1 Your Online Marketing Plan (Website, SEO, PPC, etc......…)
Congratulations on your purchase of "The Book on Digital Marketing For Assisted Living Facilities: How to Get More Tours, More Move-Ins, and More Success," a complete overview of what it takes to maximize your opportunities online in terms of Leads, Calls, and Revenue.
There are several channels/mediums to consider for your facility when looking at the Online Marketing space. Whatever category your home or homes belong in, this book has a plan for you.
At first, glance, considering all the marketing options available in your online marketing playbook might be overwhelming. These include Search Engines (Organic, Maps, Pay-Per-Click), Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), Paid Online Directory Listings (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, BOTW, FourSquare, Yelp.com, etc.), and Paid Online Lead Services.
To maximize your lead flow from the Internet, you need to develop a plan covering these online marketing opportunities. This book aims to outline a program that will transform you from an online marketing novice to the dominant player in the Assisted Living Facility industry.
Throughout this book, we lay the foundation to:
- Map out your online marketing plan (Website, SEO, PPC, Pay-Per-Lead services, etc.)
- Start with the fundamentals (Market, Message, Media) before jumping headfirst into your Internet Marketing Strategy.
- Setup your website
- Understand how search engines work and learn the differences between the paid, organic, and map listings
- Optimize with Search Engine Optimization - How to optimize your website with keywords that are most important for your particular business
- How to conduct keyword research
- Our list of the most commonly searched keywords is broken down by industry.
- How to achieve the maximum result by mapping out the pages which should be included on your website
- How to optimize your website for ranking in the organic listings on major search engines
- How to improve your website’s visibility so you can rank on page one for your most important keywords
- List of link building techniques and strategies that are proven to enhance rankings even in the post-Penguin and Panda Era
- Content marketing strategies for maintaining relevance in the Senior Living space
- Optimize Google Maps - How to get ranked on the Google Map in your area
- The fundamentals of Google Maps ranking (NAP, Citations, Consistency, and Reviews)
- How to establish a firm name, address, and phone number profile
- How to properly claim and optimize your Google Business Profile Local Listing
- How to develop authority for your map listing via citation development
- According to the industry standards, list the top citation sources for your business organization.
- How to get honest reviews from your customers in your actual service area
- Sample Review Card
- Sample Review Request Email
- Sample Review Us landing page for your website
- Understand Website Conversion Fundamentals - How to ensure that your website converts visitors into leads in the form of calls and web submissions
- Understand Mobile Optimization - How to optimize your website for mobile visitors
- Utilize Social Media Marketing - How to utilize Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social platforms for maximum effect in your business.
- Use Video Marketing - How to tap into the power of YouTube and other video-sharing websites to enhance your visibility and drive better conversion.
- Leverage email marketing tools (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.) to connect with your customers deeper, receive more reviews, get more social media connections and ultimately get repeat and referral business.
- Understand and capitalize on Paid Online Advertising opportunities
- Use Pay-Per-Click Marketing (Google AdWords and Bing Search) - How to maximize the profitability of your Pay-Per-Click Marketing efforts.
- Why PPC should be part of your overall online marketing strategy
- Why most PPC campaigns fail
- Understanding the Google AdWords Auction process
- How to configure and manage your Pay-Per-Click campaign for maximum ROI
- Use Paid Online Directories - What paid online directories should you consider advertising in (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, BOTW, Spoke.com, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellowpages, etc.)
- Manage Pay-Per-Lead and Lead Services - How to manage Pay-Per-lead services for maximum return and long-term gains properly.
- Sample lead follow-up email sequence.
- Track, Measure and Quantify - How to track your online marketing plan to ensure your investment generates a solid return.
There are several avenues to explore when it comes to Internet marketing for your business. In this chapter, we will briefly touch on the various Internet marketing channels available and then go into more detail throughout the book.
This chapter serves as your “Marketing Plan” and roadmap going forward.
Online Marketing Channels
- Search Engine Optimization (Organic Listings and Map Listings)
- Search Engine Marketing/PPC on Google AdWords and Bing Search Network
- Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn)
- Video Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Free and Paid Directory Marketing (BOTW, Spoke.com, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellow Pages, etc..........…)
- Paid Lead Services (A Place for Mom, Caring.com, Emfluence.com, Fuellead.com, Intellibright.com, etc........…)
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases your company’s visibility on major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) in the organic, non-paid listings as consumers are searching for your products or services. There are three very critical components of Search Engine Marketing. The three components are:
- Paid Listings – The area along the top and side that advertisers can bid on and pay for to obtain decent placement in the search engines
- Organic Listings – The area in the body of the Search Engine Results Page
- Map Listings – These are the listings that come up beneath the paid listings and above the organic listings in several searches
Search Engine Optimization involves getting your website to show up in the Organic and Map Listings. These listings account for a majority of the search volume. As illustrated below, about 70% of searchers click on the Organic (non-paid listings) rather than the paid listings.
