How to market your home care business to gain more clients online

I recently came across an AARP article that read 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day. The article pointed out that the trend would continue for the next 20 years. We can’t deny that society is aging. As technology advances, our life expectancy has increased, which results in people living longer lives. Needless to say, the home care industry is booming and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

By now, I’m sure you know that managing a home care business isn’t easy. It’s a must that you equip yourself and your team with medical and entrepreneurial skills. With so many responsibilities like recruitment, scheduling, sales, marketing, etc. You almost have to run twice as fast to keep up.

As a business owner, you need to make sure your team of caregivers are professionally trained and are complying with local and federal law, etc… Your focus needs to be on providing the best services to your existing clients. All while attracting new clients and referrals.

This article will help with one of the most important factors in growing a home care business – marketing.

Marketing For Home Care Companies

Here are the top 15 effective marketing channels for your home care agency:

• Digital marketing
• SEO
• Print & Branded Goods
• Professional Referrals
• Community Events & Networking
• Parketing
• Social media marketing
• Create an informative website
• Online directories
• Run paid ads online
• Community Events & Networking
• Newsletter
• Conduct seminars and talks
• Use video marketing
• Email marketing campaigns 

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is a powerful tool that is used to grow your home care business. Digital Marketing Strategies can help generate new leads and increase the visibility of your services, which in turn means more revenue, but it also has other benefits as well. DIfferent aspects of Digital Marketing like SEO and blogging helps people and potential clients find information about home care efficiently and conveniently.

SEO and Blogging is a strategic way home health care agencies establish themselves as experts in the home care industry. Digital marketing strategies offer many advantages over traditional forms of advertising.

Here are a few:

• Reach thousands of people with a single click
• Get your marketing messages across in minutes
• Quickly detect trends and flaws in your marketing strategy, Utilizing analytics to better your marketing.
• Better for focusing on a specific audience.

It’s no secret that Digital marketing provides higher visibility due to the fact that 85% of Americans have some type of smartphone or tablet.

While digital marketing might be the raining champ when reaching an audience, other traditional advertising methods like Community Events & Networking score higher on the “personal touch” scale. Meaning, Potential clients feel more comfortable conversing with an agency owner face to face and probably feel more inclined to refer the business. 

In our day-to-day lives, we use Google to find out any-and everything, we use social media to learn about other people’s personal lives, and we read blogs to learn about topics we are interested in. Thus, we can honestly say that using digital marketing strategies to help boost your home care’s visibility is almost a necessity.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is one of the more crucial types of marketing. It’s about increasing the quality and quantity of your website traffic. If you want to increase the brand visibility of your home care business and reach more people online, you want to consider SEO.

SEO increases search presence on giant search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, etc. SEO professionals implement various techniques such as title optimization, meta description optimization, header tags, content optimization, etc. One of the main goals of SEO is to improve the website’s functionality and user experience. This way, users coming to the website will have a hassle-free experience and easy navigation. SEO isn’t just about ranking higher on giant search engines like Google and Bing. It’s also about providing valuable information to your website’s visitors and adding value to their lives.

By providing a quality user experience and content that adds value, visitors will spend more time on your website, which signals that your website is valuable and deserves to be on the front pages of Google and other search engines. This is how search engines decide who deserves to go on the front pages of Google.

There are over a million websites online today. SEO is a process that takes time, patience, and strategy. Getting your website on the front pages of major search engines can take months or even years. However, the rewards are worth the wait. According to Moz.com (an SEO expert website), Pages on the First-page of google capture 71% of search clicks, and the pages on the Second-page result in a little below 6% of all website clicks.

Print & Branded Goods

Advertising through printed media is a traditional yet also effective marketing method. When it comes to print marketing, you have multiple options. You can market your business in local newspapers, magazines, or via branded goods.

Creating high-quality copy and graphics is very important when you consider print marketing via magazines or newspapers. The graphics and copy will determine the effectiveness of your marketing. If marketing budget is not the problem for you, you can even consider investing in branded goods. This includes branded pens, notebooks, note pads, temporary tattoos, water tumblers, etc.

Here are a few Print platforms located in PA Counties that you can advertise on immediately.

