2. • Introduction to ABCS & NSW Business Chamber
• Who are your Customers?
• Are you on Google? (SEO & SEM)
• The place of Social Media
• What message are you sending?
• Time Saving Tips
• The Customer Experience
Session Overview
5. About me
Samantha follows the principles of integrated marketing; combining
offline and online strategies to garner the best results.
Her experience spans across the retail, telco, member services and legal
industries.
She has a passion for copy writing and enjoys working and her strength
lies in her attention to detail and efficiency.
sasinger
6. Why are you here?
• Providers cannot afford to be invisible.
Effective marketing for aged care providers is
essential.
• Great relationships and effective communication
will always be paramount.
• Who are you talking to?
7. Define Your Customer
• It’s about finding what makes this person tick over.
• What their research habits are.
• What their pain points and objectives are.
9. Where do we research?
Has the internet has changed the way you do things?
12. SEO and SEM
• Understand the key search terms people are using
• Generate content around those terms and ideas
• Ensure your website is clean
• No broken links
• Alt Image tags in place
• Meta Descriptions in place
• Headings, Site Maps, UX
13. SEO
• Great User Experience
• Multi-Device Ready
• Great, unique content
• Freshly updated content
• Backlinks
• Social Sharing Options
• Keywords are in your content, URLs and headers
14. SEM
• Which search terms are relevant?
• Which terms are irrelevant?
• Which areas do you want to target?
• Is your key messaging right?
• Is your landing page working for you?
• Are your ads well written?
15. Social Media
• Targeting and influencing browsers in their natural
space
• Facebook:
• Share photos & updates
• Give potential customers an insight
• Engage with existing customers
• Validate customer decisions
18. Social vs Website
• Your website establishes you as a reputable business and
provides information about your services.
• Traditional marketing has been a one-way conversation – you
telling consumers why your service is the best.
• Social media has changed the dynamic and put the power in
the hands of consumer; they drive discussions and you can
create a place for them to do so.
19. Your website
• Blog: Showcase that you know your area of field or
expertise;
• You are a thought leader.
• You should be trusted.
• Contact Information;
• Phone, Email, Form, Physical Location.
• USPs;
• What makes you unique?
• What makes you the provider of choice?
32. Facebook
• For all difference audiences
• Video, Pictures, Links
• Create a company page
• See which content is
most liked
• Learn about your audience
• Participate in Groups
• Advertise
33. An eye inside
A lot of people are time poor but they want to be able
to pop in to see what’s going on in the lives of their
loved one, see how staff are taking care of them. One
interesting way to solve that issue is to create a virtual
community, and take what’s happening in the physical
environment and put that online.
Matthew Lee, Aged & Community Services National Summit 2016
34. • Niche groups
• Share links, photos and
short messages
• Check your competition
• Follow trends
• See what your audience
is talking about
Twitter
35. • For people who like
visual communication
• Post photos
• Engage with others
• Recruit influencers
Instagram
37. LinkedIn
• LinkedIn is an online directory of professionals and
companies.
• For networking, job searching, hiring, company
research, and connecting with affiliates and
business related groups.
• Establish yourself as a thought leader
40. Where do you sit in the market?
• Who is coming to you and why?
• Where are they coming from?
• What do they want?
• What can they afford?
• What are your relative strengths?
• Who is influencing their decisions?
• What other factors are at play?
Identifying your market position is essential.
41. 80/20 Rule
• You should only be “selling” 20% of the time.
• Think about what content you can provide that will
enrich lives, entertain, inform and/or educate.
• Ideally, content that is shareable.
• So what can you post?
43. Your Channels & Your Content
• Label 1 -3 in your top three choices of Social Media
Platforms you’d like to use
• Then next to your 3 choices, bullet point 3 content
ideas in each
52. Review your Marketing
Annually review your marketing spend and the
effectiveness of your communication strategy
don’t simply respond to the latest offer and don’t
keep doing something if you get no benefit.
