Marketing

Given the response to last week's post about the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court, I've decided there's only one way to make this week's blog as successful in terms of readers and story hits. I'm going to talk about the individual mandate ... for felines.

Winter, especially in colder climates, can take a toll on anyone's mood. The cure for one upstate New York assisted living community is an unconventional one: a good old-fashioned snowball fight.

A few months ago, I called up a nursing facility that was embroiled in a legal snafu. I'm not sure I was able to utter an audible response to its marketing representative since I was busy hitting my palm against my forehead.

It is a well-known fact that our nation is aging rapidly. However, a recently released census brief, "Age and Sex Composition: 2010," revealed remarkable findings. The study found that in the last decade, the male population grew much faster than the female population in the 60-plus age group. Understanding this demographic shift and responding to it appropriately will bring new opportunities to long-term care companies.

To harness the potential of the burgeoning eldercare market, companies will need to move away from their traditional communications tactics and enter the new age of marketing. I am not necessarily talking about big budgets and large-scale advertising, but rather about innovative communications campaigns.