Remember the good old days of the Yellow Pages and newspaper ads? Static marketing, by itself, is a thing of the past, and as time marches on, many of your potential clients won't remember those days. Today's customers are interacting with companies in a multitude of ways and on a multitude of devices. And for the aging care industry, this phenomenon provides a huge opportunity to reach more people and have a more in-depth communication with clients and referral sources.
Our Marketing Aging Care Services webinar series has touched on several levels of marketing, from knowing your target market to marrying the message with the visual to using the website as your marketing hub, but now it's time to put all those pieces together in a seamless, integrated marketing strategy.
Puzzling Out a Successful Integrated Marketing Strategy
A successful, integrated marketing approach requires a well thought-out strategy and a thorough understanding of your target market. Ask yourself:
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Who are my potential clients? Adult children of elderly individuals? Senior citizens? Home health care agencies? Doctors/hospitals?
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How do they purchase products/services like mine? Via referral sources? Directly?
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Where can I reach them? What type of media do they use? Online? Via email? Social media? Via a doctor or medical social worker? At industry networking events? Through CEU presentations?
Answering these questions will help firmly establish a marketing plan of action.
Map Out Your Customer Touch Points
Whether through static advertising or through dynamic, online interactions, touch points occur every time potential clients come into contact with your company. Mapping out your customer touch points will help you gain a better understanding of your customers’ buying journey, establish an overall visual plan for integrating your marketing, and help you identify what areas of your marketing need more attention.
For instance, these days most clients are likely to find out about your business via your website, so you'll want to ensure that this very important touch point:
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Is designed in a compelling fashion, so the landing page keeps the visitor on the site and looking for more
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Contains all the information a potential client needs in order to make a decision about whether or not to use your services or products
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Is easy to navigate and use
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Has easy to locate contact information
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Has informative content (perhaps in the form of a blog or resource pages) that showcases your company's expertise
This touch point map provides a visualization of a marketing strategy that integrates both static (advertising, direct mail, etc.) and dynamic, multi-directional (blogging, eNewsletters, web, etc.) marketing methods:
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