Ken Robbins

By the day, more and more baby boomers are becoming the adult caregivers for their parents. They are the decision-makers who need to be targeted, but marketers for long-term care facilities are still missing out. Too often they look at boomers the same way as the retiring generation of 20- or 30-years ago, and yet they couldn’t be more different.

Boomers are more active, more social and more interested in healthy pursuits than any generation before. They want to be on the move and when you’re marketing to them, they need to see themselves. A 55-year-old looks at herself much differently than a 65-year-old or a 75-year-old. For baby boomers, it means taking away the grey hair and static lifestyle. Liven up the imagery and show them interacting in real-world situations. Embrace the way boomers live and what they’re looking for while planning for the future.

Technology is not just for the millennial. Boomers utilize the Internet to the tune of $7 billion per year spent online. How does your community plan to engage them? These are customers who are not just using a computer at home in the den; they are also using smartphones and tablets in rapidly rising numbers. It helps them research and form their own opinions, but they also want honest reviews that give them the good and bad before they make decisions.

LTC and assisted-living facilities are doing a decent job with Internet marketing, but could be doing so much better. If engaging boomers is really the desired outcome — as it should be — then keep these three things in mind:  

Provide clever solutions — Show boomers you know how to answer their problems. They naturally worry about the time away from the family and have a fear of abandonment. Put their anxiety to rest by giving them solutions to keep them connected. Whether the adult child boomer is the caregiver or the one being taken care of, they know how to use the Internet. Offer up alternative ways to connect with the family like Skype and texting, and provide better Internet access throughout all facilities.


Keep the communication lines open — Monitoring and reporting is one of the biggest areas where LTC facilities can make an impression. Show how loved ones will be updated, and be creative. Find ways to send weekly individualized texts and emails to give a snapshot of what is going well, what needs to be improved and what’s coming up. And be honest — talk about what needs to be improved by the facility as well.  

Get them out and about — Active, active, active. Remember? That’s how boomers see themselves and they don’t want to miss out on anything. Show on your website how they will still have events to go to and places to visit. Provide unique offers for the family to join and visit more often to help offset the abandonment issue.

These actions show value and help build trust with Boomers, the one thing they must have to create a better buy-in. Put the information in their hands to persuade and motivate them. Make your website a two-way street for communication and they will want to engage you more.

 

Ken Robbins leads Response Mine Interactive (RMI) under the foundational principle that wielding meaningful data can create the efficient acquisition of the right customers.