When most people think of “Internet Marketing,” they think of Search Engine Optimization. However, you will see that SEO is only a tiny piece of the MUCH BIGGER “Internet Marketing” puzzle for business owners.
Search Engine Marketing / Pay-Per-Click
Now that we have discussed SEO let’s talk about Search Engine Marketing or PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Google, Yahoo, and Bing all have paid programs that allow you to BUY listings associated with your keywords to be placed in designated areas of their sites.
There are three significant benefits of PPC:
- Your keyword listings will appear on search engines almost immediately
- You only have to pay when someone clicks on your listing, hence Pay-Per-Click Marketing.
- You can get your ad to show up on national terms in the areas/cities you operate.
PPC Marketing works on an Auction system similar to that of eBay. You choose your keywords and propose a bid of what you would be willing to pay for each click.
Several factors determine placement, which will be discussed in detail in the PPC for Businesses chapter. But, in the broadest sense, the one who is willing to pay the most per click will be rewarded the top position in the search engines, while the second-most will be in the second position, etc.
PPC Marketing is a great way to get your company’s website to appear at the top of the search engines, driving qualified traffic to your website.
Social Media Marketing
You can’t deny Social Media’s reach and influence (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), but how can it be utilized by an Assisted Living Facility which is just starting? How can you use social media to grow your business? Just look at the staggering statistics for Facebook:
- More than 2.91 billion monthly active users (4th quarter 2021)
- 79% of monthly users log on to Facebook on any given day
- The average user has 130 connections.
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
So, how can you employ this fantastic tool to grow your business? Use it to connect with your sphere of influence, past and new customers. You can solidify and maintain existing relationships, remain top-of-mind, and ultimately increase repeat and referral business.
Video Marketing
Did you know YouTube is the second-most used search engine on the market? Would you guess it is even ahead of Bing and Yahoo? It’s true!
Millions of people conduct YouTube searches daily. Most business owners are so focused on SEO they completely neglect the opportunities that video and YouTube provide.
By implementing a Video Marketing Strategy for your business, you can get additional placement in search results for your keywords, enhance the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and improve visitor conversion.
Email Marketing
Similar to Social Media Marketing, email marketing is a great way to remain top-of-mind with your customers and increase repeat business and referrals. Compared to direct mail and newsletters, email marketing is the most cost-effective means to communicate with your customers.
As we will discuss in the Email Marketing for Businesses chapter, we feel email marketing can be used to draw your customers into your social media world effectively.
Paid Directory Marketing
Several Online Directories are essential for businesses and specifically for Assisted Living Facilities:
- BOTW (Businesses of the World)
- AboutUs
- Spoke
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- YellowPages
Paid Lead Service Sites
An array of services will sell you leads on a “pay-per-lead” basis or for a flat monthly fee.
- Influence
- fuelled
- Intellibright
Specifically for Assisted Living Facilities, the more prominent players are:
- A Place for Mom
- Caring.com
While these leads tend to go to several different providers and will be less qualified than other sources, these Pay-Per-Lead services can be a profitable online marketing channel if executed correctly.
Now that you understand each of the Internet marketing channels available, in the following chapters, we will discuss how you can leverage them to connect with new customers and grow your business.
Where to Start?
With such a large amount of Internet marketing channels, where should you start? I firmly believe that you should be appropriating each of these online marketing opportunities over time.
However, it would help if you first began with the foundation - your website, organic rankings, and social media/email. It would help if you started looking at the various paid marketing opportunities when your website is set up correctly, ranking on search engines for your most important keywords in the organic, non-paid listings, and actively engaging in social media activity.
We have found that the most significant and most impactful opportunity is getting ranked organically (in the non-paid listings). You may then leverage the additional profits in paid marketing to further augment your growth.
Once you are ranking well organically and things are firing on all cylinders, you can start to run a well-managed Pay-Per-Click Campaign and explore paid online directory listings on Yelp, Foursquare, etc.
Next, let’s look at the fundamentals of your overall marketing strategy before pressing forward into full implementation.
If you'd like to buy The Book on Digital Marketing for Assisted Living Facilities by Mitch Alverson... you can get it on Amazon.
