by threshold | Jan 24, 2023 | General
Digital marketing should be in your real estate marketing mix if it isn’t already. Whether you’re marketing a new lease-up looking to drive brand awareness or you’ve been established for a while and want to maintain a steady online presence, your property will benefit from digital marketing. The goal for any marketing campaign is to target the right audience, optimize towards conversion rates and continue to improve on them, increase customer loyalty, and gain better credibility. We’ve compiled a list of the top 8 digital marketing trends for 2023. Let’s take a look!
Gather 1st Party Data Through Forms
The trend to own your own data is growing. Being more proactive on attaining and implementing 1st party data is paramount in today’s day and age. Digital privacy laws are in place across the globe and it shows no signs of slowing down as users are looking to big data providers to become more private with the information they share. Forms are a great way for you to own user implemented data; the form used is a great way to keep the users engaged and to have a better success rate in gathering that data.
Build Your Email Marketing List
Email Marketing is a trend that continues to rise. 89% of marketers use email marketing as their primary method for generating leads. Being able to reach out to users who have subscribed to your email list but have not bought anything yet is a great way to reconnect with an interested user. Plus, you can leverage the first party data you’ve collected to personalize content for more accurate targeting email campaigns. .
Stand Out From The Competition
With many digital applications and tools out there, finding a way to use that application or tool in a new, creative way will help when it comes to real estate marketing. To find a way to get noticed and have users engage with your marketing efforts, you have to stand out among the competition. Consumers are looking for more personalized experiences and content curated specifically for them and their interests. Focus on collecting user generated content for short-form videos for TikTok and social media posts, or utilize surveys in stories or in email marketing to encourage engagement and gain valuable insights into what your audience likes or dislikes. Don’t be afraid to get creative and try something new. The data speaks for itself and will let you know if your efforts are working and resonating with your audience.
Incorporate Real-time Messaging Feedback
Real-time messaging would not be on this list 10 years ago. Consumers expect to get information as quickly as possible, and if you are not utilizing tools that collect information and provide instant responses, you may be missing out. We’re not just talking about answering phone calls. Most consumers prefer to interact with business digitally. Make sure you’re providing communication outlets on your website (chatbots), through social media, and texting.
Get The Most Out Of Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is continuing to boom and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Through social media funnels like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, users have built “relationships” with influencers and that trustworthiness is what makes Influencer Marketing a success. As of now, ROI is about $5.50 for every $1 spent. One thing to keep in mind is that influencers are usually in niche spaces so aligning your product to their channels is ideal or your message may fall flat among their audience. Want to dive deeper into how utilizing influencers in your marketing strategy can benefit you? Check out our blog about How The Rise of Influencer Marketing Could Enhance Your Real Estate Marketing.
Provide Online Shopping Gratification
Similar to real-time messaging, consumers want what they want, and they want it now. We recommend removing any blockers that will hinder the customer’s online journey and cause them to look elsewhere. Utilize data from Google Analytics to understand where customers are dropping off on your website and find out ways to help answer questions that might stop them from buying. For example, offer virtual tours on your website or provide video walk-throughs for those who are not able to meet in-person, ensure you have a functioning website and applicant portal, and provide information on your website for those frequently asked questions, like pet fees, parking fees, etc..
Digital Marketing Agencies Are Growing
Outsourcing is a great way to get more done and free up your leasing teams to complete the most important step; converting the lead into a lease. Don’t let limited in-house resources hold you back from expanding upon your marketing efforts. Outsourcing to marketing agencies, like Threshold, could be the difference in small to large growth in your first year. When trying to find the best real estate marketing agency for your goals, consider Why You Don’t Need a Local Real Estate Marketing Agency Partner when making your decision.
Chatbots Increase User Experience
Building upon real-time messaging, Chatbots also have had time to mature. They help answer FAQs, collect first-party data, and provide the user instant information in a digestible way. Plus, they can take care of some of the communication that doesn’t need involvement from a real person, like scheduling a tour.
by threshold | Dec 29, 2022 | Digital Marketing, General, Marketing, Tech/Web
 Ava Page
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What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of utilizing optimized content in order to improve your ranking on search engines and increase traffic to your website. The best ways to ensure this practice is completed at maximum success are to create high-quality content, ensure quick load time for your website, and create a user-friendly website across all platforms.
