by threshold | Mar 16, 2021 | Digital Marketing, General, Marketing, Tech/Web
People around the world are becoming more aware that their data is being leveraged, and not everyone is comfortable with that. Although data aggregation has been part of the internet experience since the genesis of Web 2.0, it hasn’t always been clear to users what info is being gathered and why. As more users have become aware of the prevalence of data aggregation, some have pushed for increased oversight governing how a person’s data can be used. As we anticipate the possibility of federal legislation to address these concerns as well as the likelihood of further platform changes like the various ad targeting changes implemented by Facebook and Google in 2019-2021, we can expect those changes to impact apartment marketing in 2021 and beyond.
Any website that offers a personalized experience leverages your data in some way, whether that data is your current browsing behavior, demographic information, or credit history. When sites gather your data through cookies or 3rd party data exchanges, the ultimate goal is typically to gain a holistic representation of who you are so that the site can improve the user experience, show you content you’re more likely to engage with, and ultimately profit off your attention in some way (consider, for example, retargeting ads for items you recently viewed on an ecommerce website).
Let’s pause to briefly lay out some definitions: Cookies are small files saved to your computer that record what websites you’ve been on, what you’ve clicked or viewed, and sometimes what passwords you’ve saved. Cookies allow a website to see where else you visited before you arrived at your current digital destination. Third party data exchanges are when one platform obtains your data from another platform in order to combine multiple sets of data to get a fuller picture of who you are and how you behave online. For example, Equifax might sell your data to Google so that Google knows how much money you make in addition to the information they already have about your search history.
How Rising Concerns Around Data Misuse Have Changed the Advertising Landscape
Although data aggregation is often relatively innocuous, there are ways in which it’s vulnerable to misuse. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Cambridge Analytica purchased the data of millions of Facebook users without the users’ consent and used it to inform political campaigns, was for many the catalyzing event that set off a surge of concerns over data aggregation. “Who has my data, how much do they have, and why?” Many users wondered. “Who is protecting my data from misuse? And who is held responsible when misuse occurs?”
In the wake of this expanding concern, legislators have been pressed to address this situation with clear legislation restricting how data aggregation tactics like cookies and 3rd party data exchanges can be used. The CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) was the first example of a state legislating around data use. If you’re constantly being prompted to accept the use of cookies by sites you visit, that’s because of the CCPA, which has spotlighted cookie tracking in particular. Not only does the CCPA affect specifically Californian websites, it also has the potential to affect any website getting traffic from users in California, so more and more websites have rushed to cover their bases by adding these opt-in prompts.
The CCPA isn’t the only legal follow-up to the rise in data privacy concerns. Facebook also came under fire in 2019 because it allowed advertisers to use Facebook’s data aggregation to target ads in ways that violated the Fair Housing Act, leading the platform to establish restrictions on ad targeting capabilities specifically for housing, loan, and finance ads. Google soon followed suit, introducing new housing, loan, and finance categories in Google Ads and restricting the targeting capabilities of those ads.
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was also implemented by the EU in May 2018 with the aim of giving individuals more control over their personal data. It applies to any enterprise that is processing the data of a person inside the EU.
Apple was the next major platform to launch changes to its data use policy, implementing new requirements for apps in the App Store on devices running iOS 14. Apps that engage in data tracking through tools like the Facebook pixel or cookies must now prompt users to opt in to this data tracking. Only after a user has opted in may that app collect their data.
Additionally, Google announced in March 2021 that it would be phasing out 3rd party data tracking entirely for users browsing the internet on Chrome. Their new strategy is called FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), which adds users to various audience “cohorts” based on their browsing behaviors. Advertisers can then target their ads to cohorts, but cannot further refine their targeting on a user-by-user basis. We expect Google’s strategy to direct the rest of the industry, as many platforms will be taking their cues from this media giant. We can likely expect additional platforms to implement similar changes.
