Assisted living marketing: 12 powerful ways to enhance your community’s reach

Assisted living marketing is the key to connecting with families seeking care and differentiating your facility in an emotionally driven market. But what makes your community truly apart? 

It’s not just about brochures or basic listings; it’s about building trust, showcasing the exceptional care and support you provide, and speaking directly to the needs of seniors and their loved ones.

With the right strategy, your facility can attract the right families, grow occupancy, and become the preferred choice in your area.

In fact, the recent data from the NIC MAP Data Service indicates a 1.0 percentage point increase in senior housing occupancy, rising from 81.2% to 82.2% in 2022.

This is a clear sign that demand for assisted living is on the rise, and now is the time to sharpen your marketing efforts and ensure your community stands out.

In this blog, we’ll explore proven strategies to help you increase occupancy and support your sales team in attracting new residents, all while connecting seniors to the care they need and much more.

Before we dive into the details, let’s first understand the basics of assisted living.

What is assisted living marketing?

Assisted living marketing involves a range of strategies used by assisted living communities to attract potential residents and their families. It covers a wide variety of activities, including digital marketing, community outreach, reputation management, SEO, paid ads, and more. 

By focusing on the unique needs of seniors and their caregivers, assisted living facilities can improve their occupancy rates, build trust, and establish strong connections with their audience.

Understanding the bigger picture: Senior living marketing vs. assisted living marketing 

Assisted living marketing falls under the broader category of senior living marketing, which covers other types of senior care communities such as independent living, memory care, and skilled nursing facilities. Each type requires a tailored marketing approach based on the level of care and services provided.

Understanding the target audience for assisted living marketing

The target audience for assisted living is diverse, and the decision-making process often involves multiple people: seniors, their families or adult children, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. 

Here’s how to tailor your approach:

Demographics of the senior living market

a) Seniors 

The primary demographic for assisted living is individuals in their mid-60s and older, often seeking help with daily activities but not needing full-time medical care.

Marketing focus: Independence, safety, and social engagement.

b) Caregivers and family decision-makers

Adult children or other family members often make the final decision about assisted living. 

They are concerned with:

• Quality of care
• Trustworthiness
• Meeting the emotional needs of their loved ones

Marketing focus: Emphasize care quality, trust, and emotional support to reassure families making decisions.

Psychographics and motivations

Understanding the psychographics of your audience’s values, interests, and motivations can transform your marketing approach.

• Independence: Many seniors wish to maintain as much independence as possible while receiving necessary support. Highlight how your community strikes the perfect balance between care and independence.

Marketing focus: Highlight how your community strikes a balance between independence and essential support for seniors.

• Safety and comfort: Both seniors and their families prioritize safety, making a secure and comfortable environment a key selling point.

Marketing focus: A commitment to security and well-being, both physical and emotional.

• Sense of community: Seniors often seek genuine connections with others, and families want their loved ones to feel emotionally supported.

Marketing focus: Emphasize the vibrant, supportive community within your facility. Show opportunities for social activities (communal dining, clubs, etc), personal growth, and companionship.

Benefits of multi-touch marketing for assisted living centers

Relying on just one marketing channel isn’t enough. Multi-touch marketing allows you to engage with the senior living community across multiple platforms, expanding your reach and fostering stronger connections.

By using diverse channels, you create multiple touchpoints that nurture leads at every stage of their decision-making process.

Some of the benefits include:

• Wider reach: Engage with prospects through your website, social media, email campaigns, and local events. This increases your chances of attracting more qualified leads and boosting website traffic.
• Enhanced engagement: Consistent messaging across different channels keeps your brand top of mind and builds stronger connections with your audience.
• Better lead nurturing: Personalized email campaigns and follow-ups help nurture leads throughout their decision journey, from initial interest to move-in.
• Improved trust and credibility: Repeated exposure across multiple platforms strengthens your community’s online reputation and builds trust. This position your facility as a leader in assisted living.
• Stronger brand presence: Consistent visibility across various touchpoints reinforces your brand’s message and establishes a strong, recognizable presence in the market.
• Increased conversions: By staying engaged with prospects and providing relevant, timely content through customer relationship management tools, you improve your chances of converting leads into independent living residents.

With the right GenAI solutions, such as BirdAI, and an optimized marketing plan, your assisted living facility can seamlessly connect with prospective residents through multiple channels. This ensures you stand out in web searches and attract more qualified leads.

Now, to highlight the power of multi-touch marketing, let’s look at how Pacifica Senior Living transformed its social media strategy across multiple locations with Birdeye.

How Pacifica Senior Living transformed multi-location social media with Birdeye

The Brand

Pacifica Senior Living operates 96 senior living communities across the U.S., offering independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. Each location is uniquely tailored to reflect the local community and the specific needs of its residents.