53. “Free” Opportunities
Great sources of referral are:
• Hospitals
• Word of mouth
• ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team)
• Residents and families – past and present
• General practitioners
• Websites and publications (also included in hospitals)
• Local community e.g. volunteers, ethnic organisations, churches
• Placement agencies
• Other aged care programs
Focus on stakeholder engagement
54. Marketing Strategy
Content Creation
Website Updates
Social Media Marketing
Stakeholder Relationships
Job done? …….. …….. Not Quite
55. The Customer Experience
The telephone experience
who is making that call and when should they ring?
Consider how incoming calls are managed when your
key people are not available to take these calls.
56. The Customer Experience
The tour
ensure the facility is presented in its best light, that the
tour is tailored to the customer needs and not a set
process.
57. The Customer Experience
Day of admission
Who will be available for the first few days to make
sure they are settled?
Who can family contact if they are worried?
Do you give a small welcome gift on the bed, a posy of
flowers from the garden or some lovely cakes and a
cuppa for everyone on the day?
62. BONUS 2: VR in Aged Care
For many dementia patients, virtual reality technology
can and is starting to offer a real-world escape into a
new world of possibility.
A world where the patient's limitations can be
forgotten and their horizons broadened through the
astounding visual effects of virtual reality goggles.
63. VR for Aged Care Practitioners
Ben Gatehouse from Southern Cross Care Victoria talks
about how aged care staff have the potential to be
assisted by the use of virtual reality goggles;
"It is terrific if our staff can have a very broad-based
approach to managing complex behaviours before going
to the use of medications,"
64. BONUS 3:
PARO Therapeutic Robot
• Combining the documented benefits of animal
therapy with an environment of care.
• Developed in Japan to respond to touch, light, sound,
temperature and positioning.
• Improves relaxation and motivation, socialisation of
patients with each other, and with caregivers.
ABCS is part of ABSG – commercial division of the NSW Business Chamber
Our marketing services include: developing marketing strategies, building websites, branding & creative design, and outsourced marketing & campaign management
Independent, not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to helping businesses across the state
Mantra: “making Australia better through helping the private sector to flourish”
2nd oldest company in Australia (after Westpac) – over 190 years old
2nd largest privately owned business chamber in the world
20,000+ members
400+ events per year
Providers cannot afford to be invisible, making effective marketing for aged care providers essential.
While there are an abundance of rules and regulations and a lot of changes under the new reforms, some things never change, and that is great relationships and effective communication.
So the first thing to understand, and perhaps the most important thing to define – is who are you talking to? Who is your customer? By defining this, you can ensure you’re speaking to them in the right language and you’re using the right platforms to target them.
Take a few moments now and turn to Page X of your notes.
We’ve got a bit of an exercise that will allow you to frame a particular customer segment you want to target.
By filling this out as best as possible, it will help us to choose the right marketing channels, the right messages and the right services to market to this particular type of customer.
Map out everything you know about your target audiences – their demographics, their likes, their pain points
You might have several target audiences, but start with focussing on 1 or 2 until you have the time and resources to focus on more
Give your target audience a name – it will help you to relate to that persona
Having an in-depth understanding of your customers will help you plan your marketing strategy – which products or services to focus on, colours to use, tone of voice, the platforms to focus on to reach these individuals
So now that we think we have a good idea of a target customer, let’s start to think about where can possibly market to them.
Q: if you wanted to find out information about an Aged Care provider for your parent or a school for your child even, what steps would you take??
We need to acknowledge that the internet is now the first place loved ones search when looking for a provider – generally that’s Google we use as a starting point. However, with over 1.8 billion people currently active on social media, it’s a communication channel aged care providers must start leveraging as well.
So if we start where most people start and do a google search, what comes up;
Do you?
As we can see, the first 4 entries are Ads – that’s Google Adwords advertising, a form of Search Engine Marketing and I’ll show you how you can appear there shortly.