Why should I focus on SEO?
The bottom line is that SEO is what will make your website visible, and will in turn ensure long-term equity for your business or brand. Higher visibility will result in higher organic traffic for your site, all without spending a dime on advertising.
Improving your SEO rankings is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to drive traffic to your site. 65% of users who search on Google say they will choose organic results over ads, proving that securing a solid SEO campaign can be more effective than paid ads in this arena.
What SEO content should be included on my website?
At Threshold, we happen to know a thing or two about SEO. In fact, it’s pretty much our specialty. So much so, that we’re offering some insight on the top ways to ensure SEO success for your business or brand and how we provide for our clients on custom websites, social media management, and other digital marketing services.
Alt-text
First things first, it’s worth noting that 22.6% of Google searches come from image searches, hence the importance of your website images’ SEO.
Alt-text – sometimes referred to as alt tags or alt attributes – is an included written description of an image within the website. This helps in giving your site and its images a higher search engine ranking, as it enhances the accessibility of your site.
Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions allow you to provide a snippet or summary of your website and all its pages to be shown in the SERP (search engine results page).
A good meta description will entice viewers to click on your page in search engines, increasing your CTR (click-through rate), organic traffic, and lead generation.
Without effective meta descriptions, search engines will rank your website lower, and those potential viewers who do make it down to your listing will turn away from site descriptions that don’t interest them.
Page titles
We’ve all heard not to judge a book by its cover, but in most cases, it’s inevitable.
Page titles on a website are no different! When creating your page titles, you must be sure to let your clients know what they’re searching for, while also drawing their interest.
As far as page titles go for SEO, it’s a pretty similar idea. Search engines are never going to prioritize a website without clear page titles to indicate where they are sending their users.
Keywords
Keywords are where things can get tricky in SEO, and why we recommend you leave it to the professionals – like us!
However, for the sake of giving you a better understanding of why we do what we do when choosing keywords, we’ll let you in on some tricks of the trade.
Keywords are what most often will attract users to your website in search engines. Think about what clients will be plugging into their search engines when looking for a business such as your own – these are the starting points for choosing your keywords.
Another tricky part of keywords is knowing how many to include per page, per site. Include too little, and search engines won’t recognize your site. Include too many, and search engines will avoid promoting your sites due to spam triggers.
Lucky for you, keyword research and implementation are a huge part of our premium SEO services when creating our custom websites.
Linking
Whether it’s to provide examples, deeper dives into the information you’re promoting, or simply linking to other locations within your own website, this is a step you’ll want to pay attention to. Both internal and external links let search engines know that your information is relatable, and oftentimes, verified.
Mobile-friendly
Creating a website that is user-friendly across all devices is something that will contribute largely to your SEO rankings, and it’s because of one simple fact: nearly 60% of online users access the web using a mobile device.
Gone are the days of simply using laptops and desktops to access the internet, and mobile-friendly websites are here to stay. Google and other search engines are simply not going to prioritize a website that isn’t designed with the majority of online users in mind.
This is why creating a mobile-friendly website isn’t something that can be pushed to the back burner to be resolved later – it’s something to look at now, or else your SEO rankings will suffer exponentially as a result.
Before you go
Don’t forget, we’re experts when it comes to crafting high ranking SEO friendly custom websites, and we are here to help! Reach out to a CSM or any of our team members to get started on taking your website’s SEO to the next level, and see an increase in traffic, and watch the leads roll in.
