Long-Term Care

Tip of the Week: Twelve great ways to market your facility

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, October 4, 2007

Does your nursing home's marketing plan rely heavily on a glossy four-color magazine boasting your facility's benefits? If so, you may need a more effective approach. "Marketing is not brochures. Marketing is about ideas," says Rhoda Weiss, of Rhoda Weiss & Associates.

Although marketing collateral, mission statements, and Web pages are terrific tools used to attract new customers, a successful marketing program creates awareness in the community. "Get your name out in the community as much as possible," says Weiss, who recently addressed the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Heath Care Administrators.

Weiss offers these low-cost ideas to market your facility to the community:

  • Bus local senior centers to the facility for special programs or game nights.

  • Send cards at times other than the major holidays. A card that arrives at Thanksgiving won't be lost in the shuffle like one that arrives at Christmas.

  • Conduct seminars at your facility for seniors in the community. Disseminate information on retirement planning, arthritis, insurance-anything you need to know when you turn 65.

  • Associate your name with well-respected organizations such as the police or fire departments or the PTA. Sponsor informational sessions on senior safety, CPR, or senior driving.

  • Hold a senior prom the night after the local high school prom. Invite students to chaperone.

  • Invite local art students to run a revolving art show in the facility. Students have a place to exhibit their work, and residents are greeted with new artwork every month. Hold an "opening" at the start of each new show.

  • Ask a local band or orchestra to practice at your facility before a show. The Cleveland Orchestra, for example, practices on the lawn of a nearby nursing home.

  • Set up an old-fashioned soda shop in your home-taking residents back to their earlier days.

  • If your facility is overflowing with carolers during the holiday season, ask groups to come and sing on the 25th day of every month.

  • Enlist the students at a culinary school to hold their residency program at your facility's kitchen. Guest chefs are also a big hit because they bring variety to the residents' diet.

  • Hold an open house to introduce the facility to prospective residents and referrals. Ask residents' family members to write personalized invitations.

  • Have hospitals conduct a health program for residents and employees. Provide free screening, blood pressure checks, and nutrition information.

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