by threshold | Jan 20, 2022 | Creative, Design, Marketing
It’s safe to say that Senior Living has had a hard time lately. With new variants of COVID-19 still disrupting normal life, especially for the particularly vulnerable, senior living has seen fewer residents moving in and fewer stakeholders investing their dollars. Still, occupancy rates are once again on the rise as we begin 2022, having rebounded promisingly in Q3 and Q4 of 2021 according to reports by NIC. Now that the industry is approaching some semblance of its previous stability, what new trends will emerge as new developments and rebrands hit the market? These five emerging senior living branding trends are setting the tone for senior living marketers in 2022, and we can’t wait to see which trends make the biggest impact on the industry as the year goes on.
Health & Safety Are More Central Than Ever
Of course, the pandemic is far from over, and potential residents are still prioritizing health and safety in their housing decisions. Senior living brands are responding with messaging that highlights the health and safety of their communities, with amenities like on-site COVID vaccination and higher staffing ratios featured front and center on home pages and brochures.
In addition to messaging updates, new brands and rebranded communities are also gravitating toward names that signal reliability and health along with logos that signal wellness and stability. In many cases, this is simply a doubling down on themes that already dominated the senior living space, with natural motifs like trees, lakes, and mountains having long since become ubiquitous in the senior living market. Some developments, however, are looking for fresh takes on the themes of health and safety in order to establish themselves as modern yet still reliable. In these cases, similar symbolism is incorporated, but in novel, less on-the-nose ways. Instead of names like “Terrace Grove” and “Sagewood” you might find more names like “Wellstead” and “Aegis.”
Digital-First Strategies Extend into Branding Claims
With senior living marketing teams now prioritizing digital tactics like virtual tours, digital brochures, and video advertising, the digital-first approach to real estate marketing has finally taken root in the senior living market. But it’s not just the tactics themselves that are getting digitized. These digital-first approaches are extending into brand identities as senior living communities seek to establish themselves as great places to stay connected and live life to the fullest.
Even more than before, residents are coming to rely on digital forms of connection with family and friends, so having tech amenities like high-speed internet is a must. In fact, health needs and digital needs are intertwined more than ever, with telemedicine becoming an important resource for some seniors and video calls becoming central to maintaining the social connections that are crucial for mental health. The importance of the digital sphere within senior living communities is being reflected more and more in branding, with new brands boasting their modern technical side in addition to the traditional human care side.
The Borders of “Senior Living” Are Excluding “Active Adult”
Although some lump Active Adult housing and senior living together under the same umbrella, Active Adult is quickly becoming its own separate entity. In many cases, Active Adult communities share more in common with their multifamily counterparts than they do with traditional senior living communities offering Independent Living, Assisted Living, and/or Memory Care.
While there is some overlap in the needs of residents in Active Adult housing compared to Independent Living, more and more Active Adult communities are specifically using “Active Adult” and not using “Senior Living” in their branding and marketing. This effort to differentiate took on added importance during the pandemic as Active Adult communities catering to adults 55 and over sought to distance themselves from senior living communities that were dealing with COVID outbreaks and negative press coverage.
Market Consolidation Is Leading To More Umbrella Branding
With senior living brands facing a more uncertain market than before the pandemic, market consolidation has accelerated in recent years. That’s because the big fish in senior living tend to be the best equipped to adapt to the rising challenges presented by COVID. For example, these top senior living management companies, owners, and developers are able to create mutually advantageous partnerships with Medicare and other Health Care programs. Meanwhile, the smaller fish are struggling to keep up with increasing staffing demands and so on, sometimes leading them to sell existing communities or halt new development projects.
Among the “big fish” of senior housing are umbrella brands like Atria Senior Living, Brookdale, and Five Star Senior Living, each having dozens of communities across the United States. Communities managed by umbrella brands like these tend to use the same branding as their parent company from top to bottom—name, logo, colors, messaging, etc.—but others may take select elements of the umbrella brand like logo and colors but achieve added individuality by incorporating slight variations on logomarks and other branded elements in addition to selecting a unique name for each property.
