develop stronger relationships is through great customer service — and that doesn’t cost an extra dime to provide. Examples include Nordstrom or the Four Seasons Hotels – just doing simple, little things goes a long way to create a unique experience.

While times are tough, you can still create distinctive consumer experiences that help generate sales — but you don’t have to do it alone. Rely on your ad agency and the sound principles of customer service to guide you through.

It’s not news that the country is aging, but the fact that the average U.S. head of household is just six months this side of 50-years-old is pretty startling, according to AdAge.com.

And then factor in these changes:

• regional demographics are diverging more than ever before;
• the West is young and multicultural;
• the mostly white Northeast is old and many communities are nearly childless; and,
• a rapid and economically vital flux of immigrants.

As the U.S. ages, it is more common than ever for older people to live in places where there are few or no children.

In many New England towns only one in five households has any children. (National average is one in three.) The six New England states are among the 10 oldest states by median age – leading the nation with an aging consumer base.

By contrast, the Western region has: 19 percent non-Hispanics; 42 percent of all Hispanics; 46 percent of all Asians; and, 24 percent of the nation’s children.

Two key variables driving states and regions apart as consumer markets are interstate migration and immigration. The latest population estimates from the Census Bureau show the arrival of eight million immigrants in the period between 2000 and 2007. Two-thirds went to the South or West.

Most people who move are young, and they either bring their children with them or have children later. The long-term effect is to make some states or regions older and others younger consumer markets.

Social media isn’t slowing down, and more and more seniors are engaging in social networks. What are you doing to involve your community with relevant social networks? Are you using this form of communication at all? If not, it might be time to set up a LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Flickr account. Or, go start a blog for your community. Are your residents (or future residents) on Eons? How could YouTube benefit your community? The best way to understand social media is to dive right in. 

I know, I know, you don’t have the time. Perhaps you could carve out a small window of time as a way to understand the incredibly valuable technologies currently available online. The impact of social networks on the web is amazing. The best part: it doesn’t cost you anything to participate, only your time. Don’t take it just from me, see what Gary Vaynerchuk, a living example of the huge business success social media can bring, has to say.

So take five minutes and get your basic profile set up. I’m sure your children will be happy to see you on Facebook.

And let me know if you get signed up so we can connect!

Six weeks ago I blogged how uncertain times call for straight talk with our prospects, that we needed to get back to core messages and to honestly addressing real issues facing seniors. Honesty leads to trust and trust to relationships, and it is relationships with our senior living prospects that net us sales.

Well, who knew the last six weeks would take us into economic times no one could have predicted. If seniors were understandably hesitant to make any decisions because of the slumping real estate market, you have to believe the stock market slide, bank failures and credit crunch have them ignoring our direct mail, not accepting our seminar invitations and refusing to take our calls. Why would they, everything suggests it is time to wait and see.

But here is the good news, that isn’t happening. At least not to the level you might expect. Life goes on for all of us including our prospects. We are still seeing strong interest in the product. Prospects are attending seminars, calling communities and checking out web sites. It is admittedly harder to get them to sit down for a serious sales appointment and “getting the check” is even harder given the damage to most everyone’s portfolio. But they want to talk and that is a big first step. When any of us are uncertain we look for information and assurance from others. We want to know what other people know and what they think. This is the short-term opportunity for senior living communities.

Be a resource. Don’t try to make the sale with every contact. Focus on building the relationship because that is a realistic goal. Use this opportunity to bond with leads and create new relationships. Acknowledge fears and educate prospects on the benefits of senior living communities. Share how current residents are somewhat insulated from the chaos because they had already made the move.

People want to talk and they are open to hearing from knowledgeable individuals. When things settle down and we find our new economic reality, whether that is three, six or nine months from now, the relationships you build now will become the sales you gain then. As a marketer and sales person in these uncharted times, that is our golden parachute.

For those developing senior living communities who are looking to discover what prospects in their area desire, a new book, by Researcher Margaret Wylde, Right House, Right Place, Right Time outlines the features most desired by Silent and Boomer middle-American households.

