Think about the last time you had to make a major decision in your life. Was it buying a new car? Maybe deciding to help a family member finance their own business or selecting a college for your child. Somewhere in that decision-making process, there was someone who helped influence you in coming up with the final answer. If someone influenced you, I suspect it is because you value their opinion, there is an element of trust and you sense that person has a great deal of credibility.

For older adults, influencers are often the ones who give that first nod of approval about your retirement community. “It’s okay to check it out; I hear wonderful things about that place.” The clout that statement carries can end up going a long way toward helping to fill a community. So, the question becomes: What are you doing to keep those influencers on your side? Do you know who they are? How do you find them and how do you stay in touch?

I think the best place to start is by finding those leaders in the community who are going to be your mouthpiece. Think about members of the clergy, doctors, attorneys, adult children. Give them a tour, show them your community, but don’t pressure for referrals.

Have you ever hosted a chamber mixer at your community? What if you hold a local pastor appreciation luncheon? Bring in a speaker for health care professionals and use it as a way for them to earn continuing education credits. The key is getting these types of professionals in the door.

If they like what they see and learn, they’ll share the word. Imagine a network of people talking up your retirement community. Imagine being a location that seniors are pointed to just because others know it is a great place to live. It can happen. It is a matter of connecting and keeping those influencers informed.  Next time someone is seeking advice about senior living…perhaps that network of influencers will give your community “the nod.” It’s a small world and people do care about what others think.

I’ll admit it. I had over 1,000 emails in my inbox when I started work today. You know, the already opened, scanned, I’ll get back to this, probably should save it and then it gets buried deep below the viewing window kind of emails. I decided today was a good day to dig through those and get down to a respectable number.

Somewhere around the 600th deletion I found an email I’d saved because I thought it would be a good subject for a blog posting. According to an Association of National Advertisers report from earlier this year, 42% of advertisers have set up in-house advertising resources as a strategy to create efficiencies and cut costs. The report indicates these resources are doing everything from creating collateral materials to executing direct mail to buying media to building web sites. 

While perhaps not as formally as setting up an in-house department, senior living communities are following this trend. We’ve seen many communities evaluating the benefit of outside resources against the cost savings generated from handling the same activity internally. But the current trend of bringing activities “in-house” is not what jumped out at me in reading about the report. It was this next line — 61% of those advertisers report that in-house agencies lack strategic thinking depth and approximately 50% said that getting fresh thinking from them is a challenge.

Now, I don’t read this as meaning an outside advertising resource is inherently smarter. What I see is the logical result of not having outside stimulus. I think we’re all smarter when we get the benefit of other perspectives, when we have sounding boards, when we see what the rest of the world is doing. I hope that’s one of the reasons you read this blog, because you are interested in what other people are thinking and saying about senior living marketing. That synergistic effect that happens from partnering with others not burdened with your “internal mindset” is often the missing variable when an organization uses an in-house agency.

I find it interesting that in a marketing environment where good strategic thinking and new ideas are needed to tackle the challenges facing all marketers, a large number of them would embrace a strategy that they admit hinders their ability to gain the very thing they need.

Okay, back to digging through the emails. Perhaps there are a few more posts buried in here somewhere.

We’ve been talking a lot lately about how older adults are more connected to the Internet than ever. With the prevalence of social networking sites and the desire to stay in contact with friends and family, seniors are flocking to social media as a way to accomplish this. LINK, GlynnDevins’ social networking tool for seniors, was recently featured in an article in Aging Well magazine that touched on this growing phenomenon.

To read the entire article, click here.

Learn more about LINK.

Recently, I blogged about whether or not your retirement community was a product or a brand. If you did some research and found out you have a brand, then great. If not, here are some further steps to make sure you’ve put a brand in place.

1. A “brand” requires the customer to be highly involved. After all, you won’t have much luck building a brand in a category nobody cares about. Generally speaking, people aren’t “involved” in laundry detergent. However, some people are highly involved in clean, fresh-smelling clothes. This high involvement doesn’t have to be perpetual, but it does, at least, have to be occasional. Are you selling your community as a place with two bedrooms? Or are you promising a comfortable lifestyle with a plan for the future?

2.  A “brand” is dependable. Customers and prospects depend on it for something. This is its sustainable benefit. It should be a simple concept that is easy to understand, and it should have broad appeal. Not universal, mind you. But broad. This promise or benefit should be simple, preferably can be expressed in one word, and is something the customer can remember and depend on to be true. So what do your residents depend on from you? Is it quality? Or is it security? Whatever your one word is, make sure your residents can consistently depend on you to deliver on your word.

3. A brand has a personality. By that we mean its message makes more sense and is even more resonant when delivered in a way that is consistent with the brand’s promise. In other words, how you say what you say does make a difference. If you sell your community as quality, then make sure your messaging delivers that promise of quality.

4. Brands are consistent. A brand doesn’t change. It’s always there, delivering on its promise. Speaking in a language its customers understand and can identify with. Reinforcing its personality so that customers can all go through life knowing with absolute certainty they can depend on that brand for _______ .  Make sure that whatever you fill in the blank with, you consistently provide to everyone who comes in contact with your community.

How is your community doing? Try following these steps and see if you can turn your community from a product into a brand.

People like to be around positive people. People don’t want to be sold, but they’re happy buyers when they deal with salespeople they like and those who make their days brighter. It’s easy to blame circumstances and situations for a negative outlook. Your big ah-ha moment will come when you realize that your attitude comes from within you, not from any other factor. We make the choice each day to express ourselves with a positive and pleasant attitude, or take a negative look at everything around us. It’s easy during tough times to become negative, but it ultimately leads to poor health, work failures and unsuccessful relationships. In sales, your challenge is to respond consistently in a positive way. The rewards can be enormous.

A positive attitude takes the form of a contagious, upbeat outlook. Salespeople who exhibit this are generally positive, approachable and cooperative. For them, the glass is almost always “half full.” Do they ever get down and have bad days? Sure … they’re human! But they typically bounce back quickly – choosing to be victors rather than victims. Another benefit to having a positive attitude is a can-do spirit. Here, the mentality is: Give me a task and I’m all over it! We can do this. Let’s get to it. Salespeople with this mindset focus on making things work, rather than on lamenting on why they won’t. That’s why these folks are the DOERS of the world. Finally, salespeople of good character display an “attitude of gratitude.” They appreciate the people they know, the things they have and the opportunities they’re afforded … and they SHOW it!

Do these character traits describe you? Remember this: You can have all sorts of marketing strategies and tactics in place, but they won’t mean a thing without a positive, upbeat, can-do attitude.