“Luxury” Brands Are On The Rise
The senior living industry is beginning to bounce back and investors are ready to get back in the game, which means we could see a wave of new developments breaking ground in 2022. Those that have emerged within the last few years are reminiscent of luxury multifamily properties when it comes to their branding. Phrases like “resort-style” and “five-star,” which have long been buzzwords in the multifamily vertical, are now making their way into senior living websites and brochures too. Active Living communities may have helped spur on this shift, bridging the conceptual gap between luxury multifamily brands and the senior living industry. As active adults are coming to expect more from their housing communities, so are seniors and their family members looking for Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care.
by threshold | Jan 12, 2021 | Digital Marketing, Marketing, Tech/Web
With COVID-19’s disproportionately high impact on older generations, it goes without saying that the senior living industry has likewise felt the brunt of this pandemic. As we keep our eyes on industry trends, we’ve compiled a few takeaways for our senior living clients and their competitors as they navigate the effects of the pandemic on their brand reputation, lead traffic, and ultimately lease rates. These challenges aren’t felt universally or with the same severity for all communities within the senior living industry, but they may have long-lasting ramifications for brands in this vertical.
In this post, we’ll be breaking down what effects we’re seeing in the industry, what’s causing these effects, what can be done to mitigate them, and what we can expect moving forward. Looking for senior living marketing tips to help your community respond to the pandemic? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s get into it.
The Effects of COVID-19 On the Senior Living Industry
When it comes to the top Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) we use to measure marketing success for the real estate industry, the impact of the pandemic on senior living communities is similar to that seen by other segments of the housing industry: occupancy is down, costs are up, and brand reputation is less stable.
But these are the short-term effects of COVID-19. It remains to be seen how these shifts will ripple into the future. Senior living brands enjoy some security in the simple fact that aging is inevitable and the next wave of seniors will still need assisted living and memory care. However, at the present moment, long-term care facilities have been hit hardest by COVID’s effects, followed by assisted living communities. In Q2 of 2020, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care reported that the average occupancy rate for senior housing properties dropped to a historic low of 84.9%.
Less clear is how the pandemic will effect the Active Living industry. The good news for this segment of senior living is that their KPIs have been less impacted than their assisted living and memory care counterparts. Occupancy at active/independent communities has remained relatively stable. Regardless, we may begin to see an increased effort among Active Living communities to distance themselves from the term “Senior Living” in order to skirt the perception of senior communities as risky places to live right now.
What’s Causing These Effects?
In addition to the direct, human impact of the coronavirus, the pandemic also impacts the senior living industry in indirect ways. For example, press coverage focusing on outbreaks or the risk of outbreak in these communities compounds the perception of all such facilities as unsafe places to live (or for one’s parents to live). This negative perception can extend even to those communities that have strong safety measures and have not suffered an outbreak.
After all, while we’ve all seen the headlines about outbreaks at senior care communities, the average person is less likely to look beyond the headline to fully ascertain the factors that are most likely to lead to outbreaks. This contributes to an imperfect understanding of the true level of risk, which is only exacerbated by the fact that scientists and the press alike have been playing catch up to understand how this virus spreads and impacts the body. All that uncertainty makes it hard for seniors and their adult children to feel confident in their housing choices, resulting in fewer leads and leases.
Furthermore, the recession kicked off by the pandemic is still building. Its impact will continue well beyond the current moment, likely for years to come. Since many seniors looking for independent or active living must sell their homes before making a move into a senior living community, a recession may inspire this group to delay this transition for as long as they’re able. In other words, this demographic may choose to age in place a bit longer, resulting in less demand for independent living.
As for memory care and assisted living, the recession may impact these sectors as well, although in different ways. It may impact how much seniors or their families are able to spend on their care. It will also likely mean that some families opt to (or are forced to) care for their senior family members themselves rather than paying for the extra care provided by an assisted living or memory care facility.