For more tips and information about digital and real estate marketing, take a look at the rest of our blogs, right here on our website! You can also subscribe to our email newsletter, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
by threshold | Mar 15, 2022 | Creative, Design, General, Marketing, Thought Leadership
As a real estate marketing agency based in Austin, we know how fun it can be to work with new developments in Austin. We know the Austin vibe. We know the districts and street names and how an Austinite would talk about them. We know what kinds of apartments and amenities and common in the market because we’ve searched for apartments in Austin ourselves. We have insider knowledge and insider passion about the Austin market. It can streamline the discovery process and inspire us to do excellent work in collaboration with our clients.
But do you want to hear a secret? Sometimes a local marketing agency isn’t the best pick. In fact, you can typically get the same quality of work—if not sometimes better—from a marketing agency partner outside the local market.
There are multiple reasons for this and they all come back to trade-offs. Yes, when you hire a local marketing agency, you’re likely getting certain advantages due to first-hand knowledge of the area. However, you’re also likely to suffer a variety of disadvantages affecting everything from pricing to the quality of work and the speed of your lease-up.
Wondering if a local marketing agency is right for your new development project? Let’s discuss some of the reasons why a local real estate marketing agency may not be your best pick. Along the way, you’ll also get crucial insights into what you should look for in a marketing partner when choosing between local and remote options.
Market Research Trumps Local Know-How
First-hand knowledge is an asset, there’s no denying it. But thorough market research is ultimately more important when it comes to making strategic marketing decisions. Local marketing agencies sometimes cut out the market research and discovery step entirely, believing they already know all they need to know to succeed in the market. Nine times out of ten, this is a huge mistake.
Market research and discovery is indispensable because it remains objective. When we have first-hand experience of something, we often feel we have the full picture, but really the picture is only as complete as our limited subjective view can make it. As a real estate marketing agency in Austin, we have many Austinites on our team, but not one of them has the complete picture of Austin demographics, rent rates, competitors, brand trends, local history, or current events without looking some things up. That’s why market research is so important. All these factors influence the success of new housing developments in Austin, especially due to the highly competitive nature of the housing market.
If you are considering a local real estate marketing partner, be sure to ask about their market research and discovery process first. Their answer could illuminate just how objective their process is and how deep they’ll dig to find the inspiration for out-of-the-box marketing strategies that will help you stand out from the crowd. Speaking of standing out…
Fresh Perspectives Create Innovative Outcomes
If marketers aren’t careful, we can easily rehash the same ideas time and time again. It’s only natural when we work on many projects that have similar goals and similar audiences. Out-of-the-box thinking doesn’t come naturally; it takes commitment and collaboration to pursue truly innovative ideas that stand out from the market.
The risk of in-the-box thinking is that much higher when working in a market that you are intimately familiar with. While you may have an advantage when it comes to ideas that resonate with your local market, you also have blinders on due to the natural inclination to focus on what’s familiar. It’s called confirmation bias; our brains tend to gravitate toward what coheres with our existing beliefs and experiences and ignore what doesn’t fit. This bias can be that much harder to overcome when we are so immersed in the familiarity of our own local market.
On the flipside, an outside perspective can provide a more reliable and efficient route to innovative ideas. From your brand’s look and feel to print marketing strategies to how you build your website, a non-local marketing partner may have the broader perspective and variety of experience that helps push you and your team out of your comfort zone and into marketing strategies that stand out from the crowd to drive buzz, loyalty, and leases.
If you’re considering working with a local agency, be sure to ask for examples of past work. This will help you assess how much range they have and their capacity for innovation within your local market. If their work samples all have a similar look and feel, that should be a red flag. It may also help to ask specifically about the most innovative project they have worked on so you can immediately get a sense of their potential for out-of-the-box ideas.
Local Agencies Have Fewer Resources
Because local marketing agencies tend to be smaller boutique agencies, they may or may not have the same resources that you’d find at an agency serving multiple markets. This is true in some areas more than others. For example, a local agency may have contacts with all the local printing vendors, but fewer digital marketing resources like a CTV marketing platform or a Google Premier Partnership.