The Challenge

Managing content and engagement across 90+ social media pages was overwhelming. Pacifica struggled to produce authentic, localized content, respond to interactions in a timely manner, and maintain brand consistency due to a lack of centralized oversight and performance tracking.

The Result

With Birdeye Social AI, Pacifica streamlined content creation, scheduling, and engagement across all communities, publishing over 11,200 posts in just nine months. Staff used Birdeye’s mobile app to capture real-time photos and engaging videos, while the corporate team ensured quality through approval workflows. This resulted in a 25% increase in engagement, improved operational efficiency, and a stronger emotional connection with families and prospects.

Learn more about Pacifica Senior Living & Birdeye case study

12 Assisted living marketing strategies to increase interest in your facility

As families look for the best place to care for their loved ones, having a strong assisted living marketing strategy is more important than ever. Your strategy needs to build trust and show families that your community is the perfect choice for their loved ones’ care. 

Here are 12 powerful marketing strategies that will help you reach the right audience, foster meaningful connections, and drive more qualified leads.

Ready to boost interest in your assisted living facility and increase occupancy? Let’s dive into these proven strategies.

1. Empower your staff to be your strongest advocates

Your team is the face of your facility and plays a key role in your marketing strategy. Well-trained personnel who are compassionate and knowledgeable not only provide excellent care but also serve as brand ambassadors. Train your staff well to engage with prospective residents and their families in a friendly and professional manner. 

Ensure your marketing team is aligned with your care staff so they can communicate a consistent message of care and trustworthiness.

2. Make your website your strongest first connection

In the digital age, your website is often the first impression prospective residents and their families will have of your facility. Ensure it’s mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, and updated regularly with key information like services offered, community events, pricing, and contact details. To make sure families get immediate answers to their questions, consider integrating AI chatbots. 

Did you know? Birdeye’s Chatbot AI engages web visitors in natural, friendly conversations, especially after hours when families may be browsing. The AI understands context, uses the right tone, and provides thoughtful responses that feel natural and friendly, just like a real person.

Quick Tip: Optimize your website for SEO so prospective residents can easily find you when searching for “assisted living facilities near me.

Get relevant, personalized responses with Birdeye Chatbot AI

3. Boost visibility with smart local SEO strategies

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is critical in today’s online environment. Optimize your website with relevant keywords such as “assisted living marketing,” “senior living communities,” and “memory care,”. In this way you can improve your search engine rankings and increase your visibility to individuals searching for services in your area. 

Pro Tip: Utilize Birdeye Listings AI to ensure your brand information is consistent across over 150 directories. This helps boost your local SEO rankings, making it easier for families to find your services.

Ensure information accuracy with Birdeye Listing Score

4. Use blogging & gated content to build trust and connection

Blogging helps establish authority in the senior living space by addressing common questions, sharing care tips, and showcasing success stories. Regular updates boost SEO and engage families.

Additionally, offering gated content like guides (“How to choose an assisted living facility” or “Checklist for moving a parent into assisted living”) can capture leads and provide valuable support to families during their decision-making journey. 

5. Bring your facility to life with virtual tours

In a post-pandemic world, virtual tours are essential. Offer virtual tours of your community, showcasing your amenities, services, and activities. This allows potential residents and their families to experience the community without the need for in-person visits. 

Pro Tip: Share these virtual tours on your website, social media, YouTube, and include them in email campaigns during lead nurturing to maximize reach.

Do you know? Pacifica Senior Living achieved success by utilizing Birdeye Social AI to manage and promote these experiences. Through Birdeye’s mobile app, staff could capture authentic moments and instantly share them across 96 communities, humanizing their brand and increasing engagement.

Sarah Schlosberg shares how Birdeye transformed their social media strategy:

6.Tailor your messaging for every decision-maker 

Craft your marketing messages based on your audience, including adult children, seniors, or caregivers, each with unique needs and concerns, while maintaining a consistent brand voice. Highlight the positive aspects of your facility, such as:

• Community
• Activities
• Independence
• Compassionate care

Quick Tip: Highlight your facility’s care and quality of life on your website, brochures, and ads. Ensure all materials reflect a warm, welcoming tone that resonates with both potential residents and their families.

7. Leverage family referrals to drive trust and conversions

Word-of-mouth referrals are powerful in senior care. Families trust recommendations from others with real experiences. Encourage current residents’ families to refer others with incentives to build trust and increase conversions.

Pro Tip: Birdeye Referrals turns happy customers into your best marketers. This automated software makes it easy to create, send, and track referral campaigns via text and email.

8. Use paid ads to reach families actively searching

Paid ads, including Google Ads and Facebook Ads, can help you reach more qualified leads. With targeted advertising, you can focus on specific demographics, locations, and search behaviors, driving more prospects to your website and virtual tours. 

