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Working with a professional marketing agency can give your senior living community the boost and visibility it needs to remain competitive in the local market. When your community builds a strong partnership with the agency, it can provide a wealth of additional benefits, including increased traffic to your website, better lead generation, improved SEO ranking, and enhanced brand image.
Building this type of strong relationship requires a commitment from both the agency and your community. Below are some actionable tips to help you get started.
Professional marketing agencies can bring a significant amount of expertise, creativity, and resources with them. But before you even start a partnership, it’s important to understand the role of the marketing agency. It can offer a wide range of services, including:
It’s your organization's role to determine what specific services you want the agency to handle and what tasks you want to remain in-house. Making this determination before you start a partnership ensures everyone understands their responsibility and the role they play in your overall marketing strategy.
Knowing what professional services your community needs can also help you find the right marketing agency to work with. Some agencies specialize in specific types of marketing, such as digital marketing, social media, and website design. If your community requires only one or two specific services, a specialty agency may be sufficient.
If you’re looking for more comprehensive marketing support or the ability to scale these services up and down as needed, a full-service marketing firm is the ideal solution. These agencies offer a wide range of marketing solutions to ensure a strong, long-lasting partnership.
For instance, FIVE19 offers a range of marketing solutions, including branding, strategy, print media, social media, paid ads, and video, content, and digital marketing services.
The best way to avoid confusion between your community and the agency is to set clear goals and expectations right from the start. The agency should have a clear understanding of your community’s mission statement, goals, and values. This step can ensure a seamless process and that your voice remains consistent across platforms.
Set various metrics to track the success of any marketing strategy implemented. You also want to set clear time lines to reassess your marketing plan and ensure it still aligns with your community’s continuing goals and objectives.
Communication is the cornerstone of any effective partnership. Your Independent Living community must be in regular communication with the marketing agency. Make sure you know who the contact person with the agency is and that you update the agency if there are any relevant staff changes within your organization.
Talk to your agency about any collaboration tools they currently use or are willing to incorporate to create a seamless process for communication, feedback, and project management. These tools can provide real-time updates that allow your team to stay up-to-date at all times. Also, be sure to schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress, challenges, changes, and outcomes.
While trust can take some time to build, it’s critical to demand transparency and honesty from the start of your partnership. Discuss with the agency how important these factors are to your community.
For example, you don’t only want to hear success stories. You also want to be alerted on any challenges or setbacks so you can work together to develop a strong marketing strategy to overcome these obstacles. Working through these issues with your agency builds a stronger partnership and lets you create a more successful marketing strategy.
One of the greatest benefits of working with a professional marketing agency is the level of expertise they offer. Your staff may know the ins and outs of your organization and the senior living industry, but the agency has expertise in marketing. When you partner with an agency that specializes in marketing for senior living communities, such as FIVE19, this expert knowledge is even more beneficial.
Don’t forget to leverage this expert knowledge. Through a strong partnership, your agency can strengthen your organization’s brand image and bring your brand to life through print, media, content, and other media.
Working with a full-service marketing agency gives you the ability to form a long-term relationship. The agency can easily provide the level of services you need at any growth stage within your organization. For instance, if your community is expanding either in size or level of services, a full-service agency can offer special services, such as event marketing, lead generation, and content creation, to boost visibility and then later scale back services when necessary.
To nurture long-term collaboration, your organization should stay open to new ideas and understand that market conditions change over time. Continuously update the agency to any changes your community wants to make pertaining to its goals, mission, voice, brand, culture, services, or strategy.
If you haven’t done so lately, take the time now to assess your current agency partnership to ensure it’s still meeting your company’s needs. Identify any areas for improvement and address these concerns with the agency.
If you’re looking for an agency with which to form a strong partnership, our marketing experts are here to help. We specialize in long-term collaboration by offering a wide range of marketing solutions specifically for senior living communities.
Reach out to FIVE19 today to learn more about our consulting and collaboration opportunities.