Even when a local agency has plenty of local contacts to leverage for all your new development’s real estate marketing needs, you may not be getting the biggest bang for your buck. This is simply because local vendors tend to have local networks with fewer options overall, meaning they are less equipped to shop around and ensure a low rate in order to pass the savings along to you. An agency that serves markets across the country (or even across the globe) is likely to have a broader network of options as well as time-saving and cost-saving resources that allow them to promise more affordable rates. For example, at Threshold we have an established network of print vendors, audience databases, digital marketing partners, and more that we leverage to provide seamless outcomes for our clients while keeping costs low.
If you are considering working with a local real estate marketing agency, be sure to ask about not just their pricing but also their network of vendors for print and environmental graphics, digital marketing campaigns, videography and photography, video editing, and anything else your new development may need to establish great brand awareness and an accelerated lease-up.
by threshold | Jan 25, 2022 | Creative, Design, General, Marketing, Thought Leadership
Written by Kathy Jones, Agency Operations Manager
With an ever changing real estate industry, developing a real estate marketing plan informed by strategic thinking is absolutely essential to be able to stand out from your competitors. When it comes to your print marketing strategy, you may feel that your number one goal is to create the perfect flyer or brochure that your team can distribute in high traffic areas. However, what happens next when the prospect receives and reads the flyer is oftentimes an afterthought. In reality, it takes careful consideration of the full leasing/sales journey to create print assets that really make an impact on your prospects.
While COVID-19 brought a large decrease in the number of prospects touring leasing offices and sales centers in person, that number is quickly on the rise again and so is print marketing. Since the real estate industry is quickly changing, your strategic plan should also be changing. Your vision will likely remain the same but your goals should be frequently reviewed. For most clients to the real estate industry, the enduring vision is to impact your bottom line (e.g. improving occupancy rates or increasing revenue), but you can’t get there unless you set more specific, granular goals along the way. For example, one goal might be to increase the number of leases or sales contracts that are signed each month. In order for you to achieve that goal, you need to build a hand-crafted strategy that will push prospects into your leasing office or sales center to close the deal.
Every community is different. One might have a great location where others might have strong brand awareness in their market. If your community is located in a great location, guerilla marketing can be a great supplement to your existing digital marketing. But what happens once your prospect receives your flyer? The prospect will likely view your website and head into your leasing office or sales center for a tour.
Furthermore, your strategic plan shouldn’t end once the prospect walks through the door. A well thought out tour is your next step. In what order should property information be presented to your prospect? In most cases, this is the order of operations that yields the best results:
- Property overview
- Apartment amenities
- Community amenities
- Property location
- Floor plan types
This gives prospects the ability to get to know your property and hopefully be wowed by amenities so they’re already picturing themselves living in your community and exploring the local neighborhood by the time you get down to the specifics of floor plan options. This makes many prospects eager to lock down a specific floor plan as you broach this subject with them during your tour.
Leasing offices and sales centers are likely your last chance to wow your prospect and can make or break your prospect’s likelihood of signing a lease. You may have a well thought out strategy to get them in the office and a tour strategy that piques their interest, but what is really going to make you stand out from the crowd? Creating an experience that will resonate is key, so environmental graphics within your leasing/sales center are important factors in sealing the deal. Living green walls, Instagram walls with neon signs, or custom corkboards where you can add photos of prospects signing are all unique ways to achieve that wow factor. If you stay on top of trends, you won’t be surprised. In fact, you’ll be far ahead of others because you’ll have had years to strategize and adapt, so that when disruption hits, you not only have a plan, but are already implementing it.
by threshold | Oct 26, 2021 | Digital Marketing, General, Marketing, Tech/Web
The housing market can be a difficult place for Class C and D properties. With older construction, less flashy amenities, and less affluent neighborhoods with fewer public services and attractions, Class C and D properties can struggle to appeal to prospective renters. And with plenty of new developments filling out the ranks of A- and B-Class properties, the competition can seem especially stiff.
But the truth is, there’s a market for C- and D-Class communities; the challenge simply lies in figuring out how to tap into it. From our years of experience in apartment marketing across a variety of property classes, we’ve never met a community we couldn’t connect with the right audience, even amid waves of new starts offering additional competition. If you have a C- or D-Class property you’re struggling to market effectively, here are our top four tips toward better apartment marketing results.