In addition, costs are up for senior living communities as they hire more specialized staff, buy more protective gear, and contend with increased demand for the supplies they need to serve their community. Additionally, while senior living has often relied on in-person tours and marketing, the pandemic has required communities to move more of their leasing efforts into the digital space, resulting in additional expenditures on technology like virtual tours, live chat bots, and more. Not only that, but seniors currently residing at these communities are looking for ways to stay connected with their families who may be unable to visit in person, so some communities are accommodating that with added digital amenities, resulting in additional up-front tech costs.
What Can We Do?
We’ve published a number of guides that can empower senior living brands with better marketing during the pandemic, including our blog post on How To Adapt Your Real Estate Marketing During COVID-19.
Additionally, we highly recommend our more recent guides covering Digital Apartment Marketing Tips During COVID and a Tour Guide Playbook with best practices for tours and lead nurturing during COVID.
In addition to what you’ll find in these guides, we have a few recommendations to add specifically for the senior living industry. The first is to explore Addressable Marketing campaigns using geofencing technology. Campaigns like these have the ability to target users at their household—like a direct mailer for the digital age—and can reach audiences based on factors like age, the number of members in their household, and a variety of interests.
Finally, your messaging around COVID is of paramount importance when it comes to nurturing the leads that do come in. This is likely to remain top-of-mind for a while, especially for the senior living industry, so any prospect who is unable to easily find information regarding COVID-19 on your website, GMB page, or by email is likely to take their search elsewhere. Be as transparent as you can about your respond to COVID-19. Make this information easy to find throughout your digital presence, including your website, GMB, and social accounts. Show that you are taking concrete measures to promote social distancing and minimize the risk of outbreaks.
Being up-front with this information may seem like it’s calling attention to the risk the pandemic has created, but that ship has already sailed; your prospects are thinking about COVID when they decide where to live, regardless of whether you bring up the topic yourself. The best you can do is help assuage their concerns by making it crystal clear that you are doing everything you can to keep seniors and their loved ones safe.
by threshold | Oct 29, 2019 | General
As of 2019, the Boomer generation is between the ages of 55 and 75, and as they look to move into housing that suits their next stage of life, they are dramatically changing the face of senior living. With 76 million Boomers in the United States alone, and 86 million Gen Xers right behind them, a wave of adults over 55 is bringing new attitudes, new expectations, and new demands to the real estate industry, and we can expect even more change to come.
Years ago, senior housing was mostly “retirement communities” and “nursing homes,” but as senior living communities adapt to shifting demand, adults over 55 can expect a wider variety of options, many of which are more attractive to today’s seniors and offer a more active lifestyle than the senior housing options of yesteryear.
Today, we’re discussing just a few of the ways senior living is changing in 2019 and will continue to transform in the coming years. If you’d like to learn more about senior real estate marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Threshold once you’ve read this article. We’re always happy to talk apartment complex marketing ideas. Now, without further ado, let’s talk about the changing face of senior living.
Demand for Senior Housing Will Rise
The Boomer generation is now reaching the age where many are beginning to look for senior housing options or have already moved out of the homes where they raised their children, built their careers, and established many of their adult relationships. Gen X will soon reach this stage as well, with the oldest among this generation turning 55 in 2020. That means a lot of adults 55 and above are beginning to look or will soon be looking for housing options that better serve a new stage of their lives. There is a major opportunity—and major demand—for housing communities that cater to these groups. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Not only is this sector growing rapidly, it’s also taking on new strategies that better suit new generations of seniors. For example…
Senior Housing Is Taking Cues From Student Housing
Much like student housing, senior housing is becoming more about fostering a vibrant, active community than it is about providing care or relieving the burdens of home ownership. Senior housing communities are focusing more than ever on community programming, social events, and engaging meeting spaces that foster a sense of community and encourage connections between residents.