But If we ignore the ads for a moment, and do a bit of a scroll, what comes up then?
Is it you?
These are the organic results – the unpaid Google results that Google most highly favours. Getting your website to list here is a matter of SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
Essentially, Google Adwords.
This is the paid side of search and the part that enables your listing to come up the top of Google.
When we actively search for something, Google is still our first go-to. However, when we’re browsing and susceptible to influence, we’re most likely on Social Media.
As a result, providers who create a Facebook account for their organisation are at a huge advantage. Facebook is perhaps the most important social media channel for aged care providers, and is an excellent way to begin your transition to the digital world if you haven’t yet.
People are using social media to get information and to help validate their decisions
Creating a Facebook page for your business allows you to share photos and company updates.
For residential providers, this could include sharing photos from a recent activity or posting information about an upcoming excursion. For home care providers, this may include news on upcoming staff training or posting promotional material. By promoting this information, prospective care recipients and their families are able to get an insight into your organisation and whether it will be the right fit for their family.
For care recipient families already using your services, being able to actively engage with your organisation online can provide real comfort that their loved one is in good hands. Sharing happy photos of activities involving care recipients is especially effective for this, as it helps create a more personal interaction for users.
It’s important that aged care providers encourage staff to connect with company social media accounts, and Facebook is no different. This can help build a sense of comradery throughout the organisation, and can be an effective way to let families know their staff are engaged and supportive.
Your website establishes you as a reputable business and provides information about your services.
Consumers have a level of distrust towards corporate websites and question their authenticity.
Traditional marketing has been a one-way conversation – you telling consumers why your service is best.
Social media has changed the dynamic and put the power in the hands of consumer; they drive discussions and you can create a place for them to do so
This is a website banner that appears on the home page on rotation. It showcases the USP, some great selling points and effective imagery.
Another great way to build leads and present yourself as industry leaders is to create helpful content and share it through a gated form
This means that in exchange for invaluable database contact details, they get your amazing ebook!
Promoting educational material on YouTube, starting discussions on Facebook or in LinkedIn Groups, or broadcasting non-urgent messaging and communications on Twitter can all help to engage and develop relationships with families and their loved ones who are receiving care.
Social media is just that, being social.
It’s less about pushing out information and more about engaging with the people on the other end.
This is your chance to communicate, to form relationships and to build rapport with customers and potential customers.
It’s also a chance to build your brand – to get your name out there and have it more widely recognised.
Again, we’re looking at boosting you up the Google Listings and Social media is great for this.
Whilst we’ve touched on facebook a little, there’s a few more things you can do on this platform
Creating a Twitter account is a great way to demonstrate that your organisation is a thought leader in the industry, as it is the perfect place to learn and share industry news. A Twitter feed is full of continuously updated Tweets, meaning the more aged care sector Twitter profiles you follow, the more resources and information you will have access to.
Like the other social media platforms listed, Twitter is an excellent way to engage with the general public, with followers able to ask questions and make comments on your page. This can promote great dialogue with the families of people under your care, and can create an efficient and simple way to answer questions from prospective and current care recipient families.
Having an active social media presence also highlights that your organisation has the staff resources to invest in digital communications, differentiating your business from that of your competitors. Like all social media channels, having an online presence on Twitter creates an additional, free promotional source that users can access at the click of a button.
Designed to help professionals and businesses connect, you can create an organisation page on LinkedIn to promote internal jobs and connect with prospective and current staff. LinkedIn can also be used to share updates, which could be about the organisation itself or a relevant external communication, such as an article on aged care trends. Because it’s got a professional and recruitment focus, LinkedIn is not the right platform to share photos of care recipients. As a result, if you don’t have bandwidth to manage multiple platforms, you might want to stick with Facebook at the moment. However, if you do have the bandwidth, there’s a lot of opportunity for aged care on LinkedIn.