Understand Your Audience
If you’re asking yourself why anyone would choose to live at a C- or D-Class property when there are so many A- and B-Class communities out there, you may be overlooking entire sections of the American renter audience. Understanding who your audience is and what motivates them is the first step to a successful real estate marketing strategy.
Start by letting go of your assumptions. Although you may be starting with some good ideas, it’s also important to overcome any potential bias you may have about your audience, especially if you’ve never lived in a C- or D-Class apartment community yourself and therefore lack this insider perspective.
Instead of operating on your own assumptions, it’s time to do some research. First and foremost, get out there and ask actual people what motivates them when choosing where to live. Conducting quick surveys on the street in the neighborhood surrounding your community is an excellent place to start. If you have trouble finding participants, offering to enter people into a drawing for a prize can help overcome this hurdle. You can also send surveys online, gathering responses through services like Survey Monkey or Qualtrics.
In addition to this on-the-ground research, research the demographic and sociographic information of your neighborhood. You might be surprised how much information you can find for free online. One tool we often use is the ESRI Tapestry Segmentation profiles, which provides demographic and sociographic info for over 60 different audience segments in the US. ESRI also has an in-browser Know Your Neighborhood app which allows you to look up audience segmentation info by zip code (scroll down and click “Explore Your Zip Code”).
Don’t Be Afraid of the Word “Affordable”
Now that you’ve ditched your biases in favor of a data-driven approach, it’s time to overcome another common instinct we tend to see among apartment marketers, owners, and property managers. If you’re afraid of the word “affordable,” you’re far from alone. But avoiding this term doesn’t serve you or your audience.
The truth is, one of the primary reasons some residents are drawn to Class C and Class D communities is because they know they’ll get a better deal that suits their budget. For many, cutting-edge amenities and brand new interiors are simply out of their price range, or they’d prefer to save the extra money they’d otherwise spend on these nice-to-haves and instead focus on the essentials. Don’t snub this audience by avoiding terms like “cheap” and “affordable” like they are dirty words. In nearly every market, keyword research shows that search terms including the words “cheap,” “affordable,” and “low cost” get plenty of search volume, revealing just how many are interested in precisely that. By including these words in your website and ad copy, you help this audience weed out the communities that don’t fit their needs and find a community that is perfect for them—namely, yours.
Just in case you still have some hesitation, consider this: There certainly are those for whom “cheap” and “affordable” carry negative connotations. Some prospects will indeed see those terms and use that as a reason to not click on your ad or your website. But this is actually a good thing. The more you qualify your audience by connecting with people who actually want what you offer, the less time, energy, and money you waste on prospects who are more likely to look elsewhere.
Show Your Online Reputation Some Love
Class C and D properties tend to be on the older side, which means you’ve had plenty of time to accumulate reviews—and we all know people are more likely to leave a review when angry than when they’re satisfied. Plus, older communities tend to face added maintenance challenges, which are common catalysts for negative online reviews, even if those challenges are resolved later. Not only that, but for Class C and D properties who are in neighborhoods that enjoy less financial stability and less access to public services tend to face higher instances of on-site vandalism, theft, and other crimes, which is also a common reason that some upset residents are inspired to take their concerns online.
These overlapping factors can all come together to spell disaster for your online reputation if you’re not careful. But there’s a lot you can do to turn your reputation around and show residents both current and future that you care. To see the tips we’ve compiled from our own Reputation Management experts, check out the posts below.
How To Make Online Property Reviews Work for You
How to Give a Boost to Your Business’ Online Reputation
Enhance Your Online Visibility
Do you have a modern website? Updated Google My Business page? Social media accounts? Active search ads? Just because your building may be older doesn’t mean your marketing tactics have to be. These days, nearly every housing search begins online, so enhancing your online visibility is one of the quickest ways to connect with your audience.