Regularly track the ROI of paid ads to understand which platforms and keywords are generating the most qualified leads.

9. Nurture interest with thoughtful email campaigns

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing leads. An email drip campaign can keep potential residents engaged by sending them helpful, informative content over time. For example, send emails about upcoming events, resident success stories, and valuable tips for families choosing senior living. 

Pro Tip: Use Birdeye’s Messaging AI to streamline communication and follow up with leads automatically, ensuring you never miss an opportunity.

10. Strengthen local ties through community outreach

Engage with the local community by hosting or sponsoring events. Whether it’s a health fair, a seminar on senior care, or an open house, connecting with your local community helps build trust and raise awareness of your facility. 

Pro Tip: Collaborate with local organizations and healthcare providers to enhance your outreach and broaden your audience.

11. Monitor performance and optimize consistently

Consistently monitoring key metrics like website traffic, lead conversion rates, ad performance, and review volume is essential for the ongoing success of your assisted living marketing strategy.

Use these insights to focus on what’s driving results and refine areas that need attention. Marketing for assisted living is a continuous process of improvement. It ensures you stay competitive and effectively connect with potential residents and their families.

12. Let resident stories and reviews build your reputation

Leverage testimonials from satisfied residents and families. Social proof is a powerful marketing tool. Share stories of how your community has made a positive impact on residents’ lives. Birdeye Reviews AI can help you gather and manage reviews at scale, boosting your online reputation and visibility.

Additional tips: Essential insights for effective assisted living marketing

• Cater to emotions: Families make decisions based on a mix of emotional and practical factors. Ensuring peace of mind through public relations efforts and community testimonials will resonate deeply.
• Leverage technology: Virtual tours offer an easy way for families to experience your facility from the comfort of their homes, helping to connect with potential leads more effectively.
• Address concerns: Acknowledge the decision-making process by emphasizing transparency, particularly when responding to negative reviews. Demonstrate how your community addresses the needs of prospective residents and their families.
• Build Trust with automatic translation: Serving multilingual families is simpler with Birdeye Reviews AI. Automatically translate reviews into English and respond in your customer’s language without the need for a translator. This culturally sensitive approach helps build trust and ensures you meet the unique care expectations of diverse families.

By understanding the nuanced needs of your target audience and addressing their key concerns, such as safety, independence, and community, you can develop effective marketing strategies that attract the right residents and enhance your senior living’s reputation.

To understand how effective marketing strategies can transform your senior living facility’s online reputation, let’s explore how Civitas Senior Living successfully leveraged Birdeye’s solutions to boost satisfaction and reviews.

How Birdeye helped Civitas Senior Living enhance resident and employee satisfaction

The Brand

Civitas Senior Living, founded in 2003 by Wayne Powell, aims to create senior living communities where residents thrive and employees are passionate about their work.

The Challenges

Civitas needed a streamlined process for gathering feedback from residents, caregivers, and internal teams to ensure continuous improvement in service quality and resident satisfaction. They sought an efficient way to analyze feedback and pinpoint areas for growth.

The Result

By leveraging Birdeye’s Surveys AI, Civitas was able to collect feedback through post-tour, post-move-in, and internal surveys. AI-powered summaries and detailed reporting provided actionable insights, allowing Civitas to quickly identify trends and improve strategies, leading to better overall satisfaction and operational efficiency across their communities.

How Birdeye enhances assisted living marketing

Birdeye offers several solutions that make assisted living marketing more effective, seamless, and data-driven:

• Birdeye Listings AI ensures your brand information remains consistent across over 150 platforms, enhancing local SEO and making it easier for families to find your services.
• Birdeye Reviews AI helps generate, manage, and respond to reviews at scale. More positive reviews lead to greater trust, increased visibility, and more qualified leads.
• Birdeye Social AI enhances your online presence across social media, enabling you to connect with your audience in real-time and share updates consistently.

• Birdeye Competitors AI allows you to analyze your competitors’ reviews, social media presence, and overall online visibility. This helps you adjust your marketing strategies and outperform competitors.

Frequently asked questions about assisted living marketing

Conclusion

Effective assisted living marketing requires a blend of community engagement, strong reputation management, and a targeted marketing plan to attract new residents.

By incorporating digital tools like Birdeye’s GenAI solutions, your marketing efforts can become more streamlined, data-driven, and impactful, making it easier to connect with senior living communities and many families searching for the right care.

To differentiate your facility, focus on providing relevant information and showcasing the unique value of your services, such as memory care or independent living. Utilize targeted events, social media, and consistent messaging to highlight what makes your community special

Senior living communities such as Civitas Senior Living (as mentioned above) have seen measurable success with Birdeye, improving their online reputation, generating more qualified leads, and becoming the top choice for families seeking high-quality care.

Ready to grow your senior living community with trust and compassion? Watch a demo now.