• Delco Transportation 
• Philadelphia Inquirer
• Septa Transportation
• Delcotimes
• buckscountycouriertimes
• Montgomery County Transportation
• Montgomery County News

It’s no secret that Elderly adults still prefer traditional ways of communication. What better way to reach them through newspapers and magazines. With a little creativity, you can come up with some amazing advertisements. If your budget allows it – invest in both digital and traditional! You never know what will work best for your home care business and its target audience.

Professional Referrals

Another way to grow your home care business is by getting professional referrals. Unlike other marketing strategies like print marketing, branded goods, etc., this marketing method is cost-effective. To start getting referrals for your business, first, you need to work on building and growing your professional network.

There are various strategies you can use to build a professional network. It would help if you made hospital & clinic visits in your local area. Making a good relationship with nurses is a great way to start. You can ask them to be put in touch with the discharge planner in the department etc.

Community Events & Networking

If professional connections/referrals are like in-person B2B marketing, community events are like in-person B2C marketing. The Homecare industry is a human industry. Thus you cannot rely solely on online marketing. As a business owner, you need to get out into the local community and connect with people. There are several potential events and activities you can join to increase your business brand awareness. You can start participating in your local senior expo, networking at a Chamber of Commerce event, cheering on the crowd for Walk For Alzheimer’s, etc.

Besides that, you can meet people in your neighborhood and connect with them. In short, the more you network and tell people about your business, the more chances of getting clients. In a community or networking event, it can be a good idea to distribute branded goods. People love freebies. Distributing marketing materials won’t just help you connect with people but will also help you build your brand. You can distribute items like pens, notepads, etc. These items should have your brand name.

At events, you will have the opportunity to meet so many people. You will also come across people who don’t even know that home care is an option for aging loved ones. This is your chance to educate them on how home care works and how it can benefit their loved ones.

Overall, if you can’t be the people’s person your business needs, hire personnel to help you network and build relationships. ( Sometimes even a home care marketer )

Parketing

This word is the combination of – parking and marketing. Under this marketing method, your vehicle would work as a billboard. Firstly, you will need to get in touch with a graphic designer and get your car wrapped. Take and park your car where you can get maximum eyeballs.

For example, you can drive your wrapped car to a high foot traffic area like a business district, shopping mall, etc. Then, park it at a spot so that your business can get maximum eyeballs. This marketing method can be really effective in driving local audiences to your business. You can even take your wrapped car to the community event. This will grab maximum attention. In short, the more eyeballs your vehicle gets, the more inquiries you are likely to get.

Create an informative website

A website is not just something you purchase to brag to your friends about. Your website should be informative and should help your visitors solve problems and make decisions.

Though seniors aren’t internet savvy, their kids and grandkids are. People are more likely to head over to Google when looking for a home care business. To build an online presence, one of the important investments you need to make is creating an informative website. You can publish content covering topics your target audience might look for in the search engine.

The user experience visitors get from your website will create a significant impact on the conversion rate. Thus, it’s important to leave a lasting impression with high-quality content and amazing website design.

List your home care business in online directories.

A simple yet effective task to help you generate many leads for your home care business is listing it on online directories (AKA Backlinks). There are tons of free and paid web directories out there. Consider listing it more on directories within your niche – hospital- home care – health care. Yellow Page is a well-known online directory. Listing your business in quality online directories won’t just help you generate more leads but will also improve your local SEO efforts. Directory listing is one of the crucial parts of search engine optimization.

Run paid ads online

If you don’t want to wait for organic results, consider running online advertising campaigns. This is the quickest way to drive results. For running paid ads, there are different online platforms out there. Make sure to use those that have your audience. To promote your home care business through paid ads, you can use Facebook or Google Ads. Facebook is the largest social media network with various types of paid ads. And Google is the largest search engine with PPC (pay per click) marketing.

Running ads online will help you generate more leads. But, make sure to track the performance of your ads. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending money on a campaign that is not performing well.

There are different types of ads you can run online. Here are a few:

Display Ads- These ads are shown in the sidebar or on a webpage.

Search Ads- These ads show up at the top of search engine result pages.

Social Media Ads- This is advertising through Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.

Video Ads appear before a video starts playing and are usually short clips about your brand/service.