She cautions that to make a community a winner, you must also consider the market’s nuances and characteristics.

Her list includes lots of storage, a master suite with a bedroom, bathroom and walk-in closet; guest bedrooms separated from the master suite; built-in microwave, pantry and kitchen island; office space; laundry room on the ground floor; outdoor living space; green features.

Kitchen upgrades most desired include natural stone countertops, cabinets, water filtration, and media centers.

How many times have you been approached about buying a listing in an online senior living / retirement community directory? These digital directories vary in level of sophistication, features and advertiser offerings. It’s hard to sort the good from the bad, but here are two things I consider when evaluating directories.

First – let’s remember the Golden Rule: a worthwhile directory listing is the one that generates good leads. So, regardless of what I say here, if you have a good lead source, keep it!

1. Does the directory listing include a link to your web site? If not – I usually throw it out. For whatever reason, some directories are more concerned with keeping people on their site instead of getting them to your site. They sort of recreate your site within their domain, collect info requests and send a report every month detailing how many leads their directory generated for your community. In my experience, many of those leads are low quality. When properly configured, free analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, can tell you if traffic referred from another web site generates leads, so you don’t need someone else to do that for you.

2. Is it a good resource? Is the directory easy to use? Does it include a good array of senior living options? Would someone looking for senior living communities in your market find the directory useful? Search “retirement communities” or “senior living” in your market and see which directories show up first. Usually it’s the ones with the most substance. You can bet those are likely sites your prospects visit. Then – see #1.

The latest issue of GlynnDevins’ News You Can Use was released today. There are articles on how media planning is expected to change for 2009, as well as techniques to bring digital marketing to your community. Other topics include sales training for senior living and developing media relationships.

Get more senior living insights by reading News You Can Use.

Video is a huge focus on the web right now and seniors are viewing online videos right alongside the rest of the population. In addition, we know that video promotes click-through and engagement, which are two key responses you want users to experience when visiting your web site.

A recent Mediapost’s Insider Video blog post got me thinking about five reasons to consider adding more video to your web site and your digital marketing plan.

1. Content-rich video can add value to a site, including interactivity and extra content to engage customers and prospects. Specifically, online video can be used to bring senior living products and services to life.. It’s easier to tell a story with images and a narrator than to attempt to define only with the written word – especially if you’re introducing complicated service agreements or offerings prospects may not be familiar with.

2. Videos can bring your executives, sponsors and staff members to life, highlighting the excitement and passion shared by these integral community members. This is especially important for senior living communities in which executive directors and staff members contribute to so much of the services offered. Whether it is care or service, communities need to focus on developing personal engagement between prospects and leaders/staff. A 30- to 60-second introduction of your Executive Director, Lifestyles Coordinator, Chef or Health Services Director is much better than a static photo and bio.

3. Senior living communities often tell us that referrals are their best sales generators. Why not use video to highlight testimonials from current residents, excited depositors or adult children? You can even use video to showcase local professional influencers. Not only can you post these to your web site, but you can put video links into customer-focused emails to generate interest in your community and build relationships along the sales cycle. Videos within emails increase conversion and click-through rates for email campaigns.

4. Blue sky communities often have several years to foster a relationship with prospects and depositors. You can incorporate video as soon as a community starts coming to life by walking through the construction areas and talking about the vision for the finished community. Doing this helps to paint a picture before a community is fully established. Hearing the tour guide (hopefully the ED) talk about what’s to come will help those who are waiting for the project to be completed to hang on just a bit longer — it can also entice new prospects to become depositors.

5. Video technology on your web site positions your community as a leader in the senior living category. It also enhances your position as a smart, customer-focused technology provider, something more and more of today’s seniors are looking for when researching their future homes!

Stay tuned for even more digital enhancements, including how you can create your own private media channel, the next step for senior living communities once they’ve embraced adding video to their web sites.