How Data Regulation Will Affect Apartment Marketing
Since the housing industry has already been the focus of certain early data use regulations, prompting the changes made by Facebook and Google in 2019 and 2020, apartment marketers are ahead of the curve somewhat when it comes to data regulation changes. However, more changes are likely coming, and it’s not entirely clear what they might be. Right now, it’s a waiting game to see how data regulations will be legislated and what further changes individual platforms like Facebook and Google may implement either in response to or independently of new regulations. It’s worth noting, however, that congressional committees have held hearings on data privacy, so a federal regulation of some kind is likely, we just don’t know what the specifics will be.
We also don’t yet know how 3rd party data or cookie tracking limitations will be reflected in advertising platforms if regulations are created to restrict them. It’s unknown whether these platforms will update their internal algorithms for ad targeting to reflect or counteract the new data restrictions, and if so, how they would do it. While Google and Facebook have already updated their policies around 3rd party data tracking, a federal regulation could require further updates from these platforms.
Still, there are preparations that can be made in anticipation of these potential outcomes. Many vendors are now planning ahead for the potential that cookie use will become restricted. Since cookies track your browsing behaviors across multiple websites, eliminating this element means the focus has to be on 1st party behavioral cues—what you’re doing right now on their website, including in-site searches. Vendors are also looking to rely more on 1st party data and less on 3rd party data.
Cookie removal would affect the platforms where many real estate marketing agencies conduct their advertising. Long-tail tracking will be more challenging, as will multi-session lead attribution. Single-session lead attribution, however, could still be tracked effectively.
Retargeting campaigns relying on 3rd party data tracking (e.g. targeting users who visited a property website) may become a thing of the past, depending on how data use is regulated in the future. Paid Search campaigns, however, will likely be unaffected, since they rely on current, 1st-party user search behavior, not on behaviors that have been tracked using a cookie.
Real estate marketers using advanced chatbots that use cookies to predict user needs (like what floor plans someone might be interested in, for example) should be aware that upcoming regulations may necessitate a downgrade to a less sophisticated chatbot. More immediately, you should ensure that your website prompts a user to accept the use of cookies, if you haven’t done so already. Otherwise you risk being sued by the state of California.
Rest assured that once we know more, we’ll cover it on ThreshNews. Check back for the latest in data regulation and how it’s impacting apartment marketing in 2021 and beyond.
by threshold | Feb 18, 2021 | Creative, Digital Marketing, General, Marketing, Tech/Web
With Active Living communities proliferating and the next generation of seniors entering retirement age, a new era of senior housing marketing is well underway. But old beliefs about seniors and their housing needs still impact how communities are developed and marketed. After all, it wasn’t long ago that “retirement homes” and “nursing homes” were considered the primary choices for seniors looking for apartment-style living options.
The misconceptions still lingering about the senior housing market don’t just influence how people outside the industry think about senior living, they also impact what senior housing developers, owners, and management firms believe about senior housing marketing best practices. That’s why we wanted to take the opportunity to explore some of the most common senior housing marketing misconceptions today. We’ll interrogate some commonly held assumptions and deconstruct them to arrive at the truth about marketing housing to seniors.
Misconception #1: All Senior Living Communities Have The Same Marketing Needs
Senior living is not a monolith, but marketing practices are still working to catch up with its modern evolutions. Today, there are many different types of senior housing communities, each with its own unique marketing needs and best practices. Active Living communities have very different marketing needs compared to Assisted Living, and Assisted Living has different needs than Memory Care. A hybrid community has different challenges still. A good senior apartment marketing plan takes the community’s unique offerings into account. This applies to strategies around branding, digital ad tactics, website design, SEO strategies, and lots more.
Some senior apartment marketing strategies (like SEO and ad targeting tactics n particular) will also differ between urban vs. suburban vs. rural communities. Further, each unique local market carries its own culture of expectations, trends, and competition. Gone are the days when seemingly all senior housing communities were out in the suburbs, away from the hubbub of city life.