Influencer Ads- Influencer ads are advertisements/paid partnerships from people who have a large following on social media. The best practice of influencer marketing is to find an influencer who has followers that resemble your target audience.

Giveaways- One of the effective ways to generate leads and get more exposure is by giving away freebies. You can offer a free consultation, trial service, or give coupons for discount rates on your products/services.

The number of leads generated for your home care business will depend completely on your marketing efforts.

Start a newsletter

Another great way to reach and communicate with your audience is by starting a newsletter. When people visit your website and find the content informative, they are more likely to subscribe to your newsletter to keep getting future updates. Through newsletter marketing, you can build brand awareness by constantly staying in touch with your subscribers. When doing newsletter marketing, don’t just send out commercial messages. Make sure to send informative content as well.

Conduct seminars and talks

Before you conduct a seminar, you must have a team of expert healthcare professionals. You should seek professionals from fields like insurance, healthcare, and nutrition. You can connect with hospitals and communities to conduct these seminars at their facilities. At the end of the seminar or talk, you can brand yourself by providing freebies like T-shirts, badges, notebooks, pens, etc.

Ask for referrals from current and past clients.

A home care business should have a customer referral program. This will help you grow your clientele and increase the visibility of your services. You can offer freebies like “Referral card,” T-shirts, etc., for referrals. The most important thing that you should do is to focus on customer service. You want your current client and their family members to feel welcomed, respected, comfortable with your caregivers and services. Provide excellent care for clients, which will help them talk about your business in a good light!

Having an email marketing strategy that provides value from time to time will keep your home care business in the mind of your clients.

Use video marketing

The more interactive your content is, the more likely it will be shared. Video Marketing provides a unique and unforgettable experience for potential customers who want an inside look at what life would be like with your company’s services. Video marketing is an important part of online marketing. Video content is the best way to get more eyeballs. In a survey by Hubspot, it was found that over 90% of users say that product videos are helpful in the decision-making process.

Depending on the types of videos you create, it may demand money and energy. If you are tight on budget, you can get started simply by recording yourself on your smartphone. However, once videos are made, they can be shared on various platforms online. That said, make sure your videos are planned and provide the brand image you want to portray online.

Engage with online reviews

When it comes to online marketing, it’s imperative to manage online reviews. Whether they are positive reviews or negative reviews, you need to respond to all of them. Managing reviews is important because over 30% of people trust online reviews before making a buying decision. For negative reviews, you need to respond politely and provide them with a solution.

As a home care business owner, these are the marketing strategies you can use for your business. Don’t just rely on online marketing strategies. Also, give equal importance to traditional marketing methods like referrals, community events, seminars, print marketing, etc. Relying just on one marketing method is never advisable. To get the best results, it’s advisable to use various types of marketing methods.

Email marketing campaigns

You can use email marketing to promote your home care business by sending out emails to your customers or potential ones you have collected from different sources like social media sites. Email campaigns work well because they allow companies to target their audience more effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and better ROI.

When you plan an email campaign, it’s important to have a clear call-to-action on the subject line and in your message so that your recipients know what they should do next. It’s advisable not to send too many emails at once because this can result in spamming, which will lead people to unsubscribe from your list. You need to include bonuses in each of your campaigns like freebies., This way, you can get more clients in the door!

In-conclusion

In today’s world, most people don’t even know that home care is an option for them when looking after their aging loved ones. The home care marketing tactics we’ve discussed in this blog post can help you reach them faster and help educate them on what home care options are available to them.

Marketing your home care agency isn’t just about sending out emails, posting online, and networking–it’s about creating valuable conversations that lead to increased engagement from both current and prospective clients. To do so, it’s a must that you leverage your marketing channels to work to benefit your home care agency.

However, as with any endeavor, these strategies take time and effort to implement. If you need assistance with getting started with any of these tactics or plain old want someone else to do all of the work for you, contact us today for a consultation on how our team can help save you time, money and score you some new home care clients.

Skyy Marketing specializes in digital marketing strategies for home care agencies. We get you more leads. more referrals and grow your business online

Do you have one thing that has helped increase sales at your home care agency? Let us know by commenting below!