For starters, be sure to keep your Google My Business page up to date. Even if you don’t have a shiny new website with great UX, simply having an up-to-date GMB page with accurate contact information, leasing office hours, and property photos helps make you visible to the wide range of prospects who begin their apartment search on Google.
If you don’t have that shiny new website with great UX we mentioned, it might be time for an update. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but an outdated website with broken links and missing information is easy for prospects to spot and likely to disqualify you early on in a prospect’s buyer journey. If building a new website from scratch isn’t in the cards, consider at least creating a single landing page with all your most important information and links to apply online. A single landing page can be cheaper, quicker, and sometimes just as effective as a multi-page website.
Finally, get in front of your audience with strategic ad campaigns. For example, YouTube ads are a great awareness tactic, especially for Gen Z and Millennial prospects. And you don’t have to have stunning photography or videography assets to make them work for you—stock photography and videography, paired with upbeat music and a compelling message can be all you need to make a difference. Geofencing may also be a useful tactic to reach more renters who may already be living or working in your neighborhood and looking for a place to live. And Google Search Ads are a must for driving site traffic and conversions among prospects who are actively searching for housing.
by threshold | Oct 12, 2021 | Digital Marketing, General, Marketing
Gone are the days when senior living was a monolith (if those days ever indeed existed). Where once the ideas of the “retirement community” and the “nursing home” were all seniors had to look forward to, now adults of retirement age have more of the options they deserve. Nowadays, Assisted Living and Memory Care communities are joined by Independent Living and a new boom of Active Adult housing that is quickly becoming the new face of senior living.
As senior living options expand, so too have the types of people senior apartment marketers must appeal to. In fact, senior housing has long had two primary audiences: folks of retirement age for whom living independently has become difficult and—sometimes more directly—the adult children of seniors who are looking for a home where their parents will be cared for. Now, in addition to these two groups, senior housing caters to additional segments, such as adults seeking to downsize after years of home ownership but not in need of additional care or a place to “slow down.”
As new developments and new generations of seniors converge to redefine the market, senior apartment marketers may well be due for an updated look at the expanded and shifting audiences their branding, creative assets, and digital tactics must now appeal to. Perhaps due to these recent shifts (exacerbated, no doubt, by garden-variety ageism), misconceptions still very much plague the industry of senior apartment marketing. So let’s take a deep dive into some of the primary audiences of senior living and what motivates their housing choices.
The Audience of Active Adult Housing
Active Adult housing communities typically attract seniors who have recently reached retirement age (55+) and live independently on a day-to-day basis without the need for additional care. This type of housing community is a relative newcomer to the senior living industry and has represented the bulk of new developments in recent years. Active Adult communities often focus on lifestyle conveniences and concierge-style services along with abundant programming and resident events to provide a sense of tight-knit community and exciting opportunities that outweigh the benefits of owning a single-family home.
With this audience typically consisting of adults around 55-75, it’s primarily Boomers and a few older Gen Xers who are likely targets for Active Adult marketing. This group tends not to see itself as “old” and even though they are so-called “retirement age,” they aren’t always retirees. What defines them as a group is their motivation to downsize, find community, and enjoy the conveniences of renting (like maintenance and added amenities). This decision often comes after parents become “empty nesters” after years of living in a single-family home where they raised their children. This group typically has one or more sources of income without relying exclusively on social security and similar programs. On a related note, this group is predominately affluent and white, resulting partly from the fact that most of today’s Active Living communities primarily cater to a luxurious lifestyle at a higher price point than many can afford, especially adults of color who are impacted by significant wealth and income inequality.
According to ESRI data, this group has the following additional characteristics:
- They frequently use the internet to read up on the news, shop online, and use social media.
- They are generous supporters of the arts and charitable organizations.
- They subscribe to cable TV, enjoying news, sports, and on-demand movies.
- They often use professional services like housekeeping to minimize their household chores.
- They pursue a variety of leisure activities like tennis, golf, boating, fishing, and reading.
- They live active social lives, enjoying museums, live shows, and travel.
- They prioritize a healthy lifestyle, aspiring to good nutrition and fitness habits.