These different needs also arise from different audiences across different community types. Adult children of the senior prospect often have a primary role in selecting Memory Care, for example, while the senior and other decision makers may divide responsibility for the housing decision more evenly for Assisted Living. When it comes to Active Living, adult children may assist in the housing choice, but often the senior prospect will make their decision independently. Messaging, brand voice, ad targeting, and other marketing factors should take these differences into account.
Misconception #2: Senior Apartment Marketing Needs to Be “Safe” or “Conservative”
Today’s generation of seniors (and their adult children) are just as fun-loving, bold, and free-spirited as anyone else. Marketing for seniors tends to be safe and conservative, but these tactics often verge on boring and unimaginative, which isn’t winning anyone over. In fact, avoiding the safe and conservative option in favor of the bold, out-of-the-box option can be a huge breath of fresh air for seniors who are bored of the same old, same old and looking for brands that truly resonate with their inner spirit.
Keep age in mind, but don’t be ageist when you do so. That means taking the time to think critically about what you think will resonate with your target audience and why. Take care to eschew assumptions that may stereotype seniors in condescending and inaccurate ways. Push yourself to be bold and engaging without necessarily being youthful; after all, no generation has a monopoly on fun, audacity, or spirit.
Misconception #3: Senior Housing Marketing Relies on Traditional/Print Tactics
The old practice of ignoring the digital sphere in favorite of traditional print marketing tactics no longer works for today’s senior apartment marketing audience. While this audience continues to find traditional marketing persuasive, that doesn’t mean you can neglect digital tactics entirely.
Contrary to common assumption, cutting-edge digital marketing campaigns will reach today’s generation of tech-savvy seniors and their adult children. It’s becoming essential for senior housing communities to think about SEO, website UX, virtual leasing, digital ad campaigns, and more.
Misconception #4: Senior Housing Is Only For Seniors
With age-restricted communities, it’s easy to focus on just the members of your marketing audience that fall into your resident age range. But while seniors are your residents, many seniors want to live in a community that welcomes their entire family and provides a place to share during visits. That’s why some senior housing communities feature amenities like children’s playgrounds. Keep in mind that the adult children of seniors will be a large part of your audience too, and this community will be a place they come when they visit their parent(s).
In other words, your marketing should invite your audience to imagine your community not just as an ideal place for seniors, but also for the whole family. That means family-friendly amenities, proximity to city centers and major highways, and spacious interiors with room to entertain can be well worth a shout-out on your digital ads, website design, and more.
by threshold | Feb 10, 2021 | General, Marketing
While many student housing brands have already weathered the immediate impact of COVID-19, the future of student housing in 2021 and beyond remains uncertain. We can anticipate that there will be long-term changes to the student housing landscape, but just how will COVID-19 change student housing next? Will any student housing trends return to a pre-COVID state once wide-spread vaccination and herd immunity is achieved? What new trends will emerge even as the virus’s immediate impact wanes?
Today we’re exploring those questions and making predictions for what’s next for existing communities and new student housing developments across the US.
Fewer Students Will Attend Universities
Since university enrollment was already falling before COVID-19, we can expect that the uncertainty introduced by 2020’s pandemic will only accelerate that trend. The effect will likely be even more pronounced among international students, for whom the pandemic threw into sharp relief the challenges of attending a university that’s far from home. Those challenges were further complicated by the Trump administration bringing anti-immigrant sentiment and the difficulty of getting a visa to new levels. While the Biden administration will likely reverse that trend somewhat, things still won’t be easy for international students. While many student living communities go out of their way to court international students, international students have seen how uncertain their ability to attend school in the US can be, and may respond by choosing to attend university outside of the US.
With both domestic and foreign young people less likely to enroll in American universities, student living communities will find it more difficult to maintain high occupancy rates under their current models. However, other factors may off-set that trend somewhat.
