Every day we’re talking with senior living communities across the country who really don’t have a method for properly allocating marketing spend. Some of the plans use the same marketing budget year over year and only contribute a minimal amount to Paid Search or Facebook spend. This leads to the campaign running out of dollars (the budget from the prior year had different KPIs, goals and needs) before the month is over – or not being visible during critical times when seniors or adult children are searching the web. 

How We Walk You Through a Budget Audit

When our teams at Attane do a discovery session, we focus on the details:  

• What are the primary, secondary and tertiary market areas?
• What are the KPIs (key performance indicators)?
• How many move-ins are needed each quarter and annually?

Next,  we use our unique calculators to determine conversion rates on digital media efforts and estimate the lead-to-tour ratio for each digital media channel you’re invested in. After a discovery session, you’ll have an outline of a budget to guide you in how to wisely invest in marketing to attain your occupancy goals.

From Budget to Reality

Once a digital media investment guideline is mapped out in the budget, it’s time to start digging into building successful campaigns and looking into true costs. Spend should be regularly evaluated to make sure you’re getting the best return on your investment in that channel. 

Considerations that affect budgets:

• Proximity to competition. Increases in direct competition can increase per-click costs.
• Business need. Your current census, attrition rate and sales conversion rates will influence budget spend. Stated differently, if you need to drive more move-ins and have a high attrition rate, you need to generate more sales-qualified leads to meet your census goals. This takes more budget.
• Level of care. Different levels of care come with different per-click benchmarks. Generally, independent living converts at a more efficient cost-per-lead than healthcare services such as assisted living or memory care.
• Website user experience. If the traffic you generate can’t easily find the information they need, your site’s conversion rates will be low. This means you need to generate more clicks – which generates more cost – to get the volume of traffic and leads needed to meet your census goals.

While each market is different, one thing is always consistent: If you’re not devoting enough budget to drive visibility in your target market, you’re throwing away good money and leaving quality leads on the table. 

Fortunately, you have options (and more than you think) to ensure that your advertising budget is spent as effectively as possible in spite of these challenges.

Keyword Optimization

Keyword optimization refers both to target (desired) and negative (undesired) terms. 

The factors that drive the best conversion rate relate to maximizing impression share by a sophisticated campaign supported by a base of negative keywords. These are words you don’t want clicks from because they’ll either be unqualified prospects or job seekers  – not those in the sweet spot of age- and income-qualified prospects. 

As important as having a correct budgets is, the development of the proper campaign, both in copy and design, is equally important. These factors are backed up by higher conversion systems that drive a customer to a specific landing page and convert at a much higher ratio  – as shown on our data dashboards and Insights platform at Attane. 

Let Attane Help You with Your Digital Spend Planning

Let us help you build the budget you need to have a successful paid marketing campaign. Read our Senior Living Marketing Guide and find out how to increase your occupancy with MarTech investments. And when you’re ready, contact us for a budget spend discovery session.