- They are likely to have some college education or even a graduate degree.
The Audiences of Independent Living
Independent Living communities offer some additional care and services to help aging adults live primarily independent lives. These services include things like housekeeping, security, meals, transportation, and access to on-site personal care and health services. Often (but not always), Independent Living communities are combined with Assisted Living and Memory Care communities, making it easy to acquire additional care as needed as these residents age.
While this group includes adults with disabilities at a variety of age groups (some as young as 55), the primary audience for this sector of senior living is older Boomers and members of the Silent Generation (around 70-90 years old). This group doesn’t necessarily live with disabilities, and those that do may be able to manage them without special assistance most of the time. Even so, this group is motivated by the added conveniences of a service-oriented approach to senior living, where things like meals and housekeeping may be taken care of.
This audience includes those who may not be as affluent as those who live in Active Adult communities, but they are still disproportionately likely to be white (compared to the US average). This is likely due to the same systemic wealth and income gaps mentioned before, alongside the fact that younger generations of Americans are more diverse overall than older Americans.
According to ESRI Data, this group also has the following characteristics:
- They are politically engaged, often contributing to political organizations and causes they are passionate about.
- They prefer entertainment options like book clubs, crosswords, sudoku, and card games.
- They enjoy cable TV, including premium channels like HBO, and often watch news, movies, sports, and history channels.
- They use the internet for news and social media, but still prefer to do some things in person, like shopping and banking.
- They like to travel, including visits to foreign countries.
- They shop at large retail chains like Sears, Target and Walmart, appreciating these options for their convenience.
- They are health-conscious, with shopping often including exercise equipment, health foods, and supplements.
These seniors are not the only audience Independent Living marketers must appeal to, however. In many cases, the adult children of these seniors are also involved in the housing decision for this group. In some cases, they are even the primary decision-makers, though often they work collaboratively with their parents to come to a final decision.
This group of adult children is primarily composed of Gen Xers and younger Boomers (around 40-60 years old), though it is also beginning to include a small segment of elder Millennials in their late 30s. When this group is involved in the housing search for their senior parents, they are motivated to find safe communities with a high quality of care at the best possible value.
According to ESRI Data, this group also has the following characteristics:
- They prioritize convenience, reliability, and comfort over cutting edge bells and whistles.
- They tend to live in single-family homes, often in and around large metropolitan areas.
- They are budget-conscious and value-oriented, especially when it comes to choosing the ideal long-term home for their aging parents.
- Many have children of their own who are currently in school and financially dependent on them.
- They rely on the internet for news, social media, shopping, banking, and entertainment.
- They entertain themselves with movies and TV, online gaming, family-friendly activities, and outdoor recreation.
The Audiences of Assisted Living & Memory Care
The audiences of Assisted Living and Memory Care communities have significant overlap with the audiences of Independent Living discussed above, though they tend to skew older as they primarily serve aging adults in need of daily care. Assisted Living communities feature additional care and more regular staff interaction compared to Independent Living. These additional services may include helping residents keep up with their health routines, appointments, and medications, assisting with shopping, and helping with bathing and grooming. Memory Care covers many of these same needs, plus an added focus on assisting seniors with memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, and other forms of dementia. Environmental safety and round-the-clock care are priorities of these communities in order to assist those whose dementia causes confusion and interferes with independent functioning.
These groups of seniors tend to be members of the Silent Generation, as well as some older Boomers. They typically have one or more disabilities that create barriers to living alone on a day-to-day basis, although their needs can vary widely and many prefer to remain independent in many respects, accepting additional care only where they cannot avoid it. Some seniors in Assisted Living and Memory Care communities have partners, but many are singles living on their own. For more information on these seniors, see the section on Independent Living above.
Because of the specific needs this group of seniors faces, their adult children tend to be even more involved in their senior housing search than in the case of independent living. Appealing to this audience of adult children is especially important when designing senior living marketing for Memory Care communities. For more information on this group of Gen Xers and younger Boomers, see the Independent Living section above.