Those Who Do Attend May Opt for Off-Campus Housing
Because many universities did not accommodate students in on-campus housing during the pandemic for health and safety reasons, on-campus housing may no longer seem like a safe option for today’s undergraduate students. This means that those who do attend traditional universities may opt to live in private or university-private partnered housing communities.
Off-Campus student housing communities can take advantage of this with messaging that calls attention to the benefits of housing that is independent of university safety guidelines while also keeping them away from crowded campuses when the need arises.
Demand For Shorter, More Flexible Lease Terms Will Rise
his time of uncertainty has left many renters, students included, looking for added flexibility in their housing contracts. While many student housing communities have traditionally stuck to a 12-month lease term without the option to sublet, the student housing market may need to offer more flexible lease contracts to overcome concerns in this area.
Similarly, demand for by-the-bed leasing will also rise, but the impact of this shift will be less drastic on the market, since many student living properties already offer this payment model.
“All-Inclusive,” “Private,” and “Spacious” Will Be Big Selling Points
With the pandemic forcing students to adjust to a new student lifestyle that confines them to their apartment, we can expect to see a wave of students looking for more spacious accommodations. Likewise, a post-pandemic student will value the privacy offered by private bed and bathrooms, so students may opt to avoid shared bedrooms. Bed-bath parity will also be desired, to cut down on germ spread.
Communities that provide ample room for students to live in will be desirable—fully-equipped kitchens, in-unit washer and dryer, and spacious bedrooms will be essential—while dorm-like accommodations that offer cramped quarters without a full appliance package will be less popular.
Finally, high-speed internet included in rent will continue to rise as a major selling point, and students will likely avoid student housing that doesn’t offer high-speed internet options.
Communities without these features may be forced to renovate or risk losing out on a shrinking student renter pool.
Health-Promoting Amenities Will Come Into Vogue
As they look for new ways to entice a smaller, more hesitant renter pool, student housing communities will turn to new and upgraded amenities to generate excitement and assuage health concerns. We expect to see enhanced air purification systems, package lockers, food delivery lockers, keyless entry, and added sanitation measures become common among new developments, while existing communities may launch a wave of renovations as they work to adapt to changing sensibilities.
Similarly, we will likely see a rise in green/sustainable amenities as climate concerns coincide with a focus on health and safety. This trend had already begun before the pandemic and will likely continue as Gen Z’s already climate-conscious students have even more reason to prioritize a lifestyle that feels clean, green, and healthy for both themselves and the environment.
“Luxury” Student Living Will Rebrand
With frugally-minded Gen Z, the term “luxury” can ring a little tactless, especially as the world anticipates an economic recession that will further stratify the haves from the have-nots. While some student communities may lean into their luxury status, hoping to attract wealthy student renters, many will need to rebrand in order to appeal to a broader audience of Gen Z students looking for affordable, practical, inclusive apartment communities.
Some Student Living Properties Will Make The Shift to Multi-Family or a Blended Model
With university enrollment rates continuing to drop and virtual classes becoming more common even before COVID-19 radically altered the higher learning landscape, purpose-built student housing developments are bound to slow in 2021. Not only that, but a wave of existing student housing communities have begun making the switch to multi-family, adopting a hybrid marketing approach that targets both university students and non-student renters in order to fill vacancies.
We expect this trend to continue, prompting a wave of rebrands, website updates, digital ad campaign refreshes, and more as student housing communities work to shed their associations with the student lifestyle in order to appeal to a wider variety of prospects.
by threshold | Jan 13, 2021 | General
With 2020 bringing about a sea change for the real estate industry, we can expect those changes to ripple throughout 2021 and beyond. But aside from the effects of the pandemic, there are other industry shifts we’re anticipating in the coming year too. Not only that, but many of the emerging trends offer promising new ways to think about creative and digital apartment marketing.
In other words, while folks in the apartment marketing industry may have grown accustomed to thinking of change as an uncomfortable inevitability in 2020, there’s actually a lot to get excited about in 2021.
