According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the home health industry will see a 47% increase in workforce between 2016 and 2026, adding nearly four million jobs.  This great business opportunity for home healthcare providers brings with it increased competition. Your home healthcare marketing strategy must encompass many channels, and each channel needs to be addressed in a unique way to optimize your effectiveness.  To help you navigate, here is part one of a two-part blog with some essential marketing strategies and tips.

Strategy: Tighten Your Message

• Crystallize your brand – look at your brand with fresh eyes. What sets you apart from your competition?  Are you articulating your unique position in your logo, tag lines or slogans, content and graphics?
• Personalize your message – putting the well-being of someone you love into the hands of another is one of the most difficult decisions a person can make. Make sure the individual who is receiving your message feels as though you are speaking to him or her. For example:
  • at least 75% of all caregivers are female who spend possibly as much as 50% more time providing care than males.
  • the decision maker you are addressing varies. Ask yourself, is the person receiving your marketing piece the elderly spouse of someone who needs care or the child of that person?

Break your target audience down by demographic factors.  Where possible, develop several tweaked messages based upon the specific demographics for each of your subsegments and include content and graphics that speak directly to each one.

Strategy: Work Your Channels Synergistically

• Social Media – while a high percentage of business will come from referrals, individuals will still do their homework to research your company. Social media is the perfect place to build brand awareness on a daily basis while constructing a story that can be told to prospects interested in your services.  It does take time and resources, so you will want to define how you are going to use each channel in your home healthcare marketing strategy to best present your brand.  Here are some suggestions:
  • Facebook and Instagram are perfect places to show the “human” side of your brand. You can post the daily happenings such as entertainment and outings, employee recognition, awards won, or your community outreach activity.
  • Twitter is a great place to become an expert in your field by providing helpful tips for individuals caring for their aging parents, and for health care providers assisting families making tough life choices regarding a loved one.
  • LinkedIn is your company’s online resume so make sure it covers the business side of things. For example, you should include a company bio, the scope of services you offer, how long you’ve been in business, number of employees and how your human resources are distributed, and a link to the LinkedIn pages of your top executives and some of the employees (hint: make sure any employees associated with the company have an impressively completed LinkedIn profile).
• Direct Mail – direct mail is an opportunity to speak directly to your prospective market. While you don’t know the exact moment a family member will choose to reach out on behalf of an ailing relative, there are demographic selections available to narrow this subsegment to the most likely prospects.  This makes your effort highly effective and cost efficient.
• email – many of the same demographics that are available for direct mail are also available for email. email marketing used in tandem with direct mail marketing and social channels is a great way to create a drip campaign that moves your prospective audience up in exposure to your brand.
• Print Advertising – print publications in trade magazines keep you top of mind to healthcare providers, but local publications that are distributed to healthcare provider offices give great brand exposure to a targeted audience.
• Networking – traditional but true! Having a relationship with individuals who manage and work at your organization is one of the key selling tools for engaging prospects who must either make a healthcare decision for a loved one or are asked for a reference.  A hint here, don’t limit your networkers to just the execs.  Lower level managers and your healthcare workers are where the rubber meets the road. They give a front-line representation of who makes up your brand and are wonderful ambassadors for your business.

We have more tips for your home healthcare marketing!  Check back next week for strategies you can employ to get ultimate success for your marketing efforts.

Happy marketing!