In the midst of a global pandemic, senior living providers are struggling to maintain lead generation despite diminished demand. Move-outs have increased, tours and move-ins have declined and sales and marketing conversion rates are down across the entire industry. Occupancy is at its lowest level since the National Investment Center began keeping records in 2006. It seems nobody is exempt from the impact of COVID-19.
According to Google Trends data, searches for terms such as “senior living” were at a three-year high in February 2020 only to drop to a three-year low in April of 2020. According to the latest data from Enquire and Sherpa Covid reports, the assisted living sales cycle length from inquiry to move-in has grown to 145 days! All signals point to a tendency to “wait and see” what happens with the vaccine.
In the meantime, marketing and sales must work harder to shorten the longer buyers’ journey while keeping the pipeline full. While the numbers may look bleak, there are some high-impact actionable strategies you can use NOW to boost digital lead generation.
Instant Impact Digital Marketing Strategies
- Since the sales cycle is longer, operators would be well advised to put the technology in place to support marketing automation for lead nurturing.
- Integrate marketing automation tools like HubSpot into your marketing technology stack to support lead nurturing campaigns throughout the increased sales cycle.
- Since all foot traffic has shifted online, it is a good time to inventory which tools and channels are driving the highest ROI for your community and fine-tune digital strategies.
- Focus on developing content that can influence or speed up the decision process such as video testimonials from current residents.
- Since prospects have a greater concern for safety, messaging should be modified to be more mindful of the new climate and fear-based sales obstacles, i.e. shift to education and safety topics.
- Since the website has become the hub of all decision making in the senior living customer journey, senior living operators should reallocate marketing budget to enhancing website performance.
- Ensure your website is optimized for conversions and speed in preparation for Google’s planned Core Web Vitals Update in 2021, which will place more emphasis on page experience.
- Continue to optimize content for Google’s Medic update, which favors E.A.T (Expertise, Authority and Trust) in content and website structure and organization.
- Build and incorporate lead capture forms, offers and calls to action on the website, i.e. virtual tour requests, to ensure prospect contact information is captured at every possible touchpoint in the customer journey.
- Build new landing pages for increased pay-per-click ad performance and update ads with keywords that have greater relevance to the new consumer mindset which placed the emphasis squarely on safety.
To learn how to maintain lead generation and website performance during the pandemic, contact Matura Marketing.