Personally, we can’t wait to be part of the cutting edge as the industry adapts. From new branding trends to the growth of under-utilized digital strategies, here’s what we can expect in 2021.
Improved Lead Attribution Will Make Digital Advertising More Powerful
Lead attribution refers to the ability for marketers to show what specific actions or sources impact the number of leads coming in for a given property (or, in the case of B2B marketing, how many leads are coming in at the corporate level).
Lead attribution can be notoriously difficult because while Google Analytics will show how much traffic your site is getting and you can count the number of leads who complete a contact form, you can’t always track where each leads comes from. When you can track their source, you’re usually only capturing information about where they last clicked before arriving to your site (e.g. whether they linked over from your social media page, clicked on an ad, or typed your URL directly into the address bar of their browser).
Here’s the thing though: only tracking the last click of a user loses out on the full picture of the lead journey. What if they saw an ad for your property, then instead of immediately clicking, chose to google the property name and read some reviews. Upon reading the reviews, they then decided to learn more by clicking on the link to your website from your Google My Business page. If we use the last-click model of lead attribution, it looks like the lead came from organic traffic, not the ad campaign, when in reality, the ad played a huge role in generating that lead.
So what do we expect to change in 2021? We expect more real estate marketers to tap into lead attribution tactics like Google’s Multi-Channel Funnels Data-Driven Attribution or any of the growing number of third-party lead attribution softwares emerging on the market today. These platforms and softwares allows marketers more visibility into the steps a user took on the way to becoming a measurable lead.
This means that savvy marketers can get a better sense of how much a given marketing tactic is really contributing to lead-generation and optimize their marketing mix accordingly.
It also means that real estate brands will enjoy more ways to hold their marketers accountable. With more visibility into the user journey, marketers can prove their impact and the brands they serve can work with them to ensure that data-driven optimizations are happening regularly and strategically.
New Regulations for the Digital Landscape Will Emerge, Forcing Digital Marketers to Adapt
Regulations for digital marketing have always lagged behind their traditional marketing counterparts, but legislators and judges continue to further define legal requirements for this digital frontier.
In particular, we can expect to see concerns over data privacy come to a new head, likely resulting in new regulations to protect it. Federal data regulation will be a topic that will evolve quickly, with the protected industries such as loan, credit, and housing to see the first wave of this regulation. This trend has already begun, with Facebook and Google facing regulations on ad targeting for housing ads in 2020.
Similarly, we can expect lawmakers to continue to define and enforce Fair Housing requirements for digital apartment marketing.
Data Privacy
Data privacy has been a hot-button issue in the last few years and we can expect data privacy regulation to become firmer and better enforced in 2021. More specifically, here’s what we can expect on the data privacy front:
For starters, large media organizations such as Facebook and Google will be facing governmentally-demanded breakups, especially in areas where they both sell ad placements and the ad auction of advertisers. This evolution may lead to apartment marketers having to manage multiple platforms that were previously consolidated in a single place and increase the time and effort to run digital marketing campaigns.
As data privacy concerns rise, we can also expect further regulations on what data can be collected about a user and how that data can be used. This will inevitably affect the options available for user targeting when it comes to advertising.
Likely, platforms will begin removing the capability to target specific audiences or demographics to avoid any liability of advertisers’ violations. Likewise, tier 2 vendors such as Geofencing, TikTok, and others will begin thinking about how they are compliant as they see the large media vendors such as Facebook and Google facing legal pressure to comply.
Fair Housing Compliance
Major advertising platforms like Google and Facebook adjusted their ad targeting capabilities last year for housing ads after facing legal pressure to bring their advertising platforms more in line with the Fair Housing Act. Although these adjustments have reduced the potential for inequitable housing outcomes, there is still more that can be done to ensure equal access to websites, housing ads, special rates, and more.