Since many adults describe retirement and aging as a lonely process, fun-filled communities with lots of events and programming are well-suited to adults over 55 who are looking for new experiences as well as good friends and neighbors to share them with.
More Active Living Communities Are Emerging
Speaking of fun-filled communities, Active Living is one sector of senior living that’s growing quickly to fill new levels of demand. While Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care are all still essential senior living communities that will also grow with increasing demand, growing numbers of young retirees and pre-retirees from around 55 to 65 years of age are demanding communities that challenge the old models of senior living.
These adults see the next stage of their lives as an opportunity for fun, new experiences, and active lifestyles, and senior living is changing to meet this need as these adults look for communities that align with their goals. As more senior living communities are built, we can expect to see many that focus on events, programming, and amenities that support an active lifestyle.
Adults Over 55 Are Staying Closer to Urban Centers
It used to be that transitioning into senior housing meant retiring to the suburbs or the country, but more and more often, seniors are choosing to stay in or near major urban centers. According to David Block, the Director of Development at Evergreen Real Estate Group, “There is certainly a move back to the city among a lot of groups, including a population of seniors who maybe left when they had kids, but always wanted to move back.” Additionally, seniors who already live in urban centers are preferring to “age in place” or “age in community,” meaning that when they do move into senior living communities, those communities tend to be within the same city or town as their previous home, which reduces the feeling of isolation that can come with aging. Responding to both of these factors, more senior housing communities are emerging in and around major metropolitan areas and focusing on keeping their residents within arm’s reach of “the action.”
This should come as no surprise, given what we understand about adults over 55 expecting more active and exciting options than were available in the senior housing of yesteryear. Urban centers provide plenty of opportunities to enjoy novel experiences and live an active lifestyle. Proximity to the city also tends to mean more opportunities for travel, better transportation options for those who don’t drive, and a greater sense of connectedness to nearby friends and family.
Technology Is Taking Center Stage
Gone are the days when senior living communities could safely assume their residents wanted a low-tech living experience. With over 88% of adults aged 50-64 using the internet and 72% of this group using Facebook and other social media, seniors are more tech-savvy than ever. Contrary to popular belief, many adults over 55 are not intimidated by new technology, and appreciate how it makes their lives easier.
Smart home technology and high-speed internet are becoming must-haves for new senior living communities. Moving forward, these communities will leverage the added convenience and connectedness these technologies provide to attract adults over 55 who spend significant time on social media and value staying connected to the online world.
Looking to adapt your real estate marketing plan as senior living continues to change? We can help with that. For starters, check out our article on How NOT To Market Senior Housing. Then consider getting in touch with a Threshold team member to see how we can help you launch modern senior housing campaigns that get results.
by threshold | Mar 2, 2017 | All
The first challenge for any senior living marketing team is to make sure their target audience finds their property. Whether that’s online or through word of mouth, it doesn’t matter so long as you’re getting in front of both the potential residents and their children, as both end up playing a role in the decision making process.
Unlike with multifamily marketing or student housing marketing, senior housing marketing requires convincing decision makers that your community can play the role of both host and caretaker. A fancy apartment is great, but the community must also display an understanding of the senior’s individual needs. That’s not to say senior living industry doesn’t follow the “luxury amenities” trend. Just take a look at the luxury amenities available in some assisted living communities.
- Beauty salons
- Treetop dining terraces
- Virtual workouts
- Demonstration kitchens
- Destination dining at local bars and restaurants
- Locally-sourced food prepared by executive chefs
- Golf simulators
- On-site concierges
- Art galleries
Some of the communities we work with go as far as to offer Smart Home technologies, giving seniors the ability to turn off lights, adjust thermostats and even close their blinds without ever having to get up.
Memory Care is another emerging area that some communities are really beginning to focus on. Some high end senior living complexes use sight and smell therapy to revive their residents’ memories. By decorating with carefully selected objects and styles from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, community caretakers are able to continuously take seniors on trips down memory lane. Care providers are finding this to be an extremely effective way to to enhance their residents’ memories.
