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Earlier this month, Forbes published a rather detailed article about continuing care retirement communities, elaborating on a handful of questions that individuals should ask before buying into a retirement community. Their questions range from financial aspects and community amenities to scheduled transportation and available levels of health care.

It is always good to see what the media is saying about senior living, because articles such as Forbes’ Eight Questions To Ask Before Buying Into A Senior Community shape the perception your prospects have before they reach your doors.

A big idea in senior living marketing is allowing your prospects to experience your community, whether this is through attending events, having a meal, speaking with residents or just viewing the photo galleries on your web site. Communities are about people and how people interact with one another. Not so different from any organization, say for instance, a senior living marketing firm. We thought we would change things up a bit on our blog post just before the holiday weekend and let you experience a little bit of life at GlynnDevins. 

So while we’re still thinking about innovative ways to market senior living communities, we thought we’d recharge the batteries by grilling some burgers, enjoying a few refreshments and crowning a limbo champion.

Have a great holiday weekend.

• Regarding follow-up. Several comments came through about the recent Better Websites posts. (You can read all 3 blog entries here.)

One wise reader comments: When considering what to add to your website, ask yourself, “Am I being helpful or annoying?” As Web-writing questions go, that’s plumb profound.

Another wise reader adds that Web writers should keep copy’s intention pure: “Write the way you think. Breaking rules. Using frags. Doing whatever works in the service of clear communication.” Yup.

Wise Marty, commenting about website content, points out the virtues of patience: “Don’t be so anxious to have your website known until you’ve worked and re-worked the layout and have sufficient content to pique curiosity.” Bingo. Get it right to start with, because big revisions annoy users.

In other news:

• The blimp comeback. A fine, slow way to get around, they’re not just for Goodyear and Snoopy anymore. Powerlifting dirigibles have a bright 21^st century future. Plus, one high tech new design propels a blimp like a trout swimming through the air. The stuff of nightmares: a quiet, stealthy blimp.

• Puffy ties. For the dressed-for-success but tired executive, the inflatable necktie turns into a handy little pillow for napping at will. Clip-on, of course.

• More nuts. Eating nuts lowers cholesterol. It’s true. If you have high cholesterol, a sensible daily nut intake can work wonders. If your cholesterol isn’t high, hit the bacon. Then the nuts.

• Ding, ding. The iconic ice cream truck that rolls through neighborhoods, bell ringing and bomb pops beckoning, has been sensibly updated with cupcakes. They’re selling like, uhh, hotcakes.

And life goes on. So far.

I recently heard a woman express that “wanting to be her daughter again” was the reason she chose my client’s memory care residences for her mother. In this, I also heard a reminder that beyond a sale, a message, a campaign or a budget are real people with real lives looking to our communities for real solutions.

Wanting to be her daughter again meant that she didn’t want to be mom’s caregiver, financial planner, driver or family psychologist. She just wanted to enjoy the time she had left with mom, as her daughter. That was so easy to understand and, more importantly, it was so apparent my client and her organization understood it, and that’s where a creative solution for this community began.

We often counsel our clients that the best marketing communications connect with our audiences on an emotional level. After all, isn’t that how most major decisions are made – decide emotionally and defend rationally? This experience also got me thinking about lessons I’ve learned over the years about making connections:

• I’ve learned that something insignificant can be significant. A dish pattern was the beginning of an entire campaign.

• I’ve learned that putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is invaluable. Read a letter you wrote as if you were receiving it in the mail.

• I’ve learned that you can’t say everything in one ad. The most effective ads are about one clear benefit.

• I’ve learned that telling a story works. Testimonials don’t feel forced, and they don’t sound like marketing speak.

• I’ve learned that sometimes a BIG idea is needed. A failing CCRC brought an interesting speaker and hundreds of new leads to the community.

• I’ve learned that the most successful results typically happen when a client truly spends the time to communicate the wants, needs and desires of their audience. And when we ask questions and listen to the answers.

So, when you’re wondering how to connect with your audience in a very meaningful way, keep your ears and eyes open, because your residents, future residents or their families will tell you how your community connected with them. Then let’s talk.

The 3-Step Guide to Rescuing Websites from Insignificance: Step 3.

It’s the last step of the “3-Step Guide to Rescuing Your Website from Insignificance.” You’ve already written your website like you don’t think anybody will read it, and laid it out like you’re organizing for a busload of curious, self-directed tourists. So your next step is to …

3. Never finish.

Update forever. For a retirement community, fresh content is as important as fresh produce at a farmer’s market. While service descriptions — independent living, skilled nursing, Life Care, etc. — hardly need to be refreshed, unless the offered services are changed, an inert website for an active community isn’t representative.

Tap the energy of your community’s people, stories and events. Add photo galleries, blogs, user comments and a community calendar. Publish a recipe, green tip or resident profile of the week. Include RSS feeds for news articles about senior health, nutrition and lifestyles. Post information about area events — plays, music, lectures and special events in your city. Your website, in short, can create your entire brand, exposing users to more facets of your community than any other medium.

Users will scan your service descriptions in their quests for answers to their questions. But they’ll notice the rest and collect additional information about what kind of people live in your community, and what kind of experts you are in matters relating to healthy senior lifestyles.

Content fact: Users are lazy — and that’s a good thing. Because once you’ve written and laid out your website with highly usable information, users will prefer returning to your site instead of picking through a host of other sites that are poorly written and organized.

Don’t forget: You want leads and your website wants to help. Keep clear and present the buttons that link users to you — email, phone or USPS contact from you.

Nag: Think hard before making major overhauls to your layout. Users will adapt to your changes, but they’ll be annoyed. After all, nobody likes change. Better to get it right the first time.