Video is king at the moment and Youtube, owned by Google is the best place to put it
- SEO
Subtitles
Share on Facebook
We’ve covered the where. But what are you saying?
Once you’ve selected the channels you want to use, it’s a matter of crafting the right messages and the right mix of content
This comes back to looking at your customer personas and understanding their needs – and how you can both highlight and address these needs.
Exercise 2
You want to generate more traffic, build your leads converse better with your customers and potential customers
To do all of that, and do it well, you need to invest in marketing or time on your website and on your activities.
There are a few time saving techniques I can show you though
Remember this example facebook content post?
Well, it was actually a blog post first and they repurposed it for social media!
There’s no reason you can’t do the same
Who’s currently sending newsletters?
What are you currently using?
What are they for?
Are you scheduling them?
The other thing to look is the free channels of marketing; look at your stakeholder relationships and which ones you can better leverage.
Who can you do cross promotions with?
Once you’ve got your marketing in place and you’re tweaking it as you go, your next focus point is your incoming leads and your existing customers.
Look at how you treat them, the experience you give them, how you surprise and delight them.
The happiest clients will become your biggest advocates
Once you’ve got your marketing in place and you’re tweaking it as you go, your next focus point is your incoming leads and your existing customers.
Look at how you treat them, the experience you give them, how you surprise and delight them.
The happiest clients will become your biggest advocates
By taking the time to make a difference you’ll see results as your most powerful marketing tool is free and right under your nose – it’s you, your staff, your clients and their families.
Once you’ve got your marketing in place and you’re tweaking it as you go, your next focus point is your incoming leads and your existing customers.
Look at how you treat them, the experience you give them, how you surprise and delight them.
The happiest clients will become your biggest advocates
By taking the time to make a difference you’ll see results as your most powerful marketing tool is free and right under your nose – it’s you, your staff, your clients and their families.
Surprise and delight exercise – name three times of year you can surprise and delight existing customers and what you can do at each time.
Tapestry is a website and an app that combines a very simple tablet application with the online service to help seniors stay connected to their families and the communities in which they live.
With Tapestry the user can receive photos shared by children or send them messages.
These capabilities are paired with a super user-friendly iPad or Android tablet app, designed for anyone who doesn't want to constantly keep up with changing technology. The Tapestry app adds a range of other features designed to keep the elderly user connected, in a simple interface
It also has a “med reminder” function
At Mercy Health Care in Shepparton, Roy was one of the more isolated residents; he was often confused, tended to sleep a lot, and often became agitated in the evenings.
But since Roy has been participating in a virtual reality lifestyle program at Mercy Health Shepparton, the aged care facility where he lives, staff report that his agitation levels have decreased and his engagement with others has improved.
As an email from his daughter to the facility’s management attests: “… I noticed quite a difference; he was out in one of the lounge rooms singing, he also spoke to me and seemed more engaged and he was asking questions. We even had a few laughs and he appeared to be much happier than previous visits. As far as I can see the program is already making a difference.”
Karren Gooding
Karren Gooding, Mercy Health’s lifestyle manager, says that from the first time Roy participated in the virtual reality experience, staff noticed an improvement in his behaviour.
“Due to his dementia, he tends to shake a lot, and his shaking actually stopped while he was completely immersed in the program,” she tells Australian Ageing Agenda.
PARO is an interactive robotic seal. This cuddly and responsive robot provides undemanding interactions and can deliver outcomes similar to animal-assisted therapy.
developed in Japan, it responds to touch, light, sound, temperature and positioning.
So the sensors it has perceives individual interactions, and its environment.
It can process voice recognition and imitate animal behaviour, enabling PARO to develop its own character. PARO responds to sound and can even learn common words over time, such as its chosen name.
PARO has been shown to have a positive psychological effect on people living with dementia, improving their relaxation and motivation, as well as the socialisation of patients with each other, and with caregivers.