We can expect to see more explicit regulations emerge in the coming year, especially with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 scheduled for release in 2021.
To learn more about Fair Housing compliance for apartment marketers, check out our post on How To Make Your Marketing Fair Housing Compliant.
Video Marketing Will Become More Affordable, But Also More Essential
For years now, marketers of all stripes have been heralding the age of video marketing, but 2020 has shown us just how essential video can be.
Though real estate brands have tended to be late adopters of new technologies, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the industry to adjust to virtual leasing strategies that bridge the conversion gap for prospects who cannot visit the property in person.
At the same time, the cost of creating high-quality video assets continues to fall, with free editing software proliferating and better cameras and microphones becoming standard on the devices we use every day.
Virtual/Video Tours
Virtual and video tours have emerged as the foremost strategy in bridging the conversion gap for people who prefer to lease 100% virtually or cannot visit a property in person. Now that the pandemic has forced real estate brands to adopt this technology, we can expect the use of video to continue growing in this area. Soon, these assets will come to be expected by prospective renters, and brands who fail to provide them will quickly fall behind their competitors.
Video Ads
The expanded use of video tours will also pave the wave for the adoption of other video asset creation, including video ads. We expect to find real estate brands who once managed without these innovations to enjoy a lower barrier to entry for video ads than existed previously and extend their learnings about the power of video tours to enter the realm of video advertising as well. Plus, with social media platforms thriving in a moment of increasingly virtual social habits, capturing attention on these platforms with the use of more engaging ad types will pay off.
A Wave of Rebrands Will Hit the Market
As competition builds in our increasingly saturated market and properties struggle to attract new renters, new developments and existing properties alike will be forced to differentiate themselves from the competition. We expect to see real estate brands put more thought into brand development in 2021 as they work to establish their key differentiators and captivate their audience with a compelling brand story.
As branding becomes more important, we expect naming to become more bold and diverse. Gone (we hope), are the days when new developments are named simply after their street address. Instead of the ubiquitous ‘University Whatsit’ or ‘Such-and-such at Garden Creeks,” we expect to see innovative naming conventions that take more risks in order to stand out from the crowd.
Likewise, amenities offerings, interior design, and the messaging surrounding them will likely be forced to innovate in order to differentiate. For example, the buzzword “luxury” will likely fall out of vogue as its ubiquity causes it to lose all meaning and a wave of COVID-impacted renters during the coming recession search for more down-to-earth and affordable brands.
These shifts will not only impact the new developments we see arriving to the market, but will also likely kick off a wave of rebrands as existing communities adapt to new market demands.
Student Living Communities Will Make the Shift to Multi-Family
With university enrollment rates continuing to drop and virtual classes becoming more common even before COVID-19 radically altered the higher learning landscape, purpose-built student housing developments are bound to slow in 2021. Not only that, but a wave of existing student housing communities have begun making the switch to multi-family, adopting a hybrid marketing approach that targets both university students and non-student renters in order to fill vacancies.
We expect this trend to continue, potentially kicking off a new era for the student housing market. After all, we’ve heard reports of universities explicitly advising students not to renew their leases or sign new ones until we know more about what next the next academic year will look like. Student living communities are likely to see slow leasing velocity in this time of uncertainty, with fewer students willing to pre-lease months in advance of their move-in date.
Addressable Campaigns Will Thrive in the Senior Housing Market
Addressable marketing is emerging as the direct mailer for the digital age. It allows ads and other media to be served to individual households across a number of personal devices—TVs, smartphones, personal computers, etc. These ads can be targeted based on consumer behaviors, allowing marketers to reach people who are most likely to convert.
After a year of mail delays and COVID concerns, we expect more senior living brands to adopt this style of marketing as a safer and more sustainable way to drive the same results direct mailers had offered—or better. We expect this trend to grow in the coming years even after COVID’s impact wanes, since seniors are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and accustomed to communicating in digital spaces.
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.