This nostalgia-based approach has been shown to take the stress out of memory care for seniors. Its a more passive approach to memory improvement. Instead of framing memory care as a sort of class where seniors have to work hard to improve their minds, this approach integrated memory care into everyday life. Besides room decor, certain kinds of music can be another form of memory care.
Some of our senior living clients actually partner with a group called Music and Memory, which provides seniors with iPods that contain preloaded, personalized playlists. The music can tap into deep, long forgotten memories that have not yet been lost to dementia. In some instances, it can even bring back certain parts of a resident’s personality. Caretakers have reported instances in which a resident has listened to the playlist, then rediscovered their ability to converse and socialize.
Beyond caring for their residents, many senior living communities are beginning to care for the environment too. After all, Baby Boomers were once—and in many in cases, still are—the generation responsible for bringing the issue of climate change into the mainstream consciousness.
Most new assisted living buildings are built to adhere to the EPA’s Energy Star standards. A smaller, but still significant percentage of new buildings use renewable energy like solar power, or have eco-friendly practices like serving their residents vegetables grown in organic gardens and providing locally sourced food in the dining room. With so much competition in the senior living market, new communities have to find ways to set themselves apart.
If your community needs to set itself apart with beautiful marketing materials, Threshold can handle all your senior living design needs for websites, brochures, information packets and more. We can also improve your community’s digital presence, which might be necessary since more and more seniors are using smartphone technology. Give us a call today.
by threshold | Jul 17, 2015 | All, Marketing
I couldn’t wait to turn 15. Just the thought of, legally, being able to drive a car, albeit with my parents tagging along, was exhilarating. The time seemed to drag on and on, though. However, I kept my eyes focused on that day in 1989. Fast forward to my twenties, where driving was more of a chore than the exhilaration I felt during my younger years (Milk? I’ll get it! More groceries? Send me!), time just wouldn’t stand still. Weeks turned to months, then years. Before I knew it I celebrated my 41st birthday but didn’t really feel like I should really be 41. That’s when it hit me – time is flying by, so much has changed, and the last 15 years look nothing like it will in another 15.
In our agency, we focus on senior living, or senior housing, apartments and communities as much as we do for student housing or multifamily marketing. However, the one thing we have noticed in the past 15 years is the growth, no, surge, in marketing to the senior community online. While some of the senior demographic may not be doing the actual search for a trusted senior community, you can bet their adult children and grandchildren are searching online. The art of senior living is also changing to offer many vibrant options for extending each resident’s talent through art, music and community. It is important to be able to relate that in a smart, inviting digital format as well as in your collateral.
Statistically, an online search for senior living is the first place people go to learn more about a community. However, finding that senior living website is the first hurdle many operators or managers face. While there are plenty of services offering paid listings and such, your competitors are also on those same pages. Here’s what we suggest for senior living communities who want more eyeballs on their website:
- Invest in a website domain name that is unique to each community. Google loves that. And if Google loves that, that means better search results for you.
- Make sure the website content is relevant to your residents and their families. Google loves that too.
- Invest in a strategic pay-per-click (PPC) campaign manager that will research the right keywords for you, adjust your website content to fit those results and monitor your monthly spend.
- Ask for reports. Data will show you whether the right campaigns are in place. Traffic to your community will show you whether the strategy is working.
- Don’t be afraid to change things up sometimes. If you have a special event or promotion that you’d like folks to know about – build a campaign about it. We recently did a similar campaign that resulted in a 200% increase in website traffic from last year.
While driving may no longer excite me like it once did, where marketing will be in the next 15 years certainly does. We Thresholdians are the leading folks driving an agency that helps senior living communities with their marketing. We’re working to provide a glimpse into the future of senior living.
If we can help you, give us a call.
Happy Marketing!
